Word: grated
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...late 1980s his reputation for platinum alchemy began to tarnish abruptly. Associates say Yetnikoff became consumed by personal vendettas against a growing number of enemies -- real or imagined -- in the $20 billion global music industry. His combative style seemed increasingly to grate his employer, Sony, which had bought the record giant in 1988 for $2 billion. Last week a frustrated Yetnikoff, 57, suddenly bowed out as chief executive. He explained only that he planned to take a sabbatical of several months and then work on unspecified long-term projects with the company...
Other things grate as well. At their worst, some of these "cause" groups are totally the creations of direct-mail mills, which invent them for the very purpose of swallowing up most of the revenues in fund-raising costs and generating lists of contributors to sell. Even legitimate groups distort their agendas to emphasize "hot button" issues that will produce a better direct- mail response...
Surely it is the responsibility of a society as wealthy as ours to ensure that no one has to sleep on a grate. Just as surely, it is the height of unfairness to take away housing funds from the poor while maintaining lavish deductions for middle-and upper-class homeowners. Congress should eliminate this $32 billion dollar handout to the wealthy and use that money to provide adequate housing for the truly needy...
...while our society continues to grope for the social and legislative solutions to the problem of homelessness, each of us individually should still do our part. Yet the question remains, for those of us who are disturbed by the sight of shivering individuals sleeping on a grate or crying out in agony, what can we do when confronted by the homeless beggar...
...good sign: a long queue just inside a hardware store. Obviously, something scarce is available. It turns out to be laundry soap, brown waxy bars that people must grate into washing machines. I join the line, No. 68. "We never used to stand in line for soap," says Alexandra Vasivna, a Moscow pensioner and No. 69. "I don't know what's happened." I hold her place while she sees how much is left. "Nine cartons," she reports. "I don't know if we'll get any." A man in front grumbles, "We would if people didn't hoard...