TV listings return

Expanded TV listings return to the Southeast Missourian tomorrow. Credit goes to KFVS12, which will be sponsoring the expanded prime-time schedule.

For the past several months, I've missed being able to check the newspaper for the TV lineup. Although the semissourian.com Web site has an excellent TV guide, it's still more convenient to grab the newspaper and scan through the channels in print. And watching cable's TV Guide channel is a bit unwieldy. Unfortunately, it's expensive in space and cost to run the TV guide in the newspaper.

Thanks to KFVS12's sponsorship of the listings, however, they're back. If that is something you appreciate, please let someone at KFVS12 know. Or call Speak Out.

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Due to recent testimony by Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, Social Security has been injected squarely into this year's presidential campaign. I think this is great.

Whether George W. Bush is re-elected or presumptive Democratic candidate John Kerry becomes president, Social Security reform will be necessary. Instead of both candidates trying to slide by the ticking demographic time bomb represented by the upcoming retirement of baby boomers and deny the need to address the structural weaknesses in Social Security, they will be pressed to provide solutions.

To me, this is the type of serious issue that candidates for president should be discussing with the voting public.

As voters, we have a responsibility to understand the scope of the problem and not deny the serious fiscal challenge. We should also be careful about politicians who say that nothing needs to be changed.

Bush and Kerry have a heavier responsibility. In the past, the Social Security debate has been fraught with demagoguery. Some Democrats, in particular, have waged scare campaigns unworthy of public service, and there's little doubt some political strategists are even now trying to figure out how most to scare seniors and those nearing retirement.

Instead of playing on emotional fears and setting up false arguments, our political leaders should commit themselves to a robust national discussion on the issue marked by reason and compassion, not fear or denial.

Over the years, bipartisan study commissions appointed by Republicans and Democrats have made remarkably similar recommendations, only to see those recommendations overwhelmed by political games-playing. In the 2000 election, then-candidate Bush boldly proposed changes to strengthen Social Security along the lines recommended by these bipartisan commissions. He was attacked for it in the basest of terms.

Bush and Kerry have an opportunity -- and the obligation -- to guide the nation through an important discussion. Will they have the courage?

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I was out of town when the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge was officially lit, but I've enjoyed seeing the bridge from various vantage points the past several nights. It is spectacular. If you haven't driven to Illinois to see it from Highway 3, you should. It's like the sails of two giant sailboats on the horizon.

The delay in the bridge's construction actually had one benefit: It allowed the designers to incorporate lighting into the project, rather than adding the concept later as an afterthought. This is one reason that the bridge is brilliantly visible from afar without blinding motorists on it.

The idea to light the bridge originated with area lawyer John Layton and Dr. Nelson Ringer, who then spearheaded some of the fund raising. Ultimately, the chamber of commerce, under John Mehner's leadership, raised the bulk of the private funds through sponsorships by individuals and businesses. To all those who gave to the lighting project: Thank you very much. You have created a marvelous gem in our city's skyline.

Jon K. Rust is co-president of Rust Communications, which publishes the Southeast Missourian. His e-mail address: jrust@semissourian.com.