Word: venal
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Everyone has many terrible vows to keep, many beautiful secrets to reveal. Venal jailers stroke their fancy mustaches. The sound effects are volcanic: a slap stings like a bullwhip. Benazir goes mad, her daughter grows up to be a race-car driver, the policeman's daughter becomes a cop and helps track down Habibullah's brother (who spits out his evil threats on a cellular phone--suddenly we're in today's India), and everything climaxes in an Armageddon of gunplay. With music...
...over to shoot the wounded. Is it the job of jackboot reporters in this country to conduct house-to-house searches, ransacking private lives for every disreputable little secret, driving quarry to such humiliation that their only refuge is self-destruction? Shame on my profession! To hell with its venal careerism, its hypocrisy, its prurience, its pietistic ruthlessness...
...have been surprised at both the number of complaints and the percentage that have been substantiated," Labor Secretary Robert Reich said last week. Investigators have found merit in 401(k) complaints at twice the normal rate for Labor Department inquiries. Often the money has been diverted for the most venal purposes. "Some companies," notes Assistant Labor Secretary Olena Berg, "have been using the money for hunting trips and lavish life-styles" for their officers...
...producers and, says Kapur, "now stands by the film." But the Indian government would not grant her a passport to attend the U.S. premiere. American filmgoers can see an exciting movie that brings Devi's story to life with passion but without passing judgment. In India, though, a venal game is being played: the upper-class guardians of public morality who once defamed this low-caste rebel are now ensuring that Bandit Queen remains an untouchable...
...NOTION THAT MUSIC AND CINEMA are responsible for the meltdown of U.S. society is utter nonsense; moreover, this red herring is perpetuated by venal politicians to pre-empt any serious examination of sensitive issues. America is ailing and in denial. Chief among the many ills exacerbating our sick spirit is bogus puritanism. Ill-minded men wed to this pernicious folly inhibit us from ordaining reasonable policies regarding sex, drugs, violent crime, taxes, the military and foreign policy. Tully Atkinson San Clemente, California...