Word: ballasts
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...party, Daschle enjoys a respect he did not always have. He won his post in 1995 by a single vote over Connecticut's Christopher Dodd. Running in the wake of the Republican takeover, Daschle was opposed by old lions like Moynihan and Byrd, who thought he lacked the necessary ballast. Since then Byrd has twice nominated him to continue as the party's leader. Dodd, now one of Daschle's close confidants, marvels at his old rival's political skills. "I would have lost it long ago," he says, noting the patience Daschle displays in dealing with his verbose colleagues...
PROSAIC ACME BRICKS: The Official Brick of the Millennium OBJECT ANGELO BROTHERS: The Official Ballast of the New Millennium...
...were consulted during the picture's gestation must have weighed like a rock on the filmmakers' impulse to soar. Artistic care gives way to religious caution, and the picture sometimes looks starched, stodgy. Except for the When You Believe anthem, Stephen Schwartz's tunes mostly bring not buoyancy but ballast to the proceedings. While Jeff Goldblum is good as a fretful Aaron, the rest of an exemplary vocal cast (Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, Patrick Stewart) can't add much shading or power. Steve Martin is here for muted comic relief, but don't expect to hear him sing King...
...sure, have been flying high-altitude balloons since the 1950s. But there was always a major drawback: as the balloons rose, the sun's heat expanded their gas, and helium had to be vented to keep the balloon from exploding. Then, as the sun set and the gases contracted, ballast had to be dropped to keep it aloft. Missions rarely saw more than one or two sunsets...
Fortunately for him, Yasser Arafat tolerates drama well. Otherwise, the highs and lows, mostly lows, of recent days might have overtaxed his ballast. In the course of two weeks, Arafat has seen the clinching of a new peace accord with Israel, the worst anti-Palestinian Authority riots ever in the West Bank, the attempted slaughter of 40 Israeli schoolchildren, another botched bombing of a Jerusalem market and the issuing of unprecedented threats against his life. All this for the sake of a peace agreement that most Palestinians think the Israelis will not honor anyway. Arafat has always led a dangerous...