You catch your child with his hand in the cookie jar just after you have told him, "Hands off!" But instead of a confession all you hear are excuses: "But, Dad, I thought you said I could have one."

Terror strikes in your heart as you suddenly look up in your rear view mirror and see those flashing red lights. "But, officer, I'm sure I wasn't going over the speed limit!"

The recent fiasco surrounding the White House has been met with such comments as, "Everyone lies about having an affair. It's no big deal." And the already questionable credibility of politicians has slid even further down the tube as President Clinton insists that "is" does not really mean "is" and that "alone" does not really mean "alone."

You would think that telling the truth would not be all that difficult. But as …