Word: specter
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When Walt Disney released its animated version of "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991, the moviegoing public was enchanted. The film was a box office success and critics unanimously praised Disney for its originality and innovation. Yet while the Disney version had undeniable charm, behind it stood the specter of an immensely superior film, Jean Cocteau's 1946 "La Belle et la Bete...
FIRST IT WAS UP. THEN IT WAS DOWN. THEN UP, then down. Up again, down again. Then up one last time before Cincinnati was finally rid of the specter of a cross raised by the Ku Klux Klan. The hate group's permit to display the cross finally expired a day before New Year's Eve. For nine days the cross inspired a festival of civil disobedience. Four times the Klan put it up, and three times protesters knocked it down. The list of those arrested for anti-Klan actions included seven whites and six blacks. Ironically, the Klan...
JUST AS CINCINNATI THOUGHT IT MIGHT LIVE DOWN the embarrassing Marge Schott affair came yet another specter of bigotry: taking advantage of a federal court decision that forced the city to permit a huge Hanukkah menorah in a public square, the Ku Klux Klan erected a tit-for-tat wooden cross nearby. Though this particular cross was not afire, its sponsorship by the hate group inflamed local opinion. A day before its erection, hundreds gathered in a candlelit protest. Hours after the appearance of the Klan krucifix, a pair of demonstrators toppled and trampled on it -- but the Klan...
Though it boasts prominent names, including Senators Arlen Specter, Nancy Kassebaum, John Chafee and Warren Rudman, the new assemblage faces rough going. Other moderates, reluctant to anger religious activists, declined to join the effort. Even the pugnacious Specter cautioned afterward that "it is important that we not pick fights or disagree with anyone." Ralph Reed, who runs Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition, noted that a previous effort to mobilize centrists had flopped. "It's awfully hard to motivate moderates," Reed observed...
...program and start exchanging Christmas presents. Hannukah itself is a nice little holiday, commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over Greek aggressors a long time ago. But in the Jewish calendar, it's very much a minor event. It's not even mentioned in the Bible. And the specter of celebrating the holiday by swapping presents might prompt Hillel himself to spin in his grave...