THE OLD MAN'SATTIC
THE OLD MAN'S
A: Because he has 11 megabytes. That's why!
Albania is non-country country. It is a country where police estimate that more than half the cars on the road were stolen from somewhere else in Europe, where everyone has a gun at home and where just two years ago the whole banking system was based on pyramid schemes and three-card monte. The Wall Street Journal recently quoted an unemployed worker in Tirana [the Albanian capital] as saying, “It would be better if Milosevic bombed here, and we could all go as refugees to Italy and Germany.”
My heart goes out to the refugees from Kosovo, and I am rooting for every cruise missile we lob into Serbia to find Slobodan Milosevic... but then I think of our own fearless leader, the fact that I could never believe another thing that man says, his gang of advisors who do not seem to have thought this out very well... and wonder, What the heck are we doing over there anyway?
An 18 year embarrassment for New York State finally came to an end Tuesday [November 3, 1998] with the defeat of three term Senator Alfonse D'Amato. It is questionable whether Democratic Congressman Charles Schumer will be much better, but it will be a relief not to have to see D'Amato anymore.
Former pro wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura, a
third party candidate, defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey III and Republican Norm
Coleman to become Minnesota's governor Tuesday.
The Body gets high marks for honesty though, telling his supporters that he didn't make a lot of campaign promises because, "I don't want to make promises I can't keep." This, even more than his hulking figure, square jaw, shaved head and deep baritone voice will distinguish him from his fellow-politicians.
December 8, 1998; Concord, N.H. (Reuters)
N.H. asks presidential hopefuls sign primary pledge
New Hampshire Democratic and Republican leaders announced a new campaign pledge Tuesday designed to preserve the state's traditional first-in-the-nation presidential primary.
They said all potential presidential candidates for the 2000 primaries will be asked to sign the pledge. It states that they will not campaign or allow declarations of candidacy in any state that holds its primary earlier than seven days after New Hampshire's.
The move is voluntary, however, since no candidate could be prohibited from running if they refused to sign the pledge.
According to New Hampshire law, the New Hampshire presidential primary must occur at least seven days before any other state's primary. A date for it in 2000 has not yet been set.
New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, flanked by Republican and Democratic state party chairs and former New Hampshire Gov. Hugh Gregg, said asking candidates to sign the pledge was a necessary step to make sure that the primary would not lose its importance.
"New Hampshire provides an opportunity to see candidates up close and personal, and to get beyond the sound bites and staged events," Shaheen said.
William Gardner, the state's secretary of state, has said moves by Delaware, California and other states put New Hampshire's kickoff primary in jeopardy.
California, the state with the most delegates, has set March 7 for its primary. Delaware held its primary four days after New Hampshire's in 1996, but all candidates except Republican Steve Forbes stayed away.
Neither party chair said how potential candidates have responded to the pledge, but remarked in general that it is being received positively.
Gardner said if other states do not keep their presidential primaries in accordance with New Hampshire law, the state may have to push its primary into January of 2000.
He added that the date of the New Hampshire presidential primary will depend on whether candidates take the pledge and when other states decide to hold their primaries.
December 29, 1998; Concord (Manchester Union-Leader) Drivers whose birthdays fall in January will be getting new license plates when they register their passenger vehicles starting Jan. 1. And, by the time 1999 rolls to an end all New Hampshire passenger cars will be sporting the new plates.The new tags feature a design of blue sky and tree-covered mountains, plus the proud granite face of the “Old Man of the Mountain.”
All newly issued plates will have numbers -- and no letters -- up to a maximum of six digits. For the basic new plate, the charge is $5, in addition to the regular registration fees.
The Division of Motor Vehicles is doing away with combinations of letters and numbers, or alphanumeric plates as they are called.
But the person who had the license plate ABC-123, for example, and developed a fondness for it will be able to keep it as a vanity plate, for an extra charge of $25.
Those who currently have number-only plates may also keep them for no extra charge -- even if it's one of the prized low-digit plates. The numbers have been reserved in their names.
