-WHEN THE CLINTON IMPEACHMENT PROCESS ULTIMATELY WAS REDUCED TO AN ISSUE OF REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS SQUABBLING OVER WHETHER CLINTON HAD "LIED..."/"MISLED..."/BEEN "GUILTY OF PERJURY...,"/YADA YADA YADA, I THOUGHT THAT, GIVEN THE REQUISITE RESPONSIBILITIES I HAD CONTRACTED TO MAINTAIN IN PREPARING MY "INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC WORK...ON A DIRECT BASIS" FOR THE WORLD'S CHILDREN, THE "CONTEXT" OF IT THAT WOULD QUICKLY ARISE BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE AND THEN TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE, I OUGHT TO DO SOME RESEARCH ABOUT THE VALUE OF THE "TRUTH"/"HONESTY"/"ACCURACY"/THE "FACTS" TO INDIVIDUALS AND PARTIES INVOLVED IN THE PAST IN THIS WORK.

AS I INDICATED TO P.W. BOTHA IN MY CHRISTMAS, 1987 STATEMENT TO HIM, I HAVE REASONS TO BE RESPECTFUL OF THE VALUES INSTILLED IN ME BY MY PARENTS. ONE OF THOSE WAS THE LIKELY PRE-EMINENT ONE TAUGHT BY NEARLY ALL PARENTS TO THEIR CHILDREN:

"HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY."

SO, I THOUGHT, AS QUEASY THOUGHTS OF THE EUPHEMISMS ADOPTED BY THE BROADCAST MEDIA ("SHE SERVICED HIM"), INTERRUPTING MY REGULAR TELEVISION VIEWING WITH UNSAVOURY REPORTS ON NEW REVELATIONS AS TO WHAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DONE, AND WHAT 'THEY'/'HE' AND HIS SUPPORTERS SAY OR WON'T SAY 'THEY' MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DONE, POLLUTED MY WAKING THOUGHTS FOR FAR LONGER THAN I WOULD HAVE HAD ANY INTEREST WITH: WHY NOT USE SOME "SPECIFICITY" AND DETERMINE WHO IT IS WHO ORIGINALLY SAID THAT AFOREMENTIONED AXIOM OF HUMAN VALUES?

WELL, IT SEEMS TO HAVE COME FROM MIGUEL de CERVANTES, ACCORDING TO:

Excerpt from JOHN BARTLETT'S book, 'BARTLETT'S Familiar Quotations (Fifteenth And 125th Anniversary Edition)':

29 Honesty's the best policy.9

[Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605-1615)] III, 33, p. 666

9 I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the policy.
---GEORGE WASHINGTON, Farewell Address [1796]

set up a link here to the Russian quoting Lincoln to Cohen page


HAVING COME THAT FAR, APPRECIATING HOW "APPLICABLE" THIS "MAXIM" IS TO THE ISSUE AT HAND OF THIS IMPEACHMENT PROCESS COINCIDING WITH THE MOUNTING CONFRONTATIONS WITH IRAQ AND THE LATEST FACTION OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA TO TAKE ISSUE WITH THAT FORMER COUNTRY'S HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE'S FUTURE, I DID SOME MORE QUICK RESEARCH.
ESTIMATES AVAILABLE TO ME (MY HOME LIBRARY COPY OF THE '1993 CANADIAN GLOBAL ALMANAC') INDICATE THAT ABOUT "30%" OF THE POPULATION OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA IS ROMAN CATHOLIC AND ABOUT "9%" IS MOSLEM.

Excerpt from the CENTRE CULTUREL ISLAMIQUE, PARIS publication, 'INTRODUCTION TO ISLAM':

CHAPTER II

PRESERVATIONS OF THE ORIGINAL TEACHINGS OF ISLAM

THERE COULD BE NOTHING IN COMMON BETWEEN THE TRUE AND THE FALSE AND NO TWO THINGS IN THE WORLD COULD BE AS OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER AS THESE. IN THE COMMONPLACE MATERIAL THINGS OF DAILY LIFE, THE EVILS OF FALSEHOOD ARE OBVIOUS AND ACKNOWLEDGED BY ALL. OF COURSE IN MATTERS OF ETERNAL SALVATION, OF BELIEFS, AND OF THE ORIGINAL TEACHINGS OF A RELIGION, THE EVIL THAT FALSEHOOD DOES TRANSCENDS ALL OTHER EVILS.

44. AN HONEST AND REASONABLE MAN WOULD EXPERIENCE NO DIFFICULTY IN JUDGING WHETHER A CERTAIN TEACHING IS JUST AND ACCEPTABLE, OR NOT. IN MATTERS OF DOGMA HOWEVER WHAT OFTEN HAPPENS IS THAT ONE JUDGES FIRST THE PERSON OF THE TEACHER PRIOR TO HIS PRECEPTS. IF HE IS FOUND TRUSTWORTHY, ONE IS THE MORE EASILY PERSAUDED TO ACKNOWLEDGE ONE'S OWN DEFECTS OF UNDERSTANDING PART OF HIS TEACHINGS RATHER THAN REJECT TOTALLY HIS WORDS. IN SUCH CASES, THE FACT OF THE AUTHENTICITY OF HIS WORDS AND OF HIS TEACHINGS, PARTICULARLY WHEN THE TEACHER HAS DIED, BECOMES ALL THE MORE IMPERATIVE.

45. ALL THE IMPORTANT RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD ARE BASED ON CERTAIN SACRED BOOKS, WHICH ARE OFTEN ATTRIBUTED TO DIVINE REVELATIONS. IT WILL BE PATHETIC IF, BY SOME MISFORTUNE, ONE WERE TO LOSE THE ORIGINAL TEXT OF THE REVELATION; THE SUBSTITUTE COULD NEVER BE IN ENTIRE CONFORMITY WITH WHAT IS LOST. THE BRAHMANISTS, BUDDHISTS, JEWS, PARSIS, AND CHRISTIANS MAY COMPARE THE METHOD EMPLOYED FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE BASIC TEACHINGS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE RELIGIONS WITH THAT OF THE MUSLIMS. WHO WROTE THEIR BOOKS? WHO TRANSMITTED THEM FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION? HAS THE TRANSMISSION BEEN OF THE ORIGINAL TEXTS OR ONLY THEIR TRANSLATIONS? HAVE NOT FRATRICIDAL WARS CAUSED DAMAGE TO THE COPIES OF THE TEXTS? ARE THERE NO INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS OR LACUNAE TO WHICH REFERENCES ARE FOUND ELSEWHERE? THESE ARE SOME OF THE QUESTIONS THAT EVERY HONEST SEEKER OF TRUTH MUST POSE AND DEMAND SATISFACTORY REPLIES.

link to splendor of truth quote

link to Dr. Caldicott something

PETER JENNINGS 1988:TAKE YOUR NEXT FOOTSTEP HERE

3honesty is going to be a directory of things about honesty

4honesty is 'FOR NATO, TRUTH WAS THE FIRST CASUALTY IN KOSOVO'


AS A FINAL WORD ON THIS SUBJECT, I WANT TO REFER TO THE FOLLOWING, FROM THE JUNE 15, 2000 NEW YORK TIMES' INTERVIEW WITH FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS SON:


Q. How does one balance and reconcile the roles of father and experienced candidate with much accumulated wisdom and perspective?

A. I have no inclination to share my "experience"--in fact, issues have changed so much that I don't consider myself as possessed of valuable "wisdom" and "perspective." Mainly, I want to be George's dad, give him love and support. I want to be there for him.

Q. What else would you like to add about the emotional experience of watching your son go through a difficult process you know all too well?

A. I would only add that 1992 was not the most pleasant year for me with the national press, but it is far worse for Barbara and me when George is criticized than when I was. He is my son. We are close.