NEWS SOURCES, ASHCROFT SPOTLIGHT, EXECUTIVE REGULATIONS

Happy New Year 2001: Like every year, 2000 had its plusses and minuses, but "always look on the sunny side of life" (as the song goes). Hopefully, this will be the year of reality ... of dealing with facts ... not myths or spins.

I don't just blame the media for carrying, unchallenged, the spins of politicians, but also a public that is too willing to believe or be cynical of what others say without taking the time to "trust but verify," as RONALD REAGAN always said.

Never have there been so many sources of opinion and information ... newspaper, magazines, radio, television, public libraries, cable, Internet. Take advantage of it. There's no excuse for being uninformed.

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A good example is the coming hearings on the nomination of JOHN ASHCROFT for U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL.

Pro or con (and I strongly endorse Ashcroft for this position), he's been the major subject of the media for the last two weeks.

I've known Ashcroft since the early 1970s. I served six years in the Missouri Legislature while he was a state official ... and then in meetings with him on industrial, educational, political, transportation and media subjects to benefit the citizens of the nation, state or Southeast Missouri. He has always been an honest, intelligent government servant.

The following is one of over 40 editorials I've read on the appointment:

So Much for the "Spirit of the Season": The Christmas holidays are usually associated with a spirit of goodwill toward men. This year, however, before the tinsel has been taken down or the tree removed from the living room, liberals are readying themselves for a mauling. The target: Sen. John Ashcroft, George W. Bush's pick for attorney general. Notwithstanding that Ashcroft's entire public life has been characterized by a record of devotion to duty and impeccable integrity, liberals plan to bork him. Because of his views on affirmative action (he opposes racial quotas) and abortion (he opposes the killing of innocent unborn children), liberals hope to mobilize two key constituencies against the nomination: black Americans and feminists. Look for Jesse Jackson and Kate Michelman to engage in their most shrill rhetoric in an attempt to polarize the country and capitalize on an evenly divided Senate.

The reality is that John Ashcroft is remarkably well qualified to serve in the post of attorney general. He has served as attorney general of Missouri as well as governor and senator of the Show Me State. He has a strong anti-crime record and a history of working well with both sides of the aisle in Congress. He is a kind man who comports himself with great dignity, which was never more evident than when he conceded the loss of his Senate seat to the recently deceased Mel Carnahan. Critics should not confuse Ashcroft's goodwill with a lack of will, however. He is a man of strong principle and is not expected to wilt under the fire of those who extol the virtue of killing innocent children or the use of racial quotas. -- Washington Update

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Lame (duck) regulations: The timber industry isn't the only business anxious for President Clinton's time in office to end.

Other businesses are worried about the growing number of new federal regulations being pushed through before the former Arkansan leaves office Jan. 20.

The Republicans in Congress are trying to figure out how to put a halt to the nearly 30,000 pages of new regulations expected to be dropped on businesses.

Clinton has already shown his skill in using executive orders to circumvent a hostile Congress. Now that he is a lame duck, there's nothing for him to lose politically by putting forth orders that he knows would never make it through the legislative body.

The timber folks are worried over a controversial regulation that would ban building roads in national forests. Any such order would most likely wind up in court, but it could prove far more costly to taxpayers.

For instance, public schools in areas in and around national forests are likely to be dependent on government funding that comes from timber sales.

Perhaps the president should make a trip back to Arkansas and take a closer look at our forests. The state's forests have grown by more than 1 million acres since 1988 ... the result of an industry's realization that it must make wise use of its resources and replenish them for future generations.

With the timber industry's efforts to practice sustainable forestry, Clinton's plan to prevent road building isn't needed and could potentially be more harmful to forests by limiting access in case of wildfires.

Another regulation would keep contractors from bidding on federal projects if they have environmental, labor or health complaints filed against them. Honest businesses could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracts each year. And such a rule could bring countless frivolous charges that, even though unproven, could be used against a contractor that bids on a federal contract.

It may be possible for the next president to undo some of the regulations, but that's not always an easy thing to do.

Could it be that Clinton is thinking these rules will be his legacy ... he had better think again. His legacy could be the crippling of American business. -- Arkansas Business

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Canada's economy surges thanks to tax cuts: The economy shot ahead at an annual 4.8 percent rate in the third quarter, double the U.S. pace. Recent cuts in income and capital-gains taxes are underpinning the good times, politicians boast..

Funding cuts and physician shortages strain Canada's health-care system: Doctors across Canada in recent years have taken job action to force governments to greatly increase health-care spending. The latest standoff is in Alberta, where hundreds of rural doctors protested by closing their offices for three days earlier this month. "We're short about 30 radiologists provincewide," says David B. Vickar, a radiologist in Alberta, adding, "We're seeing many more patients than we probably should be seeing." Efforts to recruit radiologists from the U.S. and elsewhere have largely failed because of the relatively low pay, while U.S. recruiters are increasingly luring Alberta doctors with job offers that could as much as double their salaries, he says. The doctors' association in Alberta is calling for a 50 percent increase, or about C$500 million, to the province's medical-services budget used to compensate doctors. The province has offered a 28 percent increase. -- The Wall Street Journal

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~Gary Rust is the president of Rust Communications.