Word: jerk
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...defend himself and his institution from peevish and petty assaults with great skill, Bok failed deal with the important issues that Bennett did raise despite himself. On these more substantive issues--teaching, advising and, to a lesser extent, the Core Curriculum--Bok issued the sort of conditioned, knee-jerk defense of Harvard that Bennett had predicted he would...
...Philippines whose leases expire in 1991. The House of Representatives had approved a $200 million aid package just five hours after Aquino electrified Congress with a stirring address. But Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole argued, "There were no hearings in the House. It was just a knee-jerk proposal...
Reagan's advisers eventually came to a different conclusion. The Kremlin, they argued, had simply displayed a knee-jerk reaction -- if a spy is caught, take a hostage -- and monumentally miscalculated the degree of public fury that the seizure of Daniloff would provoke. That reading dictated putting off any retaliatory steps until after the Soviets had been given a way to save face. Says one Administration official: "The bear when cornered is ferocious." Yet the bear can also show a more agreeable side: on Saturday the Soviets announced they were allowing five well-known dissidents to emigrate, a positive gesture...
...going to be a regular student like everyone else," said Principal Charles Wolf. True, Ryan's reinstatement resulted from another court order, and true, AIDS victims around the country still face formidable prejudices. But the calm in Indiana was one of several signs last week that knee-jerk fear of people with AIDS may be subsiding, at least in some parts of the population...
...author may realize what a jerk Fielding Pierce really is, but it is difficult to tell, since the snake has all the lines. Further muddying the issue of whether a character like this should be a Congressman is the reappearance of Sarah Williams, who, dead or alive, certainly comes to haunt the candidate. Spencer, 40, struggles with an ambitious question: How can people work for good in a world of evil? Unfortunately, with friends like Fielding and Sarah, the causes of righteousness and coherent narratives seem curiously irrelevant...