My thoughts on lying
Lying is a characteristic, not an acquirable trait. A liar is no good to the society and should be removed permanently.
There is no need to develop tolerance for lying either. America is sweetly different from my own earlier culture for there are so many ways to avoid admitting without lying that I have become accustomed to taking people's word, and consider hidden alternatives only when some one does not speak up. Instead of wasting a lot of my memory remembering who spoke what truth and building a database of truth in my mind keyed to individuals, I can devote my energies to more productive pursuits. I consider lying and betrayal to be synonymous.
One must never allow my hatred for lying to expand the semantics of lying to bundle into it other undesirable characteristics, no matter how offensive. Ultimately, only a jury consensous can decide if some one lied. There are terms which mean "quiet lying", "implied lying", "unknown lying", etc which are NOT lying - lying is a KNOWN COUNTERFACTUAL statement. One can try to force some one into lying by skillful questioning, one can prevent that by refusing to answer, and such a refusal is not a lie. The penalty for lying should be large and unpassable, and lying should be required to be expected whenever charges are close to, or exceed the lying penalty.
It is a pity that in my previous culture, Lawyers are also known as Liars. The only way to prevent that is to also make a defending lawyer, as well as a prosecutor, a party to the case financially on the margin. The difference being deviation of actual penalty from one negotiated between the prosecuting and defending attorneys.