Word: cons
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...remain optimistic. My impression is that the historic forces driving toward "one people" have not lost their power. The eruption of ethnicity is, I believe, a rather superficial enthusiasm stirred by romantic ideologues on the one hand and by unscrupulous con men on the other: self-appointed spokesmen whose claim to represent their minority groups is carelessly accepted by the media. Most American-born members of minority groups, white or nonwhite, see themselves primarily as Americans rather than primarily as members of one or another ethnic group. A notable indicator today is the rate of intermarriage across ethnic lines, across...
Calling Robert John Koch a ladies' man is an understatement. Police say Koch, 51, is the "Sweetheart Swindler," a cunning con man who left broken hearts and empty bank accounts across the country during 10 years of scams that involved more than 100 women. Authorities believe that Koch may be involved in fraud cases in 28 states, from California to Virginia. Says police detective Kenneth Kopesky of Kenosha, Wis.: "He tells lonely women he's rich, and wines and dines them. The next thing you know, he cons them out of their money...
...Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan is a busy place -- a little too busy, as far as AT&T is concerned. In recent years the terminal's seedy lobby has become a favorite gathering spot for "phone scammers," con artists who sell overseas calls at cut rates using other people's telephone- charge-card numbers. In 1990 some $11 million in fraudulent calls originated from the bus terminal's pay phones alone, according to a report in the New York Daily News -- more than $30,000 worth every...
...offer customers financial incentives to use power more efficiently. In New York City, for example, Consolidated Edison spent more than $8 million in January and February on rebates to customers who traded in their energy-hogging air conditioners and lighting fixtures for efficient new models. Notes John Dillon, a Con Ed assistant vice president: "The cleanest megawatt is the megawatt not consumed...
...When Werksman appeared on the Phil Donahue show, G.O.P. mediameister Roger Ailes and vice-presidential spokesman David Beckwith were on hand to defend their man as a heavyweight. Letters to the editor run both pro ("He's doing the best he can do with what God gave him") and con ("a yuppie Frankenstein...