RUST COMMENTARY: FOURTH OF JULY OUTING IS PRELUDE TO BIG AIR SHOW THIS WEEKEND IN CAPE

We spent two days of the Fourth of July weekend in St. Louis ... a great destination for a short getaway trip.

Wendy and I don't just relax ... we explore. The MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN is always a must stop ... and there's a surprising Mexican import shop located across from the new Botanical Research Center. It has excellent values on unusual statues, garden pots and furniture.

We saw ALASKA at the Science Center IMAX. As always, an it is an impressive presentation with a quite interesting insight into this state I know little about ... except many of my friends have enjoyed cruises there.

A little antique shopping in LADUE. A must stop at the SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS AIRPORT, but we missed the air show and the Fourth of July events downtown including Fair St. Louis parade (it was hot ... not warm).

We got caught up with some reading and other entertainment including some foreign or limited-showing movies.

I recommend "THE WINSLOW BOY" and a movie showing here in Cape ... "THE IDEAL HUSBAND." It's such a delight to view movies with dialogues worthy of listening to ... something in which the British do a generally good job.

Saw "LIMBO" which was garnering top reviews but liked the other two better.

As always, enjoyed the WEST PORT PLAZA scene but spent little time there.

The always good performances by ANTHONY HOPKINS and CUBA GOODING JR. helped us choose the movie "INSTINCT" over higher rated films. We enjoyed it!

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Airport manager BRUCE LOY and staff ... along with a number of volunteers ... have put together an impressive repeat CAPE AIR SHOW for this Saturday and Sunday.

The event kicks off with a public dance Friday night featuring the big-band sound of the JERRY FORD ORCHESTRA in an old fashioned USO hangar dance.

Special tribute to U.S. veterans will be featured along with acrobatic aerial shows, military plane tours and the M-4 flight simulator for a P-51 Mustang flight that doesn't leave the ground, a simulated Vietnam pilot rescue with full pyrotechnics as well as a flight of the F/A-18 Hornet are some of the exciting events to be witnessed and enjoyed at this year's show. The Dodge Ram Jet (jet-propelled pickup truck) will also be back this year as well as the opportunity to take a plane or helicopter ride.

Gates will open at 10 a.m. each morning with the aerobatic demonstrations beginning at 2 p.m.

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Always faithful: Gen. Charles C. Krulak retired this week after serving four years as commandant of the Marine Corps. Krulak, whose decorations and medals include the Purple Heart and the Kuwait Liberation Medal, has been called "the conscience of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." His mission has been to boost the corps morally and operationally. After commanding a platoon and two rifle companies during his two tours of duty in Vietnam, Krulak led the resistance in Washington against women in land combat and any relaxation in the law against adultery. When a former Army official called the Marines "extremists," he responded that, yes, the Marines were "extremely fit, extremely faithful and extremely patriotic." Krulak leaves bearing a reputation for integrity and truthfulness.

Welfare reform is succeeding: From a peak of 14.4 million in March 1994, welfare caseloads have dropped to fewer than 8 million. An independent study on welfare reform by Manpower Demonstration Research Corp. found that most welfare recipients like the new state-run systems, even though people view them as tougher than the former federal system. The study, which looked at welfare programs in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Miami and Cleveland, also found that few welfare recipients are worse off than they were before reform. Those who opposed welfare reform feared that states would slash welfare benefits, but these fears have not materialized. Last month, a group of House Republicans, including Speaker Dennis Hastert and Ways and Means chairman Bill Archer, put out a report on welfare reform which concluded, "Although continued action is required to solidify and expand the early successes of welfare reform, it is not too early to conclude that the 1996 welfare reform law is one of the most successful pieces of social legislation in American history." -- Washington Update

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Networks Cover pro wrestling over Chinese espionage: On May 25, the Cox report on Chinese espionage was released. The report, which enjoyed unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress, revealed perhaps the most serious nuclear security breach in history. The panel listed 11 cases of espionage, of which eight took place during the Clinton era. At least 24 times, the declassified version of the report states: "The Clinton administration has determined further information cannot be made public," especially when the subject dealt with espionage in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Perhaps the only thing more amazing than the report's revelations is that they have been met with a dismissive yawn from ABC, CBS and NBC-a reaction that stands in sharp contrast to the networks' overheated coverage of the Iran-contra affair in the 1980s. On the morning of the report's release, during the course of two hours, ABC's "Good Morning America" aired a total of three minutes on the report-compared to eight minutes on professional wrestling. NBC's "Today" gave professional wrestling triple the time it gave Chinese espionage. CBS's "This Morning" devoted seven minutes to the story, slightly more than the time it devoted to William Shatner and his new book about Star Trek fans. The following morning, ABC gave more time to a family with sextuplets; CBS more time to genetic testing and a former nun in business; and NBC more time to Geraldo Rivera on police brutality.

If anything, the networks' evening newscasts were even worse. On the day of the Cox report's release, the Big Three aired a grand total of five stories; only ABC's "World News Tonight" saw fit to make it the lead story. What about the following night by which time, one assumes, the networks' national security producers had time to sift through the 700 pages of documentation? ABC filed one story abut how suspected Chinese spy Wen Ho Lee will never be prosecuted. NBC had nothing. One night later, CBS aired a "Reality Check" segment actually dismissing the Cox report.

When they did cover the report, the networks focused on two themes that had characterized Monica Lewinsky coverage: purported Republican partisanship and "everybody does it." CBS's Dan Rather: "With 20 years worth of blame for both Republicans and Democrats to go around, some in Congress are now singling out Attorney General Janet Reno for what they see as her failure to investigate the long-leaked nuclear secrets." NBC's Andrea Mitchell: "Although the report says the espionage began at least under Jimmy Carter and went on under four presidents, including George Bush, Bush's son, a likely candidate, leaped to blame the White House." ABC's Ted Koppel: "The Cox report makes clear that China's spying on U.S. nuclear secrets occurred during the watch of two Democratic and two Republican presidents. You'd think that might cut down on the political opportunism. Think again."

What a difference a dozen years and a different party controlling the White House makes. Consider the evening of Nov. 18, 1987. That's when the House and Senate committees jointly probing the Iran-Contra affair released their final report. Unlike the espionage story, this time there had been no security threat to the U.S. and the report did not enjoy unanimous, bipartisan support. And the networks had already put on a year's worth of coverage pounding President Reagan. Yet the night that the Iran-Contra report was released, each network gave it no less than five stories apiece; CBS added a half-hour late night special to drive home the story's importance.

Mr. Koppel declared that " the central question has been that echo from Watergate: How much did the president know and when did he know it?" Mr. Rather announced that "The report concludes that President Reagan failed to do what the Constitution requires: that he is ultimately responsible for what happened." For good measure, he repeatedly called it Reagan's "debacle" and "fiasco." Tom Brokaw found that "The common ingredients of the scandal were secrecy, deception and disdain for the law. The two committees blamed President Reagan again and again."

The only network that gave the Cox report similarly serious coverage was the Fox News Channel. Unlike the Big Three-which virtually dropped the story within 48 hours of the Cox report's release-Fox reporter Carl Cameron has been uncovering one big story after another.

On May 24, Mr. Cameron reported evidence, based on a transcript of a phone call involving Johnny Chung, suggesting that Chinese premier Jiang Ziamen and Mr. Clinton may have agreed on a joint cover story regarding Chinese donations to the Clinton campaign. On May 27, he reported that, according to FBI sources, two other nuclear espionage labs had been compromised, and that 80 members of Congress had publicly called on National Security adviser Sandy Berger and Attorney General Reno to resign.

On June 3, Mr. Cameron reported that U.S. military officials have learned China this year plans to test a second intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. On June 9, he reported that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and his deputy Ed Curran were scolded by Sen. Bob Kerrey (D.-Neb.) for falsely stating the Senate also knew about the espionage back in 1995. On June 10, Mr. Cameron was back on the air, reporting that, on the eve of Senate hearings into fund-raising abuses, the Justice Department abruptly pulled off the case two investigators looking into allegations that Charlie Trie had destroyed pertinent evidence.

Total number of news reports by the Big Three networks on all of these revelations? Zero. -- L. Brent Bozell III, chairman of Media Research

Our form of government will fail without an informed public.

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