More than a million ethnic Albanians, etc., are being displaced from Kosovo. Untold thousands are dead or are marked for death.

President Clinton, showing remarkable leadership, has signed the U.S. on the NATO offensive to stop the ethnic cleansing in spite of initial opposition by almost every Republican.

But more has to be done. Please email your support to President@whitehous.gov.

Unfortunately the same Republican isolationism mind set that hampered decent human being efforts to intervene early enough to the stop the main horrors perpetrated by Germany and Hitler in 1930s-40s is alive and well in the Kosovo crisis.

Imagine these "good" people going to church on Easter Sunday after saying "The situation in Kosovo in not our concern."

By the way, the good Christian General Powell who is being heralded as the great leader of the future opposes interference in Kosovo because it isn't in the *direct* interest of the U.S. Does he want to wait until the Goths are at the Congress' doors?

A new birth control method was "inadvertently" exposed in an article by Lauran Neergaard for AP last month. Her article was based on a study by researchers at Loma Linda University. It also shows how delicate men's sperm is, thus adding to the tons of medical studies that indicate many (most?) fetal defects are caused by men's actions, not women.

Seems the herbal remedies of St. John's Wort, echinacea and ginkgo appear to block conception, or as the writer so nicely wrote in the article aimed at couple wanting to conceive, the herbals can cause infertility, or *genetically* damage sperm.

"Lead researcher Dr. Richard Ondrizek stressed that laboratory research doesn't always accurately predict what happens in humans. Nobody has ever tested actual herb users to see if the products concentrate in their sperm or eggs _ the key to knowing if there's any risk."

The full article may be found in Fertility and Sterility, the journal that published the study.

Neergaard's article about the study says, "Herbs have been used for centuries to cause abortions," but does not specify which ones. We do not know if the actual study spells out which herbs.

In the Loma Linda University TEST TUBE testing, - the researchers used large quantities of herbs on eggs and sperm in test tubes - ST. JOHN'S WORT COMPLETELY BLOCKED THE ABILITY OF SPERM TO PENETRATE EGGS, and echinacea and ginkgo *reduced* that ability. Eggs treated with ginkgo ``were visibly degenerated,'' the researchers reported. Echinacea and St. John's wort caused DNA changes reducing sperm viability. And sperm treated with St. John's wort showed a mutation of a gene called BRCA1, a mutation that when found in grown women is associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

BTW, Canada is Canada is establishing a federal office to evaluate and regulate herbal medicines and other alternative health products after a recent parliamentary report called for an easing of federal restrictions on the marketing and promotion of alternative medicines.

Men's penises continue to be equated with holiness as the Vatican (John Paul II) reiterated its refusal to allow women to serve as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church.

Pastors, reverends and deacons-who-are-also-women are welcomed in most Protestant denominations, but the Vatican still holds to the concept that only men were disciples of Jesus and therefore only men are worthy of being priests. This attitude, of course, ignores the many women who were part and assisted - usually as an unsung part of Jesus' entourage - and were the FIRST to whom he spoke to after the stone was rolled back from his sepulcher.

One of the head honcho cardinals said there were plenty of opportunities for women in the Church without having them serve as deacons and they should be satisfied with what was offered.

One of the unsung methods of service, by the way, is acting as servants and companions in the Vatican - such as taking the evening "cocoa" to a Pope. It was a nun who discovered the mysteriously dead body of the pope who preceded J-P II.

Isn't it strange that only sketchy reports of what is certainly widespread rape of Kosova women is being reported in the American press. Few reports and NO facts.

Instead, our Republican news media keeps reporting on Monica ...

What's wrong with this picture?

Consensual sex is bad; wholesale rape can be ignored?

Remember how difficult it was for us to get information about the terrible systematic rapes of thousands upon thousands of women in Bosnia?

When are we going to get enough women in places of power in our news mediums that we can get HUMAN news that concerns HUMANS, not news aimed at capital gains.

Isn't it amazing that the Republicans threw all their weight behind the Gulf "war" which was simply a sacrifice of American troops and money to oust an invader from Kuwait - a "war" in which NOT ONE SINGLE KUWAITAN fought.

But every Kuwaitan (MALE) got his vast oil fortune back - Have they paid the U.S. for what we spent? Why is it all right for American troops to fight for Kuwaitan oil and not for Albanian lives?

We sent the following letter to our local newspaper, to the New York Times editorial page, and sent emails to such news organizations as dateline@nbc.com. We hope you will send your own letters, make phone calls, etc.

Gentlemen:

While you continue to beat the dead horse of Bill Clinton's alleged sexual immorality, you are closing your eyes and ears to a more serious crime: the refusal of the Republican led U.S. Senate to do the business of this nation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee failed to hold a single confirmation hearing during the first quarter of 1999 while its chair Orrin Hatch was appearing before every TV camera that stood still during the impeachment debacle. Hatch's refusal to act in a judicious manner has even has Chief Justice Renquist expressing dismay.

We call upon the news media of this nation to get back to work and stop being "water cooler" gossips and ignoring the real problems of this nation - and the world.

Sherri Panciera's mornings are crazy. She gets the children up, gets them ready, makes their lunches, piles them in the purple van, schleps them to three destinations and then goes to work.

It's a split-second a.m. juggling act that is familiar to many.

On Tuesday, it all fell apart.

Amid the chaos, Montgomery County police said, Panciera, 36, of Gaithersburg, forgot that she still had her 20-month-old daughter, Samantha, in the van when she arrived at work. She left her in the van in a parking garage for 5 1/2 hours.

The toddler was discovered -- crying but unharmed -- by a passerby, who called police. Panciera, who works for the Department of Energy in Germantown, was cited for leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle, which carries a potential penalty of a $500 fine and 30 days in jail.

One of her excuses was "she was agitated by a speeding motorist she said cut her off on Montgomery Village Avenue."

She said her spouse has been empathetic. "He came up to me and gave me a big hug and said he understood completely what had happened.

"Basically, everybody has been very understanding and saying, 'My God, it could have happened to me,' " she said.

Sound like a fairy tale ending? That people didn't chase the errant mother here through the streets with rakes and shovels seeking to bury her at the crossroads with a stake through her heart?

The world is getting decent?

Well, no.

You see, the happy ending of understanding was because it was NOT THE WIFE, but the husband Mike Panciera who did the leaving. The above story is EXACTLY how it was printed in the newspapers EXCEPT for the name and sex of the perp. Change every he to she and ever she to he and you got the true story.

You can bet if the wife did the leaving, she'd be crucified.

Remember Susan Smith? Her stepfather who had raped her for years and was continuing his sexual abuse during her marriage has been forgiven and reinstated as a top Republican leader in South Carolina.

Several fathers who recently admitted to killing two or more of their children because they were piqued at their mothers have not received one fraction of the sentence that Susan Smith got - nor the publicity.

Amazing, isn't it.

My feeling is simply that if it's good for one, it's good for all. This gender discrimination against women in our court and newspapers has got to stop.

If you are going to justifiably condemn a parent for killing his or her child, HE or SHE should receive the SAME sentences.

As a devotee (addict?) To computers, I deplore in the strongest terms those who develop and spread computer viruses ... but what happened to let the punishment fit the crime?

David L. Smith, 30, who may have inadvertently started the Melissa virus faces 40 years in prison and a $480,000 fine.

MOST murderers face or are sentenced to much less. (Especially fathers who kill their wives and or children.)

Is the computer virus sentence too harsh or the murder sentence too lenient?

To me, a murderer belongs in jail without parole for the rest of his natural life. If the murder is depraved - such as Ted Bundy - death as soon as possible. We have seen video film from inside prisons on how good life can be for infamous lifers.

According to an AP story, men are NOT fighting to gobble the new drug Propecia that can often prevent baldness or grow new hair on bald pates.

The story said that "men are reluctant to take a prescription drug when they're healthy."

Which, of course, explains why so many men are using Viagra as a recreational drug.

The real reason for the lack of sales for the baldness reliever is probably that very, very slight danger of temporary impotence.

No mention is ever made by the analysts that men are even taking into consideration the STRONG warning that Propecia puts out that women should not even *touch* the pill if they are pregnant "because of the threat of a specific type of birth defect."

That "threat" is a very nasty deformity of the genitalia of male fetuses.

If that threat is known why weren't the pills held up until long term studies could be made about the potential for damage to DNA/sperm in the males taking Propecia.

Is it possible that Propecia is harmful to male fetuses but not harmful to a man's sperm that makes half the baby? And can there be any residue in men's DNA?

Or may not.

We just don't know.

But shouldn't we be erring on the side of safety and not risk the health of future generations to the egos of men who accept their beer guts but not a shiny pate.

(P.S. Note how the Propecia warning about the pills are aimed at WOMEN not *touching* the pill. This is so that if there is a defect, it is the WOMAN's fault. This way way all the responsibility falls on the woman's shoulders and the man for can be carefree and careless while seeking his lost youth. How perfect.)

When I left Hot Springs on a vacation to Florida to spend time with my son, brother, and friends, the acquittal vote on the Clinton impeachment was on the car radio, Feb. 5, 1999.

What a glorious way to start a journey of rediscovery.

And it continued that way. My brother and I who had been separated by divorce and problems 51 years ago found that time heals many things ... as does maturity.

I guess one can go home again - if all are devoted to trying to make it work. We were children then and now we're adults who are very, very glad to have each other back.

Then I spent a week with my son, his wonderful wife, and their remarkable two daughters, 17 and 13. Both girls are excellent students, have healthy social lives befitting their ages, and are excellent athletes. AND THEY ARE NICE - in spite of being teenagers.

I don't mean icky nice. They are nice, as in decent, and caring, and polite. They have never been "protected" from the influences of the outside world, but instead have learned to make judgments of the choices that are available. They - like their parents - were taught how to meet and handle the REAL world on THEIR own terms. The whole family loves and watches _South Park_ together but doesn't use the language. They copy their parent's moralities and standards because they respect and admire them - not because they fear some retribution in a hereafter. They are spunky, feminists, and individuals who will help change tomorrow.

HELP - I had Windows 98 installed on my computer and now a file retrieval portion of my Word Perfect 8 doesn't work. I've tried to download "fixes" that Word Perfect has put up on its web page but it comes down (5 times) as corrupted. And I don't even know if that's a fix for my problem since they do NOT answer my emails.

I invested in WP8 because WP7 file interchange was lousy in Windows 95. Now I'm stuck with a program that's even worse. Word Perfect's trip north via Corel ownership seems to have ruined a wonderful program. . . .

Medical authorities are saying the use of two already approved drugs will induce abortions when used in combination and they have produced a surge in abortions. However, no one will realize it for several years until they see that the birth rate and abortion rate have stayed down. The two-drug abortions method is being prescribed quietly and in privately in doctor's offices today.

Dr. Richard U. Hausknecht of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York published a study of the use of the combination of methotrexate and misoprostol to induce abortion (the Aug. 31, 1995 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine). In years past, several doctors, including a woman doctor released the same information but after the flurry of the first news story, the information was quietly ignored/suppressed.

Catt's Claws vows this time the information will stay available.

Methotrexate is FDA-approved for use against cancer; Misoprostol is FDA approved to treat ulcers. Because both are FDA-approved, they can be prescribed by physicians today. Together they produce abortions at a better rate than the RU-486 pill.

Available today at your friendly M.D.