BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Just a few years ago I would tell people, "oh I don't judge." And usually I thought I didn't. But that was a big, fat lie. I judge. We all judge. I judge if the driver in front of me is actually going to make that turn or stop short. I judge how well I am on any given day so that I can make the appointments I have or if I am having such severe pain or cognitive dysfunction I should just call, cancel (which I do a lot) and stay home. I judge whether people are being truthful. Because of events in my life, I judge most everyone these days as untrustworthy if they get too personal with me. And most of all, I judge myself. I judged already that my ability to make good decisions is flawed and my ability to choose friends is downright laughable. I think everyone has an agenda because I don't. My kids sometimes get bullied. Its hard to teach them to be tolerant and how to judge someone who's a true friend from someone who's just a "fr-enemy....

By Frank J Ranelli Within weeks of the nation’s first postal service delivery, somebody must have uttered the now infamous and proverbial lie, “The check is in the mail”. Richard Nixon’s, “I am not a crook”, and Bill Clinton’s, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”, all certainly conjure up images of famous falsehoods. George W. Bush’s, “Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program”, proved to be a toweringly tall tale. Have we become a nation of liars? Lying, it would seem these days, is fashionable. Sure, politicians have always lied, but with each passing generation, they lie more and the lies become larger. Have once stately statesmen, who now fib with every breath and word, become the replica for our own deceitful deeds? Is this finally the generation that embraces pious propaganda, haughty half-truths and marvelous mendacities as the measure of morality? Fibbing, it would seem, is no longer faux. Some have made a living off of lying in order to enlighten us with...