[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 135 (Thursday, October 1, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H9190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ALICE IN WONDERLAND

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis 
Carroll writes the following:

       When I use a word, Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful 
     tone, it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more 
     nor less.
       The question is, said Alice, whether you can make words 
     mean so many different things.

  Mr. Speaker, the Humpty Dumpty's of our political landscape use words 
to mean what they want them to mean. Yet the fact remains, words have 
very specific meanings, meanings that no common person would dispute. 
Alone means alone; is means is; sex means sex. No matter what mental 
gymnastics someone goes through. Words have meanings. When someone uses 
words in a court of law to mean things that they do not actually mean, 
that is called lying under oath. That is wrong. It is dishonorable and 
worthy of a congressional inquiry.

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