Word: penchants
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...eight years as Customs commissioner, Von Raab's penchant for independent action and colorful talk has landed him in a series of well- publicized scrapes. He was an early and vehement critic of Washington's see-no-evil policy toward Panama strongman Manuel Noriega. He appalled civil libertarians by proposing to shoot down suspected drug-smuggling planes. He infuriated the State Department by trying to mark passports of drug smugglers caught at the border. He promoted the "zero tolerance" program that called for prosecuting people apprehended with small amounts of drugs and confiscating their cars, boats and planes...
Throughout his years in power, Deng balanced moderate vs. hard-line factions in every organ of the state -- the party, the government, the military. The result was paralysis: important decisions were frequently avoided or ignored. Deng remained the ultimate arbiter, but hobbled by age and his penchant for toughing out dilemmas, he increasingly played off would-be successors against one another, letting their disagreements fester into bureaucratic skirmishing...
...Pacific. From 1971 to 1978 he served as Detroit bureau chief, witnessing the wrenching decline of the American automobile industry. Then it was back to Japan, with his wife and two of their five daughters, again as Tokyo bureau chief in 1978. While in Tokyo, Reingold developed a penchant for typing his files standing up. He claims the habit encourages him to write succinctly and, of course, to keep on his toes...
...penchant of mainline leaders for embracing progressive causes has sparked bitter internal disputes, especially over homosexuality and women's rights. The Rev. H. Boone Porter, editor of the Living Church, an Episcopal weekly, complains that "national officials have taken positions which, frankly, the rest of us do not understand." There are also continual squabbles over the political stands by clergy who sound like McGovern-Mondale Democrats while lay members are largely Reagan-Bush Republicans. Several denominations have also lost members through conservative schisms...
Thomson is not the only member of the cast with a knack for stand-up comedy. Larry O'Keefe, who plays the sinister Cromwell, also has a penchant for firing off one-liners. Although he is always amusing, O'Keefe lacks the bravura that the role of the villainous Cromwell requires. His entrances, such as when he breezes onto the stage while chomping on apples, are always interesting too watch, but O'Keefe's performance is not convincing enough to leave anyone in the audience quivering in fear...