Word: grimness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Caribbean Basin Initiative, announced amid much fanfare to the Organization of American States last week, is the logical outgrowth of an agonizing yearlong struggle to support the beleaguered current government of El Salvador and draw the line against further expansion of Soviet and Cuban influence. There was a grim urgency in the President's plea: "If we do not act promptly and decisively in defense of freedom, new Cubas will arise from the ruins of today's conflicts...
That amiable scene obscured some harsh realities. Despite Reagan's optimism, Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, Senator and Reagan Confidant Paul Laxalt and House Minority Leader Bob Michel had asked for the White House meeting to deliver a message that was grim, no matter how gently they phrased it: Republicans on Capitol Hill will simply not accept a budget involving such unprecedented deficits...
...behave toward civilians. That, of course, includes prohibitions against massacre, but other strictures deal with the proper treatment of prisoners and noncombatants. U.S. rules of military conduct spell out internationally accepted standards in even greater detail. The instruction could eventually make important improvements in the country's grim human rights record. According to a U.S. Army spokesman, the Salvadorans are "very sensitive to this issue. It is a topic of conversation to them, as well as a topic of training...
When the inevitable occurs, the novel abruptly shifts from an improbable idyl into a grim farce. Allie's quirkiness becomes derangement. He mistakes the destruction of Jeronimo for the obliteration of the U.S. and decides that he and his family must hide even deeper in the wilderness and endure greater discomforts. Charlie's loyalty begins to waver as every day brings new evidence that his father is crazy...
...subject to a few major up-or-down votes, such as the budget and tax tallies of last year, rather than subjecting the plan to scores of amendments and piecemeal votes in the House and Senate. During the speech, Vice-President George Bush, who tried to banter with a grim House Speaker Tip O'Neill, canvassed the Democratic side of the aisle for signs of support. "Only Gramm applauded," the Speaker gruffly noted later, referring to Phil Gramm of Texas, co-sponsor of the President's budget bill last year. O'Neill later passed the word...