Often, the prime contracts include small business set-asides, or goals, that are tied to award fees.

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Recent immigrants and wealthy blacks are thought more deserving of quota favoritism and set-asides than poor whites.

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However, my Cato Institute colleague Simon Lester warned of the danger of littering an accord with exemptions, exceptions, set-asides, and other restrictions.

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And a final question: As a veteran, would you please see if we can enforce the existing laws for veteran and other small-business set-asides?

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Many Olympic officials who benefit from the set-asides keep very busy schedules during the Games, allowing them only quick appearances (or no appearance) for some events.

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Sadly, it's also an idea that is going out of style in a society where students expect to get good grades just for showing up, where everyone gets a ribbon no matter where they finish, and where parents scheme to get their kids into college by lobbying state legislatures to create set-asides for in-state residents at public universities.

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Recently, for example, they were instrumental in the passage of legislation that mandates five percent federal contracting set asides for women-owned businesses.

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Lucid, sardonic, cinema-centric asides (especially one great set piece involving an aged, hearing-impaired movie technician from the silent-film era) adorn their all-night tangle of intimacy, building to a grungy, furiously self-deprecating .

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