It's a sin, but is it illegal?
Dear Editor,
We all know it's a sin to tell a lie. But is it against the law? The
answer is no, unless you've sworn to tell the truth and "nothing but."
Then it's a crime, usually referred to as perjury, the violation of an
oath. And, presumably, you have to know that what you have sworn to is
actually false.
So, what I wonder is, is the Director of the FBI sworn in when he reports
to Congress? Is it perjury when he reports that finding "sleeper" cells of
foreign terrorists within the territory of the United States is his job
one, on the same day that his agency reports that, not only have no cells
been found, but they have come across no evidence that there are any
foreign terrorists here at all? Is it even a lie? Or is it just evidence
of more incompetence?
Considering the amount of money that is being spent searching people and
places for something that doesn't seem to exist, a search that's pretty
scary and certainly inconvenient to a lot of law-abiding citizens, maybe
it's time to consider that what's going on here is just one gigantic
swindle.
When George Washington discovered that he couldn't tell a lie, it meant
that he was reluctant to dissemble in order to protect himself. Whether
that also meant that he wouldn't deceive an enemy to protect the country is
unclear. What is clear today, however, is that there's a lot of deception
that has nothing to do with protection. Rather, the sole purpose of
deceiving the public seems to be to generate huge profits to benefit the
military-industrial-public policy elite.
Lying for profit. That's what's going on. And that's what a swindle is,
isn't it?