Word: balking
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Many might balk at the claim that political condemnation of Israel signals the presence of anti-Semitism. Of course, the relationship is by no means categorical--many Jews and Judeophiles themselves, for example, have vehemently attacked Tel Aviv's foreign policy in recent months. And the idea that anti-Semitism could warp people's views on political issues seem distant to most. It's easy to forget that only 40 years ago, one of the most civilized nations on the globe carried out the systematic slaughter of six million people out of pure anti-Semitism. The frequent and sometimes offhand...
...period and appointed a panel to make recommendations. In August the board suggested that the two holdout unions accept the 28.8% wage hike over 39 months already agreed to by the other unions, along with a no-strike pledge. The twelfth union holdout relented, but the engineers continued to balk at the lack of a guaranteed wage differential. When the cooling-off period ended on Sept. 19, the engineers walked...
Manville's insurance companies settled the claims largely without protest. But in 1980, when a total of 5,000 suits were filed, the insurers began to balk. Manville officials wanted the insurers to make good on all policies in effect at the time workers were exposed to asbestos. Most insurance firms, however, argued that they should pay off only on policies that are now in effect, not on those that date from the time that workers were first exposed 30 or even 40 years ago. In 1980 Manville finally sued 27 of its carriers in state court...
...agreement in principle from both sides to accept the idea of a cease-fire and a phased withdrawal. Like Haig, however, the Secretary-General ran into a major obstacle: the Argentines' insistence that any agreement must "inexorably" lead to their sovereignty over the islands. When Britain continued to balk at this, Argentina appeared to back off by calling sovereignty an ultimate "objective" rather than a precondition to talks. At the same time, however, the Argentines hardened their position on mutual withdrawal. Meanwhile, the Thatcher government, stung by increasing "sellout" charges from Conservative Party backbenchers, stiffened its stance...
There is, however, a strong sculptor in the show: Penone, 35, a strikingly gifted poet of natural processes. His largest piece on view is carved from a huge, continuous square-sawed balk of larch, 39½ ft. high. At first it looks like a dead inverted tree, standing on a pedestal, its branches lopped to stubs. Then one becomes aware that the whole form of the tree has been patiently excavated, by carving, from the sawed block. Working backward into the wood from knots, Penone has raised the buried ghost of the tree as it looked when it was younger...