Word: venal
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...many Pakistanis, Chaudhry's suspension is a stark reminder of the venal, institution-destroying politics that Musharraf claimed his 1999 coup was meant to correct. Small protests in support of Chaudhry, initially by the Bar Association, were brutally suppressed by the security forces, provoking even wider outrage. News coverage was throttled as well, with local television stations not just intimidated by regulators but physically attacked by armed police officers, in a dramatic reversal of the media freedom that many liberal Pakistanis had previously hailed as one of Musharraf's most important achievements in power...
...first woman to lead a modern Muslim state, Bhutto was Prime Minister twice in the 1990s and remains popular despite the venal corruption that plagued her administration. A deal could allow Bhutto to return and lead her political party, even though term limits would prevent her from running for office...
...song, "Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee," and lots of impudent attitude, which the revival nicely preserved under John Rando's direction. An expert cast led by Encores! stalwarts Judy Kaye and Walter Bobbie found the fun of bankrupt millionaires and amiably venal cops improbably involved in putting on a Broadway show. It was swell, though I might have preferred Encores! to present Hart and Berlin's next revue, As Thousands Cheer, with a richer score (including "Easter Parade" and "Heat Wave") and a sassier tone. Maybe Encores! skipped it because the show was vibrantly revived...
...Toward the end, Swagger gets a civics lesson from a venal Montana Senator (Ned Beatty): "There's always a confused soul who thinks that one man can make a difference.... That's the problem with democracy." Actually, no. The problem with democracy is thinking that all men can make a difference. One man: that's despotism, or comic-book wish-fulfillment. Or the premise of nearly every Hollywood movie, which says that the system is corrupt, and the little guy can beat it. (Until the next movie, where the system is corrupt...
...English throne. Henry wrote a book in Latin." He also had a keen eye for talent, surrounding himself with brilliant men like Cardinal Wolsey, played by Sam Neill as a surprisingly sympathetic character for modern audiences--more of a workaholic gunning for a promotion than the venal, grasping manipulator he's often depicted as--and Sir Thomas More, Jeremy Northam's gentle humanist. When the two measured advisers talk their hawkish young King away from the brink of a costly war with France, they're savvy enough to let the boss take credit for the newfangled peace-treaty idea. "Your...