President Clinton's lawyer, Bob Bennett, told the judge in the Paula Jones case that he would submit "sensitive information of a sexual nature" about Jones. The official purpose: to rebut Jones' claim that she suffers from "sexual aversion" as a result of her alleged encounter with Clinton. Jones' attorneys leaked Bennett's tactic to the Washington Post, suggesting that Bennett was trying to humiliate Jones and violating his promise not to use her "sexual history." After the story came out, Bennett decided not to submit the sexual material. (Also see the 3/16 Paula Jones item, below.) (3/20)

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., says he has "most of the votes sewed up" to succeed Speaker Newt Gingrich and that his rivals "don't have much of a chance." He added, "I can make it very uncomfortable for anybody who seeks to get the votes." The commitments he claims from "80-plus" Republican colleagues leave him short of the 114 he needs. Many Republicans are furious at Livingston for escalating the succession race 1) just when the party was trying to appear harmonious for the 1998 elections and 2) before Gingrich has decided whether to run for president in 2000. Journalists look forward to a blood bath between Livingston and Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, and to the delicious, predictable betrayal of one or the other by colleagues who have promised their votes both ways. To court right-wingers' votes, Livingston is sharpening his attack on the White House counsel's office, claiming that it is a taxpayer-funded "personal service" for Clinton and that it may be employing a "totalitarian" network of private investigators. (3/20)

The Senate is debating whether to ratify the expansion of NATO to include Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. The argument pro: It will galvanize European unity and security. The arguments con: It will alienate Russia, waste billions on buying armaments for the new members, and commit American boys to die in godforsaken lands. The spins: 1) Nobody is paying attention, because Clinton's sex scandals are infinitely more interesting. 2) It's a shame nobody is paying attention, because NATO expansion is vastly more important than Clinton's sex scandals in the long run. 3) Thanks to the distraction created by Clinton's sex scandals, right- and left-wingers can't muster the public outcry necessary to stop NATO expansion, so it will pass easily. (U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and former Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock debate the issue in Slate.) (3/20)

The independent counsel to investigate Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt was named. She is Carol Elder Bruce, a lawyer who previously investigated Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese. The judges who appointed her have authorized her to resolve whether 1) Babbitt lied to Congress about the Native American casino incident and 2) the White House or Democratic National Committee improperly influenced its outcome. (3/20)

The White House counterattacked Kathleen Willey. The Day 1 message: After the meeting in which she says Clinton groped her, she wrote him letters praising him and seeking help in getting a job. The Day 2 message: Her agent's efforts to land her a six-figure autobiography deal suggest she's telling her story for personal gain. Clinton aides told the Washington Post that it's plausible that Clinton and Willey had a sexual encounter but that he's "not a coercive guy." The naive cynical spin: The public is buying and tolerating this distinction. The truly cynical spin: Clinton aides are putting out this line because their polls showed the public would buy it. The new feminist line: It's OK to remain silent about sexual harassment charges against Clinton, unlike those against Clarence Thomas, because the charges are already being aired and investigated. As for Willey's efforts to stay on good terms with Clinton despite his alleged sexual misconduct, one analyst pointed out to the Los Angeles Times that the public is doing the same. (For an earlier-in-the-week take on Willey's charges, see the 3/16 item, below.) (3/18)

The Vatican apologized for Catholics' insufficient resistance to the Holocaust. Supporters of the document applauded its renunciation and denunciation of anti-Semitism. Critics, including Jewish leaders, complained that the document blames the Catholic laity for failing to resist ("We deeply regret the errors and failures of those sons and daughters of the church") but stubbornly defends Pope Pius XII against similar charges. The Los Angeles Times complained that the apology "boils down to a version of 'mistakes were made.' " The New York Times called it a good first step along the Vatican's road to a fuller apology. (3/18)

A study indicates that vitamin E sharply reduces the risk and deadliness of prostate cancer. It also indicates the vitamin might help fight colo-rectal and lung cancer. By contrast, vitamin A has no effect. Since the study was confined to Finnish smokers, scientists are waiting to see similar results in other populations. (3/18)

The John F. Kennedy memorabilia fight was settled. First, JFK's kids accused his late secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, of betraying him by keeping some of his personal items and bequeathing them to collector Robert L. White, who is putting them up for auction this week. They called the auction "offensive" and asked White to return the items. White's lawyer and the auction house president defended Lincoln's honor and criticized the Kennedys for trying to "sully" her memory. The Kennedys finally dropped their objections in exchange for some of the items. Meanwhile, Lawrence X. Cusack III, who peddled documents that purportedly verified JFK's trysts with Marilyn Monroe, has been charged with forging them. (3/18)

Former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey accused President Clinton of subjecting her to a crude, unwanted sexual advance. On 60 Minutes, she said: 1) During his 1992 campaign, Clinton got her phone number, invited her to visit him privately, and offered to "get rid of" his Secret Service agents. 2) In 1993, during a private White House meeting, and without evident provocation, he kissed her on the mouth, groped her breast, and put her hand on his erection. (Context: She had come to ask him for a paid job because her husband was broke.) 3) Clinton attorney Bob Bennett tried to coach her not to testify that Clinton's advance was unwelcome, and when she said she would tell the truth, Bennett advised her to hire a criminal lawyer. 4) Clinton subsequently perjured himself by denying in his Paula Jones testimony that he touched Willey sexually during the 1993 meeting. Bennett and the White House deny all Willey's claims. The arguments against Willey: 1) A former colleague said that Willey asked her to lie to support the story. 2) Linda Tripp contradicted Willey's claim that she was distraught after the 1993 meeting. 3) Willey stayed at the White House and got a paid job there. Before she left, she visited Clinton, thanked him "for what the administration had done for me," and conveyed her wish to "come back in some way." The political spin: She is now the principal threat to Clinton, because she 1) can't be dismissed as part of a right-wing conspiracy (unlike Jones) and 2) alleges a sexual incident that is nonconsensual (unlike the Lewinsky affair). (3/16)

Paula Jones' lawyers released hundreds of pages of documents in her case against President Clinton. The good news for Clinton: They fail to support her claim that she suffered professional harm as a consequence of rebuffing his sexual advances. The bad news: 1) They show that, in his deposition, Clinton testified that he knew little about Vernon Jordan's efforts to get Monica Lewinsky a job--arguably contradicting Jordan's statement that he had already spoken with Clinton about those efforts and "kept [him] informed." 2) Longtime Clinton friend Dolly Browning testified that a Clinton ally tried to intimidate her into not disclosing an affair she claims to have had with Clinton. The Jones documents were big news over the weekend but were buried by Kathleen Willey's Sunday night interview. (3/16)

A military jury acquitted Army Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney of all sexual misconduct charges, but convicted him of obstructing justice by coaching one of his six accusers not to divulge too much. He will be demoted but managed to escape a jail term, and everyone regards the verdict as a big win for him. The feminist spin: The soldier-jurors protected McKinney, and the Army wrongly allowed his attorney to savage his accusers' reputations, proving that the military remains insensitive to women. (For Slate's review of Deborah Tannen's new book, which objects to such cross-examinations, click here.) The backspin: Outrage over previous military insensitivity to women (Tailhook, Aberdeen, Kelly Flinn) forced the Army to court-martial McKinney for offenses that would have merited only a civil trial for a CEO, thereby forcing the jurors to choose between acquittal and an excessive jail sentence. Critics say the verdict means that one man's denial trumps several women's credible accusations--and that this is terrific news for President Clinton. (3/16)

Dr. Benjamin Spock died at 94. Obituaries recapitulated a half-century of spin on the baby doctor of the baby boom. The '50s spin: He tore down the pre-boom apparatus of rigid parenting rules that ignored the particular needs and feelings of each child. The late '60s and '70s spin (spearheaded by then-Vice President Spiro Agnew): He invited parents to spoil their kids, thereby fathering the hippie generation and corrupting America's moral fiber. The '80s and '90s spin: He never meant to encourage moral confusion, and when he saw it developing, he spoke out against it. Spock's self-defense: "At least nobody could accuse me of having brought up Spiro Agnew." (Was Spock really the radical popular lore made him out to be? Read Ann Hulbert's "Home Fires" in Slate.) (3/16)