Third time's the charm?

The House July 18 and the Senate July 23 approved a welfare-reform bill that moves closer to President Clinton's latest-stated objections to the Republican overhaul plan. Mr. Clinton has vetoed two previous congressional welfare bills. The current compromise appears to contain a $57.2 billion reduction in the growth of welfare spending over six years; a five-year lifetime limit on welfare benefits; and an end to the federal welfare entitlement, through the block-granting of funds to state agencies for their distribution.

In brief

On Capitol Hill, the House voted unanimously July 23 to repeal the decades-old government food-safety standard of zero tolerance of trace pesticides in processed foods. Because detection technology has so dramatically improved, very-low-risk traces are readily found. On July 22, the House gave final approval to a measure creating a federal gambling commission; the panel will work for two years and will have limited subpoena powers. On July 17, the House retained a policy barring abortion coverage in federal employee health benefit plans. The Treasury Department reported July 22 that the federal budget deficit is 40 percent lower than at this time last year. Finally, Newsweek columnist and CBS television analyst Joe Klein admitted July 17 that he was the anonymous author who penned the scandalous Primary Colors book, which was widely believed to be a fictional but accurate account of the 1992 Clinton for President campaign.

Let the games begin

Security was tight in Atlanta as the Centennial Olympic Games opened July 19. "Our security plan has contemplated every contingency," said Mayor Bill Campbell. Other problems cropped up, however. Transportation mess-ups and technical breakdowns had some reporters calling the Atlanta Olympics "the glitch games." A record 197 nations are participating in the Summer Games, competing in a total of 271 medal events. Through July 25, the U.S. team was the medal-winning leader with 32 (12 gold, 16 silver, 4 bronze). Russia was second with 25.

Ethnic strife

Fearing for his life, Burundi President Sylvestre Hitbantunganya, a Hutu, took refuge July 24 in the home of the U.S. ambassador in Bujumbura, hours before the army, dominated by Tutsis, seized control of the government. The coup came five days after thousands of Hutu rebels attacked a village in the central African nation of Burundi July 20, slaughtering more that 300 Tutsis-most of them women and children. Ethnic violence between Tutsis and Hutus has claimed more that 150,000 lives since 1993, when Tutsi troops assassinated the country's first Hutu president. Although Hutus make up 85 percent of the population, the country was ruled by Tutsis from the time of its independence in 1962 until three years ago.

In brief

Torrential rains in China created floods that killed 800 people and drove millions from their homes. The Yangtze River was said to be at its highest level in 65 years. In Japan, scientists struggled to find the source of a food poisoning outbreak that killed seven and sickened as many as 8,000. Officials believe E. coli bacteria may have been spread through school lunches. In one city, more than 500 elementary school children were hospitalized.

God and mammon

A jury in Bryson City, N.C., decided July 22 that former TV evangelist Jim Bakker does not owe more than $100 in refunds to people who bought "Lifetime Partnerships" in Heritage USA, a South Carolina resort once run by Mr. Bakker's now-defunct PTL ministry. He was the only defendant in a class-action suit filed by more than 160,000 former PTL supporters. Mr. Bakker, who served 4 1/2 years in federal prison now preaches sporadically and is working on a book about the rise and fall of PTL, titled I Was Wrong. An attorney for Ellen Cooke, former treasurer of the Episcopal Church, said his client will appeal the five-year prison sentence she received for embezzling $2 million from the denomination (see WORLD, July 20/27). According to Religion News Service, he would not comment on what arguments he will offer to support the appeal. Mrs. Cooke claimed she had a mental disorder which made her unable to remember the embezzlement, which took place over a five-year period.

Senseless in Seattle

A work of "art" caused a four-hour evacuation of Seattle's downtown shopping district July 15. Artist Jason Sprinkle, 26, surrendered to police after claiming responsibility for abandoning a truck with a large metallic sculpture of a human heart in its bed and the word "bomb" scrawled on its front bumper. There was no bomb. Mr. Sprinkle said he simply was protesting a lack of support for some artists: "I didn't even think [the truck] would be noticed."

Everybody must get stoned

Secret Service testimony July 17 before a House committee revealed that Clinton administration officials overruled the security agency's denial of White House passes to 40 employees with recent drug use history. Secret Service agent Arnold Cole said he was concerned it could "compromise the security of the White House." The controversy continued to simmer as Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad criticized White House spokesman Mike McCurry's "cavalier attitude" toward the revelations. Mr. McCurry had brushed off the drug--use stories by confessing to reporters his past use of marijuana as a student: "Did I smoke a joint from time to time? Of course I did."

Terrorist attacks

Muslims who want to topple the Algerian government were blamed for a July 21 attack in which a dozen people were slashed to death on a bus. The murders came one day after bomb exploded in a cafe in Algiers, killing six. Since 1992, militant attacks have claimed an estimated 60,000 lives in Algeria. In Sri Lanka, meanwhile, more than 60 people were killed July 24 when a bomb blamed on Tamil separatist rebels ripped through a packed commuter train.

RU-486: R-U KIDDING?

Numerous media accounts last week heralding the impending availability in the United States of the abortion drug RU-486, following an FDA advisory panel's 6-0 vote to recommend government approval, boasted that the panel-as the Associated Press put it-"changed the face of the abortion debate." Yes, but not in the way abortion supporters might think. Buried in many of the news stories was the minor dust-up in the panel's deliberations when one member, Cassandra Henderson, a physician at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine, questioned whether some women-particularly poor ones-would be able to cooperate with the complicated and lengthy RU-486 process. An RU-486 abortion requires a minimum of three visits to a doctor's office, with a 5 percent likelihood of surgery at the end of the process. Dr. Henderson raised the financial hardship three visits might cause and the logistical complications the working poor would have in taking time off to complete the procedure. The planned manufacture of sufficient RU-486 for 650,000 women means at least 29,250 surgical abortions will have to follow the RU-486 regimen each year. Moreover, Dr. Henderson questioned: How will RU-486 distributors ensure that the surgeries are carried out? A dead child left in a woman's uterus would cause severe medical complications. Answered Ann Robbins of the abortion-advocacy group Population Council, which holds U.S. rights to the drug: "We can never force anybody to have a surgical abortion." Well that's a relief. But the fact is, force is a key part of the plan. The distributor, Advances in Health Technology, will create a form agreement that binds the pregnant mother to carry out all the steps; and the cost of the possible surgery will be added to the up-front charges. What if women refuse after signing the agreement? Legal coercion is what makes a contract binding. Add to all this the psychological factors of a successful abortion: a woman's dealing with the slow death of her newly conceived baby; having to take contraction-inducing drugs to expel her dead child; and the very high possibility of seeing the horrifying remains of the 95.5 percent "effective" abortion right in her own bathroom. Yes, the face of the abortion debate is about to change-maybe even for the better, from a pro-life perspective. No longer will abortionists be able to conceal from pregnant mothers the actual results of their procedure. The blood, literally, will be on each mother's hands.

Flight 800

Eight days after the fiery crash of a TWA jet off the coast of Long Island, N.Y., July 17 killed all 230 aboard (see pp. 19-21), President Clinton met for more than three hours with grieving families, many still waiting for the bodies of their loved ones to be recovered. The meeting came after many relatives expressed anger over conflicting information from authorities and frustration over the slow pace of recovery efforts. Mr. Clinton promised the U.S. government would "do everything to get the answers [the families] seek." He also ordered tighter aviation security procedures-including hand searches of carry-on luggage-and appointed Vice President Gore to head a commission on airline safety.

Clinging to power

Minutes before Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Huckabee was to be sworn in July 15 as governor of Arkansas, convicted Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, a Democrat, announced he had changed his mind about resigning. In May, Mr. Tucker promised to step down after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy in the first trial related to the Whitewater scandal. Mr. Tucker's last-minute reversal threw the state legislature into an uproar, with both Republicans and Democrats calling for his ouster. Threatened with impeachment, Mr. Tucker resubmitted his resignation. Ten days later, the second Whitewater-related trial ended, with prosecutors again alleging that two Arkansas bankers had stolen money from their own bank to help finance Bill Clinton's 1990 gubernatorial campaign. Mr. Clinton, not charged in either Whitewater case, testified both times via videotape as a defense witness. One of his closest advisers, White House deputy counsel Bruce Lindsey, testified as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the second trial.

Caught in the Web

Sixteen men were charged July 16 with participating in an international online pedophilia ring. According to a federal grand jury indictment, the men used the Internet to swap stories about sex with children and conspired to produce and exchange via computer sexually explicit child images. The suspects are from the United States, Australia, Canada, and Finland.

Lifewatch

An Australian provincial court upheld the world's first voluntary euthanasia law July 24, rejecting a challenge by a coalition of church leaders, doctors, and aboriginal religious groups who said the regional statute violates the right to life guaranteed in the national constitution. The battle over the law will now go to the country's high court. In Great Britain, thousands of unclaimed, frozen human embryos were scheduled to be destroyed July 31 under five-year freezing limit set by the country's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority. According to a report from Reuters, at least five British couples associated with LIFE, a British pro-life group, offered to adopt or become foster parents to some of the abandoned embryos. More than 100 Italian women also offered to adopt.

Presidential Olympics

Bob Dole, who turned 73 last week, tried to cut into President Clinton's growing lead in the polls with Dream-Team-style three-pointers like tax cuts (July 25), regulatory reform to spur small-business growth (July 24), and school choice (July 17). Mr. Clinton, meanwhile, contented himself with hitting layups: advocating relief for overburdened "911" operators (July 23), posting the names and photos of child-support deadbeats on the World Wide Web (July 22), and dispatching 50,000 cellular telephones to neighborhood crime watch programs nationwide (July 17). Washington Post columnist James Glassman lampooned the president's "master strategy to dominate the news with a flood of inoffensive mini-proposals announced with great gravity." But it's working: The July 23 USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll shows Mr. Clinton's lead widening. In a head-to-head contest, Mr. Clinton leads the former senator 56-39. With Ross Perot in the race, Mr. Clinton's predicted margin of victory is the same. A July 16 Lou Harris poll had President Clinton's lead among registered voters at 22 points. Mr. Dole's team also tried to compete in the vice-presidential medley relay, to little effect. The boomlet for pro-abortion Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge began July 15 and ended July 24 with Mr. Ridge suggesting he probably wasn't interested because of the possible effects on his family. That was the same day the Keystone Poll, a Pennsylvania survey, found that even in Mr. Ridge's home state, his presence on the Dole ticket would have no impact: 57 percent of voters said it would make no difference in how they voted; 19 percent said they would be more likely to vote for Mr. Dole with their governor on the ticket and 19 percent said that would make them less likely to vote for Mr. Dole.

She's a child

The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that, because a "viable fetus" is a "child" under South Carolina law, pregnant women who take illegal drugs can be prosecuted for child abuse. State Attorney General Charlie Condon, who argued the case, said the July 16 ruling was "a landmark decision for protecting children." The American Civil Liberties Union announced it will ask the court to reconsider the case, which was decided by a vote of 3-2.