RUST COMMENTARY: CHRISTMAS PARADE IS BEGGER, BETTER EVERY YEAR

The Cape Downtown Christmas LIGHT Parade has gotten bigger and better each year, and so have the crowds. The 5 p.m. starting time and approximately one-hour parade with bright lights, music, sounds (motorcycles and all) and candy handouts kept the young kids involved and happy. It helped in making the "Season to be Jolly" as did the strong retail sales over the Thanksgiving weekend.

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The SEMO INDIANS men's basketball team know basketball. What they don't know is SHUMATE BASKETBALL and EACH OTHER.

Sometimes with four of the five players on the floor being junior college transfers ... the lack of familiarity with one's teammates is obvious, but it will improve as the season progresses.

Shumate's and his assistants' challenges will be to mold together the unique personalities, skills and temperaments of this year's squad ... and hoping they stay injury free ... no small task.

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Coffee-klatch chatter this week mentioned that 20 teachers (or more) who took early retirement are committed also to 30-50 volunteer hours per year to the Cape public school system.

A seemingly reasonable suggestion was why not have them assist in gathering and spreading information to help sell the upcoming school bond issue next spring?

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It's open house and Christmas party time along with choral groups, additional church events etc. etc. etc. Excuse those of us who miss some, as we're on time overload this time of the year.

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The historic CHRISTMAS GLENN HOUSE located on South Spanish in Cape is as well decorated for holidays as I can remember. It is a touch of history with the displays of yesteryear's fashions, furniture, toys and Christmas ornaments with many tastefully decorated Christmas trees.

If you have never toured this historic labor of love ... do so ... and take someone with you.

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What in insult to blacks by Congressman BILL CLAY of St. Louis, who claims to speak for them. This from a recent Capital Briefs report in Human Events:

ALL BLACKS THINK ALIKE?: Hell hath no fury like a liberal -- especially a black liberal -- when confronted with a conservative black Republican. Five-term Rep. GARY FRANKS, R. Conn., the first black Republican to be elected to Congress in 56 years, was defeated on Election Day. He fought hard for many conservative, limited-government proposals while in Congress, which prompted a number of his black colleagues on the left side of the aisle to hurl abuse at him.

Once Franks was defeated, Rep. William Clay, D.-Mo., spared no words, smearing Franks as a "Negro Dr. Kevorkian." Franks is "a pariah, who gleefully assists in suicidal conduct to destroy his own race," Clay said in a six-page diatribe he circulated on Capitol Hill. Franks' press secretary, Jeff Muthersbaugh, said that liberal black Democrats do not like dissent. "They want to feel that the black community speaks with one voice," he said.

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"I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose." -- Woodrow Wilson.

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PERSISTENCE: You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. -- Wayne Gretzsky.

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CUSTOMERS: It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages. -- Henry Ford.

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How Bad Was It?

There has been a lot of commentary in the last week about falling public participation in the electoral process. Now we have some real numbers to examine, and it appears that the apathy is even worse than feared.

-- Clinton received 23.9 percent of the eligible vote -- the second lowest percentage for a president since John Quincy Adams in 1824.

-- In eight states, more people voted in senatorial or gubernatorial races than in the presidential race. This almost NEVER happens, and it indicates widespread rejection of the choices offered to the voters.

-- Polling data indicates high percentages of voters felt they know less, not more, about the candidates after the campaign.

-- Viewership of the televised conventions and presidential debates was the lowest in history.

The bottom line is that neither party can claim a major mandate. Millions of Americans have tuned out, and if the Clinton presidency erupts in scandal, the number of cynics will grow. This lack of civic involvement is obviously bad for the Republic, but who can blame the voter for sleeping through it all when the candidates never debate the most profound and important matters facing the country?

Starr Fires Back

Last month Bill Clinton pointedly told an interviewer that it was "obvious" that Whitewater counsel Kenneth Starr was out to get him and his wife. Starr responded. While not mentioning Clinton by name, Starr said his critics were using Nixon-like smear tactics to paint him as a partisan witch hunter. Starr's response comes at a critical time when his office is making decisions about indicting top Clinton officials, including Hillary Clinton. It also comes as Clinton "attack men" like James Carville are turning up their criticism of Starr. The next three months could be interesting. -- American Renewal, Washington Update

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Today the 50-year-old generation is one of the first "bridge generations" in which they are spending money and resources on two additional generations ... not just their own.

Many people are still helping their children -- even though they're grown and gone -- and at the same time, are helping their parents ... who are living longer.

Many of the children are still in some level of college; some are young marrieds struggling to get established; some have children (our grandchildren) who need regular attention and help; some are even divorced or laid off from jobs, and have moved back in with the parents.

Parents of people our age are retired, on fixed incomes, maybe in poor or failing health; maybe in nursing homes. They, too, often need financial and other help." -- Arkansas Press Newsletter

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Only in government, LOREN SMITH, the chief marketing officer of the Postal Service, resigned his position Oct. 11 after OVERSPENDING his $140 million ad budget by $100 million. Next stop? Midnight Basketball?

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Start by doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. -- St. Francis of Assisi.

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