Word: softened
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...imperative to keep future inflation from pushing up benefits as rapidly as it did from 1975 to 1981. Besides saving money for the trust funds and helping to trim the overall budget deficit in the short run, a limit on future increases could also help build up reserves to soften the 21st century's demographic crunch. Any increase decreed now will almost certainly be frozen into the benefit rates paid to future retirees; the cumulative cost over the decades is gigantic...
...working is an early cease-fire and the prompt withdrawal of Argentine forces." That wording differed from previous British demands, which had called for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Argentine forces from the islands before any other discussion could begin. The British also seemed willing to soften their insistence on self-determination for the Falkland Islanders, now saying only that their "wishes" had to be taken into account. Finally, the British said that they would find a U.N. administration acceptable, as opposed to their earlier demand for a "return to British administration" in the Falklands before any negotiations...
...Post recently declared the government's conviction that the Sandinistas' desire for improved relations is insincere, and that pressure and fear--not negotiations--are the most effective methods for improving Washington-Managua relations. As the Post source put it, "Nicaraguan fears about U.S. efforts to encourage internal dissidence will soften the Sandinistas up and make them more inclined to negotiate sincerely on the terms we've proposed." Such bravado sounds hauntingly like the rhetoric used to justify the terrific bombing of North Vietnam over a decade ago. U.S. foot-dragging on talks with Nicaragua proves how little the present Administration...
With or without the Greens and the Lutherans, the rally against Reagan has already developed enough momentum that concerned members of the peace movement fear nothing can be done to soften its anti-American tone. An even greater worry is that without the discipline and organization of the environmentalists and the two religious groups, the demonstrations may turn violent. That, even more than the Communists' crude manipulation, could deal a serious blow to the Western European peace movement...
Over the years, doctors have tried to soften the treatment: braces have gotten smaller, casts lighter. Now, for moderate cases, braces may be eliminated altogether. In hospitals around the world, doctors are testing electrical devices that have arrested or partly reversed the progression of scoliosis in nearly nine out of ten cases. Worn only at night, the gadgets have two electrodes that are placed on the patient's back over the convex side of the spinal curve. An implantable model has three electrodes that are buried under the skin. A bedside transmitter is used to trigger a pulsing current...