Public Life

Samuel Lipman, 60, a pianist and critic who was publisher of the New Criterion, a conservative journal of the arts, died of leukemia Saturday in New York City. In 1982, Mr. Lipman became publisher of the New Criterion. Previously, he had been known chiefly as a concert pianist and the music critic of Commentary magazine, but he soon became a leader in the neo-conservative movement, writing and lecturing on political and cultural subjects. Four years ago, as the moderator of a symposium on intellectuals in public life, Mr. Lipman deplored the disappearance of intellectuals from government.

Somebody once said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," but nobody in public life can remember who.The Starr report is most Americans' first exposure to the sordid world of Internet pornography.If all the Republicans who had affairs keep admitting it, they won't get up a quorum.An old Communist KGB spy boss agreed to run Russia, saving its democracy yet again.Pub Date: 9/14/98

ST. LOUIS -- Sen. John Danforth, 56, the father of the modern Republican Party in Missouri, says he will not seek re-election next year."Public service, however enjoyable, is only a part of life," the lawmaker said yesterday. "It has been important for me to see it that way. I do not want to cling to it as though my whole identity is decided by elections, for it is not."Mr. Danforth's announcement was one of the best-kept secrets in recent Missouri politics, shocking some of his supporters and kicking over a hive of potential candidates.

IN the current issue of Liberty, the magazine of the North American Division of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Samuel Rabinove of the American Jewish Committee reminds readers of the reasons behind the separation of church and state. Here are some excerpts:"In my view, religions will fare better if they encourage the government to keep hands off, neither hindering nor helping them. Any religion that cannot thrive without governmental assistance does not deserve to thrive. No religion should be beholden to government, but rather all should be free to bear prophetic witness against government if events so require."

HENRY ROSS PEROT, this year's Reform Party candidate for U.S. president, perceives himself as a great American hero.Perot says it's his personal mission to ensure that anyone can achieve the American Dream.Now receiving $32 million in public funds to run his campaign, Perot's party is on the ballot in enough states to give him a stab at carrying the electoral vote.When he ran for president in 1992, the Texas candidate spent $65 billion of his own money. After that he vowed to do it again, grudgingly, only if President Clinton and the Congress failed to meet the needs of America.

There are times when the nation's capital takes on some of the attributes of a shark tank at feeding time. That is one of the complaints left behind in some notes by Vincent W. Foster Jr., the deputy White House counsel who committed suicide. Reviewing the brouhaha in the White House travel office, Mr. Foster makes some vague accusations and offers a flimsy defense of White House staff behavior. These are deserving of some attention, but Mr. Foster's remarks about life in Washington raise a more substantial issue.

On the day Richard Nixon died, Hillary Clinton met reporters in the White House to answer questions about her personal finances and the Whitewater controversy. The First Lady appeared on national television looking cool and composed in an outfit that was color coordinated with a nearby bowl of spring flowers. Mrs. Clinton sat under a large painting of President Lincoln.Richard Nixon, on the other hand, was notoriously awkward on television. His career almost ended that long ago night when the entire nation saw him perspire during the debate with the smooth, the handsome, the affable Kennedy.

The public's confidence in President Bush's ability to deal wisely with an international crisis has slid sharply over the past five months, and a clear majority is uneasy about his ability to make the right decisions on the nation's economy, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll has found. Overall, the poll found, Americans are for the first time more critical than not of the president's ability to handle both foreign and domestic problems, and a majority says he does not share their priorities.

At the Senate hearing for his confirmation to a seat on the Public Service Commission last January, Victor Cushwa Jr. spoke openly and courageously about his lung cancer. The disease had prompted his resignation from the state Senate after 13 years, but he announced his determination to not to let it end his term on the PSC prematurely. As it turned out, Cushwa did not complete his term after all. As his wife Patricia noted, his death Monday at the age of 66 silenced a booming voice. But death does not overshadow a career of public service characterized by decency, diligence and respect for those he disagreed with.

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 2,000 men in American prisons are awaiting execution for one crime or another. By contrast, a mere handful of women are on death row 49, at last count. What is one to make of this disparity? To put the question bluntly: Are women less evil than men, less criminal, less dangerous?A few weeks ago in Illinois, Guinevere Garcia was scheduled to be executed. As a teen-ager, Ms. Garcia had murdered her infant daughter. She was on death row for the murder of her second husband.