WordWealth: egregious

e·gre·gious , adj.

Though Gore is a highly ambiguous class warrior and has skillfully targeted only the most egregious (and unpopular) corporate powers, this is a bold and welcome turn toward class politics in the United States. And though Ralph Nader and the revitalized political operations of the AFL-CIO undoubtedly deserve some credit too, there's a chance that Teixeira and Rogers have helped do for the Democrats what Kevin Phillips's "Southern strategy" did for the Republicans in 1968 and beyond. —— Jack Metzgar, 'Muddle in the Middle, or The Class Act in Politics'; The Nation; Oct 12, 2000

The time-honored practice of tax avoidance is also an invitation to abuse. Two particularly egregious cases of tax avoidance involved our old friend Enron and executives at the telecom giant Sprint. Both provide regulators and Congress with powerful incentives to crack down on tax shelters that deprive the Treasury of an estimated $50 billion a year. —— 'Unbridled Greed'; Editorial, The New York Times; Feb 24, 2003

"Blowback" is a CIA term first used in March 1954 in a recently declassified report on the 1953 operation to overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran. It is a metaphor for the unintended consequences of the US government's international activities that have been kept secret from the American people. The CIA's fears that there might ultimately be some blowback from its egregious interference in the affairs of Iran were well founded. Installing the Shah in power brought twenty-five years of tyranny and repression to the Iranian people and elicited the Ayatollah Khomeini's revolution. The staff of the American embassy in Teheran was held hostage for more than a year. This misguided "covert operation" of the US government helped convince many capable people throughout the Islamic world that the United States was an implacable enemy. —— Chalmers Johnson, 'Blowback'; The Nation; Sep 27, 2001

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