THE SHOW GOES ON
Any vote that keeps liberal Republican Sens. John Chafee (R.I.), Jim Jeffords (Vt.), and Olympia Snowe (Me.) on the reservation counts as bipartisanship for us. The fact that in a pair of 56-44 votes on Wednesday, Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wisc.) joined the Republicans to defeat a Democratic motion to dismiss the charges against President Clinton and to approve the deposition of witnesses makes the accomplishment that much sweeter. (Reporters called the McCain-Feingold bill "bipartisan" because two Republican senators supported it. Let's hear it for political reform!)

Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.) must now realize that seeking Minority Leader Tom Daschle's approval for every decision is futile. Lott and the Republicans control the Senate; they should flex their muscles without timidity (and try to pick off individual Democrats). The next step: Voting for live witnesses to appear before the Senate.

RITES AND WRONGS
The Vatican released its updated exorcism ritual on Tuesday, several hours before President Clinton met privately with Pope John Paul II for 20 minutes in St. Louis. The 84-page Latinate book is the first revision since 1614. Examples of possession by the devil are "rather scarce," explained Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez, but the devil's influence can be seen in "the idolatry of sex and power." Furthermore, "the use of the lie is his preferred strategy."

BLACKLISTED
Cross "niggardly" off your vocabulary list. David Howard, head of the District of Columbia's Office of Public Advocate, used the word in a January 15 conversation with two other city employees--only to discover rumors spreading like wildfire that he had used a different N-word. "Niggardly," of course, means "miserly," and Howard was describing his administration of a municipal fund. Deriving from Middle English (the Oxford English Dictionary gives Chaucer the first reference) and probably having deeper Scandinavian roots, "niggardly" has no known racial connotation (except maybe in ebonics). The N-word, by contrast, comes from Latin.

Not that it matters. New D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams immediately accepted Howard's resignation. Williams, who succeeded Marion Barry earlier this month, has been criticized by some residents for having too many white aides. The Washington Post printed an op-ed on January 17 questioning whether Williams is "black enough" for the city.

BACK TO THE TRIAL
"Niggard of question, but of our demands / Most free in his reply." -- Hamlet (III, i, 13)