REMINDER ... for those who would like to evaluate the two major Missouri candidates for the U.S. Senate -- JIM TALENT and JEAN CARNAHAN ... unfiltered by the news media or TV sound bites ... C-SPAN is televising their second debate live at 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The debate will be re-broadcast later that evening.

Be informed. Your vote is important, and your responsibility is to be informed.

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Miss America on abstinence, gets the message: Three cheers for the new Miss America, Erika Harold, who refused to be bullied by pageant officials. After the story broke that the organization had attempted to muzzle Miss Harold's message on sexual chastity, the outcry by groups like Family Research Council prompted the organization to lift its restrictions on the topic. The new Miss America demonstrated the courage of her conviction, and her resolute stand paid off, paving the way for Miss Harold to take the "save sex" message to teenagers across the country. And she'll have company. Over 400 doctors have signed on to the abstinence movement after reviewing comprehensive reports on the risks of premarital promiscuity. They collaborated on a tool called "Prescriptions for Parents: A Physicians' Guide to Adolescence and Sex." One of those doctors now admits, "I used to think all we had to do was dump condoms in the schools and be done with it. But after seeing the data and facts, I've had to do a 180 on kids and sex." We applaud these members of the medical community for putting their credentials behind the truth about abstinence.

Fight club: Pro-life group wins battle, joins campus: A St. Louis student group that had been the victim of political correctness was vindicated this week. Law Students Pro-Life, which had twice been denied for official recognition at Washington University, was finally granted recognition in a surprise reversal by the Student Bar Association. After Family Research Council and other groups castigated the SBA for its intolerance and suppression of freedom of thought, the association changed its mind. As a result, Law Students Pro-Life enjoys the same access to campus facilities and university funding as other student groups. We applaud the decision and hope that other academic institutions will embrace real diversity and freedom of thought for their students. -- Washington Update

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A new generation of weapons will debut in an attack on Iraq, helping U.S. troops in skirmishes fought in urban settings, including a directed-energy microwave e-bomb to fry computers and electronic grids from above and disarm launchers, thermobaric rockets with the ability to slow down and turn corners inside buildings and toy-size minidrones flying miles ahead of troops to detect possible chemical weapons use.

Weapons makers will be busy filling the Pentagon's shopping list. The agency will load up on new gadgets, chemical weapons protective gear and more-mundane spare parts for aircraft, avionics and truck engines.

Odds are war will start early next year unless Saddam relents and allows completely unfettered weapons inspections. That's unlikely.

The United States and Britain will continue to build up forces in the region. They're already softening up Saddam's antiaircraft defenses with strikes.

January and February provide good weather for an attack ... cool temps. But weather alone won't keep operations from starting earlier or later.

Delaying too long carries political, economic and military risks. The political momentum Bush is building at home and in the U.N. will wane if the standoff lasts too long. U.S. economic growth will be hampered as long as there's uncertainty over Iraq. And delay will give more time for Saddam to prepare his defenses and stir up anti-U.S. sentiment. -- From a national newsletter

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The bear market: It will end when Saddam Hussein and his tyrannical regime are brought down. Iraq is the big uncertainty weighing on equities, and that uncertainty will be past us by February, at the latest. Then the market will rally convincingly. All the other downers -- pressure on prices, indictments for alleged misdeeds of the past, write-offs, ferocious assaults by class-action lawyers, corporate governance scandals, uncertain monetary policy, rising state taxes -- are already factored into today's crummy prices.

How much of a rally? Up 30 percent to 50 percent on the S&P 500. But remember, this will be off a rotten base: If you go down 50 percent and then rise 50 percent, you're still 25 percent short. -- Steve Forbes, Forbes Magazine

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Cape Air Festival: The Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival will be holding its first-ever banquet, wine tasting and silent auction Nov. 2 at the Cape Girardeau Elks Lodge. This will be the first fund raiser for the 2003 air festival. At 6 p.m. the wine tasting and social hour will take place, featuring wines from Missouri's own wineries and music from a local combo, Saxy Jazz Quartet featuring Pat Schwent and Pete Prysek. A dinner buffet and program will follow the wine tasting at 7 p.m. with Col. Larry Packer, former Blue Angel's right wing pilot, as the speaker. Several local veterans will also be honored during the event. The silent auction will take place during the entire evening, with the announcement of auction winners at the end of the event.

Silent-auction items include a champagne airplane tour for six over the Mississippi River with a stop at Patti's Restaurant in Grand Rivers, Ky. (flight provided by Cape Air Charter), a tandem skydiving jump, airplane rides, framed artwork, weekend getaways, gift baskets, gift certificates to area restaurants and much more.

The cost of the event is $25 per person and will go toward the production of the 2003 air festival. The ticket price includes an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet, wine tasting, beer, entertainment, silent auction and a great program. To purchase tickets or for more information, call (573) 334-6230 or send payment to Cape Girardeau Regional Air Festival, P.O. Box 617, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63702.

Gary Rust is chairman of Rust Communications.