Word: sapping
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...lost his nerve; that the West's nuclear deterrent has intimidated him. Wrote China's Red Flag scornfully and pointedly: "To be afraid of war, and so to oppose all wars, even denying support to just wars, and to dream of begging peace from the imperialists will sap one's will to fight, bind one's own hands and feet, and weaken preparations against the imperialist...
...Taxes sap the vigor of a country, says Parkinson, since the proceeds are almost totally wasted. In the old unsophisticated days, kings spent the money on banquets and concubines, and then biology, at least, imposed fiscal limits. But the modern bureau with its research analysts and printing presses gobbles up limitless funds -with no fun to show for it. The life cycle of a bureau is ruled by one law: "It spends and therefore is." In one of the skits with which Author Parkinson enlivens his chronicle, he pictures a breathless female statistician rushing in to the U.S. Secretary...
...bonus for every kill) by Rayonier, Inc. to hunt black bears on 600 sq. mi. of forest land. Though timbermen have only recently realized it, the black bear is a major threat to lumbering. Hungry bears strip the bark from young Douglas fir trees to get at the sweet sap. One bear can damage 1.200 trees in a single season, and foresters estimate that bears annually destroy 100 trees for every one destroyed by fire...
Getting out the riches is notably hindered by disease. Malaria, yellow fever, yaws, trachoma and filariasis (a forerunner of elephantiasis) sap men's will to work and win. But disease is being fought hard and successfully. During World War II, the U.S. launched a Special Public Health Service (SESP) to protect vital rubber workers from the Amazon's scourges. Now only eight of SESP' 3,153-man staff are U.S. citizens, and 97% of its annual $10 million budget comes from Brazil. The outfit runs 249 rural clinics, 22 hospitals, 109 city water systems, 97 sewage-disposal...
...Rabbit Trap. A fable about a plodding father's effort to hold his son's respect, starring Ernie (Marty) Borgnine, who stands in as much danger as maple syrup of being typecast as lovable sap...