This month I asked friends and readers to write in with their examples of Hypocrisy. Some responses follow, including some who wished to remain anonymous.

My example of hypocrisy this month is:

The RNC (Republican National Committee) recently has proposed a resolution accusing President Bush of embracing Socialism. This to me is not only hypocritical but laughable. Most Republicans have stood by for the last 8 years and given tacit approval to a host of illegal activities committed by the Bush Administration and President Bush himself, such as denying torture and then condoning it, bending intelligence to justify the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq, using signing statements to ignore resolutions passed by Congress, denying Habeus Corpus to detainees. The list is, of course, much longer, but those will have to suffice. And now to admonish him for something that is clearly not illegal, that of approving bailouts, is ludicrous. Not that I agree with the way the vast sums of money have been used in the bailouts, but something was necessary to save the entire financial system. And as most know who read this column I favor a form of democratic socialism that is practiced in most industrialized and socially conscious countries of the world. I can only think that by proposing this admonishment they are pandering to their members and distancing themselves from Bush, but what a hypocritical admonishment they chose when the list of illegal acts is so extensive.

Now, for some readers' observations of Hypocrisy:

Eve Pope writes:

"People who profess to be Christians and follow Jesus can believe that war and killing can create peace! And that pro-life supporters can be for the death penalty. The message of Jesus is that of love not hate."

Anonymous writes:

Violence justified in the name of religion, perpetrators, Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Sportsmanship trophies given out with a straight face by people who know there is doping

And the use of the term "development" to apply to the paving over of prime agricultural land and waiving environmental regulations. Perpetrators, our government, both local, state and federal.

Andrea Martens writes:

George Bush saying "we do not torture" and then admitting the opposite.

The way the religious right rallied around Sarah Palin and her unwed pregnant daughter. She asks if they would have reacted the same way had it been one of Obama's daughters. She goes on to point out accusations of Obama running "deplorable negative ads" and then looking at ads attacking Obama. And finally that Rick Warren's assertions that he did not compare homosexuality to incest and pedophilia and then watching taped interviews on practically all the networks revealing him doing just that.

Anonymous states. "Clean is to coal as safe is to Plutonium"

Another reader mentioned Sarah Palin's daughter's pregnancy accepted as a blessing.

And the last deals with the assault on Gaza. He points out that a majority of the commentators when writing about the conflict fail to address the many reasons behind it from the Palestinian side.

The example he gives is as follows:

President elect Obama made a statement that if someone were sending rockets that might kill one of his daughters he would take action to stop it, which is fair enough. The problem is that he does not pose the opposite question as to what he would do if he was unable to get to work or his daughters unable to get to school or his family was being starved and could not get vital medicines, or if a governing body would not allow him to go from Chicago to Washington DC for his inauguration.

And those are just a few comments from concerned and I think patriotic Americans who believe that by exposing and challenging inequities we will be better for it.

A few closing words.

I just heard George Bush list as one of the "disappointments" of his presidency the fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction found. Is that not the most incredible and frankly sick statement one has ever heard from a world leader. To think that finding WMD in the hands of a dangerous and destructive man such as Saddam Hussein would have pleased him to justify this horrible war that has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands of innocent people, no regrets for that from him.

And finally to hear Cheney say he can't understand the fuss over Gitmo as he says it is well run and clean, i then wonder why 25% of the detainees are being force fed with tubes up their noses to keep them from starving themselves to death rather than endure more years of detention without being charged with a crime.

We, as a people, must insist that the Obama administration and especially Eric Holder and the Justice Department investigate all the crimes of the Bush administration so this country and the world will never again have to suffer from leaders such as they.

Happy New Year all.