favors for favors, or, a lie by any other name. . .

from the favors for favors dept . .

it seems one of our republican congressmen from the golden state is up to business as usual. randy "duke" cunningham recently sold his house in del mar to a defense contractor for at least $700,000 more than it was worth. cunningham sits on the armed services appropriation committee. since the sell, the contractor's business, (which had been flat,) has spiked on government contracts.

but wait. there's more. (ho-hum.)

cunningham's real estate agent brokered the deal and she is a campaign contributor. this one clearly stinks.

you can read all about it here: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/4441.html

but hey, i'm less concerned with the politics of the day because they'll always be there. there will always be people lying and cheating and stealing, trying to get ahead because they think it will make them happy, (which it won't,) just as there will be those who try to uncover those wrongdoings.

i'm more interested in another story involving cunningham, which made news a few years ago. at that time, cunningham was involved in bringing forth legislation that would impose the death penalty on drug kingpins. later, his son was caught smuggling 400 pounds of marijuana into the country. cunningham appeared before his son's judge asking for leniency, (and getting it.) his son did about 11 months in the big house.

i know, i know, i'll be the first to agree his son was not a drug kingpin but i can't help but think the son saw the father as a liar.

how can a father ask a son to live an honest and decent, (moral even,) life if their own life is filled with corruption?

i would contend, (and this comes from my own experience,) that children recognize the lies we tell them. they see hypocrisy but they feel barred from calling it out. (barred by the belt, most likely.) and so, i believe they act out and rebel based on that. i suspect, on some subconscious level, they lose trust in the person who has always claimed to be the ultimate truth-giver, and so they question much more of what has been handed down, maxims like: drugs bad, justice system just, college good, america free, etc.

and where does this all start? i think it starts with santa claus. such a lighthearted, gnomish, imaginary gift-giver and yet, he is a lie and children invariably figure it out. children come to know the easter bunny is phony and the tooth fairy doesn't exist.

however, they may never come to realize the god they were given was a hoax. they may never suspect our president tells lies. they may never question authority at all, a maxim we were supposed to have adopted in the '60s.

i'm sure "duke" cunningham looked down upon his son after that episode and cried, "why have you failed me?!" and the son probably suffered low self esteem and apologized profusely thinking himself a bad seed.

and dad went to work representing the good people of north san diego county where he brokered shady deals but told a reporter he has never so much as puffed one time on a marijuana joint. still, he probably felt like the paragon of dignity and respect, doing some sort of hocus-pocus shoeshine shuffle in his impish, status quo, establishment, favors for favors head.