Former House Ways & Means Committee staffer turned freelance writer?

Sometimes within a sentence or two, I regret having clicked on a particular title in my article queue (for my online editing job). Usually that which starts badly only gets worse.

To wit: The introduction to an article on roundtable conferences includes, "This process is a peaceful one, sometimes heated, yet it's a ways to a means."

That phrase could only work as a response to the following question posed to a hitchhiker by a lost motorist: "Excuse me. Could you tell me how far it is to Ameenz?"