you might find the occasional welfarernmom in Baltimore who has had a “publicrnauthorit)-” sew Norplant into her armrnso she can stay on the dole, but Americansrnhardly live in fear of “placing at thernmercy of the intervention of public authoritiesrnthe most personal and most reservedrnsector of conjugal intimacy,” asrnPope Paul put it.rnNo, our condition is more horrible —rnand more pathetic. In America we havernself-loathing in such abundance that wcrndon’t need life-hating billionaires to financernour abolition. Wc happily pa’ forrnit ourselves. Women in America so despisernmotherhood that they kill theirrnyoung and regard their fertilih’ as a diseasernto be treated with pills or surgery.rnAmerican nren by the millions line up tornbe snipped by the surgeon’s scissors.rnThe proof of the self-loathing is in therndesperate search for approval. I had arndrink recently at the bar in a men’s club,rnhi the space often minutes, two men I’drnnever met before told me about theirrnvasectomies. When the conversationrninevitably turned to whether or not thisrnwill be the year that the club will admitrnwomen, it was all I could do to refrainrnfrom saying that it seems they alreadyrnhave.rnAt garage sales, people we’ve neverrnmet tell my wife and me that they won’trnbe rreeding these baby things anymore:rn”You know.” A couple we had dinnerrnwith once informed us tiiat he had beenrn”fixed.” Their insurance covered it, theyrnbeamed. Even a Marine officer forrnwhom Fd worked told me before headingrnto the hospital that henceforth hernwould be “shooting blanks.”rnSome men are not content with justif’rning their vasectomies to the strangersrnthey meet but feel compelled to informrnthe strangers they will never meet, asrnwell. Environmentalist Bill McKibben’srnnew book. Maybe One, rehashes tiredrn”Population Bomb” arguments so thatrnhe can justif)’ (and describe in detail) tornthe world the $200 vasectomy tiiat hernbought in Canada.rn”ASK ME ABOUT MY VASECTOMY!”rnis the bumper sticker Fm expectingrnto see any day now. I am so tired ofrnhearing grown men gossip about theirrnprivates that Fm thinking of putting arnbumper sticker on my car: “IE YOU’VErnSTERILIZED YOURSELF, FF WASrnPROBABLY A GOOD IDEA.”rnBut I’m not that cynical, and tiiere isrnhope. One More Soul in Dayton, Ohio,rnmaintains a database of doctors who willrnreverse surgical sterilizations for a reducedrnfee. One of them, a semi-retiredrndoctor in Texas, does nothing but reversernvasectomies. Now, if we could only findrna physician who can minister to the diseasedrnminds that are so terrified of lifernthat they are willing to commit intergenerationalrnsuicide.rn— Christopher CheckrnHILLARY CLINTON wisely chose tornspend her 23rd wedding anniversar’ at arnwomen’s conference in Bulgaria ratherrnthan in Washington with her husband.rn’Fhe White House claimed that Mrs.rnClinton had decided to attend the Octoberrnconference months earlier, but therntiming—less than a week after the Housernof Representati’es voted to open an impeachmentrninquiry—raised eyebrows, asrndid Mrs. Clinton’s failure to mention herrnhusband.rnWiile journalists seemed more interestedrnin what Mrs. Clinton failed to sayrnthan in what she actually said, herrnspeech should have raised some eyebrowsrnas well. Before an audience whichrnincluded the first ladies of Rinnania,rnSlovenia, Albania, Macedonia, Greece,rnand Turkey, Mrs, Clinton condemnedrnthe Serbian response to armed Albanianrnuprisings in Kosovo, calling the situationrnthere “both [a] humanitarian crisis and arnviolation of humanity,” according tornReuters. Yugoslavia’s first lady was not inrnattendance; instead, Yugoslavia was representedrnby a woman whom Reuters simplyrncalled an “opposition figure”: “SonjarnLiht [sic], president of the Fund forrnOpen Societ}’ [sic] in Yugoslavia, ‘overcamerntremendous difficulties to be withrnus today,’ Mrs. Clinton said.”rnSonja Licht, however, is no mere “oppositionrnfigure”: She is the president ofrnthe executive board of the Fund for anrnOpen Society-Yugoslavia, one of thernmany branches of the Soros FoundationrnNetwork operating in the Balkans (therernare other branches in Albania, Macedonia,rnCroatia, Bosnia, and Slovenia). Althoughrnno one who has followed GeorgernSoros’s “philanthropic” activities canrndoubt that tiiey are politically motivated,rnthe Soros Foundation Network has —untilrnnow—maintained the fiction of nonpartisanship.rnAccording to the network’srnwebsite {www.soros.org, of course), thern”Fund for an Open Societv’ is a Yugoslavrnnon-governmental, non-political andrnnon-profit organization which supportsrnand introduces programs and activitiesrnaimed at the development of democraticrncidture, tolerance and peace. By supportingrnprograms in the fields of education,rnscience, culture and art, health-carernsystem and communicatioirs, the Fundrnaims to build on preconditions for thernoverall development of the Yugoslav societv,rnessential for establishing denrocraticrnrelations and stability of the wholernBalkan region.”rnSince 1991, when he established thernFimd for an Open Societ)’-Yugoslavia,rnGeorge Soros has taken an imhealthy interestrnin the Balkans, and the constructionrnof a multicultural state (an “OpenrnSociet)”) in Bosnia is an experiment thatrnhe woidd like to see recreated throughoutrnthe Balkans and eventually aroundrnthe world. To that end, the Fund for anrnOpen Society-Yugoslavia spent $11.1rnmillion in 1996, a considerable sum inrnthe Balkans.rnLike Soros, FJncle Sam can’t seem tornmind his own business: Reuters reportedrnthat Mrs. Clinton announced that thern”Agency for International Developmentrnhad allocated a fresh $ 15 million grant tornfoster civic societ}’ in the region.” EvenrnSoros, one of the richest men in thernworld, can’t match the U.S. government’srn”generosit}’.” But if Hillan’ Clinton’srnembrace of Sonja Licht is any sign,rnhe may not have to. The United Statesrnseems prepared to use its citizens’ tax dollarsrn(not to mention their lives) to makernSoros’s dream of a world-wide “Open Societ)'”rna realit)’.rn— Scott F.RichertrnGEORGE CORLEY WALLACE,rnR.I.p. I remember the first time I sawrnhim. It was on a golden autumn day inrn1962, and he was running for governor.rnThe streets of my little town in northwestrnAlabama were cordoned off, and thernhonky-tonk band was playing a rousingrnversion of “Dixie” as hundreds of staternand Confederate flags waved in thernbreeze. Wdien he strutted onto the stagernand approached the big silver microphone,rnthe crowd hushed in anticipation.rn”My fellow Alabamians. . . . ” Irndon’t remember much of what he saidrnthereafter, but as a 10-year-old kid, I feltrnproud to be from Alabama.rnThe recent death of former GovernorrnGeorge Corley Wallace brought forth anrnoutpoming of grief in Alabama, and Irnwas among the mourners. While the restrnof the countr)’ was absorbed in the Clintonrnsex scandal, we Alabamians buried arn8/CHRONICLESrnrnrn