Word: possessives
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...what they do not possess -- especially not the Caprichos and the Disasters of War -- is the sense of intellectual decorum and poise that the well-born, French-reading illuminati of Madrid preferred the discourse of images to have. Goya was not good at optimistic allegory. His large painting of the adoption of the liberal constitution of 1812 -- the constitution as a maiden in white presented by Father Time while pretty Clio, the muse of history, takes notes -- is one of his few real pictorial failures...
...similarities but only "up to a point," as a subordinate in Waugh's Scoop responded when Lord Copper blustered that Yokohama is the capital of Japan. Wilson's comedy is more tolerant than that of the malicious master. Both authors, however, project intimidating confidence in their styles and possess a technical virtuosity that makes the difficult look easy...
...Lady should be charming but not all fluff, gracious but not a doormat, substantive but not a co-President. She must defend her husband and smile bravely when he says stupid things. She must look great, even fashionable, when a shower and clean clothes would suffice for anyone else; possess perfect children though such critters do not exist in nature; and traipse around the globe in a suit and sensible pumps when she would rather be home with a good book. She has both a day and a night job, but is not allowed a profession of her own. Hardest...
...good intentions could stop the proliferation of chemical weapons, the scourge would have been cleaned up long ago. Over the past 63 years, 131 nations have signed the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which outlaws the use of poison gases. Yet at least 17 countries are believed to possess chemical weapons. They were most recently used last March, with hellish results, when Iraq unleashed mustard and cyanide gases on its own Kurdish citizens...
While the Mafia fed the world's drug habit, the problem initially did not seem urgent in Italy. In 1975 Parliament passed one of Europe's most liberal drug laws, which allowed individuals to possess an unspecified "modest quantity" of narcotics -- even heroin and cocaine -- for personal use. The legislation was hard only on dealers: they could be sentenced to 30 years in prison...