The Three Commandments

Don't kill. Don't steal. Don't lie.

Congressman Lynn Westmoreland let Stephen Colbert interview him (I don't know why, I really don't). He wants to have the 10 Commandments posted in Congress because "the ten commandments is not a bad thing for people to know and respect. they are the basis of all laws" and "where better place could you have them than in a judicial building or in a courthouse?" Colbert asked him - leadingly - whether he couldn't think of a better building for them (er, a church?), but he couldn't. Colbert then asked why the 10 Commandments - because "if we are totally without them," Westmoreland explained earnestly, "we may lose the sense of our direction."

Colbert then asked him what they were. "What are all of 'em?" "Yes." "You want me to name them all?" "Yes." "All ten of them?" Colbert raised his fists in front for a count-off. Westmoreland gulped and tried. "Don't murder." One finger up. "Don't steal." Another. "Don't lie." A third ...

And that was it. That was it.

"I can't name 'em all."

After an uncomfortable pause, Colbert said, "Congressman, thank you for taking time away from your busy schedule to be with us tonight."

But this man wants to post a set of religious laws - and all he can name is the three that are actual crimes: murder, theft, and perjury. (He can't name the purely religious ones: have one god, no art or worshipping idols, no blasphemy/false oaths, keep sabbath to honor god; he can't name the ones telling us how to think: honor parents, don't covet; he can't even name the one that's often considered a crime, especially for women: don't commit adultery.)

He can name the three that are realio-trulio real live laws.

So let's post them. Anybody got a problem with that?

Updated June 17 with a link to the video