Words. The Obama administration has belatedly come to realize they cannot long continue using words to obfuscate and confuse. The other day someone actually uttered the forbidden word “terrorist”, though of course it was hoped the terrorist would turn out to be a right wing tea party zealot. When it turned out the Times Square bomber was a Pakistani trained by al Qaeda, Janet Napolitano, the head of Homeland Security, told reporters the system worked because the bomb failed to explode. Words like terror and Islam and terrorist are not to be uttered, lest those who are determined to kill us take offense. A few days ago Attorney General Eric Holder, in a congressional hearing, was asked if he thought the terror acts were done by Islamic radicals, and Holder refused to answer, saying that such acts have many reasons for happening. They’re only words, and words are all they have, to take our hearts away.
Words have meanings, someone said
Though not so much today
We listen to our betters speak
And don’t know what they say
With many meanings different now
From what they were of yore
One cannot tell if afterwards
Now means what came before
Where once was Mrs or just Miss
We now must call her Ms
We speak in riddles to confuse
Who knows what is is is
Big Sis claims victory when a
Car bomb fails to explode
The President blames it on Them
Who we all know is code
For right wing zealots who drink tea
And wish to do him ill
And sees not folks who work real hard
To kill us and they will