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- GRAPEVINE, Page 19
-
-
- By JANICE CASTRO
-
- Cleared for Landing, Comrades
-
- "MAN IN SIDE! HELP!" Those words are stenciled -- in
- English -- on the side of every Soyuz landing craft, the
- lifeboat that RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS use when they return to earth.
- The instructions continue: "Take the key. Put into the hole.
- Turn. Open the hatch." Who knows? One of these days, a farmer
- in Nebraska or North Dakota might be following those directions.
- Should the two cosmonauts now orbiting in Russia's Mir space
- station need to make an emergency landing outside designated
- areas in the former Soviet Union, the Russians have told the
- U.S. State Department their destination of choice would be
- America's northern heartland. Washington has agreed to help. The
- Russians' only request: Please turn off the high-tension power
- lines. So if the lights go out some night in Nebraska, chances
- are the Russians are coming.
-
- Quayle Hunting on Capitol Hill
-
- President Bush may insist he is standing by DAN QUAYLE,
- but Congress is determined to take away the Vice President's
- biggest stick, his Council on Competitiveness, which reviews
- (and often pares) government regulations. Critics argue that
- Quayle's group is subverting Congress's intent by rewriting
- regulatory language. The House has voted to strip $86,000 --
- roughly equal to council director David McIntosh's salary --
- from White House funds. The Senate may go further this week by
- forbidding any expenditure of money for the council.
-
- Maybe We Won Hearts and Minds After All
-
- In Moscow they say you can always tell where the
- Vietnamese workers live because those are the buildings where
- the taxis line up. Hard-strapped Russians can't afford to take
- cabs. The collapse of the Soviet Union has unleashed a
- surprising entrepreneurial streak in the more than 32,000
- skilled Vietnamese laborers "stranded" there. More than 4,000
- Vietnamese residents of Moscow now boast net worths of more than
- $100,000. Some are investing their earnings in lavish houses and
- businesses back home. A Vietnamese commercial center has opened
- in town to provide office space and services for companies
- dealing in everything from rice and caviar to fashions. Quips
- a thriving entrepreneur: "Doing business in Russia now is very
- easy because the Russians know nothing about capitalism."
-
- The New Limousine Liberals
-
- Democrats are forever calling the Republicans the party of
- the rich. But a new survey by the congressional newspaper Roll
- Call reports that of 28 SENATE MILLIONAIRES, 21 are Democrats.
- According to standard financial-disclosure forms, which often
- yield conservative estimates, Virginia Senator Charles Robb, a
- Democrat, leads the pack, with a net worth of at least $19
- million (thanks mostly to wife Lynda Bird Johnson's family
- holdings). Among the other wealthiest Democrats: Claiborne Pell
- of Rhode Island (net worth: $13.7 million), Herb Kohl of
- Wisconsin ($12.7 million), Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia
- ($8.7 million), Lloyd Bentsen of Texas ($5.8 million), Ted
- Kennedy of Massachusetts ($2 million) and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska
- ($1.5 million).
-
- WORD WATCH
-
- A Harper's dictionary of words that don't exist (but
- should) introduced the term algore, meaning "impenetrable
- blandness." Other terms included vacationoia, defined as the
- anxiety that overtakes the family far from home when no one can
- remember whether the stove was turned off. Grapevine offers the
- following much needed terms:
-
-
- algorhythm: a restrained style of dancing peculiar to
- advanced yuppies
-
- allegorey: a fanciful tale about growing up in Carthage,
- Tenn.
-
- arsenior: a longtime Carson fan who frequently suffers
- from Lenopathy
-
- forgettery: the opposite of memory, the tendency to draw
- blanks on information once known, made popular recently by
- Ronald Reagan
-
- perotgative: the right of Texas billionaires to quit when
- the going gets tough
-
- unkempt: the mental state of conservative Republicans
- frustrated over their ticket
-
- CAMPAIGN QUIZ
-
- Q: WHICH U.S. PRESIDENT:
-
-
- A was the first to be impeaches?
-
- B introduced ice cream to America?
-
- C liked to have someone rub his head with petroleum jelly
- while he ate breakfast in bed?
-
- D reportedly wore one black shoe and one brown shoe to his
- wedding?
-
- E had to borrow money to attend his own Inauguation?
-
-
- A:
-
-
- A Andrew Johnson
-
- B Thomas Jefferson
-
- C Calvin Coolidge
-
- D Gerald Ford
-
- E George Washington
-
-
-
-