What the Meaning of "Is" Is

There is so much power in language. Words carry a lot of baggage. We jump to conclusions when we associate the baggage with the words and often fail to really discern the nuance of the message.

Who can fail to recall the cunningly crafted defense of former President Clinton as he explained to us that we must define our terms. We learned then that fellatio is not sex at all. Which, of course, is not the excuse that I would ever attempt to trot out in justification of any transgressions I might have been involved in either now (un-bloody-likely at my age) or in the past. Yet, it depends on what the meaning of "is" is.

Now, we clearly heard the Messiah earlier this week in his nine-day-after-action report to the nation on the Libyan incursion explain to us that under no circumstances were we going to see "boots on the ground" in Libya. This was going to be strictly a "no-fly" zone and we were certainly not going to lead it and if it should ever look in the slightest like we might get results we will immediately withdraw so as not to give the world the wrong impression that we were capable, competent or morally justified. Can't have that.

Presidential "Finding" Sent CIA Into Libya Weeks Ago

There you have it. You've got one clear news item explaining that the President authorized CIA operatives to enter Libya, interact with rebel forces, provide intel to us, provide direction and support to the rebels and perform missions as required.

Within that same article you find the SecDef stating without qualification that there would be "no boots" on the ground while he was in his position and that was what the President had tasked him to insure. A few days ago we had the SecState cautioning that we really didn't know who the rebels were or where they got their direction. In other words, we had no intel sources embedded.

Here is where we learn the language. The operative word here is "boots". You see the CIA normally wears wing-tips or Docksiders to work. When embedded in an indigenous Middle Eastern nation, they trend toward sandals and flip-flops along with the natives making it easy to sluff the footwear to enter the mosque. So, we might have people there, but they aren't wearing boots!

Would the Messiah lie to you?