Word: alongism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Murano, no Jews live in the Ghetto. It is all part of the strangeness of Venice, where the aesthetic beauty is overwhelming until one realizes that the whole city seems to be set up for the amusement of outsiders. Hot and bothered middle-aged parents shuffle their young children along, filling their hands with glass bobbles and Carnival masks. They eat gelato and large margarita pizzas; they wait an hour in line to see the Doge’s palace and listen to one of the many tuxedoed string quartets in San Marco play Vivaldi (though they prefer it when...
...beads, he now teaches the skill to college students on Murano, the Venetian island renowned for the craft. I ask the man whether he lives here. He smirks and responds, half in jest, “No one lives on Murano.” Leaving him, I walk along the boardwalk-turned-sidewalk, watching as the never-ending line of shops begins to close. It’s a wonder that they all stay in business, as each is the same as the next, full of cheap glass trinkets: small clowns, a little perfume bottle (the majority of them...
...maybe it is unrealistic to try and separate the tourists from the city, to try and say that the hustling and bustling, the sites, the souvenirs, are somehow a façade for a sadder and darker place. Perhaps along with gondolas and bridges, the city should be thought of as a place where, as you dine along the Grand Canal between the mainland and Giudecca, you should expect small cities to float by you: cruiseships so enormous that they form a shadow over the island as the passengers onboard wave down to you. Perhaps you should expect that...
Mounting demand for congressional travel may help explain why the House initially ordered the Pentagon to buy two more $65 million G-5s - Gulfstream V jets, known in the Air Force as C-37s - as part of the $636 billion defense budget, along with an additional pair of $70 million C-40s, the military version of the Boeing 737. "We've always frowned upon earmarks and additives that are above and beyond what we ask for," Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stated when asked about the additional planes last week...
...military personnel whip up their meals, carry their bags and fix their favorite drinks. And they can stretch out - those 737-sized C-40s can fly with as few as five lawmakers aboard (they carry up to 149 passengers for Southwest). Lawmakers are also permitted to take their spouses along, for free. Folks get used to such niceties after a while, and that might have played a role in the push for the added planes. "We appreciate the efforts to help the [congressional delegation] fly commercially, but you know the problem that creates with spouses," the Pelosi aide quoted...