prez stuff

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  PARENTING IN THE POST-CLINTON ERA
  "I believe families will be better off as a result of this,"
        a.. William Jefferson Clinton, September 15, 1998
 
  Somewhere in America, next week:
  DAD: Son, come in here, we need to talk.
  SON: What's up, Dad?
  DAD: There's a scratch down the side of the car.  Did you do it?
  SON: I don't believe, if I understand the definition of "scratch the
      car," that I can say, truthfully, that I scratched the car.
  DAD: Well, it wasn't there yesterday, and you drove the car last night,
  and no one else has driven it since.  How can you explain the scratch?
  SON: Well, as I've said before, I have no recollection of scratching the
          car.  While it is true that I did take the car out last night, I
  did not scratch it.
  DAD: But your sister, Monica, has told me she saw you back the car
         against the mailbox at the end of the driveway, heard a loud
  scraping sound, saw you get out to examine the car, and then drive away.
  So again I'll ask you, yes or no, did you scratch the car?
  SON: Oh, you mean you think you have evidence to prove I scratched it.
      Well, you see, I understood you to mean did "I" scratch the car.
       I stand by my earlier statement, that I did not scratch the car.
  DAD: Are you trying to tell me you didn't drive the car into the
    mailbox?
  SON: Well, you see sir, I was trying to drive the car into the street.
     I mishandled the steering of the car, and it resulted in direct
  contact
  with the mailbox, though that was clearly not my intent.
  DAD: So you are then saying that you did hit the mailbox?
  SON: No sir, that's not my statement.  I'll refer you back to my
   original statement that I did not scratch the car.
  DAD: But the car did hit the mailbox, and the car did get scratched as a
      result of this contact?
  SON: Well, yes, I suppose you could look at it that way.
  DAD: So you lied to me when you said you did not scratch the car?
  SON: No.  No, that's not correct.  Your question was "Did I scratch the
      car?"  From a strict legal definition, as I understood the meaning
      of that sentence, I did not scratch the car ... the mailbox did...
      I was merely present when the scratching occurred.  So my answer of
     "No" when you asked "Did I scratch the car" was legally correct,
  although I did not volunteer information.
  DAD: Where did you learn to be such a wise guy?
  SON: From The President of the United States.
  DAD: I see.