Ahe latest news from Afghani-stan is that President Obama wants newly reminted President Hamid Karzai to focus on ridding his country of corruption. I find this curious.

This points at two of the great perplexities of life: dichotomy and hypocrisy. We live with dichotomies every day. We adapt to them in our personal lives with some struggle, but adapt we do. At some point we are likely to make a decision to come down on one side or the other, but not always, sometimes we just choose to live with it and rationalize it as simply "that's the way it is."

Even no less an ardent legalizer than St. Paul complained about his own hypocrisy - that he sometimes found himself doing what was wrong even when he knew how to do what was right.

Whether it is sneaking those Hostess cupcakes every night for a midnight snack while nibbling salads for lunch, or telling your children, "We don't hit people," while you smack them on their behinds, we all live with disturbing dichotomies and creeping hypocrisy.

Take this whole foreign policy issue of dealing with corruption, people taking bribes, people changing sides for money, none of this is really new. We have been going along with rampant corruption and greed since Cain felt insulted that his offering wasn't accepted.

In today's world, we find ourselves in another vexing situation. American greed, from our Congress to our bankers, has blown up the world's economy. Everyone around the world knows that American financial institutions were engaged in the world's largest shell game with the financial derivatives championed by the now disgraced AIG. AIG was virtually insuring popcorn, more air than substance. Yet still our corporate CEOs have the gall to go to their boards and ask for millions of dollars in compensation when it is widely known that their leadership has been fraught with failures. The world is watching this charade with ever widening eyes; it is amazing to them that we seem to swallow this cupcake when we know we should put these fat boys on a diet.

There is no corruption in the world greater than the corruption of the American Congress and its links to our banking system. Yet, when calmer voices call for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, which established a set of laws to regulate the excess of American banks that contributed to the Great Depression - remember it was the dismantling of Glass-Steagall which led directly to the housing bust and the flimflam financials of our great banks and investment houses - our legislators and bankers cry "Oh No! Not that, it will restrict our ability to make outlandish profits and collect big salaries."

Did you notice that when Congress changed the laws governing credit cards, the banks opposed the changes, claiming the timeline was too quick to implement, so Congress granted them an extension to February 2010. Then the banks immediately went out and raised interest rates; it took them no time at all to implement changes to extort more money from card holders by raising rates, in some cases to 29.99 percent on credit card balances, an amount that would have been usury under Glass-Steagall.

Then there is the recent election. Republicans are claiming a great victory for their principals and a growing reaction to Obama's policies. Yet, there is a deeper reality: All the politicians who lost were incumbents. I really don't think most voters care about Republican or Democrat policies. They realize that neither party has any ethical or intelligent principles; both parties are filled with pork barrel politicians, politicians who would rather line their own pockets than care for their people, politicians who care more about their party than their country. So, the electorate is going to through out anyone with "incumbent" after their names. If you are a part of the problem, then you are out of a job.

So, when Obama calls upon Karzai to stamp out corruption in Afghanistan, it sounds so righteous to our sense of nobility and morality and ethics. Yet, in reality, the rest of the world is choking on their rice cakes wondering whatever are we thinking. If Americans weren't so busy buying the illegal cocaine there would be no market for it and the corruption would be a fraction of what it is today. And who are we to call upon another nation to clean up their acts when our own actions and inactions have just about bankrupt the whole world?

The terrible dichotomy! The blind hypocrisy! Pogo was right, again.

The Rev. Steve Petty is the pastor of First United Methodist Church. He welcomes your e-mail at spetty.record@verizon.net.