That’s what my grandmother used to call it when someone told an especially malicious whopper.

Today we read this news from Minnesota:

A St. Paul man charged with snapping the necks of 10 puppies last summer could become the first Minnesotan ever banned from pet ownership for life.

Kimanie Carter, 20, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of mistreating animals. Under a plea agreement, Carter will face up to 12 months in jail, will undergo behavior counseling and be prohibited from owning a companion animal for life.

Knowing me as you do, and how more than anything I hate cruelty to animals and children, you can predict my reaction. You might expect me to say that a year in this prison – where said lowlife waste of biology currently sits for shooting someone with a BB gun – is far too little. And it is. You might expect me to cheer an order barring him from ever owning a pet, and I do.

But I’m thinking about how, all through the process of his arrest, arraignment, trial, etc., everybody told him the truth. He was read his rights, and his public defender explained the procedures. The judge made sure he understood his position, and he made an informed decision on his plea.

I have a friend back east whose grandson, for reasons passing understanding, recently enlisted in the US Marines. He has just signed up, hasn’t even reported for duty yet, and already the Marines have lied to his face about the training school he was promised he would attend.

What kind of society have we brewed from the fetid mists of human misadventure, in which excrescence like a puppykiller gets due process of law, and a law-abiding young man who volunteers to serve can’t even get a square deal? To paraphrase Confucius, this just isn’t good enough.

Don’t let me forget the kicker:

Police say Carter killed the 2-week-old pit-bull mixes and threw them in a trash bin either because they weren’t purebreds or as a way to threaten his girlfriend. Witnesses said he threatened to do the same thing to his girlfriend if she didn’t give him a ride.

At the risk of pushing this post over the top, letting it drop with a loud thump and slamming the lid, I happen to know where we can find this guy a big empty dumpster all his own.