RUST COMMENTARY: LOSS OF WIMPY'S LEAVES HOLE IN CAPE'S PERSONALITY

Some of Cape's breakfast crowd will face a dilemma Friday after their favorite meeting place, WIMPY'S, closes.

Sports boosters, hard kidders and -- though they won't admit it -- good friends, said goodbye with a special get together last Saturday afternoon.

The doors are to be locked Thursday as longtime owner BILL LEWIS of the Lewis Clan takes some well-deserved time off.

A historic landmark for many is closing, which leaves too few of Cape's historic family name businesses as the homogenization (everything starting to look the same) continues.

It's not just the tearing down of older buildings that should concern us ... but rather the loss of individual personalities that are being replaced by robotic action and attitudes.

BILL LEWIS is one of a kind ... and he will be missed.

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When one teaches, two learn. -- Robert Half

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Nothing in fine print is ever good news. -- Anonymous

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Land of opportunity: Americans are prospering today because they are adapting to the competitive forces unleashed globally by the end of the Cold War and domestically by industrial deregulation. American business has met increased competition by restructuring.

Job security can no longer be provided by unions or politicians, or through violent protests. Americans understand this. Europeans don't. So we have job insecurity and lots of jobs, while Europeans have job security if they have jobs -- unemployment rates are greater than 10 percent in France and Germany. You want job security? Go to Europe. You want a job? The U.S. is the land for you. -- The New York Times

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R-e-l-i-e-f: An income-tax deduction for payroll taxes is a better way to provide relief to lower- and middle-income Americans than other proposals espousing that same objective. Tax credits for children or college tuition would have few positive economic effects and could be harmful if phased out at certain income levels, thereby raising marginal tax rates. Such targeted tax cuts, which single out some activities for special tax breaks, move away from, not toward, true tax reform.

A payroll tax deduction would provide a modest boost to the economy and, unlike the child or tuition tax credits, would move in the same direction as broader-based tax reform. -- Gary and Aldona Robbins, TaxAction Analysis, Institute for Policy Innovation

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Doubly dipped: For most workers, Social Security taxes exceed income taxes. First, they are withheld from workers' earnings. Then, they are included as taxable income, and taxed a second time.

It's said that only two things are certain, death and taxes. Perhaps it should be brought up to date to say that taxes are more certain than death. Death happens once, but we can be taxed twice on the same work. -- U.S. Sen, John Ashcroft, R-Mo.

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Clinton's poor tax: As President Clinton and his media allies continue to assail -- falsely -- congressional Republicans' tax cut package as "tax cuts for the rich," few have bothered to notice what Bruce Bartlett of the National Center for Policy Analysis points out: Clinton's beloved tax hike on cigarettes will hit the poorest Americans the hardest. "An estimated 34 percent of the revenue from this tax increase would be paid by those earning less than $15,000 per year," says Bartlett. "Three-fifths of the higher tax will be paid by those making less than $30,000." That's not all that's coming to the one-third of American adults, mostly poor and middle class, who smoke. "The recently announced $380 billion tobacco industry settlement will increase cigarette prices between 50 cents and $1 per pack. Adding another 20 cents to the federal tax at the same time would seem to be adding insult to injury," concludes Bartlett. Since cigarette imports are nonexistent and the settlement applies to all domestic tobacco firms, "The fact is that the tobacco industry will not pay any of the $380 billion settlement," Bartlett insists. "It will all be paid by smokers in the form of higher prices."

More on cig suit: So perhaps tobacco firms are not as upset about their deal as $380 billion might imply, especially since experts say the payments will be tax-deductible. Who else does not have to struggle to hold back tears? Lawyers, of course. "Insiders claim that the proposed tobacco deal represents one of the greatest transfers of wealth and political resources in American history," writes Paul Gigot in the Wall Street Journal. "They say that tobacco companies will be paying billions of dollars to plaintiffs' attorneys who almost exclusively support Democrats." Sixty-five law firms made up of 220 lawyers might split 1 per cent of the $368.5 billion settlement, which is a nicely proportioned $3.7 billion, says Gigot. Another group of beneficiaries: the 100 law firms with a total of 250 attorneys who represent the state attorneys general involved. Gigot says that they have contracts that could grant them up to 25 percent of a state's portion of the goodies. -- Human Events

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Socking smokers: The Alaska Legislature has just approved raising the state cigarette tax from 29 cents to $1 a pack. Gov. Tony Knowles says the nation's highest cigarette levy will discourage teens from smoking.

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House appropriations: A House subcommittee approved, by voice vote, a bill that would allocate $1.712 billion for the operations of the House and related offices in fiscal year 1998. That is $9 million less than last year. The bill does not include appropriations for the Senate. Money for Senate operations is customarily added to the bill when it reaches that chamber. Congressman James Walsh (R-N.Y.) said the bill demonstrates a continued commitment to House belt-tightening. Since Republicans came to power, the House has cut spending by nearly $600 million over a three-year span. -- Washington Update

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Democrats puzzled: Democratic senators who have reviewed FBI files have told the White House that the evidence is clear that China tried to illegally influence the 1996 election. The senators have suggested that the President ought to be "tougher" on China and confront them in diplomatic meetings in view of this information. To their astonishment, the White House reaction is "business as usual--no change in China policy." The president continues to claim ignorance about whether China engaged in an illegal effort or not. The senators are described by insiders as puzzled and worried. -- Washington Update

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Thompson boils over: Sen. Fred Thompson used harsh language when, once again the Clinton Justice Department put another roadblock in the way of his investigation. Three Justice Department officials told Thompson that they would oppose efforts to grant immunity to four Buddhist nuns who were solicited for $5,000 donations at a California temple. Thompson accused Justice of having a conflict of interest and said he lacked "confidence anymore in the Justice Department's ability to carry a criminal investigation."

No wonder Thompson is furious. Limited immunity for low-level participants in illegal scams is the tried and tested way of getting to the truth. It was used in Watergate and the Iran-Contra controversy by liberals when they wanted to ferret out what exactly happened. Now suddenly they are worried about preserving the chance to prosecute a few Buddhist nuns. Without the cooperation of these low-level players, there will be no breakthrough in the investigation. -- Washington Update

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The White House subway? Alarm bells rang at the White House over the weekend when a big Chinese donor, Johnny Chung, said the following: "I see the White House is like a subway -- you have to put in coins to open the gate." Chung gave the Democrats $50,000 after he was asked, he claims, to do so by Hillary Clinton's chief of staff. We now have even further evidence of how far the current administration has gone in the "selling" of our seat of government.

I had the pleasure of working in the White House for two years. It is an incredible place with history living down every hallway and around every corner. I have seen the battle ribbons in honor of America's fallen in the Cabinet room and the great artist's rendering of Teddy Roosevelt in the Roosevelt room. I have stood where Lincoln stood late one night pondering whether the Republic could be put back together. No, Mr. Chung, the White House is not a "subway" you can use for the right "fare". No, Bill, the White House is not yours to sell -- it belongs to the American people! -- Gary Bauer, President, American Renewal

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We do not need a First Amendment to protect the popular and non-controversial; it is the unpopular and controversial that requires our vigilance. -- Oren J. Teicher

~Gary Rust is president of Rust Communications, which owns the Southeast Missourian and other newspapers.