Internet provides huge amount of information and separation of lies from truth is often difficult. But jokes are another matter. I received a joke from a friend about lies which is as follows:

A man died and went to Heaven. He was curious about a huge wall of clocks and asked, "What are all those clocks?"

St. Peter answered, "Those are Lie-Clocks. Everyone on earth has a Lie-Clock. Every time you lie, the hands on your clock move."

"Oh", said the man. "Whose clock is that?" "That's Mother Teresa's," replied St. Peter. "The hands have never moved, indicating that she never told a lie." "Incredible," said the man.

"And whose clock is that one?" St. Peter responded, "That's Abraham Lincoln's clock.

The hands have moved twice, telling us that he told only two lies in his entire life."

"Where's George W Bush's clock?" asked the man. "Bush's clock is in Jesus' office. He's using it as a ceiling fan."

The lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction have undermined President Bush's authority significantly. The attempt to pass the blame on flawed intelligence was also rebuffed by the US intelligence community.

There are lies and nirjola lies or white lies. Lies are different from fibs which can be excused for their low level consequences and are often personal in nature. There are pathological or compulsive liars, as there are part-time liars who resort to lying for a living. Growing up in a small town, I knew of people who supplemented their income by giving false testimonies in the court of law. They mastered the technique of nirjola mithha or daha mittha or lying through their teeth.

While some lies are simply absurd more effective lies are those that incorporate some truth in it. A little truth can give a lie some presumed credibility. If I go and tell an innocent person that British Prime Minister Blair is such a chamcha (side kick) of George W Bush that he has changed the name of BBC House to Bush House. Here the truth is that the BBC headquarters is called Bush House, it has been so named for at least 66 years. I conveniently erase history and take advantage of someone's gullibility. Incidentally, the Presidential guest house in Washington, DC is called Blair House and not-named after Prime Minister Blair.

By changing the sequence of history one can also try to make a lie believable. For example, President Bush junior keeps saying that Iraq is a breeding ground of terrorism and if US does not confront them there, US will have to fight them here in US. Now shouldn't US fight them there rather than wait for them to come here (to US)? Those who still support Bush -- the Fox channel viewers, etc. probably found this argument credible. But here the sequence has been changed. Iraq is falling apart and has become a breeding ground of terrorists only after the US invasion. No credible proof of Saddam Hussein supporting al-Qaeda has been established.

While vying for Presidential nomination from the Republican Party against Mr. Reagan George H Bush called Reagan's supply-side economics "voodoo economics." Later on, as vice president of President Reagan he once denied it but when the TV network (perhaps, NBC) pointed out by replaying the speech, Bush senior gave at Carnegie Mellon University, Bush sent a card to the network on which he wrote Bush O NBC 1.

A gentleman will not lie and when is forced to do so under certain political circumstances will confess to it. All you need is to say is: sorry. Many people I know of my generation in Bangladesh have a made-up date of birth. Some opt for such manufactured dates for a variety of reasons such as employment. But if you change your date of birth just to undermine a national hero's death anniversary -- that's inhuman.

There are several examples of cynical political lies in Bangladesh. "An ambassador is the one who lies abroad for the good of his/her country." This famous example of pun makes me think that may be many of us have become ambassadors in our own country. This may not be an example of pun but this may be the truth. These local "ambassadors" lie for their own good at the expense of their nation.

The author is a sociology professor and part-time columnist.