CALLING VERNON JORDAN
President Clinton's trial started in the Senate on Thursday, with Congressman Asa Hutchinson highlighting the key role Vernon Jordan played in Clinton's obstruction of justice. If called as a witness, Jordan may reinvigorate the case against Clinton.

In the February issue of The American Spectator, investigative reporter Byron York reviews hundreds of pages of Jordan's grand-jury testimony and provides a fascinating account of the power lawyer's implausibly bad memory under oath. Time and again, Jordan couldn't remember the content of scores of conversations he had with the president and his staff that took place just weeks before his sworn testimony.

Jordan's testimony contradicts both the documentary record and Monica Lewinsky's later testimony. To determine whether the president and others obstructed justice, contradictions between Jordan and Lewinsky must be resolved by calling both as witnesses to judge their credibility.

NANNY STATE
The National Transportation Safety Board is calling for a nationwide network of children's car seat installation sites, funded by tax dollars. "These fitting stations would be fixed locations where parents and other caregivers can go at their convenience," said Jim Hall, NTSB chairman. Participation would apparently be voluntary, but this looks like one more step toward the nanny state--literally. Incidentally, the word "caregivers" should be banished from the English language.

BASEBALL EMBARGO
Major League Baseball may start playing exhibition games in Cuba this spring. One player, however, balked at the idea during an interview with the Palm Beach Post on Wednesday. "I came to this country to have freedom," said Florida Marlins pitcher Livan Hernandez, who defected from Cuba and won the 1997 World Series MVP award. "I wouldn't go back to play in Cuba and have part of my salary go to Fidel."