Word: messier
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...messier reality emerged. What once appeared an extreme anti-Western monolith splintered into different factions. In Iraq, the ground zero of civilizational clash, the turning point was the bombing of the Samarra mosque, a site sacred to Shi'ite Muslims. From that horrifying moment onward, what had been a mainly Sunni insurgency against occupying infidel troops became a civil war between Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims. The dynamic within Islam in the Middle East shifted from one that pitted Islam against the West to one that pitted Islam against itself. Evidence emerged of Iranian support for Shi'ite militias, alongside...
...there's one thing we know about our risky world, it's that seat belts save lives, right? And they do, of course. But reality, as usual, is messier and more complicated than that. John Adams, risk expert and emeritus professor of geography at University College London, was an early skeptic of the seat belt safety mantra. Adams first began to look at the numbers more than 25 years ago. What he found was that contrary to conventional wisdom, mandating the use of seat belts in 18 countries resulted in either no change or actually a net increase in road...
...only thing messier than death, Alan Ball's drama taught us, is life. The story of the Fisher family, who ran a funeral parlor in Los Angeles, began as a trenchant, slightly preachy story about façades--how people put up false fronts, the way an undertaker paints makeup on a corpse. It grew into one of TV's best family dramas ever, embracing the Fishers in all their unruly contradictions: artistic, egocentric Claire; repressed, brave David; idealistic, obnoxious Nate; and straitlaced, adventure-seeking Ruth (above, from left, Lauren Ambrose, Michael C. Hall, Peter Krause and Frances Conroy...
...several weeks, political observers have said that it will be tough to reconcile the enforcement-only immigration reform bill passed by the House of Representatives with the more comprehensive reform bill approved by the Senate. But the battle got even messier this week, as Republicans decided to hold public field hearings. The first, organized by House Republicans, took place Wednesday at a Border Patrol station near San Diego. Meanwhile, Republican Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter held his own hearings Wednesday in Philadelphia...
...Europe serious about opposing torture? On paper, yes: Section I, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights states: "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." But torture is one of those areas where European reality is a bit messier than theory. In 2000, Amnesty International pointed to a troubling number of reports of ill treatment within Europe, many pertaining to the alleged abuse of asylum seekers. The implications of the Marty report are still more sobering. It's hard to escape the conclusion that some European governments, and law-enforcement...