Word: discreet
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...discreet is this steady creep toward Talibanism that it only hit me last week, after a visit to the beauty salon. Usually, framed photos of coiffed brides adorn the walls, but I arrived to find the coffee-colored walls blank, save a clinical advertisement for fungus-fighting nail polish. Authorities had raided the salon two weeks prior, declaring images of unveiled women illegal and demanding they be taken down. In Iran, women's hair salons are off limits to men anyway, so it makes little sense why photos of coiffed women should be banned in a room full of women...
...state's youngsters were overweight while another 17% fell into the borderline "at risk" category. Nationally the figures were 17% and 13%, respectively. Originally envisioned as a new kind of grade on the child's report card, Arkansas's program was revised to provide the information in a more discreet and sensitive way - through confidential letters to parents that included recommendations on what to do if the child was overweight or at risk. Arkansas' Act 1220 also called for healthier foods in school cafeterias and efforts to increase physical activity at school...
...such indulgences, and countless others, you cross the bridge to the island principality of Bahrain - a country of almost 700,000, with high-rise hotels, a playboy king, a base for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, and significant cash flow from its role as a discreet "service provider" for Saudi Arabia. The lives of Saudis, and Bahrainis, are thoroughly framed by this arrangement, and its attendant hypocrisies. And both suffer the presence of its by-product: groups of stealthy, violent religious purists, graced with many opportunities to feel self-righteous. (See the top 10 inept terrorist plots...
...Wall Street crash had lately idled nearly a fifth of the work force and wonder that Ira Gershwin could have Wintergreen sing, in a perky love ballad, "Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers, / Long as you've got a kiss that conquers?" The Senators are less discreet: "If you think you've got depression, / Wait until we get in session, / And you'll find out what depression really means!" The reporters care not about The Issues; they pepper the Prez with questions only about his love life. "We don't want to know about the moratorium, / Or how near...
...Despite the bluster of its president, Iran's rulers appear inclined to echo the call for direct talks, having reportedly made a number of discreet approaches and also public statements expressing a willingness to negotiate. Senior former State Department and NSC officials have indicated that Tehran sought, in a message relayed via Swiss diplomats, to initiate talks on all matters of concern to Washington, with the blessing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in mid-2003, but were rebuffed by Bush Administration hawks. Iranian leaders also reportedly made a similar call for secret negotiations on all matters of concern when...