On the Record

■ There are signs here and there that Democrats may be learning from adversity. Speaking to regional caucus of Democratic National Committee a fortnight back, Boston U President John Silber urged Democrats to appeal to working Americans, who “are not interested in a party that denies them upward mobility.” . . . Former Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, who plans to run for Presidency as a “pro-business liberal,” favors lowering the capital-gains tax and building more nuclear-power plants, two no-nos for establishment-liberal Democrats. Thomas Mann, of Brookings Institution, says Tsongas seems “more concerned with fostering economic growth than distributing the benefits of the growth.” . . . Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut—a rising star in the Senate, along with Al Gore (Tenn.) and Charles Robb (Va.), because of their aye votes on Desert Storm—believes the Democratic Party has become the party that “cares about meeting social needs and not making the economy go. It has focused on how to divide the pie, and not on the fact the pie is shrinking.” . . . New York Times report on fortunes of Democrats, post Desert Storm vote, points out that while official leadership in both House and Senate (Mitchell, Gray, Foley, Gephardt) went against the President, important committee chairmen in House—Dante Fascell (Foreign Affairs), Les Aspin (Armed Services), David McCurdy (Intelligence) —went with Administration. . . . Dianne Feinstein, who will be running against appointed Republican Sen. John Seymour (R., Calif.) next year, played her cards right in supporting the war. A Los Angeles Times poll shows 75 per cent of California Democrats agree with her position. . . . Norman Ornstein of American Enterprise Institute has modified good news for Democrats. By a 37 to 21 per cent margin, he says, Americans prefer the Democrats to Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party.

■ Glasnost has overtaken Soviet journalist-apologist Vladimir Posner, a usually clear expositor of the Soviet line. On recent Joan Rivers show the onetime Kremlin mouthpiece confessed he’s a Yeltsin man, suggested it is time for Gorbachev to go, and predicted that ten years from now “there’s not going to be a Soviet Union.” . . . Yelena Bonner, Andrei Sakharov’s widow, feels there will be “thousands of prisoners of conscience” again in Soviet Union. She has called on Nobel Committee to strike Sakharov’s name from list of Nobel laureates, not wanting him listed alongside Gorbachev, whom she blames for Lithuanian bloodshed. . . . Radio Free Europe’s acting director, Robert Gillette, says Latvian journalists, muzzled by new press restrictions, are feeding reports to RFE in Munich to be broadcast back to Baltics. . . . Resistance International reports Slava Rodionov, a former prisoner of conscience, has established the first nonstate religious school in Soviet Union and will be launching a Christian radio station. He is also involved in publishing Christian textbooks and literature for young people. (For further details contact Resistance International president Michail Makarenko, 202-488-7453.) . . . Religious persecution has intensified in China since Tiananmen Square. Puebla Institute reports mass arrests, detentions, brainwashing, and torture of Christian leaders. Among the imprisoned are twenty Catholic bishops. . . . China also tried unsuccessfully to pull Zhang Yimou’s movie Ju Dou from Oscar contention. … Of interest to Catholics in the States, a forum—“The Catholic Public Servant”—under auspices of Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C., and Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Conn., on Saturday, April 20, at Schine Auditorium in Fairfield. Featuring: former Gov. Hugh Carey on the Executive Branch; Rep. Henry Hyde on the Legislative Branch; Judge James L. Buckley on the Judicial Branch. Admission free. (For info: 203-637-5362, or 203-324-7199.)

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■ There are signs here and there that Democrats may be learning from adversity. Speaking to regional caucus of Democratic National Committee a fortnight back, Boston U President John Silber urged Democrats to appeal to working Americans, who “are not interested in a party that denies them upward mobility.” . . . Former Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, who plans to run for Presidency as a “pro-business liberal,” favors lowering the capital-gains tax and building more nuclear-power plants, two no-nos for establishment-liberal Democrats. Thomas Mann, of Brookings Institution, says Tsongas seems “more concerned with fostering economic growth than distributing the benefits of the growth.” . . . Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut—a rising star in the Senate, along with Al Gore (Tenn.) and Charles Robb (Va.), because of their aye votes on Desert Storm—believes the Democratic Party has become the party that “cares about meeting social needs and not making the economy go. It has focused on how to divide the pie, and not on the fact the pie is shrinking.” . . . New York Times report on fortunes of Democrats, post Desert Storm vote, points out that while official leadership in both House and Senate (Mitchell, Gray, Foley, Gephardt) went against the President, important committee chairmen in House—Dante Fascell (Foreign Affairs), Les Aspin (Armed Services), David McCurdy (Intelligence) —went with Administration. . . . Dianne Feinstein, who will be running against appointed Republican Sen. John Seymour (R., Calif.) next year, played her cards right in supporting the war. A Los Angeles Times poll shows 75 per cent of California Democrats agree with her position. . . . Norman Ornstein of American Enterprise Institute has modified good news for Democrats. By a 37 to 21 per cent margin, he says, Americans prefer the Democrats to Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party.

■ Glasnost has overtaken Soviet journalist-apologist Vladimir Posner, a usually clear expositor of the Soviet line. On recent Joan Rivers show the onetime Kremlin mouthpiece confessed he’s a Yeltsin man, suggested it is time for Gorbachev to go, and predicted that ten years from now “there’s not going to be a Soviet Union.” . . . Yelena Bonner, Andrei Sakharov’s widow, feels there will be “thousands of prisoners of conscience” again in Soviet Union. She has called on Nobel Committee to strike Sakharov’s name from list of Nobel laureates, not wanting him listed alongside Gorbachev, whom she blames for Lithuanian bloodshed. . . . Radio Free Europe’s acting director, Robert Gillette, says Latvian journalists, muzzled by new press restrictions, are feeding reports to RFE in Munich to be broadcast back to Baltics. . . . Resistance International reports Slava Rodionov, a former prisoner of conscience, has established the first nonstate religious school in Soviet Union and will be launching a Christian radio station. He is also involved in publishing Christian textbooks and literature for young people. (For further details contact Resistance International president Michail Makarenko, 202-488-7453.) . . . Religious persecution has intensified in China since Tiananmen Square. Puebla Institute reports mass arrests, detentions, brainwashing, and torture of Christian leaders. Among the imprisoned are twenty Catholic bishops. . . . China also tried unsuccessfully to pull Zhang Yimou’s movie Ju Dou from Oscar contention. … Of interest to Catholics in the States, a forum—“The Catholic Public Servant”—under auspices of Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C., and Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Conn., on Saturday, April 20, at Schine Auditorium in Fairfield. Featuring: former Gov. Hugh Carey on the Executive Branch; Rep. Henry Hyde on the Legislative Branch; Judge James L. Buckley on the Judicial Branch. Admission free. (For info: 203-637-5362, or 203-324-7199.)