Inserting 'Dates' in database

I am writing a simple Java user interface to a simple data base in
Postgresql.
I have no trouble connecting through my code using the JDBC driver. I can
get several different Resultsets back with no problem. I am having trouble
inserting data into the database. In particular  Date data types. I get a
message that says "Bad Date external representation".
Here is how I am trying to solve the problem:
I am getting a text string from the user interface and storing it in a
String varialble called " dateInsert".
Using a method I wrote call "convertDate()" , I am converting this date
first to a java.util.Date object, a time object  and finally to a
java.sql.Date object called "sqldate" which I include in the Insert
statement.

here is the code snippet for the "convertDate() method:
<pre>
 public java.sql.Date convertDate()
    {
     java.util.Date adate;
    DateFormat fmt = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT,
Locale.US);
try {
           aDate = fmt.parse(dateInsert); // dateInsert is String from
JTextPane;
    long time = aDate.getTime();
    sqldate = new java.sql.Date(time);
}
    catch (ParseException e)
    {
        System.out.println(e);
    }
    return sqldate;
} //end of convertDate()
</pre>

I pent allmost 18 hours trying to work this out  yesterday and have run out
of ideas. Can anyone  suggest a direction for me?

Thanks
Dan McDaniel
Director of Architecture and Facility Planning
ext. 2048
beeper 1152