RUST COMMENTARY; DEDICATION OF JOE UHLS LOCKER ROOM BRINGS BACK MEMORIES

The dedication Saturday of the outstanding JOE UHLS SEMO baseball locker room in Houck Field House brought back some memories.

COACH UHLS was my College High baseball and basketball coach the four years I lettered in both.

Some insights I was able to share with some of his children at the dedication included his pioneering effort in the area of weight lifting for basketball and baseball players...a common practice today, but considered then to create muscle bound athletes with little body flexibility. Also the use of high protein food supplements to build strength and endurance.

Besides being a mentor, Uhls also taught me how to play the harmonica and ukelele...though my company associates realize I've lost a lot of that skill.

Uhls, along with Coach Ryan at Puxico, and the Mt. Vernon high school team, brought the full court zone press and high scoring basketball games to the area in the early 50's. The jump shot replaced the two hand set shot, the underhand free throws were replaced by today's style...it was a time of change in tactics and he was one of the leaders in this area.

The low scoring 20 point basketball games of the late 40's soared to the 70 sometimes 100 point games of the early 50's during Coach Uhls early coaching years which were followed by his successes as the Assistant Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach and ultimately head baseball coach.

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Liberal Arts Course Literally Too Liberal

For those parents and students currently considering higher education, you might look into Wesleyan University, a very liberal arts college in Connecticut. And we mean liberal. It seems that feminist professor Hope Weissman's new class on pornography is causing a stir. What will they think of next?

The college course is coming under increased pressure because of the subject matter. Students are allowd free rein on whatever they choose just as long as it is pornographic. The more graphic, the better.

The official title of the course is "Pornography: Writings of Prostitutes," which examines porn as a culture and political practice. Now if this seems inappropriate and a waste of time to you, you're not alone. The school's president has ordered a review of the class and it may well become a one-year experiment that disappears.

Of course, the professor is hiding behind some freedom of expression excuse, which is the custom. But urging students to produce pornographic videos and writings is stretching the first amendment pretty darned thin, I believe.

Professor Weissman says she is proud that she pushes the students "over the line." And she puts no limits on what they can produce. Given those guidelines, the students are rapidly becoming the smut peddlers of tomorrow. And taxpayer dollars help support that university just as they do others.

Perhaps the purpose of education is to push people over the line. But in this case, I think the line is wrong and the course is inappropriate. When your college final exam is to produce a work of pornography, just what are we teaching?

I want to protect Professor Weissman's freedom just as much as anyone. But when her freedom infringes on the rights of others, then the line is wrong.

Michael Jensen, Publisher, Standard Democrat, Sikeston, Mo.

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New Chinese Money Mystery

Here is another revelation of suspicious activity by the Chinese government, and of the Clinton administration's reluctance to respond. In 1996, federal bank examiners discovered that the central bank of China was moving tens of millions of dollars into the United States. Beginning in 1992, one small California bank, Far East National, received $92 million from China. Almost half of that money came from a Hong Kong investment firm controlled in part by two men said to be associated with Chinese intelligence agencies. Some federal officials suspect the money might have been intended to pay for Chinese intelligence operations. Others think it could have been a cache for making political contributions or buying sensitive technology. Such suspicions are hardly surprising in light of fund-raiser Johnny Chung's testimony to the House Government Reform Committee recently that he had met several times with the chief of China's military intelligence agency. General Ji Shengde, who directed $300,000 to Chung's bank account for use as contributions to President Clinton's re-election campaign.

The federal bank examiners who discovered the flow of millions from China turned their findings over to the Justice Department, the State Department, and the FBI, but reportedly no legal or diplomatic action was ever taken. The Justice Department reportedly gave the matter only a cursory review. The New York Times journalists write that " a close look at the case, based on interviews and confidential Government documents, shows that the Clinton Administration was slow to pursue or even pull together the disparate leads uncovered over several years by different agencies." The same pattern was present in the Administration's handling of Chinese nuclear espionage.

Washington Update

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Liars and Cultists

Think back through your historical archives and see if you can remember who in history made the following statement and about whom did he make it:

" Every time [the president] talks about trust it makes chills run up and down my spine. The very idea that the word 'trust' could ever come out of [his] mouth after what he has done to this country and the way he has trampled on the truth is a travesty of the American political system...There's just no such thing as truth when it comes to him...He just says whatever sounds good and worries about it after the election."

Statement by William Jefferson Clinton about President George Bush in the 1992 pre-election campaign. Quoted from : "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" by Ann Coulter.

If you stumbled on that one, see if you can remember who said this:

"A cultist is one who has a strong belief in the Bible and the Second Coming of Christ; who frequently attends Bible Studies; who has a high level of giving to a Christian cause; who home schools for their children; who has accumulated survival foods and has a strong belief in the Second Amendment; and who distrusts big government. Any of these may qualify a person as a cultist but certainly more than one of these would cause us to look at this person as a threat, and his family as being in a risk situation that qualified for government interference."

Statement by Attorney General of the United States of America, Janet Reno to more than 40 million people on June 26th, 1994 on the nationally broadcast television program, "Sixty Minutes" with Mike Wallace.

To belabor an old cliche...HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!

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Pro-Choice Republicans

The Republican Pro-Choice Coalition (RPCC) debuted May 2, 1999 with a $1,000-a-head fundraiser, which netted over $500,000. New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman gave the keynote address. The co-chair of the coalition, Susan Cullman, said, "Our job is to move the Republican Party where most people are on our issue." Perhaps she has yet to realize just "where most people are." A recent poll from the Center for Gender Equality, a liberal women's think tank run by former Planned Parenthood president Faye Wattleton, found, "Seventy percent of women now favor more restrictions on abortion." The poll also found that a majority of women--53 percent--believe that access to abortion should extend no further than to cases of rape, incest, or saving the life of the mother. According to a survey of college freshmen, support for abortion has dropped 14 points since 1990, to 50.3 percent. The RPCC represents the merger of three existing pro-abortion organizations.

Washington Update--May 3, 1999

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What is Character?

( The Character Award winner's speech to Junior High in Fayetteville, N.C.)

An owner of a store advertised for an employee, and nearly fifty came to him. Out of the fifty, the man chose one ordinary boy. His friend asked, "I would like to know why you chose him instead of the other boys. He was the only boy without a recommendation."

The owner said, "You are mistaken. He had a great many recommendations. He wiped his feet and closed the door, showing he was careful.

"He gave his seat to the lame man, which showed he was thoughtful and kind. He took off his hat and politely answered my questions, which meant he was a gentleman.

"He waited patiently as the other boys pushed and shoved, showing that he was honorable and orderly."

The man said, "Don't you call those little things recommendations? I do; and I would give more for what I can see by using my eyes, than for all the letters he may bring."

As you can see, the boy's character got him the job and a good reputation. Webster says that character is, "All the things that a person does, feels and says, by which the person is judged as being good or bad, or strong or weak." I think that character is the actions that a person does, both good and bad. Good character is important in our world today. With the Colorado shooting, Kosovo crisis, and all of the bomb threats in Fayetteville, people never mention that person or person' character. Mostly, people just do bad things like that to get attention and show the world that people won't push them around. Another thing I have noticed is that people's characters are facing a battle against inappropriate movies, terrible video games, and other bad influences. So for all of the people that still have good character, just keep up the good work and you will be rewarded in ways you would never have dreamed of.

Unfortunately, there are people in this world that have awful character. Such as Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who were the murderers in the Littleton, Colorado incident in Columbine High School. They were both smart and computer geniuses. However, they were both cosntantly picked on in school, so they thought of a way to get even. By that time, their character had gone from bad, to worse, to ugly. You see, everyone has character. It just depends on what you do with it. In order to do that, you must practice having integrity, being honest and respectful, responsibility, caring, and self-discipline. Character is real important in our life. It is important that we strive to keep it on a good level. If you are lacking in character, then I suggest that you work on it. Some ways you can work at it is by practicing what we learned here at 71st in the Character Counts Program, seeing a pastor at a local church, going to your school guidance teacher, or talking it over with your parents. Each of us has the power to choose to grow in good virtues. You can be like the little boy in the story. Or you can be like Dylan and Eric. You must choose the path that you want to take.

Alex Terry, 12 years old, my grandson

Note: My grandson lives in Fayetteville, N.C....the home of Ft. Bragg.

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FTC Seeks Precedent Only a Trial Lawyer Could Love

Trial lawyers of the future may well look back upon the 1990s as their Golden Age.

This is, after all, the era of President Clinton's veto of national tort reform legislation, which dashed hopes of putting some limits on the antics of plaintiffs' lawyers and returning some common sense to our legal system. It is also the age of the multi-million-dollar damage award; last year there were 17 awards of $100 million or more and 45 awards of more than $40 million. And now, if the Federal Trade Commission has its way, it may be the age of an unprecendeted collaboration between plaintiffs' attorneys and the federal government.

The FTC is talking about setting up "restitution funds" that private lawyers who succeed in antitrust suits could dip into on behalf of their class-action clients. The restitution funds would force companies that are the target of antitrust suits initiated by the government to put aside money after a finding of liability in that suit but before any verdict is reached in private, class-action suits. The idea is to eliminate the risk to plaintiffs' attorneys that the weight of private litigation might drive a firm into bankruptcy before payday. Of course, just the knowledge that a risk-free pot of money is available may very well guarantee that enough private lawsuits are filed to drive more firms into bankruptcy.

To pay for this government-backed mechanism to enrich contingency-fee lawyers, the FTC is considering a legal policy that goes under the arcane name of "disgorgement." This policy, if approved by the courts, would impose yet another layer of penalties on firms already subject to treble damages, plus attorneys' fees, for running afoul of the nation's antitrust laws. All brought to you by the federal government.

Dick Thornurgh, Attorney General from 1988 to 1991