Prime Cuts
Wednesday, December 22, 1999
- More Legacy Watch: As we approached July 4, 1976 - the bi-centennial of America's independence - there was, to my memory, absolutely no discussion of world-wide terrorist organizations possibly targeting places where large numbers of Americans would be gathering, like the Mall in Washington, DC.
- It is only now, after seven years into the administration of "one of the greatest presidents in history" (in the Gospel according to Gore) that people are being forced to change their plans for New Year's Eve for fear of being involved in the last big story of one millennium, or the first big story of the next.
- December 21 is the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Long time readers of Mullings know that I spent last December 21st on Bali because it is south of the equator and I wanted, just once in my life, to be in a place where my birthday was the longest day of the year.
- Friend Sam Dawson called to ask what I was doing for my birthday and I said I hadn't even thought about it until my wife had wished me a happy birthday earlier in the day. I said birthdays which are divisible by 10 are big ones. Birthdays which are divisible by five are worthy of mention. Birthdays which are prime numbers - like 53 - don't count. Sam asked if he was speaking to Dustin Hoffman.
- Same thing with this "2000 is, or is not, the first year of the millennium" nonsense. 1999 is a prime number. 2000 is divisible by 10, 100, and 1000. 2001 is not a prime number. No one ever shouted to the young ones in the back of the car, "Hey kids, look! The speedometer is turning to 19001!"
- Housing and Urban Development secretary, Andrew Cuomo, son of former Democratic New York Governor Mario, announced Tuesday that HUD was taking over the funding of programs for the homeless in New York City because of "complaints" about whether groups critical of New York mayor Rudy Giuliani were being denied money.
- Hillary Rodham Clinton Rodham made a big deal about the homeless situation in New York about 10 days ago. Yesterday her husband's Secretary of HUD makes a major change in policy which can only be interpreted as attempting to embarrass Giuliani. Cuomo's comment? "We cannot allow federal funds to be politicized." The irony of that statement makes one's knees buckle.
- Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said that he was scaling back the classes of employees at the national weapons laboratories - Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia - who would be forced to take lie detector tests in the wake of the espionage case in New Mexico. Richardson said political appointees would not be exempt from lie detector tests and that he had already taken one.
- I wish I had been allowed to participate in that test: "Secretary Richardson, have you ever stolen nuclear secrets? No? Ok. Mr. Secretary, did you ever offer Monica Lewinsky a job at the suggestion of anyone in, or acting on behalf of, the Clinton Administration?"
- Here's what I think is behind Al Gore's offer to Bill Bradley that they both agree to stop running television and radio ads. Gore's folks have done some focus group testing and found he is extremely vulnerable to even a slightly negative round of TV ads by Bradley. Bradley turned down the offer, so he must have similar information.
- The FBI has recovered a painting by Peter Paul Reubens which had been stolen from Brussels seven years ago. The painting is valued at $3.1 million, which is not the surprising part. The surprising part is that Pee Wee Herman could paint at all.
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