Word: poison
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...number of street people grows, so does the backlash, raising disturbing questions about hostility to the poor and the use of the homeless as scapegoats. A Fort Lauderdale city commissioner suggested rat poison as a topping for local garbage, then retracted the statement and recommended the use of chlorine bleach instead. In Santa Barbara, Calif., a 35-year-old drifter was found shot to death in December, and a flyer was circulated threatening more violence to the homeless who camp there. Jerry Hill, an Episcopal priest in Dallas, says that people who camp at the outskirts of the city endure...
...Poison Pill. A defense that makes the takeover so expensive that the predator gives up the quest. The target company, for example, might give shareholders securities that could be turned in for cash if the unwanted takeover succeeds...
Citizen Hughes contains plenty of grist for a Potomac potboiler: the role of Hughes Tool Co. in building the Glomar Explorer, the secret submarine-recovery vessel; Hughes' plans to run Nevada Governor Paul Laxalt for President; Robert Maheu's part in a half-baked CIA plot to poison Fidel Castro. But the book's chief merit is its direct access to the mind of a callous and frightened man. His fears about antitrust suits, Las Vegas competition and staff loyalty pale before his phobias. Dreading germs, he dictated a "Procedures Manual" for handling anything he was to touch: "Wash four...
...were to acquire as much information as possible about American medicine. Some were epidemiologists. The agent who was later expelled had spoken with relish about the possibility of demolishing New York's electric-power systems. Perhaps he was working out plans of an even more sinister nature with the poison and plague specialists...
Unrelieved worry about self-preservation is one of life's more depressing preoccupations. DeLillo illustrates this sad fact and attempts to lift the dread with satire and comic invention. An expert explains the poison cloud that threatens Iron City: "This is Nyodene D. A whole new generation of toxic waste. What we call state of the art." There are lampoons (if that is possible) of occult tabloids: "From beyond the grave, dead living legend John Wayne will communicate telepathically with President Reagan to help frame U.S. foreign policy. Mellowed by death, the strapping actor will advocate a hopeful policy...