Often they are based on legitimate expectations of high growth that are "extrapolated into the stratosphere," as the economist Daniel Yergin, chairman of IHS-Cambridge Energy Research Associttes, put it.
But whether this support is based on legitimate policy considerations or just pity for a dwindling group of desperate men remains a matter of opinion.
From boardrooms to the streets, women's anxiety to keep our body mass as low as possible is based on legitimate fears that we will be punished if we attempt fully to enter patriarchal space.
A spokesman for the cable company, In Demand, told The Associated Press on Friday that its decision to scrap the show -- it was to include Mr. Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11," which is critical of President George W. Bush -- was based on "legitimate business and legal concerns".
In 2006, the court ruled 4 to 2 that gay couples had no right to get married under existing state law or the State Constitution, holding that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples was based on legitimate societal goals, primarily the protection and welfare of children.
"The record in the present case amply supports the government's contention that its refusal to make such a motion for Scarpa was based on legitimate government concerns," the court wrote, adding that Mr. Scarpa had previously lied about Mr. Yousef, among other things.
