Lieberman said that there was a growing sense that the media preoccupation with sex and violence was having a harmful effect on America's children.

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Mr Brown's preoccupation with stability also constrains his efforts at redistribution: he has in effect forbidden himself from spending more on the poor unless he has the wherewithal to finance it.

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But if you believe that alcoholism is defined by a preoccupation with drinking, a steady increase in the amount you need to drink in order to get the same effect, and an inability to give it up -- and most in the medical profession do -- then more and more women fit the profile quite nicely, though often come to the realization on their own.

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