Word: problems
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...seen that movie,” she explains), nor did she aim to produce yet another film about a mother’s psychological crisis. “I didn’t want [to portray] the mother who’s dealing with a drug problem, or a suicidal child,” she says. “I wanted an everyday mother...
...Whenever we have a problem, everyone makes a big drama - 'Oh, my God, it's the end. California is over,'" Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told me. "It's all bogus." Schwarzenegger likes spin and drama too - he's issued warnings about a "financial Armageddon" - and he literally blew smoke in my eyes while we spoke. But his belief in the anything-is-possible dream of California is more than spin; he is, after all, its ultimate embodiment. (See how marijuana is taxed in California...
...This gets to the one area where California really is dysfunctional: its budget. Californians generally enjoy government spending more than they enjoy paying for it, which is a national problem, but they've also straitjacketed their politicians with scads of lobbyist-produced ballot initiatives locking in huge outlays for various goodies, as well as the notorious Proposition 13, which has severely restricted local property taxes since 1978. California is also one of only three states that need a two-thirds supermajority to pass a budget or raise taxes, a virtual impossibility in its ultra-partisan legislature. So it relies...
...European Commission in Brussels also took steps to address the problem from a procedural standpoint by issuing new rules for dealing with asylum seekers. Officials set a six-month time limit for governments to hold refugee application hearings and advised all 27 European Union countries to introduce the same asylum procedures, rather than wildly varying standards. Jacques Barrot, the commission's vice president, said the changes aimed to offer "a more level playing field" to the huge numbers of people from Africa, Asia and elsewhere flooding into Europe. (See pictures of the French cracking down on migrants...
...Question Time ate itself, turning into a debate about Question Time. The real issue has never been whether Griffin and his ilk should be allowed to join the show's panel. The fundamental problem is how the mainstream parties can reconnect with the electorate and assuage their fury. With British parliamentary elections due by June 2010, party tacticians may be tempted to borrow from the BNP's populist playbook, talking tough on immigration and integration. Such rhetoric often proves a vote winner. But exploiting voters' discontent can simply stoke it. Until mainstream parties figure out how to earn back public...