In 1959 on this day, Charles Van Doren admitted to a House subcommittee that he had the questions and answers in advance of his appearances on the TV game show ''Twenty-One.''

Were we naive or what. Well it's taken us forty-seven years, but we have gotten it down to a science. At least the politicians have. They have learned to tell the polished, and honed lie to all of us depending upon our age, sex, ethnicity, party persuation, how big a contribution we can give to his personal war chest or to his particular party. It's amazing how they can do it. It's like watching a ventriloquist to see if his lips move. With the pol it's the trick of telling each of us our own especially prepared message that we want to hear, while telling someone else something different. Watching his or her mouth talk out of both sides at the same time is worthy of an American Idol appearance.

Well take heart all, it's just about over for a couple more years, although with the presidential election next up, it will probably not stop.