Word: perfectible
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...ardent supporter of Red-Baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy; he was willing to accept the enormous tax breaks of the oil-depletion allowance but opposed spending for public welfare. He spent millions to propound his views through radio programs and published a book, Alpaca, outlining his version of the perfect national constitution. Among other things, wealthy individuals would get multiple votes...
What, he asks, is a car? "A car is a rolling sneeze, a slice of selfishness." Train travel, by contrast, can be "the most nearly perfect way of moving from one place to another." In many nations, notably France, Italy, Germany and Japan, there are commodious sleepers, cooked-aboard meals, and the kindly service that has been supplanted in the U.S. by the do-it-yourselfism of Howard Johnson motels and Amtrak sandwich bars. Even the U.S. expense-account ethos has done little to encourage elegance or comfort on the rails...
...Alcohol," undoubtedly the highlight of the first part, provided the perfect outlet for Davies's strong attachment to the music hall/vaudeville traditions of his youth. The song was introduced in a quasi-puritanical manner, in which Davies warned the world against the imminent dangers of demon alcohol, while keyboard man John Gosling tinkled the ivories in such a fashion as to mock good-naturedly the somber scenario Davies tried to conjure up. The song's crapulous ambiance was supported by the sluggish, drawn out tempo of the Dixieland horn section and Davies's possibly unintentional slurring of the lyrics...
...became three-dimensional, and his characterization included a hedged but still eloquent plea for compassion for the guys with the black hats. Davies's failure to develop Mr. Black's character seemed almost intentional. Mr. Black's distaste for emotion and his calculated and scheming manner made him the perfect model for his vision of a society composed of artificial men. Finally, Davies made sure that Preservation lacked neither melodrama, as in the bit about Flash's dream of his soul speaking to him like the ghost of Christmas past, or comedy, as when a pair of floozies rolled...
...perfect example of a type of issue that the caucus would handle is last spring's printers' strike," Thomsen said. "The full committee felt that it did not want to take a stand on the issue but the students drafted a unanimous statement in support of the workers after the meeting...