Word: vows
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...surrounded himself with a group of thuggish henchmen who specialized in murder and mayhem rather than the silkier arts of persuasion and blackmail once favored by the Mafia. Unlike tradition-bound gangsters who obeyed the vow of silence when arrested, some of these lieutenants cut deals with the law. Over the past year, 270 so-called pentiti provided unprecedented details of the Mob's workings and helped investigators tighten the net around its chief. According to some sources, the tip that led to Riina's arrest came from at least one such stool pigeon who put more faith...
SINCE HIS ELECTION, BILL CLINTON HAS MORE THAN DEMONSTRATED his brains, energy and rapid grasp of complex issues. He named his Cabinet by Christmas and kept his vow to bring diversity to top government posts. For two days in December, he conducted a tour de force over the economic landscape, dazzling TV viewers as he pitched and fielded questions on subjects ranging from capital formation to auto-emission controls. He even talked policy as he frolicked on the beach, giving some Americans an impression that they had elected a new-age Renaissance man who could juggle all sorts of modern...
...slip off words when we enter a sacred space, just as we slip off shoes. A "moment of silence" is the highest honor we can pay someone; it is the point at which the mind stops and something else takes over (words run out when feelings rush in). A "vow of silence" is for holy men the highest devotional act. We hold our breath, we hold our words; we suspend our chattering selves and let ourselves "fall silent," and fall into the highest place...
RONALD REAGAN PLEDGED TO BALANCE THE BUDGET by 1984. Congress, in the first, 1985, version of the Gramm-Rudman Act, promised to wipe out the deficit by 1990. Bill Clinton in last year's campaign merely proposed to cut red ink in half in four years. But if his vow was more modest, it was not, apparently, any more realistic than -- well, George Bush's prediction three years ago of a balance by fiscal 1993. In fact, Bush's final budget reveals that during his Administration the deficit nearly doubled, rising to an expected $327.3 billion in fiscal...
...half within four years -- while cutting middle-class taxes and spending more on everything from highways to veterans' benefits -- now looks a lot tougher to meet than they expected. Failure to fulfill it could prove as politically damaging to Clinton as was President Bush's "no new taxes" vow...