WRONG TIME, PLACE AND WORDS

When B.C.  Lion Ray Jacobs was arrested recently 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 pled 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 backbencher, 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.

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.