Word: come-on
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They were a welcome sight around health clubs, malls and nursing homes throughout Southern California. The mobile medical labs offered that great American come-on, something for nothing -- in this case, free medical exams. But last week the ubiquitous vans became a symbol of a disease contributing to the exploding cost of U.S. health care: insurance fraud. A Los Angeles grand jury returned a 175-count indictment against brothers Michael and David Smushkevich, along with 10 others, charging that they used the freebie checkups to submit $1 billion in fake claims. All told, they allegedly collected more than $50 million...
...they stop at a roadhouse for a drink. One of its resident lounge lizards mistakes Thelma's naive flirtatiousness for a come-on, follows her to the parking lot and almost succeeds in raping her. Louise rescues her at gunpoint. Then, just as you are figuring that this is an unaccountably dark passage in an otherwise sunny film, Louise kills the would-be rapist. In cold blood. With malice aforethought, however briefly considered...
...Will the come-on be expensive for Citibank? Maybe, but don't worry. According to the Nilson Report, a California-based industry newsletter, the company made $600 million in pure profit from its credit-card business last year, far more than from all its other operations combined. For competing issuers as well, credit cards are still so temptingly profitable that more customer-pleasing promotions are almost certainly...
...pauses to let the statement sink in. The girls' eyes widen approvingly. "And Cher," he adds. They move slightly closer. "Oh, yeah," he goes on, with the confident air of a man who knows he has made an impression. "In fact, I live right next door to Bruce." The come-on seems irresistible...
...their tone, for their fidelity to the theme of human corruption. These are modern morality plays, fascinating and determinedly unpleasant. They do not tease or flinch; they do not reward prurience. They do not glamourize violence, as the traditional Hollywood thriller does, with tricks of suspense and sexual come-on. Henry and The Cook are horror movies, yes -- essays in the horror of brutality, which they show as the insatiable craving of doomed, destructive souls. Any innocent who crosses these sociopaths, or just crosses their paths, is doomed...