Word: laughingly
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...allusions to crime and welfare dependency, which might have racist overtones. Blacks are freer to flirt with racial rhetoric. In the primary battle between black former Federal Judge Alcee Hastings and ex-Ku Klux Klan leader John Paul Rogers to be Florida's secretary of state, Hastings got a laugh last month by quipping, "If ((Rogers)) doesn't burn crosses in my neighborhood, I won't spit watermelon seeds in his." If Rogers had made the vow in reverse, he would have been accused of bigotry...
Sensible citizens may be able to laugh off the idea of depravity emanating from their civic orchestra, ballet or Shakespeare theater. But in a battle conducted chiefly in the media, all it takes is a couple of controversial recipients to overshadow thousands of uncontested ones. And in the overheated climate of current debate, attempts to weed out controversial recipients can poison relations between the NEA and its beneficiaries. Last week the endowment reaffirmed a decision to strip grants from four performance artists, all of whom deal with sexual issues, after they had been chosen by fellow creators. NEA Chairman John...
...price-fixing cartel. As part of the Nixon Doctrine in the early 1970s, the U.S. looked the other way as Saudi Arabia and Iran raised oil prices, hoping they would spend the money on military equipment and become the "twin pillars" of Middle East stability. (What a laugh! The Middle East military machines financed by high oil prices have been those of Ayatullah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein.) In 1986 Vice President George Bush actually went to Riyadh and begged the Saudis to reduce oil production in order to "stabilize" -- i.e., raise -- prices...
...queasiness about vacations. The Washington Post reports that two days before Iraq invaded Kuwait, when troops were already massed on the border, someone tried to reach the head of Kuwait's civil defense, only to be told he was on vacation for the next three weeks. Go ahead and laugh. But is that any more absurd than Dan Rather, who was on vacation in France, spending the day of the invasion desperately scouring the Middle East for a place to broadcast from and ultimately settling for London -- rather than permitting a war to occur while he was off-duty...
...just irritating. For me, it's embarrassing. It's my job to get rich (or so I interpret the responsibility). Who wants financial advice from a flounder? I go to the playground after the market closes, and the other kids make fun of me. "How's your Nike?" they laugh, knowing I shorted it at 70, betting it would go down. (It's 89.) "How's ol' Crappy?" they squeal, referring by nickname to a small auto- parts rebuilder I started buying at 7. I bought more last week...