Word: seriousness
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...good company. The shopworn notion that America has been living on credit cards, that the party has to end, that there's no free lunch, and so on and so forth, is not the sole possession of Democratic politicians (who, like Republicans, don't propose to do anything serious about it anyway). Variations on this theme are played in two new books by past heads of President Reagan's own Council of Economic Advisers. Murray Weidenbaum says in Rendezvous with Reality, "We are consuming more than we are producing, borrowing more than we are saving, and spending more than...
Taxi driver Raham Dahalla, eyeing a darkening sky over Khartoum, hesitantly stuck his hand outside his cab window. "No more rain, please," he said. Sure enough, only a few drops fell this time. But even after the floodwaters subside, Sudan's political, economic and religious problems will be serious enough to engulf any government. For the majority of Sudan's 24 million citizens, the forecast is gloomy regardless of the weather...
Though he is a workaholic who puts in 14-hour days at the office, Baker exudes serenity. He is apt to crack jokes at his daily 7:30 a.m. staff meeting and has started a "most outrageous tie" competition, encouraging the driven and serious topsides of the campaign to try to outdo one another in flaunting garish neckwear...
Admissions of taboo, often criminal behavior pose a more serious dilemma. In fact, the line has become a repository for confessions of rape, incest, child sexual abuse and murder. The phone company's sole restriction is a ban on playing back such calls to other callers. "I just stabbed my wife and two daughters," one man screamed into the phone. "I buried my wife and daughter in the backyard. My other daughter is buried under the pier." The Los Angeles police, who do not monitor the line, say that it is up to the operators to report likely crimes...
Perhaps Updike attracts more serious appelations because his tone is often so harsh, his attitude so scornful of those he writes about. But Tyler's unrelenting compassion for her characters is intense but not maudlin. We should not mistake her sweetness for light...