&uot;Many of us believe that wrongs aren’t wrong if they’re done by nice people like ourselves.&uot;-author unknown

I can tolerate a liar more than I can tolerate a hypocrite.

People lie all of the time, sometimes the lies are just bigger than others.

Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, both lies.

&uot;I did not have sexual relations with that woman&uot;, lie.

&uot;If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit&uot;, lie.

&uot;Iraq has stockpiled weapons of mass destruction&uot;, lie.

Law enforcement officers hear lies most of the time they are on the job. They usually ignore them and proceed forward until they get to the truth.

The Merriam Webster online dictionary gives two definitions of a hypocrite.

The first definition says that a hypocrite is a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion.

Since the first definition of any word in a dictionary is traditionally the most commonly accepted version, I’ll stop right there.

For anyone who has staggered out of a nightclub at 5 a.m., took a nap and went straight to church wearing the same clothes, don’t worry, I’m not picking on you.

The president of my home country, on the other hand, has some issues I’d like to address.

On Wednesday, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would allow increased federal funding for new stem cell research.

&uot;This bill would support the taking of innocent human life, in the hope of finding medical benefits for others,&uot; Bush said. &uot;It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect.&uot;

This is the same person that oversaw 153 executions as Governor of Texas. DNA evidence suggests that at least 10 of those executed under Bush’s watch were innocent.

Somewhere, over 39,000 civilians killed during our occupation of Iraq are cringing in their graves.

I assume those deaths do not cross any supposed moral boundary since the majority of our House and Senate gave permission for our nation to go bomb Iraq (based on a lie I might add). The House and Senate are supposed to be representations of the American public, so in theory it was all of us who agreed to go to war.

It’s funny how we as a society manage to find ways to condone killing a human being on one hand, but claim the same action under the guise of medicine or religion to be an inalienable right.

Why did we go to war with Iraq?

Religion disguised as terrorism.

There are some Muslims who don’t like the United States and feel justified to attack us in order to please God.

Why is there war between Israel and Lebanon right now?

Religion disguised as property rights.

Muslims and Jews have had a hate-hate relationship since the two entities decided that God deemed each group as chosen people.

What is the justification for the United States to bomb and declare war on foreign nations?

Manifest destiny disguised as religion?

In an interview with ABC’s Charles Gibson, President Bush said that he believed that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

I find it interesting that the president would claim to share a God with Muslims, and not Jews, but has aligned our nation with Jews in a war against Muslims.

Even more interesting is that nobody seems to mind the hypocrisy.

Most religious people claim that the same Supreme Being created everything in heaven and on earth.

So at what time did that Supreme Being start choosing favorites and giving permission for some countries to drop atomic bombs? Crash planes into buildings? Or pull the switch on an electric chair?

The hypocrisy of our society lies in the weird dynamic that exists between the death penalty and abortion.

On one hand, it’s not okay to kill someone, but it’s okay to kill someone who kills someone.

The US government allows for abortion to be considered a medical practice and does not prosecute abortion doctors for murder.

Yet the courts will execute any person who kills an abortion doctor.

Our country condemns nations for developing weapons of mass destruction then uses weapons of mass destruction to keep other countries from developing weapons of mass destruction.

I assume there is a book somewhere that I have not been privileged to read named &uot;Murder Etiquette 101; When God gives permission to kill.&uot;

If you stumble across a copy please tell me where I can pick one up.

Then I can tell when I’m being lied to, when a hypocrite is speaking, or when God said it was okay to take a life.

Right now I’m a little confused.