Word: softener
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Brecht's epic theater, Brecht shows how closely the capitalist business interests relate to the criminal element. The entrepreneur, J.J. Peachum (Ernest Kearns), trafficks in sentiment. He outfits an army of "the poorest of the poor" with begging clothes and districts of operation. Aware of the efforts required to soften a man's heart to the point where he will part with his money, he believes, "no one can make his own misery sound convincing;" he has built an empire on this statement...
...next day, Stockman implicitly contradicted Regan by arguing that the Fed should keep the brakes on the money supply. As Regan continued to attack the Fed's tight money policy on a two-day speaking tour, Treasury Under Secretary Beryl Sprinkel tried to get his boss to soften the rhetoric. Regan, however, refused to include in his speeches the suggested changes dictated over the phone by Sprinkel's office. At week's end it became clearer why Regan seemed so sure of his footing. Presidential Counsellor Edwin Meese told the Business Council at a meeting...
...traces of panic brought down from the Hill by political hypochondriacs who see disaster in every adversity. Then he took over. First off, Reagan told his visitors, things were not so bad as they might seem in Washington and New York. Short-term interest rates were beginning to soften. And there would be more budget cuts. He looked around the table during one meeting, and for a second the warm mood faded. "Let's get one thing straight," he told his congressional visitors. "If budget-busting bills come down, I will veto them." After gathering his Cabinet officers...
Neither Carron's victory nor Devine's death was likely to soften Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's stand against the prisoner demands. Indeed, British authorities were encouraged when the family of 25-year-old Patrick McGeown, who had gone blind and suffered from severe head pains after 42 days without food, agreed to let doctors treat him. But some Catholics hoped that Thatcher might be influenced by a bold proposal from an unexpected quarter. In an editorial, London's Sunday Times, a pillar of the Establishment, argued that Britain should give up sovereignty over Northern Ireland...
...answering questions. They spend a great deal of time in bed, trying to preserve their strength. The staff puts sheepskin rugs in their beds to warm their bodies, now slowly turning colder. Although they refuse medication, the men do ask the nurses to give them liniment rubdowns to soften their parched skin. A barber comes in once a week to trim their hair and, if they are feeble, give them a shave. The prisoners are weighed daily and always anxiously demand to know the exact figure, then pass the word immediately to their waiting I.R.A. comrades, who spread it everywhere...