MonitoRadio Early Program; [1997-02-19]

This is Modern Heredio, the worldwide broadcast edition of the Christian Science Monitor on PRI Public Radio International. I'm Steve Delaney. Campaign financial reform has been a hot issue for months in Washington, but now it appears to be losing its sparkle for politicians on Capitol Hill. Meanwhile in Connecticut in Massachusetts, grassroots efforts are being made to introduce public financing of political campaigns. What happens is the people who get elected are actually beholden not to the average citizen, but they're beholden to the people who paid for the campaign. Plus punishing petty criminals in Northern Ireland, it's not the police doing it, but rather the alternative authority of Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries. We'll hear those stories and a lot more coming up in this half -hour, but first this news. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Rex Crom at the Monitor Radio News desk. The U .S. Supreme Court will hear a landmark case today that may affect religious freedom in

the United States. The case Bernie versus Flores began as a zoning dispute, but it is now testing how far the government can go to protect religious practices. From Washington, Monitor Radio's Duncan Moon reports. The dispute began in the early 1990s when St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in the tiny Texas town of Bernie, petitioned town officials to allow the church to expand its structure to meet the needs of its growing congregation. The town said no, citing historic preservation zoning. The church decided to take the town to court for limiting its religious freedom and violating the 1993 Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, known as Riffra. In response, the town decided to challenge Riffra's constitutionality. The Supreme Court will hear arguments today and is expected to make a ruling by June. Legal analysts say the court's decision will have far -reaching impact on how future generations of Americans will define and defend religious freedom. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Duncan Moon in Washington. Secretary of State Madeline Albright is in London today for meetings with British government officials about

her NATO -Russian partnership proposal. The idea is to form a joint NATO -Russia military brigade for peacekeeping operations in Europe. Albright will meet with Prime Minister John Major and Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkin to discuss the plan, which is aimed at easing Russian fears over NATO expansion into Eastern Europe. She is to head to Moscow on Thursday to present the plan to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. The government of Zaire today said a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an end to its civil war was too timid. Zaire has come under increased international scorn for bombing attacks against three rebel -held towns. Monitor Radio's Monica Brady has the U .S. reaction from Washington. The U .S. State Department condemned the air attacks reportedly launched Monday by Zaire's government against the Eastern City of Bukavu and two other towns. State Department spokesman Glenn Davies. Such acts serve only to perpetuate the conflict and encourage further violence. We call again on all parties to refrain from violence and begin immediately a direct dialogue aimed at achieving a peaceful settlement

to this conflict. Zaire's Defense Ministry spokesman urged civilians to leave areas held by rebels because he said the bombardments will continue and intensify. Rebels started the war five months ago after Zaire threatened to expel Tutsis who've lived in Eastern Zaire for decades. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Monica Brady in Washington. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Nikkei average closed today at 18 ,599 up 128 points. In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average set an all -time high on Tuesday closing at 7 ,067 points. This is monitor radio news on public radio international. U .S. President Bill Clinton thanks supporters for their financial contributions at a fundraising dinner in New York City Tuesday night. The event was to raise more than a million dollars for the Democratic Senateorial Campaign Committee. Mr. Clinton's party is under increased scrutiny for its fundraising efforts. Clinton promised that the fundraising practices that got Democrats into trouble will not happen again. The party has been forced

to return a number of questionable donations. Mexico's top anti -drug officer has been fired and a warrant has been issued for his arrest for allegedly taking bribes from one of the country's leading drug lords. Frank Contreras reports from Mexico City. The federal charges against General Hesús Gutiérrez Reboio marked the first time in recent history that a senior military officer here has faced such disciplinary action. Reboio is under detention in a military hospital after suffering a heart attack. He was appointed in December to direct Mexico's Institute of Combat Against Drugs. Reboio is the first military officer to hold the position. U .S. Drugs are Barry McCaffrey said that Mexico had taken appropriate action and expressed disappointment that corruption had reached such a high level in the Mexican government. More than two dozen officers who served under Reboio are under arrest for similar corruption. The events come just weeks before Washington certifies whether Mexico is cooperating in its fight against illegal

drugs. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Frank Contreras in Mexico City. The Hubble Space Telescope is back in orbit above the Earth after being released from the Space Shuttle Discovery. Astronauts on board Discovery made several improvements on Hubble this week. They include new scientific instruments that will enable Hubble to see further into space. Discovery is due to return to Florida early on Friday. And this has been a summary of this hour's top news stories. From Monitor Radio News in Boston, I'm Rex Crumb on PRI. This is Monitor Radio. I'm Steve Delaney. President Clinton is in Boston

today to discuss juvenile justice issues. Last night he spoke at a Democratic Party fundraising event in New York City. His critics said showing up there undermined the president's stated support for reforming campaign finances. In the last election, both parties raised so much money that it caused a wave of reform fever. But like the fans who performed the wave at a baseball park, most of the reformers have now sat down again, lowering the prospects for implementing their promised changes. Monitor Radio's Jim Kane reports on the progress of campaign finance reform. A political fundraiser in New York, wealthy contributors and prominent Democrats rub elbows and chat in a gathering expected to bring in more than a million dollars. The beneficiary, the Democratic Sanitorial Campaign Committee, the chief fundraiser and the main attraction at the party in Manhattan, President Bill Clinton. I appreciate the fact that you came here knowing you might be targeted for the exercise of your constitutional right to stand up and support the people you believe in. And I thank you for being here.

President Clinton was reacting to the daily barrage of news stories that point to questionable fundraising practices. While the president has established tighter rules for Democratic Party fundraising, he had no qualms about taking part in last night's gathering where those new rules did not apply. The New York fundraiser was run by and for Democratic Senators, not the Democratic Party. And the Senators have not adopted the president's rules. To be fair, neither have Republican Senators nor the Republican Party. And that is perhaps the best illustration of the current state of campaign finance reform. There will be more revelations, there will be more scandals, there will be more pressure. John McCain is a Republican Senator from Arizona and co -author of the McCain Fine Gold campaign finance reform bill. He spoke last week at a news conference with the government watchdog Group Common Cause as they announced a petition drive urging passage of the bill by July 4th. It will be a combination of scandals and revelations of how badly broken the system is and an outside pressure from the American people that will

bring about reform just as in 1974. Congress acted to reform a system. And by the way, those reforms worked for quite a few years that brought about change. It wasn't because there were some reformers inside the institutions who decided it was time to reform. McCain's bill and a similar measure in the House of Representatives would do away with so -called soft money. Those currently unlimited funds are given to the parties for party building purposes and are not supposed to support individual candidates. But they are a great help to the candidates and are seen as an easy way around the current laws. The legislation would also set voluntary limits on campaign spending in return for which candidates would receive free or discounted television advertising time. The president and several lawmakers in both the House and Senate have embraced the bill and yet its prospects for passage are not at all good. Senator McCain is proposing limits on the use of union funds in campaigns, a limitation many Democrats oppose. In the House, most members of the Republican leadership oppose the reform bill.

In the Senate, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is likely to filibuster against the bill on the grounds that it would be an unconstitutional limit on free speech. Senate majority leader Trent Lawt says any reform efforts should wait until a congressional investigation into possible violations of current campaign finance law is complete. McCain calls that a transparent stall. Last night, after President Clinton apologized for the Democratic Party's acceptance of illegal or questionable contributions in 1996, he called on those who provide the money for the political system to help change that system. Please help me do that and give our own members the courage they need to demand that our friends on the other side join us and do this. We need to just put this behind us. The last the system was created in 74. It worked fine for us for a while. It's been overtaken by events. You understand it better than anybody else. You're on the receiving end of it. Help me pass campaign finance reform this year. I need your help and I want you to do it. Implementing reform is an

easier option for a president who has no further political campaigns to fund than it is for lawmakers who must actually vote for it. Most of those lawmakers like those in New York last night are already raising funds for their next campaign. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Jim Kane in Washington. As Washington appears to edge away from campaign finance reform legislation, many states have decided not to wait for change to come from the top. A total of five states approved new campaign finance laws in last November's election and now two New England states are looking at what some politicians consider the ultimate reform. As part of our series on money and politics, Stephen Rosenfeld reports on the efforts to require public financing of future elections in both Massachusetts and Connecticut. Please listen to what we are saying and not just to the voices of lobbyists, multidoners and special interest groups. Thursday night in East Hartford and the Connecticut Legislatures committees on government administration and

elections are holding a joint public hearing on reforming the state's campaign finance laws. I think that there is a rare window of opportunity and I think that those people were on the G .E. Committee on which I will write. Secretary of State Miles Rappaport has come to tell legislators about his latest study. How much more last fall state Senate campaigns cost than two years ago. But he's also come to push for a sweeping solution to the money and politics problem. Full public financing of state elections. Most states, like Congress, try to control the flow of political money by regulating who can give and how much. But the Secretary says only full public financing would keep candidates away from the time consuming and eyebrow raising private money chase. As long as candidates need four million dollars or five million dollars to run for governor in the state of Connecticut, that money is going to find its way into the campaign. So that drives me to really look for a change that says candidates can opt out of that system entirely, agree to certain limits on what they're going to spend, get a reasonable amount of alternative financing or public financing to run their campaigns and get off

of the private treadmill altogether. But in Connecticut, only the legislature can pass laws. It has no citizen initiative process like nearby Maine, which passed a full public financing measure last November. This means Rappaport has to convince legislators his big picture solution is right. So while the election committees are holding hearings across the state or people are telling them do something, Connecticut's Secretary of State is holding forums like this session to convince key legislators, but it's a hard sell. That we need to try to get to develop a bill that's going to appeal to everyone. Democrat Gary Leboe chairs the Senate elections committee. He's just heard experts talk about the problems of money and campaigns and subsequent governing. But when it comes to reform, Leboe says he has a problem. The bills that we're proposing right now as they currently exist to many Republicans look like unilateral discernment that they're going to not have their money, but we're going to have our troops in the field as Democrats and leaving them at a disadvantage.

Leboe is referring to the fact Republicans often get financial support from business, while Democrats often get financial and volunteer help from labor and other groups. But representative Susan Bysowitz, chair of the House elections panel, is more optimistic. She says full public financing may be appropriate for costly statewide races like governor, while a more measured approach could work for legislative contests. She points to Nebraska where there are voluntary spending limits. Legislative candidates who exceed them trigger a corresponding infusion of public funds for the other side. Do we do spending limits? Do we do alternative financing? Or do we do a combination of both? Do we do alternative financing perhaps for the governor's race and the statewide offices and perhaps spending limits for the legislature? That's what I see as the debate. I'm not going to say anything except you guys kicked butt in November. Across the Connecticut border in Massachusetts, Janice Fine, an organiser with the Northeast Citizen Action Resource Center, is talking to 50 people at a Massachusetts

voters for clean elections meeting in Boston. Last fall, the base day group put a non -bonding question on ballots in 24 legislative districts, asking a voter support public financing. It won with an average of 89 percent of the vote. The group has decided to launch a campaign to put a bonding public financing initiative on the November 1998 ballot. I'm totally excited about the next phase of this and really, really glad that everyone's here. Organizers say their next step will be building coalitions, drafting the initiative and planning a petition drive to get the issue on the ballot. The Massachusetts activists say they know what they want and they know they don't trust their legislators to deliver it. Such direct democracy is typical of initiative states, but in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, public financing is seen as the most comprehensive solution to an election system dominated by fundraising. Democrats and Republicans appear to share this view. I'm a capitalist. I mean, I have my own businesses. Dr. Bill McCormick is a physician and inventor from Carlyle, Massachusetts. It's not a matter being left or right. It's a matter of the whole concept of democracy is that people

have access to their legislators. People participate in the democracy, but what happens is the people who get elected are actually beholden not to the average citizen, but they'll beholden to the people who paid for the campaign. So as Congress is apparently adopting a ghost slow approach to campaign finance reform, two new -illent states may soon be forging ahead with plans to change the political money -raising status quo. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Stephen Jerry's Money in Politics is made possible in part by grants from the Florence and John Schumann Foundation and the Joyce Foundation. There isn't a national majority rushing about shouting demands for campaign finance reform. Rather, the American preoccupation with equality has periodically and imprecisely erupted since the early 19th century. The comments of Monitor Radio's Rod McLeish in Washington. In 1828, there was public rejoicing at the election of Andrew Jackson, perceived as

a man of the people. His arrival at the White House meant that governance by Virginia and Massachusetts aristocrats was over symbolically a vaguely defined equality was in place. In the last quarter of the same century, a period marked twain called the Gilded Age, the bribing of congressmen in both houses by big industries and trusts was blatant. The reaction to that political exclusion of everyone except the very rich came in the form of newspaper exposés and the growth of powerful labor unions, violent strikes, the rise of anarchism, the murder of one president, William McKinley, and the reforms instituted by another Theodore Roosevelt. Running through all of these historic episodes and more was that powerful sense of inequality. So it is with the present issue of campaign finance reform. The question of whether congress will actually enact such reform depends on whether insular Washington consents the powerful public discussed with the federal government in general and the politicians who can't or won't make it work equally for

everyone. On that question, the jury is still out as the 105th Congress proceeds. Monitor Radio's Rod McLeish in Washington. It's 19 minutes past the hour. Coming up Justice Northern Ireland style, how the paramilitaries punish members of their own communities when they believe they're getting out of line and taking the lid off terrorists, a new film does just that. Those stories just ahead. This is monitor radio with peace talks on Northern Ireland stalled and no

signs of the Irish Republican Army restoring its ceasefire security forces in the province are on high alert, but that does not control an underlying communal violence known as punishment beatings, metered out by paramilitary groups who target young man they believe to be guilty of crimes. Nationalist groups have a tradition of that kind of summary justice because the largely Protestant police are not trusted in Catholic neighborhoods. But as Rachel Hooper reports from Belfast, punishment beatings are now crossing the sectarian divide. Punishment attacks across the province last night a man was shot twice in the thies as he tried to escape. So -called punishment beatings are becoming an everyday occurrence in Northern Ireland. Patrick Ward was attacked in Belfast by three men who claimed to be from the IRA. They were waiting for him as he left a social club. When I get out to say the club, the fellas grabbed me and says that we're from Para, bundled me in that back out car and tied my hands behind my back. I was with a couple of questions in the car, you know, when we get up there where they actually don't have been, there was more than shit nor a widow. These attacks happen within communities with high rates of unemployment, car theft and drug problems.

Because the RUCs are mainly Protestant police force, Catholics in these fiercely Republican areas feel they cannot trust the police. Many people from these communities also face intimidation from neighbors if the police are called for help. Power militaries are therefore turned to and punishment attacks are the result and car is a community worker. While she condemns these attacks, she can see the frustration of the communities who have faced with high levels of crime. What do we do about this? Is people themselves within community saying what do we do about this? They're turning to someone who can help. They don't feel they can turn to the police, so they turn to the paramilitary organizations and unfortunately the response of paramilitary organizations is to inflict violence on young people. After he was taken out of the van, Patrick was pushed to the floor and beaten with nail -studded baseball bats. Until recently these attacks only occurred within Belfast and within Catholic Republican areas. They're now being carried out across Northern Ireland and by loyalist paramilitaries as well. Alex Atwood is an SDLP councillor, the main nationalist political party. Whatever those

responsible for the attacks say they're doing, what they are really doing is enforcing their power in the communities where these attacks take place because those responsible who are believed to come from the IRA and other Republican organizations want to be seen to be the defenders of the community and want to be seen to enforce their power in those communities so that the communities accept and subject themselves to the IRA, to Republican organizations and to their role in our society. Patrick was quizzed constantly by his attack as about his use of drugs. They accused him of being a dealer, something he derives. As a result of the attack, Patrick is likely to lose one of his legs and Carr is sure that many of the young people who are attacked are guilty of committing crime, but she fills the paramilitary style beatings are not a justifiable response. We have to build a police service, which is acceptable to the whole community and I know that a lot of the young people who are punished in this way are

certainly not innocent, but you have to look at why they turn to these type of crimes and I mean sometimes they are innocent and maybe have just spoken out when it wasn't felt they should be speaking out and in order to intimidate them and their families and anybody else who might want to speak out against paramilitary organizations, they are punished, they have their legs blown to bits or they're beaten up with baseball bats with nails in them, is that any way to treat any human being? In a statement the RUC said that broken bones and ruined lives are no substitute for law and order. They urged people to come forward to give evidence against paramilitaries. Reporting from Belfast, Rachel Hooper, and Belfast is also the setting, maybe even the star of a movie just opening in the US and called Nothing Personal. It's a chronicle of 24 hours in the barricade divided city back in 1975 and as the film's director Thaddeus O'Sullivan told my colleague David Brown, yet two focuses on the alternative law and order structure imposed by the paramilitaries. I see these people caught up in a war living in the middle of this community, that's what it feels like and the opposing

sides are not to be modified but by the odd death here and there. So I wanted to get some sense of what that's like in the narrow streets of Belfast. I find it fascinating that you're taking us into a place that a lot of people don't really talk about in the popular literature of the conflict and that is you're in sort of a quasi underworld world of authority. I was a legitimate kill. There was no mistake he was identified. Who did they identify? That is my business. Now if you'd prepared to believe your old chump before you believed me then at least the Nora's thought. You know you're not we're not dealing with the surface players as it were. We're inside sort of a how shall we characterize as a Protestant cell? Yes it's a small group of extreme loyalist paramilitaries who see themselves as defending their country against the IRA. Why did you choose that point of view that you did in this film? I did select the book so I was interested to make a film about that aspect of it. I think that's the IRA have been covered pretty

well and I have no interest in their message. I mean not have I any interest in the paramilitary in the loyalist message what I explore in the film is the consequences of their acts. I see particularly in the relationship between the individual members of this Protestant paramilitary group a kind of sense of in respects of some characters a sense that they are playing a role in history a very peculiar self -awareness that I don't suppose I've ever really contemplated before. Yes they I think that's what enables them to do what they do that they see themselves inheriting a tradition which is bigger than them and that's why I focus on the film on the I'm handing on of the message to the next generation. Didn't you know about Charlie? No, I murdered him. Tonight? Why? I wouldn't like the tally castling pack of evil horse

don't worry we get them back. So there's an emphasis on children in the film but that's what makes them do it because they feel they're doing it for a greater cause that what they believe is what their forefathers believed and what they're killing for is what their forefathers fought for as well. Hence the idea of nothing personal that is the idea well the idea of nothing personal I guess is people can have been friends and it's these beliefs that divide them and when it comes to killing the the personal aspect of relationships has to be forgotten. But then there's another story going through this film and that's the life of this of this non -political Catholic father. Well there are there are several non -involved characters if you like. He's one and also the wife of one of the killers is also not connected. Both these individuals are symbols of most of the people of Northern Ireland who are really anxious to get on with their lives and

live some kind of normality and bring up their children and have respect for one another and have a decent future. I mean during any war people are fighting in the other half are in the way and most of these people are actually just in the way of the crossfire. And of course the irony is that the people fighting will tell you that the reason that they're fighting is so that people can live with it and have a better life for themselves. Oh absolutely you'll never find people with higher principles than the ones who are pulling a gun to your head. That is so Sullivan. His new movie is about conflict the human condition. It's set in Northern Ireland and it's called nothing personal. Thanks for talking with us. Thank you very much. We had production help today from Radio Deutschewelle the German International Broadcast System. You're listening to Monitor Radio the Worldwide Broadcast Edition of the Christian Science Monitor. I'm Steve Delaney it's 29 minutes past the hour. Support for Monitor

Radio is provided by public radio stations across the U .S. and by the Christian Science Monitor with coverage of world and national news arts culture education science and the environment subscription inquiries 1 -800 -456 -2220 This is Monitor Radio the Worldwide

Broadcast Edition of the Christian Science Monitor on PRI Public Radio International. I'm Steve Delaney a church in Texas goes to the Supreme Court to learn whether it can expand its building. The case is seen as a test of religious freedom in America. Last year's anti -terrorism law comes under attack. Critics say a loophole allows American companies to trade with nations considered sponsors of terrorism. Lawyers for Oklahoma bombing suspect Timothy McVey try to get eyewitness testimony thrown out of court saying the pictures of his arrest contaminated the memories of those witnesses. A new twist on an old idea puts big money into the pockets of a student at MIT we'll hear those stories and a lot more coming up in this half hour but first this news. For the Christian Science Monitor I'm Deborah Becker at the Monitor Radio News desk. The U .S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in a case that could affect most religious groups in the country. The justices will review the constitutionality of the

1993 Religious Freedom and Restoration Act which limits government interference in religion. Officials from Bernie Texas will argue that the law violates the rights of states by forcing them to allow more protection for religious beliefs than the constitution requires. But a coalition of religious groups says the law is necessary. Kevin Hassan is president of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. This is one of the most important cases in decades on two different levels. On a very practical level it's important for the scope of religious liberty that's going to be permitted in America. On the level of Constitutional doctrine it's a critically important case because it determines the scope of Congress's power under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment to protect and not only religious liberty but liberties of all sorts. The Court has expected you issue a ruling in July. During a fundraising dinner in New York last night President Bill Clinton told the major Democratic donors there that improper campaign contributions will not be allowed again. The president apologized for the party having to return so much money last year.

It was wrong not to check those contributions and if your party had been doing its job you wouldn't be hearing about all that today. That is everybody's responsibility for me down who didn't know about it and should have but it will never happen again. You can rest assured. The event raised a total of 1 .2 million dollars. U .S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is in London today where she will push for plans to expand NATO before the end of the century. Monitor Radio's Jennifer Glass reports from London. When Madeleine Albright meets with British Prime Minister John Major here in London she's expected to discuss NATO expansion. Mainly the new U .S. proposal to include Russia in a joint NATO military brigade. It is the latest plan to assuage Russian concerns over the inclusion of former Soviet satellite countries in an enlarged NATO alliance. Mrs. Albright appears to be trying to gain as much international support for the idea as possible before her meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow Thursday. Before leaving Britain the Secretary of State will also meet her British counterpart Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkin. They are scheduled to talk about the crisis with

Northern Ireland and how they get the peace process stalled for more than a year back on track. For the Christian science monitor I'm Jennifer Glass in London. The crew of the space shuttle Discovery has released the Hubble Space Telescope back into orbit. Astronauts conducted 33 hours of space walks to help prepare the device. Engineers will be testing the repairs over the next several weeks before Hubble can resume its stargazing. The astronauts conducted five space walks to make those repairs. Discovery has been on a 10 -day mission. It's set to return to Earth on Friday. This is Public Radio International. Zairean officials say a United Nations resolution calling for a truce in its civil war is two -week. Zairean's Foreign Minister said the fighting will not stop until all foreign troops leave the country. Zaire accuses Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi of helping the rebels fighting government troops in the eastern part of the country. But all three countries reject those accusations. Zairean's government began

attacking rebel held areas this week for the first time since the revolt began five months ago. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Chiller has defeated two motions in Parliament to have the country Supreme Court investigate corruption charges against her. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul. Deputy Prime Minister Tansu Chiller has already defeated several similar motions in the last year in relation to alleged financial misconduct while she was premiered two years ago. The latest charges dealt with allegations of corruption over the privatization of segments of the current electricity industry. But as was in the case of previous motions against Chiller, she was saved by the support of her coalition partner, the Islamic Reffa party. However, Chiller's victory was tempted by the resignation of one of her members of Parliament in protest of the vote. The Deputy Prime Minister on Wednesday faces another motion against her over personal financial misconduct. While following her success in Tuesday's vote, it is expected that she will also defeat this motion. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Dorian

Jones in Istanbul. A U .S. Children's Advocacy Group says children in bigger cities fare worse than their counterparts in smaller communities. The group City Kids Count analyzed census data and raided the 50 largest U .S. cities in terms of birth weights, welfare levels, and school dropout rates. The group put the cities of Detroit and New Orleans at the bottom of the list with poverty rates of about 46 percent. That's the summary of this hour's top stories from Monitor Radio News. I'm Deborah Becker on PRI. Monitor Radio is made possible in part by the archer Daniels Midland company transforming the bounty of the American farmer into products to feed a growing world, ADM, supermarket to the world. This is Monitor Radio. I'm Steve Delaney. Later

this morning, the U .S. Supreme Court will hear a landmark case that will help delineate the boundaries of religious freedom in the United States. The dispute began a few years ago when St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church in a tiny Texas town called Bernie began to outgrow its building. The church had a seating capacity of 230, but the congregation had grown to about 3 ,000, so the church asked the town for a building permit to expand the structure. The town said no, citing historic preservation zoning rules, so the church took the town to court. Monitor Radio's Duncan Moon reports from Washington. Bernie vs. Flores sounds like many a small town zoning dispute, but constitutional scholars say the case will likely define the limits of religious freedom in the United States. The case is jumped from local zoning board to Supreme Court, is explained by the legal ground on which it is being fought. St. Peter's Church said the town was limiting its religious freedom and violating a 1993 law called the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act, better known as Rifra. The town then decided to challenge the law's constitutionality, saying that Congress

had exceeded its power in passing Rifra and had overstepped the First Amendment by favoring religion over other segments of society. Susan Lowe -Block, a constitutional expert at Georgetown University School of Law, explains. The First Amendment has two religion clauses. One says that the government may not establish religion. It also says the government may not inhibit the free exercise of religion, and there's always attention when the government does anything related to religion. The question is whether it has accommodated it sufficiently, and if it's done so sufficiently maybe it has stepped over too far. But the case is not simply a typical First Amendment case. The passage of Rifra came on the heels of a 1990 Supreme Court ruling in what has become known as the Smith decision in which the court shifted the burden of proof of religious discrimination from the state to the individual or church. Under extreme pressures from all sectors of the religious community, the U .S. Congress passed Rifra in 1993,

shifting the burden of proof back to the state. And that, says Block, is the rub. What it looks like Congress is doing is disagreeing with the Supreme Court on an interpretation of the Constitution. And generally, when the Supreme Court decides the Constitution means certain thing, Congress cannot disagree. The question here, though, is whether under part of the 14th Amendment, Congress has the power to grant more protection to religion than the Constitution requires. Supporters of Rifra cite the Supreme Court precedent in a decision called Kessonback versus Morgan, in which the court said that Congress did indeed have the right to enlarge or add rights. But opponents of Rifra say that today's case is about who gets the final say on interpreting the Constitution. New York attorney and law professor Marcy Hamilton will be arguing the case before the Supreme Court for the town of Bernie. She says Kessonback versus Morgan does not apply here and cite a precedent of her own. The court, under Marbury V. Madison, and this is something that's never been

undermined by the Supreme Court, the court is the final arbiter of the meaning of the Constitution. And by that, I mean the interpretation of the Constitution. Whatever the court decides, the result will have far -reaching impact on how religious freedom is defined and defended. It may also further determine how much power Congress has to disagree with the Supreme Court on constitutional issues. The Court is expected to make its ruling by June. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Duncan Moon in Washington. Lawyers for Oklahoma bombing suspect Timothy McVey will be in federal court in Denver again today, arguing that certain eyewitness testimony gathered by the government should be suppressed because of the intense publicity surrounding McVey's arrest. Monitor Radio's George Bauer reports that the hearing is a prelude to McVey's trial, which is just weeks away. When Timothy McVey was arrested in connection with the Oklahoma bombing case, he instantly became one of the most visible figures in modern American history. And according to his attorney, Stephen Jones,

that poses a grave problem for the defense. One of these gentlemen didn't identify Mr. McVey from the photo spread until June 8, 49 days later. Well, by June 8, amongst on the side of the Himalayan Mountains in Tibet, who Jim McVey was. The defense got some satisfaction during the first session of a two -day hearing when one of the government's witnesses, Tom Kessinger, said some of the facts he gave the FBI might have been wrong. Kessinger had previously identified McVey as the man who rented a writer truck in Junction City, Kansas. But eyewitnesses are just part of the federal government's strategy against McVey and Terry Nichols, the other man charged in the April 1995 incident. Lois Romano, who's been covering the trial for the Washington Post, says the prosecution is relying on a carefully crafted case of circumstantial evidence. They are saying this, that they know the truck that was used in the blast came from that agency because they found the axle. They are also saying that they can place McVey 20 minutes from the

rental place, buying a hamburger at McDonald's on the day the truck was rented. They can say that they know the truck was rented by a man named Robert Kling, they have direct evidence that he used that alias. So as you can see, they have all the block. Timothy McVey and Terry Nichols are charged with murder, conspiracy, and weapons -related counts. The McVey trial is scheduled to begin March 31st. Nichols will go on trial later. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm George Bauer. The Clinton administration has promised a tough stand against terrorism, but some members of Congress say it hasn't done enough. Last week, they introduced a measure to close a loophole in an anti -terrorism law enacted last year. That law forbids U .S. companies from dealing with countries that the State Department labels as sponsors of terrorism. But it allows the Treasury Department to grant exemptions. If the deal doesn't, quote, have an impact on any potential act of terrorism. As Monitor Radio's Monica Brady reports, that loophole was big enough for a major oil deal in

Sudan to slip through. Last August, the Treasury Department excused Sudan from the anti -terrorism law. This gave U .S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation the green light to negotiate with the Sudanese government on a $930 million deal to develop oil fields. But the exemption backfired says the Heritage Foundation's Jim Phillips, because Sudan rejected the offer. I think it was self -defeating in two different ways. First of all, we can do our anti -terrorism policy. And second of all, it allowed the Sudanese to come back and kind of put a finger in America's eye by ruling out the contract with Occidental. Most people believe because it wasn't American company. A spokesman for Occidental said that while it had considered projects in Sudan in the past, nothing was planned for the future. Details of the negotiations only surfaced last month, and led lawmakers to question the Clinton administration's commitment to stopping terrorism. White House officials now say they are setting up an interagency group to study this exemption. Philip says no immunity should be granted to blacklisted countries.

The Sudanese operate hand -in -glove with the Iranians in training a wide variety of Middle East terrorist groups inside the Sudan, including Egyptian fundamentalists, Algerian fundamentalists, Tunisian fundamentalists, and Palestinian fundamentalists. The Clinton administration holds the Sudanese government responsible for the 1995 attempt on the life of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. John Val, a professor of Islamic history, and a specialist on Sudan at Georgetown University, says Sudan is just a pawn in Washington's political bickering. I think that the Sudanese at this point being spoken of not because America has vital interests or because of a variety of other specifically Sudan -related things. I think the attention to the Sudanese is very much related to Washington debates rather than African reality. Since both Democratic and Republican lawmakers say the exemption sends the wrong message about terrorism, the loophole is likely to be closed without much of a fight.

For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Monica Brady in Washington. Two Japanese news agencies and a Hong Kong newspaper are reporting that China's Deng Xiaoping is critically ill. They cite unidentified Chinese sources as saying the Deng has been taken to a hospital. For several days, news reports have also said that Chinese President Zhang Zemin and Premier Li Peng are staying in Beijing after canceling trips outside the Capitol. Government spokesman insists that Deng's health has not changed. Matt Forney writes for the Far Eastern Economic Review and covers China, Matt there have been rumors about Deng's failing health for years. What's different this time? The difference this time is the specific nature of the reports on his health. Some papers have been reported that he suffered a stroke. There have been reports that Zhang Zemin and Li Peng, as you mentioned, returned from trips to areas outside Beijing and the assumption is that they returned in order to check on Deng. If the President and the Prime Minister are sticking close to

Beijing because they fear for Deng Xiaoping's immediate future, is everybody else in China kind of holding their breath as well? Not necessarily. Defense Minister Tru Hao Tian is in the Philippines and he has not come back. There's a Vice Premier who has also not canceled the trip over season is expected to leave. Deng Xiaoping's children are also going to work and one would assume that if their father was truly on his deathbed that they would be by his side. So there are some indications that all is not as terrible as some reports have said. There's a question in the West at least about how much control Deng Xiaoping has really been exercising in the past few years. He has been out of sight for a while. Was he still in charge, for example, during events like attention to remissile firings at sea and the elections in Taiwan? No, I don't think so. He has not appeared in public in more than three years. In fact, many of his economic policies are slowly being re -evaluated by people here in Beijing. Many of his pushes for free market and for a devolution of power from

Beijing down to the provinces have been reversed. One big event that happened in 1989 was the Tiananmen massacre and Beijing. And Deng Xiaoping was firmly in charge then. Is he going to be labeled with that after his death? Is he going to be blamed for that? I mean, he's avoided so far. Well, I think you put your finger on the main question in terms of how Deng Xiaoping will be, how his memory will be treated in China and overseas. The Tiananmen massacre is officially called a counter -revolutionary turmoil. And many people in China would like to change that from counter -revolutionary to something perhaps still criminal but not as much of an affront to the party. If that happens, it would signify an attack on Deng in order for somebody to either attack Deng supporters, attack some other political enemies, or even to bring some people in the leadership who support more political reform

back towards the mainstream. Again, it probably won't happen immediately after he dies. But there's a general consensus that at some point the Chinese government in order to regain its legitimacy with its people will have to reassess the Tiananmen uprising. So his passing will be a transitional milestone in China's evolution then? It will be an apoccal event. It will mark the end of the true end of the first generation of leaders in China. Matt Forney writes for the Far Eastern Economic Review and covers China. Thank you very much. Thank you. It's 11 minutes before the hour. Coming up, it's not a better mouse trap, but a young inventor fashions a device that is just as unexpected. And in Japan, young men who find their ideal dates on the computer, but know that that connection will never lead to marriage.

This is monitor radio. The old saying is that if you invent a better mouse trap, the world will beat a path to your door. An invention doesn't have to be new to be noteworthy, an improvement of something that already exists will do just fine. However, there are inventions so basic that it's hard to figure out how

to improve them. But a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology did just that and won $30 ,000 for his efforts. Monitor Radio's Jim Polson went to the MIT campus to see what's been reinvented. Perhaps Nathan Cain could only have astonished people more. Had he somehow reinvented the wheel? Sanjay Sarma, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, reckons the accordion pleated bellows has been around for thousands of years. Until Sarma happened across Cain, he never imagined there was anything wrong with it. I saw him sprawled on the floor one day, cutting pieces of paper and putting tubes out of them. And I said, you know, Nathan, what are you doing? And he says, I'm I've developed a new bellow, and I, it's like saying, I've developed a new nail. You know, how much was there to design about a nail? But then he showed me the new folding patterns and the kinematic constraints and I was absolutely stupified, I guess. Cain had devised a new way of folding material that allows a bellows to stretch farther, pack tighter and last longer. His elegant design needs no stiffeners or reinforcement.

What mine can do is really lower the cost of bellows because now we can make a stiff, structurally strong bellow out of one sheet of plastic. Indeed, Cain has crafted a sturdy model of his bellows out of a discarded pretzel bag. His professors say his patent that Cain optimal fold could apply to million dollar industrial machines that use bellows to protect their moving parts from grit. Cain has adapted his fold to make around bellows, essentially a collapsible hose that can stretch from four inches to 20 feet. He hopes to use that as a cheap light respirator for people who work in hot, noxious conditions, which gets to how Nathan Cain's mind works. His invention evolved from his discomfort, stripping floors in his parents' home in Austin, Texas, the summer after he graduated high school. When society says exploatives, that's an indication that there's something that needs to be invented.

That's David Levy, a close friend and collaborator with Nathan Cain. Cain has just won MIT's $30 ,000 Lemelson Student Prize for Inventiveness. Levy won it last year and has already begun licensing his best invention, a full function computer keyboard that fits in the palm of one hand. Nate and I are both of the ilk that we have a lot of technical background, a lot of understanding of physics, electronics and mechanics. And so we have an educated intuition. And we flip back and forth between turning off that parts of our brain and fantasizing about the way the world could be and then turning that part back on and then rigorously analyzing and throwing out the impossibilities and what we're left with is something that's hopefully workable. Cain describes his pursuit with the perfect fold for the bellows as a nasty, ugly trigonometry problem in three dimensions. Partially jumped out of my chair and I saw that first plot of an

optimized one and then I was even more astonished to discover that the two classic fold using industry are the actual mathematically worse cases. His faculty advisor, Alex Slocum, calls Cain a mathematical genius. He doesn't just do math, he creates the math to go with the creative product because anybody can just grind the handle of the equations. Who came up with equations in the first part needed to be ground. That's what he does. Slocum also calls Cain bizarre and confides that he eats potato chips with a fork. Spoken in Slocum's basement office at MIT, which is overrun by student inventors with marketable patents, these are expressions of pride and endearment. I'm a high school dropout and a lot of my students have been dropouts. We have to be able to identify those kids that learn different because those are typically the ones who then later ask why and invent this stuff. Levy insists that inventiveness is a skill. Almost anyone can develop. Cain says its elements are straightforward. Seeing

practical things that people need is more of an adult thing. I think being really curious and fascinated by something that's new is a kid -like thing. And I think the art of being an inventor is to combine both. Where can a young man find a young woman to date? The universal question. The answers vary depending on the ingenuity of the young man or of the entrepreneurs who devise businesses out of the mating game. In Japan there's now help for amorous young fellows in their searches. It's a computer dating service but one with a twist. Monitor radio's Peter Headfield has used the software to go in search of the ideal partner. Here's one, Hirose

Nozomi, cute, blonde hair, lovely eyes, second year high school student, blood type O, hobbies like skiing and watching soccer games. Well all the details are here. There's just one problem. Hirose Nozomi doesn't exist but that doesn't stop thousands of Japanese men from trying to date her every week. Hirose you see is a cartoon character who features in a computer software program one of the strangest computer fads to hit Japan in the last few years. She's part of a boom in what are called virtual idols. The software programs have nothing to do with computer pornography. The idea is to make the character on the screen your girlfriend. For men terrified of rejection or commitment or real women, Hirose is the ideal platonic partner. Hirokazu Hamamura is editor of Famitsu, a magazine devoted to virtual idol software.

The players don't think it's a real woman but they project themselves into the program. It's kind of narcissism. It's like reaching out to a real woman's love. Well this is one of the virtual idol programs and my perspective partner has just asked me where I want to take her on a date. I've got various choices listed on the screen. The problem is if I pick the wrong one she might tell me to get lost. The zoo looks like a good bet. Better avoid the movies. No let's go bowling. How sweet. She says she's shy to go out with me on her own but she's happy. But I'm not sure this cartoon character with saucer -shaped eyes and blue hair is really my type. The idea of the game is to become friends with the character says Hamamura. For example, to date the character and continue

dating her even after she graduates high school, of course 90 % of the people who play the game are men. They vary from high school students to college students. They play the game regardless of whether or not they're attracted to women. Good -looking types also play. Media companies have even caught onto the trend and are holding auditions for teenage girls, real ones, that is, to play the parts of the virtual idols in films and on record. When that happens the distinction between what is real and what is virtual will become even more blurred. Anyway, time to go. I think I have a date to go bowling. For the Christian Science Monitor, I'm Peter Hadfield in Tokyo. Monitor Radio is made possible in part by

Smuckers, now celebrating 100 years and four generations of making jams and preserves in Orville, Ohio. With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good.