Word: mattered
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Dates: during 1990-1990
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...self-congratulatory bombast on Capitol Hill could not mask the fact that no matter what compromise is eventually reached, the middle class will end up footing most of the bill. Democrats tried to camouflage that unpleasant reality by larding their proposals with provisions that appeared to soak the rich but would only add $60.4 billion to the government's coffers over five years. Republicans attempted to disguise it by denouncing even small increases in income taxes for the wealthiest citizens as an attempt to foist higher rates on everyone. Such maneuvers missed the point: both parties are responsible...
...search for simplicity at the deepest levels of nature is one of the enduring themes of physics. Perhaps the greatest milestone in this quest has been the quark model of matter. In the early 1960s, theorists proposed that the scores of known subatomic particles were really composites, made up of just a handful of smaller particles. Even protons and neutrons, the major components of atomic nuclei, could be described as being made of these more fundamental objects, called quarks...
Their work closely paralleled the discovery of atomic nuclei. In 1910, Ernest Rutherford fired alpha particles (fragments of helium atoms) at targets of gold foil. Most passed through, but some bounced back, making it clear that there were dense concentrations of matter within the foil. In the Stanford experiments, electrons were fired at protons and neutrons. The way the electrons bounced off these particles showed that the latter were not uniformly dense but made up of tiny concentrations of matter -- the quarks...
...similarity between the Ottoman and Soviet empires is more than a matter of geography. For nearly 300 years the Turks were in almost constant conflict with the great powers of Europe. That struggle, like the cold war, involved a clash not just of political ambitions but also of creeds. Much as the Soviet Union has embodied a communist ideology committed to world revolution, Ottoman Turkey posed to Christian Europe the challenge of militant Islam...
None of this might matter greatly if a war follows the quick-knockout script sketched by some Air Force enthusiasts. In the politics of war, as in other matters, nothing succeeds like success. Even then, however, the U.S. would need the support of its world coalition to shape a durable peace. And at home one need only mention the word Vietnam to underscore the importance of congressional and popular support. Unfortunately, the scenarios for fighting a war seem to have been far more carefully drawn and fully thought out than the scripts for justifying the decision...