Word: patch
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...mesure. Ideally, any gardener would like to serve nature, to participate and share in her mysteries, but he soon learns that nature as such is a constant state of aggression and destruction. Each plant reseeds itself a hundred times too often, and each garden struggles to become a weed patch. When we first dig into a terrain that we plan to make a garden, we assume the role of philosopher-king. While we learn that we cannot conquer nature, we also learn that we must make decisions of life or death. In a row of unthinned carrots, none ever grows...
Unlike his predecessors, Roemer is using his new clout to dismantle the pattern of extravagant patronage and spending programs that made Louisiana seem as profligate as a Cajun on an old-time oil-patch payday. The Roemer Revolution is a drastic effort to restore solvency to a state that is, in Treasurer Mary Landrieu's words, "flat broke." In fact, it is worse than broke: it faces a deficit of $1.3 billion. Roemer proposes to reduce the state's historic dependence on oil and energy revenues. Already, the tax-shy legislature has earmarked a 1 cents sales-tax increase...
Zestful exuberance is a common characteristic among Weeks' collection of American eccentrics. Dr. Patch Adams, for example, is a general practitioner in Arlington, Va., who runs a clinic called the Gezundheit Institute. Adams, who makes his living by lecturing and putting on educational shows, has a volunteer staff, dresses like a clown to cheer his patients and, even more cheering, does not charge them. "He believes laughter is one of the best medicines," says Weeks...
Reagan's "what-me-worry?" energy policies are reminiscent of the Sesame Street episode in which Bert and Ernie find rain leaking through a hole in the roof. They can't patch the hole while it's raining, so they decide to wait until the rain stops. But when it does, they no longer see the need to fix the roof, because it's not leaking any more...
...there is big trouble in the Cabbage Patch. Citing a debt load of about $300 million, incurred mostly during years of heady expansion, the firm said last week it would lay off 35% of the managerial staff at its West Hartford, Conn., headquarters and 50% of its production employees. But as dramatic as those steps were, Wall Street is not sure they will be enough to keep Coleco out of bankruptcy...