Time

TO OUR READERS 4

LETTERS 8

CHRONICLES 19

MILESTONES 29

COVER: The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas 30

The incoming Speaker of the House sets off a race to cut

programs for the poor. But most Americans don't agree with

harsh cutbacks.

Who Is Entitled? A bipartisan commission says welfare for the

well-off should be on the table too

THE ADMINISTRATION: Frantic Shuffle to the Middle 41

Clinton's reincarnation as a centrist is well under way

THE POLITICAL INTEREST: Newt's Believe It or Not 43

Gingrich sounds great, but he's loose with the facts

SOCIETY: Armed and Cantankerous 48

Politician-hating citizens are forming militias

DIPLOMACY: Dangers of a Cold Peace 50

Relations between the U.S. and Russia are turning sour

SOUTH AFRICA: Quiet Revolution 52

With government help, people change the way things were

BUSINESS: So Rich and So Broke 55

Orange County files the largest municipal bankruptcy petition

TECHNOLOGY: Trip Hawkins on the Ropes 58

It's make-or-break time in the video-game industry

LAW: Was Heidi Heave-Hoed? 59

Fleiss's stiff sentence has outraged even some of her jurors

CRIME: Grief and Questions in Union 60

A battered town steels itself for the Susan Smith trial

ENVIRONMENT: Damming the Yangtze 62

China launches its contested Three Gorges hydropower project

HEALTH: Backlash Against Campus Drinking 66

A study documents the damaging effects of secondhand booze

THE ARTS & MEDIA

Books: There is no frigate like a book, and this year's holiday

gift selection will take readers lands away 68

Opera: La Belle et la Bete is Philip Glass at his best 72

Cinema: Little Women is the year's unlikeliest triumph 74

Demi Moore victimizes Michael Douglas in Disclosure 75

Altman's fashion farrago: Ready to Wear, unfit to be seen 75

Music: Pearl Jam's expert mix of power and melody 76

TLC stands for pure funky fun 77

Theater: Physics, espionage and love drive Hapgood 78

Television: Woody Allen makes a funny return 78

Show Business: A "new" Beatles album, 30 years old 81

PEOPLE 83

ESSAY 84