Word: locus
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Ironically, the instrument of government meant to bring the most power to the people now drops decisions into the laps of state Supreme Court judges and prevents either side from being satisfied. When court appeals and amicae briefs are the most important locus for lawmaking, the initiative system has been hopelessly debased. Lacking in legislative finesse, ineffective propositions lead voters to despair and stop voting, or, more wisely, vote "no" on bills regardless of their content. Then, the status quo is safe--and any chance for reform is on the ropes...
...powerful motivator: many of those new congregants of all faiths are searching for material sustenance in the food and medical aid of the church charities, including Caritas, that are now allowed to funnel foreign contributions into Cuba. The church appeals more as a spiritual sanctuary than as a locus for political rebellion. But in a slow, steady way, people are absorbing Christian ideas about individual worth and human rights...
...best of all possible worlds, contrary to any notions Leibniz or Voltaire might have had, was post-Civil War New Orleans. Not a mere metropolis, New Orleans was an emerging economic powerhouse ridden with racial tension, an elegant locus of brilliance of all sorts, and very nearly, if Christopher Benfey is to be believed, a living, breathing entity. The great painter Edgar Degas sojourned in this charmed city for several months in 1872 and 1873, and an enamored Benfey seized the coincidence as an opportunity to write a diffuse paean to the Crescent City and her denizens, and incidentally...
From the quiet prayers of Tibetan monks to the loud chants of "Free Tibet," Swedenborg Chapel was the locus of Tibetan protesters against Chinese President Jiang Zemin's speech on Saturday...
...come July 1, Hong Kong will not be the only locus of ideas and accomplishments that threaten the communists' hold on power. The erosion of the old ideology has led to an astonishing amount of de facto independence in economic activity, in political activity. Because of the reforms the authorities themselves set in motion, says Fang Jing, a Beijing schoolteacher, "we have opened the door to change. You can't keep new ideas out, and you can't slam the door shut again." The very inequalities unleashed in the sprawling nation, says Wang Shi, will keep pushing development forward...