Word: charlatan
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...League scion of a U.S. Steel executive, Beecher has worked furiously to turn himself into a self-made common man. "Bard of the people" might be the title he has aspired to for 50 years, like Vachel Lindsay and Carl Sandburg before him. But Beecher is no folk charlatan. He has paid his dues. When he refused to sign a loyalty oath during the McCarthy era, he was fired from the faculty of San Francisco State College. The city of Birmingham, which declared May 1 John Beecher Day, was not so pleased with its native son ten years ago when...
That faith is nowhere more evident than in the U.S.S.R., which has been beset in recent years with controversial sensitives. One, Ninel Kulagina, was appraised as capable of causing objects to float in midair. As Martin Gardner notes, "She is a pretty, plump, dark-eyed little charlatan who took the stage name of Ninel because it is Lenin spelled backward. She is no more a sensitive than Kreskin, and like that amiable American television humbug, she is basically show biz." Indeed, Ninel has been caught cheating more than once by Soviet Establishment scientists...
...lies will not work forever. The fatigue that plagues this nation is deeply felt and it makes the truth of the situation too hard to ignore. If the country is running down, no charlatan's patent cure can revive...
Despite a host of professional critics, who call him a charlatan, Cole has garnered some support. Says Keith Norcross, consultant surgeon at Birmingham's Royal Orthopedic Hospital: "Dr. Cole has shown great courage. He's filling a gap left by the medical profession. The women helping Dr. Cole should be given all our praise for what they are doing. They have a generosity of spirit, compassion and understanding...
During the singing a guy jumped up from the audience into the satin chair, and pantomimed a put-on guru: blowing kisses to the crowd, basking in their adulation. There was no doubt as to his particular answer to The Question: the Guru was a charlatan. Half of the crowd roared its approval, delighted with the sacrilege...