There are liars, damn liars, and Pawlenty of them.

I've been bothered – well, OK, infuriated – over the past several years by how political “spin” has deteriorated into deliberate lies and distortions. It’s deplorable whatever the source, Democrat or Republican, but without question the great preponderance is coming from the right.

One example of far too many: The Republican politicians and media (Fox “News”) persistently referring to health care reform as “the “government take-over of our health care system”. Utter nonsense!

Now comes Tim Pawlenty, the out-going Republican governor of Minnesota who wants to be his party’s presidential nominee in 2012. To that end, he has started bashing President Obama for, among other things, increasing the size of the federal government while (cue the crocodile tears) "the private sector has lost nearly eight million jobs."

New York Time columnist Paul Krugman points out, that there are actually fewer permanent federal jobs since Obama was elected. The increase Pawlenty refers to was due to the temporary hiring of census workers by the federal government. The census is, of course mandated by the Constitution.

In other words, Pawlenty has deliberately distorted turth to create an impression he knows to be untrue ... and of course we can count on Fox “News” and their right-wing blowhards to pick it up and perpetuate it.

Somehow, these liars need to be called out and rejected. In an ideal world, that should be a bi-partisan effort. And wouldn’t that be a heart-warming way to start the New Year!