Word: curmudgeon
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Andy Rooney, the elfin curmudgeon of 60 Minutes, usually gripes about quaintly trivial matters like hand soap and junk mail. But in his syndicated newspaper column two weeks ago, he launched an angry attack on a more substantial target: his own bosses. Recent layoffs and the just announced demise of the CBS Morning News, he charged, were symptoms of a growing bottom- line approach to news that is unworthy of a once great network. "CBS, which used to stand for the Columbia Broadcasting System, no longer stands for anything," Rooney wrote. "They're just corporate initials...
...lure of the new nuclear technology and its strategic importance appealed to many young naval officers. But winning a spot in Rickover's Navy was not easy: prospective submariners often had to sit before the old curmudgeon on an unbalanced chair whose front legs had been sawed off by several inches. The admiral's mean streak was legendary. He had no tolerance for defects in men or their work, and he sacked many an officer for being "stupid." Others, like a young ensign named Jimmy Carter, went on to better things...
Goldwater, 75, has always been unusually candid, often to the discomfort of conservative comrades. Now that he has announced he will not run for reelection in 1986, the curmudgeon is even freer to speak his mind. Last spring he sent a scolding letter to CIA Director William Casey for not telling the Intelligence Committee about the U.S.-directed mining of Nicaraguan harbors. "This is an act violating international law," Goldwater wrote. "I don't like it one bit from the President or from you." As Armed Services chairman, he will have power to do much more than raise...
...minute that the male jingoist Ralph might be a vehicle for his own views, Leo admits that the original Wanda was a bit wan, serving as a foil for her splenetic spouse. "The characters have developed over the years," says their creator. "It used to be Ralph the triumphant curmudgeon teasing Wanda the trendy feminist. But Wanda has become a lot smarter. For one thing, the column worked better that way. Each of them could express sharper opinions and then get corrected or put down or yelled at by the other. Also, as my two teen-age daughters grew older...
...more important than quantity. There's a big reaction against the trivialization of sex. George Leonard, who used to be a guru at Esalen, has written a new book called The End of Sex, and it talks about the ideal of "high monogamy." Anything wrong with that, curmudgeon of mine...