Word: absurd
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...sleepless year of internship, aspiring lawyers the cutthroat paper chase of first-year law school. And those who aspire to the most exalted title of all, President, are required to traverse a campaign trail of Homeric peril. Its length is ludicrous: three years for any serious candidate; its requirements absurd: giving up privacy, often family and almost always a job ("You have to be unemployed to run for President," says Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, who leaves the Senate in January and is pondering a run for the presidency in 1988); and its purpose obscure: posing with funny hats...
Sometimes the author suspects that the whole nation is a theater of the absurd. In the battle between Quebec's French separatists and its anglophone minority, violent verbal gestures are made. The provincial government forbids the use of the English word hamburger; "hambourgeois" is the meat substitute. In Montreal, police become provincial celebrities not by seizing heroin but by impounding 15,000 Dunkin' Donut bags because the printing is not bilingual...
Informed of the A.R.D.E. claims, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger stated unequivocally that the U.S. had not provided naval assistance. A spokesman for Naval Secretary John Lehman labeled any notion of U.S. Navy involvement "absurd." When asked if any such ship or ships were either operated or supported by the CIA, National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane told TIME: "I cannot comment on intelligence operations." As a matter of policy, the CIA refused to confirm, deny or even discuss any of its operations. Nicaragua's neighbors, Honduras and Costa Rica, have the wherewithal to provide naval assistance, but it is unlikely...
...letter by Christine Hayes, entitled "Rape Mentality" which appeared in the April 6 issued of the Crimson is even more off-base Drawing a parallel between the men of the Pi Eta and the beasts that cheered on the rapists at Big Dan's is incredibly absurd. If Ms. Hayes, or any of the other protesters who have so vehemently attacked the Pi Eta had even set foot in 45 Mount Auburn Street, they would realize how misguided they are. They would meet some of the most courteous and considerate men at Harvard Just as the stereotype of the protesters...
Although concerns about the potential abuses of harassment complaints cannot be dismissed entirely, to regard such a threat as the rule, not the exception, is absurd. Last fall's survey indicated that even students or faculty members who had suffered egregious harassment tended to be reluctant to report the incidents. Clearly the University's foremost concern must be to encourage reporting--not to discourage...