The Lexicographer's Rules

"The UN may look like a dwarf next to your tower, Mr. Trump, but its role for our future is gigantic. Your tall, dark and handsome tower, as you call it, is something of a symbol of the unparalleled economic growth that your country is now experiencing. At the same time, it casts a shadow over the UN, given the huge debt that your country owes to the UN." "

—The Age. Sweden's ambassador to the United Nations, Pierre Schori, writes to developer Donald Trump, seeking his input on the declining physical state of the UN buildings in New York City.'

"We work hard for our money. We don't steal and we don't cheat. Why should we be ashamed of what we do?"

—Los Angeles Times. Seventeen women manually tow and haul 70 tons of waste through the slimy backwaters of Shanghai. The government, seeking to avoid negative publicity and the shame of such un-modern ways, will replace them with a system which will pump sewage directly into processing plants. Zhang Yuxi, husband of Wang Lanying: "Nobody works harder. See their rubber shoes? They can go through them in three months. Socks, once a week. Their shoulders are thick with calluses. Nobody sees that but us."'

"The US judicial system is extremely unfair. Thirty eight of the 50 US states carry out the death penalty. By 1 July 2000, there were 3,682 people on death row in the nation, more than 90 percent of whom had been victims of sexual abuse and assault. Most of them were poor, attained low educational levels, were not covered by Medicare services, and had to rely on officially appointed lawyers as they were too poor to pay for their own attorneys. The probability that the death sentences were erroneously meted out was very high."

—Federation of American Scientists. China, sick of American complaints about human rights violations in that country, releases its own "US Human Rights Record in 2000" report. It is a fascinating read, an outsider's view that suggests American hypocrisy, though it's doubtful whether the contuining sale of Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kampf" proves anything.'

"When there's a terrible murder, people who are interviewed say, 'This has always been a quiet neighborhood.' That is so dumb and uninformed! The earth is not a quiet neighborhood. There isn't anyplace that's a quiet neighborhood. People are asking themselves how to stay neat in the cyclone."

—New York Times. Writer Paula Fox talks about her turbulent life.

"In the mid-1970's, if you wanted to make a record, you went to a record company. The pop labels had tons of money, and, if the stacks of vinyl that arrived in my mail every day were anything to go by, they signed virtually anything that moved. But they did so under strict conditions, using contracts whose terms could only be described as Draconian."

—New York Times. Ed Ward writes about Andy Zwerling, one of music's gray men, lost in the background, struggling for the front, with talent and drive to spare. "If the company didn't like what they turned in, the label might ask for its money back. Those unwilling to comply could be forced to remain under contract for years, unable to record for anyone else unless a new label bought out their debt."'