TODAY'S ISSUE
Speaks to erosion of jobs within United States for overseas
By Deborah Seay Willis
For GwinnettForum.com

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Oct. 4, 2005---Let's talk about "erosion" and I'm not talking about the type of erosion that relates to soil, either!

When corporations choose to close down factories, and/or out- source white collar positions, then there goes the store! If no job, there is no way (or, reasons), to buy….be it homes, automobiles, clothing…except the bare essentials, like food and housing. If no jobs, how can you pay local taxes to fix things, be they roads, sewers, schools, etc.?

Yet, schools must accept students, must try to teach, before the issue of keeping roads in good condition are even addressed.

With corporations being allowed not to have to pay taxes that keep a community/country going....well?? Especially, if corporations are allowed to place the company's earnings in an off shore (or, worse yet!, in another country's bank) account...well.....??

For almost four weeks now our country has had an "exclusive" story, namely, two hurricanes that came into existence just off the coast of Florida....What is God trying to tell us?

Could it be that He is in charge of hurricanes? These two hurricanes have now caused many citizens, nationwide, to have "awakened." Well, isn't it time that the "elected servants" start to get the picture that, even though corporations give them all kinds of donations, we the people they have sworn to represent, are not getting our vote's worth?

Who are those in Washington for? As our country continues to experience various kinds of erosions, then what will become of us?

Weather is constantly with us, and weathermen in particular keep predicting, and remember, it is a only a prediction.

Back about 1983, the weatherman on one of the Orlando, Fla. stations told us that there was absolutely no way we would have rain in the area that day, and it was a great day for golf. That evening, he had to try to explain the why and how of there being a downpour, in a three mile radius, and, even especially right over that television station!!

I guess the God that we were allowed to learn about, (in public schools, nationwide) had a great laugh that day? (Makes you realize just how human God is, when He, too, laughs!)

I pray we won't continue to try His patience with us and that our country will return to her maker.

This past weekend, my neighbor and his family who are from India, who do not want to return to India, moved to Washington, D.C. Why? Because the reason he was hired by BellSouth was completed and he was now out of a job. Because willing corporations bring in new willing employees from foreign countries, so as to help our U.S. corporations transport positions overseas; they will always have a job here in the USA waiting for them. How is this "fair trade?"

If any of you know of a phone company who wants to be a 'team player/builder', by making sure that US citizens have jobs here in the States to go to, so as to be able to contribute their years of schooling/training, please let me know! Something tells me that that phone company would always have "willing" appreciative customers!

* * * * *

One more thing: Why does our presidential seal no longer state: "President of The United States of America"? It now simply says: "President of the United States" I like "of America" being seen and read!

ELLIOTT BRACK
Similarities between U.S. Revolution and Iraqi conflict
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 4, 2005 -- Reading accounts of how fragile the early American revolution was in several recent books causes one to consider our revolution in light of our efforts to spread democracy to Iraq.

We came to these thoughts from David McCullough's John Adams and 1776, plus Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer, all read recently.

The similarities between the war in the Colonies and the war in Iraq are many.

• Britain, trying to put down a rebellion by what it considered their own people across the Atlantic, sent the best military forces in the world to quickly quell the upstart Americans.
  
  
• The Continental Army was very much a ragtag outfit, poorly disciplined, without uniforms, or standard weapons, and worthy of ridicule and laughter to the well-equipped and highly disciplined British, and later, Hessian forces.
  
  
• The British were led by veteran officers who had been taught the most modern military tactics, and many of them had distinguished careers in the service.
  
  
• American Revolutionary forces were commanded by a general who had never fought a battle. Its officer corps was comprised of booksellers, farmers, doctors, politicians….but no military men, except one former British general.
  
  
• The invading British Army was waging a war far from home.
  
  
• The mighty British Navy had superiority of the seas in their favor, and could invade any American port at will.
  
  
• Loyalists to Britain continually helped their cause, to the consternation and sometimes surprise of the colonists. The Loyalists provided food and other supplies readily, so that even on "foreign soil" the British had a short supply line for many necessities.

Add another complicating layer for the American troops in Iraq: they are fighting in a far different country from the Christian focus of the United States.

Reading American history in context with American forces now in Iraq makes you wonder how an invading Army from around the world, no matter how powerful, can do well in a foreign country, where it's difficult to tell friend from foe.

The difference, of course, is that today the United States is eager to impose a democracy, and in the Revolution it was fighting for this same democracy. The shoe is, really, on the other foot.

The Iraqi Army we are trying to train reminds us very much of the early Colonists, lacking discipline, uniforms and tactics. Today's anti-US forces in Iraq, unfortunately, can't be easily told from the pro-US forces.

The leadership among the Iraq rebel forces very much reminds us of the Colonists' leadership, untrained in modern tactics, but somehow being a thorn in the side of the Western forces.

And instead of the British fleet, in Iraq it is the might of the United States Air Force in particular, and modern warfare in general, up against the ill-equipped rebel forces of Iraq. How can Iraq possibly hold off the world's best modern fighting force? Yet the rebels in Iraq continue to pester, create havoc and inflict death.

Another interesting aspect: the British, particularly in Parliamentary debates, figured their military would quickly subdue the rebelling Colonists. British officers, after early victories in Boston and New York, kept writing to their loved ones that they would be home "soon" or "before Christmas." Early projections were that the invasion of Iraq would quickly decide the war, as early victories also indicated. Hasn't happened.

The American revolution went from 1775 until the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The conflict in Iraq started on March 19, 2003, 2.5 years ago, with no end in sight. When can we declare the war over, when will our forces stop getting maimed, and when will our sons and daughters can come home? We hope soon.

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FEEDBACK
10/4: Feels explanation did not answer the question properly

Editor, the Forum:

Either I missed something (in the last issue of GwinnettForum) or Mr. Hagen missed the question entirely on the phone mail issue. The question was, "Why does it ring three or four times AFTER it has been forwarded to a phone mail box?" One can hear the switching take place after the initial four rings, and then it rings again several times at the mailbox. Why? I've also often wondered this and as I said, unless I missed something, the answer is not in his missive.

-- Bob Hanson , Loganville

(Dear Bob: Glad you brought this up. I thought it was me being dense. -eeb)

10/4: An international suggestion for naming local college

Editor, the Forum:

Did we get any feedback on the name: Georgia International University ?

And who needs to hear it?

-- Brian F. Luders, Duluth

UPCOMING
Craig Lesser to speak to Gwinnett Chamber on Oct. 26

Speaking at the October 26 General Membership meeting of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce will be Craig Lesser, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The meeting is to be held at the 1818 Club, beginning at 11:30 a.m., at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

Craig Lesser was appointed Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development on July 1, 2004. As Commissioner, Lesser leads Georgia's efforts to recruit new businesses and expand existing ones; grow the tourism, international trade and entertainment industries; and support the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Commissioner Lesser brings more than 20 years experience to his new position. Most recently, Lesser was a partner in the firm of Griswold Lesser, LLC, which provides strategic advice and counsel on public affairs issues to such companies as Atlanta Gas Light Resources, BellSouth, Mirant Americas and Williams Environmental Services. He was previously senior vice president for external affairs for Mirant Americas, Inc., a power generation and marketing and trading entity spun off from Southern Co.

Author Brandon Massey to visit Lilburn library on Oct. 25

Massey

Meet Author Brandon Massey on Tuesday, October 25 at 7 p.m. at the Lilburn Branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library, 788 Hillcrest Road.

Massey, a young African-American writer in the horror/suspense genre, is the author of Thunderland and new novel Within the Shadows. His writing has a youthful edge to it.

Massey will read from his work, discuss the publishing business and sign copies of his work. Books will be available for purchase at the program. Come, if you dare! For information www.gwinnettpl.org.

RECOMMENDATION

• An invitation: What Web sites, books or restaurants have you enjoyed? Send us your best recent visit to a restaurant or most recent book you have read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus what book you plan to read next. --eeb
  
  
  

GEORGIA TIDBIT
Altamaha River is third biggest flowing into the Atlantic

The third largest contributor of freshwater to the Atlantic Ocean on North America's eastern shore, the Altamaha River basin lies entirely within the state of Georgia. The Altamaha River, formed by the confluence of the Ocmulgee and Oconee rivers near Lumber City and joined farther downstream by the Ohoopee River, flows more than 130 straight-line miles from its northernmost points to its entry into the Atlantic Ocean north of Brunswick. The Altamaha River basin drains nearly one quarter of the state of Georgia, with its 14,000-square-mile watershed reaching from the upper Piedmont to the lower Coastal Plain and encompassing the cities of Athens, Macon, Milledgeville, and parts of Atlanta.

Altamaha River

The Altamaha flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Darien, about midway down Georgia's coastline, carrying millions of gallons of freshwater, nutrients, and sediments to the estuary and coastal area every day. This estuary, where the freshwater from the river mixes with saltwater from the Atlantic, occupies an area of roughly twenty-six square miles in Glynn and McIntosh counties in southeastern Georgia and is arguably the largest intact, relatively undegraded estuary system on the Atlantic coast.

The Altamaha River flows through the legendary longleaf pine system of the Southeast's Coastal Plain. Once, 90 million acres of the towering Pinus palustris swept through the southern states. In 1865 one man alone, Robert Pell, had 4 million acres for sale, with the Altamaha at the epicenter of his holdings. Logging along the Altamaha before 1870 was limited to what was accessible from the banks. Pine that was close enough to be hauled to the river was floated to the port of Darien. Most of the longleaf forest remained standing, however, until the introduction of the railroads into the interior of the Coastal Plain after the Civil War (1861-65). Within fifty years that endless stretch of pines was mostly destroyed, and today it is estimated that only 3-4 million acres have survived.

Hardwoods probably came under the pressures of human forces much earlier, as they were removed from the bottomlands of the floodplain and used to fuel the steam engines of the boats that plied the waters of the river for commerce and transportation. It is possible that the early deforestation of riverbanks throughout eastern North America contributed to the decline of the Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis). Georgia's only native parakeet nested in cavities in the hardwood trees along riverbanks, and as these trees disappeared, so did the now-extinct green-and-yellow bird.

Among the high diversity of freshwater fishes native to the Altamaha, one of the most notable is the shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), an anadromous fish, or a fish that swims upriver from the sea for breeding. The lack of dams on the Altamaha River may have kept this river's sturgeon population healthier than those of other Georgia rivers. The species has been federally listed as endangered since 1967.

• To access the Georgia Encyclopedia, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
  
  

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Connecting with others gives you beautiful positioning

"To touch the soul of another human being is truly to walk on sacred ground."

-- Steven Covey, author, via Vivian Heard, Cumming.

• Another invitation: What's your favorite saying? Share with others through GwinnettForum. Send to elliott@gwinnettforum.com.
  

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