Word: quasi-
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...never received 5% of the vote in any plebiscite. But many of them still want to protect their own culture, their own language, their own candidate in Miss Universe competitions, which they've won an extraordinary five times. And most mainland politicians seem more or less satisfied with the quasi-colonial status quo. So while on June 1 Puerto Ricans will exert more influence than they've ever had before in U.S. politics, by June 2, they'll still lack the right to vote for their commander-in-chief...
...Chinese director Jia Zhangke has long been a favorite at the Venice Film Festival - his Still Life won the Golden Lion there in 2006 - but this quasi-documentary is his first entry in the Cannes competition. Jia's stately, static camera style is well suited to the story, which weaves the comments of workers from a Chengdu factory with three fictional monologues, delivered by distinguished actresses of three periods of Chinese cinema: Joan Chen, Lu Liping and Zhao Tao. "As far as I'm concerned," Jia says in a program note, "history is always a blend of facts and imagination...
...both piety and modernity. Indeed, Alevi Islam is as layered as the ceremonial dress worshipers sometimes wear, originating in pre-Islamic times when the Turks were nomadic horsemen in Central Asia. Their circular prayer rooms, veneration of horses and participation in sports such as javelin throwing, all predate the quasi-Shi'ite form of Islam they later adopted (Alevi means "follower of Ali," the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad venerated in Shi'ism). They say the Koran is open to interpretation, and temper its teachings with such Alevi dictums as "control your hand, your groin and your tongue...
...Tennessee may have adopted his view from a trend abroad. In Eastern Europe, for example, nine countries have already adopted some form of a flat tax. Thompson advocated a similar system: individuals would pay 10 percent on income below $50,000 and 25 percent on the rest. With this quasi-flat tax and the current tax remaining as an option (to be phased out), unchecked loopholes could be closed, and both administrative expenses and general confusion would diminish, while compliance increased. (At least, this has been the Eastern European experience...
...appeals to an important overseas constituency - Chavistas, the loyalists of left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who reveres Fidel for his socialist purity and anti-U.S. ferocity. The relationship between Raul and Chavez is cordial at best; and Chavistas make no secret of their displeasure with Raul's quasi-capitalist bent. But Raul can't afford to alienate Chavez, who controls the hemisphere's largest oil reserves - and who each day sends 100,000 barrels of cut-rate crude to Cuba that has helped keep the island's economy afloat this decade...