Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993 TAG: 9307130341
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
A: They're waiting. But in the meantime, former Secretary of State James Baker practices law in Washington at Baker and Botts; he also is affiliated with Rice University. Former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh lost the Pennsylvania senator's race, then did a stint as undersecretary-general of administration and management for the United Nations. He's now with a Washington law firm. Robert Mosbacher, former commerce secretary, went back to Houston, where he heads the Mosbacher Energy Co.; he's also chairman of the Bush-Quayle Alumni Association. Brent Scowcroft, who was national security adviser, started his own consulting firm, the Scowcroft Group. Former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp, former drug czar and Education Secretary William Bennett, and former U.N. Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick formed an advocacy group called Empower America. Former presidential press secretary Marlin Fitzwater is a communications consultant, writer and commentator in Alexandria, Va. Former Vice President Dan Quayle is back in Indiana with the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.
Q: Has Congress ever taken a pay CUT?
A: Yes. In 1932, during the Depression, all federal employees took a 10 percent cut. A year later, their salaries were reduced another 5 percent. By 1935, the previous $10,000 salaries of members of Congress had been restored. Members of the first Congress, in the 1700s, were paid $6 a day. If members didn't show up, they didn't get paid - a practice that continued with different levels of enforcement into the early 1900s.
Q: An article said Julia Roberts' new husband, Lyle Lovett, has been accused of misogyny based on some of his music. I looked the word up and found out it means hatred of women. Is there a similar word that means hatred of men?
A: A thesaurus is a good source for answers to these kinds of questions. A good one not only will list similar words, but also give opposite meanings. Hatred of men is misandry. Somebody who just flat-out hates everybody is a misanthrope - who practices misanthropy.
Q: Sydney, Australia, is a front-runner for the Olympics in 2000. I'm curious - since their seasons are the opposite of ours, would the Summer Games be held during what is Sydney's winter? Or would the winter games be held in their summer?
A: Sydney is being considered for the Olympic Summer Games in 2000. The Games would be held in what is their early fall - our early spring.
Q: Is there any corrolation between the states selected for heavy base closings, and whether they voted Democratic or Republican in the presidential election?
A: Never let it be said that Q&A shys away from nosing around a conspiracy theory, but according to military affairs writer Ron Martz, there is no basis to what is suggested in the question. Consider that the commission members were appointed by President Bush several weeks before he left office, with input on the makeup from congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle. There were four Republicans and four Democrats on the commission. One of the members left when Clinton appointed him to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. That left a 4-3 Republican majority, with the chairman being a former Republican congressman from New Jersey. The states taking the hardest hits in the closure process were California and South Carolina. President Clinton carried California; Bush, South Carolina. In addition, that same day California elected two new senators, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both Democrats.
Q: Do they do anything special in England to mark July Fourth?
A: It's just another day, said the British Embassy.
Q: Do U.S. territories celebrate the Fourth?
A: Yes.
Q: Weren't a number presidents born on July 4?
A: Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872. Three presidents died on that date: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both in 1826; and James Monroe in 1831.
Q: I bet you won't answer this, but my friend and I are going at it. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, is there a sound? She says yes; I say no.
A: You're both right, because there are two ways to define sound. One way is something that is heard. According to this definition, there is no sound, because no one hears it. The second way is to define sound as vibration. The tree makes sound because it produces vibrations when it crashes. Most scientists use this definiton because it describes events in nature rather than the act of hearing them.
Q: Are any of the Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima still alive?
A: The six Marines pictured in the renowned photograph that was the inspiration behind the immense memorial at Arlington were not the first to raise the flag on Iwo Jima that day in February 1945. About an hour before AP photographer Joe Rosenthal took the picture that would become a national symbol, another six Marines, the first to reach the summit of Mount Suribachi, unfurled a small flag they had on hand. Sgt. Louis Lowery captured the moment on his Roloflex. He shortly after lost the camera in the battle, but managed to save the film. Later on, Rosenthal captured a second flag-raising when the battalion commander ordered a more visible flag to be flown.
As to survivors: From the first raising, only three survived the battle, and only one, Cpl. Charles W. Lindberg, survives today. In the Rosenthal picture, three also were killed at Iwo. The remaining three became overwhelmed by the resulting publicity. Pfc. Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian, drank heavily and died from exposure in 1955. Pfc. Rene Gagnon, who had complained of the pressures placed on him, died in 1979. The sole survivor is John H. Bradley, who has not granted an interview in 40 years.
Q: How many original copies of the Declaration of Independence exist today?
A: There is but one official Declaration of Independence, and it was not signed on July 4, 1776. It took Timothy Matlack, a "trained penman," until Aug. 2, using Thomas Jefferson's rough draft, to hand-print it and prepare it for signing. This document is the only official, signed version and is housed at the National Archives in Washington. On the night of July 4, 1776, after the delegates gathered in Philadelphia voted for independence, John Dunlop, the official printer for the Continental Congress, printed an estimated 200 copies, which were distributed to various councils, the colonies, and to commanding officers in the Continental Army. Of this original printing, there are 24 known copies in existence, with three in private hands.
Q: Where in the Bible does it say that placing a wager or gambling is a sin?
A: We checked a number of Bible concordances and could not find a specific mention or condemnation of gambling, betting, wagering or lotteries. Casting lots is mentioned, but not necessarily condemned. Religious objection to gambling does not appear to be based on specific biblical injunctions, but rather on moral and ethical nuances: greed, something for nothing, irresponsibility, the strong preying on the weak, etc.
Q: My son is in Somalia getting shot at. He has found a wide discrepancy between the pay of some members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces and U.S. troops over there. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with U.S. troops, who are side by side with people in the same circumstances but sometimes earning less. Can you explain this?
A: A Pentagon spokesman said that although the United Nations pays each country $988 a month per peacekeeper, peacekeeping troops are not paid by the United Nations, but by their country. Pay scales vary by country, and some nations with troops in Somalia pay very well. Some may be better-paid than U.S. forces, but the spokesman said discrepancies would not be widespread.
Q: What are the origins of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"?
A: The tune is believed to have begun in southern Europe in the Middle Ages. About 1500, the Dutch were singing "Yanker dudel doodle down . . . " Closer to the current version was one that poked fun at Oliver Cromwell when he rode from Canterbury to take charge of the Puritan forces: Yankee Doodle came to town, Upon a Kentish pony, He stuck a feather in his cap, And called it macaroni." "Macaroni" was a word used to describe London men who dressed in Italian styles. The American version was written by Dr. Richard Schuckburgh, and made fun of untrained American troops during the French and Indian War in 1755. By the Revolutionary War, it was so popular with American troops that they sang it in battle, causing a retreating British general to yell, "I hope I never hear that tune again!"
by CNB