Word: sharpest
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...than a scheme to use the lethal authority of Government to force up the market price of eggs by killing hens." Findley was particularly piqued that the bill singles out female chickens for liquidation. "The gals of Women's Lib," he told the House, "will surely ungirdle their sharpest clawings for those who do nothing -not even harmless, painless vasectomy-to the males, the perpetrators of production. Surely they will bare their beaks and demand roostercide instead of henocide...
...right to employment has caused some of the sharpest controversy. Back in the days of the sweatshops, feminists and some unions argued heatedly for the passage of maximum-hours laws and other protective measures. They won an occasional victory, complete with flourishes of male rhetoric. "The natural and proper timidity and delicacy which belongs to the female sex evidently unfits it for many of the occupations of civil life," the Supreme Court declared in 1872, but it happened to be protecting women by allowing them to be barred from the practice...
Beyond VAT, Swedes face an awesome array of levies. The Social Democratic Party, which has held power for 40 years, holds that taxes should aim at demolishing accumulated wealth. Many high-income "tax exiles" have fled abroad to conserve the remains of their fortunes. The sharpest wrench for the middle class and the rich is the "wealth" tax, which requires individuals to list the value of their worldly goods-jewelry, cars, house, securities, bank accounts-and pay an annual 1% levy on any amount above $31,000. Income from investments-dividends on stock, interest on bonds, rent on real estate...
...sharpest language was reserved, in fact, for matters of disagreement. In a departure from the normal communique form, each side was given a chance to present its own views and beat the drum for its own cherished cause. The U.S. announced that it was trying to reduce world tensions and preserve freedom, while the Chinese pledged their faith in the liberation of the oppressed and revolution "as the irresistible trend of history." It was stock propaganda. At the same time, each nation sought to reassure its nervous allies. The U.S. tried to cheer up South
Griffiths' book is sharpest when he is dealing with subjects that lend themselves to the kind of heavy irony he practices-pacification, for example, WHAM (Winning the Hearts and Minds of the people, etc.), and Washington-based computerized evaluation of the ill-fated hamlet program. But Vietnam Inc. is more valuable when simply showing the pain and mess the war has caused. Because Griffiths, at his best, reinforces the sound historic conviction that this particular war could never have been won on terms useful to anyone, these sections have doubly tragic effect. They make the book...