WRONG TIME, PLACE AND WORDS

When B.C. Lion Ray Jacobs was arrested last week in Surrey with cocaine in
his car, he told a reporter "it was just me being in the wrong place at the
wrong time with the wrong person."

Police said the arrest took place after a surveillance team watched a car
leaving a well-known crackhouse and charges of drug possession are being
recommended to the Crown prosecutors' office.

Jacobs, meanwhile, said the cocaine was not his.

He also denied going to a crackhouse and insisted there were no prostitutes
in his car.

So what, you say?

Well, Jacobs' explanation sounds familiar, even if you're hearing it for
the first time.

Remember how Burnaby MP Svend Robinson "pocketed" a ring? That used to be
called stealing.

Also last week, the crimes of disgraced former provincial court judge David
Ramsay - who pleaded guilty to buying sex from girls as young as 12 and
threatening them if they told anyone about the encounters - were described
by his lawyer as the "manifestation of a significant character flaw."

Gee, and we thought he was just a disgusting, despicable pervert.

Of course, using euphemisms in an attempt to soften the impact of one's
actions is nothing new.

But with Mother's Day just passed, whatever happened to that nugget of
wisdom every mother tries to pass on to her child - honesty?

Whether it's Liberal television ads or a sticky-fingered federal
back-bencher, the politicians have set the standard high for how
effectively they can "spin" any set of circumstances or facts in their
favour, or at least to minimize their own culpability.

When we continue to accept their excuses of not realizing they were drunk
when they drove home to their Hawaiian vacation spot or that they didn't
mean to cripple an opposing hockey player, we only add to the problem.

It's time we told these people that sugarcoating bad, or even heinous
actions, doesn't make them seem less serious.

It's just offensive.