Word: brier
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When Mikhail Gorbachev first sowed the seeds of democracy, no one could have foreseen that they would mature so quickly into grass-roots revolutions like the Estonian Popular Front. There may be times, in fact, when the Soviet leader must wonder if he has planted a brier patch. The Estonian initiative has given rise to other popular fronts in the Baltic states, but its indirect impact has been far greater. It has become a model for an amorphous mass of unofficial political groupings and single-issue movements across the country, championing causes long ignored by the party and government bureaucracy...
When House minority leader Robert H. Michel went high-stepping down memory lane last week, he wound up in the brier patch. In a televised interview, the Illinois Republican embellished a fond recollection of Amos 'n' Andy -- the old radio show denounced by civil rights organizations for its stereotypical portrayals of blacks -- with an eye-rolling imitation of the character Kingfish. Then he allowed that "it's too bad" that schoolchildren can no longer don blackface and appear in minstrel shows. Finally he lamented the practice of changing racially offensive lyrics in songs like Ol' Man River, likening...
...thresholds for medical expenses and other write-offs means that about 25% of the estimated 40 million taxpayers who itemize will be better off if they use the short forms instead. But for the remaining 30 million Americans who have any significant deductions, the tax-reform law is a brier patch of ambiguities, shifting rules and vanishing preferences. The tax code contains hundreds of changes this year, for which the IRS has published 48 new tax forms. At least one new IRS release is a hit: Publication 920, which explains tax reform in layman's language. Copies requested...
Japan challenges America' s reputation for innovation. -- After reform, taxpayers are caught in a brier patch of new rules...
...program, with the indigestible title Tax Reform for Fairness, Simplicity and Economic Growth, is gaining adherents, though swarms of lobbyists for just about everything from corporations to charities are still determined to kill or alter it. The special interests love the brier patch of the current tax code, which takes up 33 feet of shelf space and has enough shadowy havens to hide almost anything. "It was easier to get tax legislation than take other action," says Chapoton. Before long, the U.S. tax system was setting industrial policy. "Investments were being based on tax considerations," explains Egger. "Prices in real...