Word: argument
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...situation in Cambridge nicely illustrates a bit of reasoning that might seem self-evident, if not for its potential ramifications--namely, that public schools are forced to improve when they find themselves competing with private schools for enrollment. The irony is that this is, of course, the crucial argument in favor of school vouchers...
...salt. But this approach is still more useful than statements of fact, and less boring. Through personal stories, Lemann is able to address the problems arising from American values without mounting direct and unfounded attacks on the beliefs themselves. He is, therefore, able to present a subtle and complex argument, recognizing both the merits and the problems with different social constructions without sounding indecisive...
...Jesse Helms, who is about to launch Senate hearings, would stop all aid or cut Russia adrift. Candidates like George W. Bush don't disagree with the basic notion of engaging Russia either, so he's left to look for traction with the mushy "I'd manage it better" argument. Even the most skeptical voter can see that it is not in the national interest to let Russia fail and that the U.S. has nothing to gain by abandoning the great, unfinished experiment in reform now. Then Russia might really be lost...
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that global warming does cause the intensity of hurricanes to increase to supercane proportions. How stable would such megastorms be? A hurricane packing 200-m.p.h. winds would be significantly more powerful than Camille, whose top sustained winds were in the 180-m.p.h. range. Such a supercane would be capable, certainly, of taking a catastrophic toll, but its winds would also presumably penetrate to greater depths. Long before making landfall, a supercane might stir up a lethal dose of chilly water. More intense storms, in other words, could prove to be exceedingly fragile entities...
...cosmopolitan virus does raise questions about the globalization of epidemics, and some analysts believe climate change may be having an effect on the spread of such diseases. "You could never with any certainty tie a disease of this type to global warming," says Gorman. "But there?s an argument being made that climate change may change patterns of disease ?- some plant and animal forms are certainly occurring further north than we?ve ever seen them before." Not much comfort to beleaguered New Yorkers suffering almost nightly pesticide bombardment from the mayor?s helicopters. And if climate change is a factor...