Some Difference!

In most areas of life, lying gets you in trouble. Lie to your parents and most children receive some degree of punishment. Lie in school and you're liable to wind up in the principle's office. Lie in the workplace and you're apt to find yourself looking for a new job. Lie in a lot of other facets of life and you may find yourself in court.

But lie in the political arena and...well...nothing much happens. In fact, lying is par for the course!

Some politicians lie so often that they wouldn't recognize the truth if it fell into their lap.

It doesn't seem to matter which side of the corporate aisle the party calls home. Both Republicans and Democrats lie in equal measure.

Here's but one example. Democrats are having a field day criticizing the Bush administration's folly in Iraq and their campaign ads tell voters that a Democratic Congress would have and will handle things far differently, YET, the vast majority of incumbent Democrats voted in FAVOR of granting the Bush administration carte blanche permission to do whatever it thought best in terms of Iraq.

Aah, but there's even more. Most of these same Dems are saying that, if they knew then what they know today, they wouldn't have supported this blank check to begin with. If this were true, then explain to me why these very same politicians voted unanimously in the Senate and with only 21 nays in the House IN FAVOR of last year's Iran Freedom and Support Act?

It grants the Bush administration the same nebulous leeway which may well lead us toward another foolish war with Iran.

So, how are the Dems any different than the GOP?

Side Effects

Back when I was a wee lad, the air waves weren't inundated with advertisements for prescription drugs. No, I grew up in a time in which "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz...Oh what a relief it is" and Excedrin headache #12 was about as innocuous as it got. Today, however, you can find an ad for almost any condition that ails you.

Suffering from erectile dysfunction? Migraines got you down? Embarrassed by recurrent acne? Have a weak bladder or too much cholesterol? It doesn't matter what your problem is -- there's a drug to fix it!

Unfortunately, many of these drugs have serious side effects. Often, the side effects are far worse than the original problem.

The pitch goes something like this: Acne got you down? Then ask your doctor about zycloprofen. In just 2 weeks, your acne worries can be a thing of the past. Please note that zycloprofen can cause heart attack, stroke, nosebleeds, fallen arches, genital lesions and/or blindness in some people.

Hmm. Some medicine indeed!

There's one side effect though that I have yet to figure out. There are several drugs being advertised to help one sleep. I don't remember their particular names. What side effect do you think they all share in common?

Drowsiness -- a sleep aide that makes you drowsy.

How is that a side effect? Isn't that the whole point?