Have you kept up with the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama "changes we can believe in?"
Clinton pledges to force everyone to accept and pay for her (government-controlled) universal health care plan. Take money from the evil rich who pay 50 percent of the taxes and are the very ones who hire folks like you and me. Pledges to go after big oil companies, insurance companies, drug companies and any other company she can find and force them to comply with her government demands. Force you and I to give up part of what we have worked all our lives to acquire for our families and give it to those who are either too sorry to work or didn't have enough sense to save as we did. Read Hillary's 13-page manifesto if you want a socialist in the White House.
Obama has no accomplishments other than being elected to the Senate. He basically wants what Hillary wants. Wants to negotiate with the Muslim terrorists whose starting point is our death. Promises to fund other promises by a rapid withdrawal from Iraq.
Their plans for America will cost $700 billion to $800 billion, respectively. They do not say who will pay for it. I'll let you guess!
We have John McCain, who it seems is not far removed from the other two with the exception he has declared he will protect this country and continue the fight the terrorists. So now, who do you want in the White House?
I would as soon see a chimpanzee there. At least we know what he would do for four years, which is all that the Democrats have done for the last four.
None of the three candidates has mentioned anything about illegal immigration, fair taxes, lowering taxes, or in helping you or I who through forced taxation pay for all their pork-barrel spending. May God help us all.
Paul S. Barnes
Flowery Branch
We all should chip in to clean up lake's shores
In a letter that appeared Feb. 6, Justin Gilleland suggested that prisoners in our county and city detention facilities be used to help clean up Lake Lanier now that the water level has dropped so much and made the shores of the lake easily accessible.
I would challenge not only our local enforcement officials but all of our community to take a part in this most worthwhile effort. This challenge would extend to all dock owners, marina operators, other businesses, counties and cities along the lake.
Dock owners on the lake could clean up the area around their individual dock and stack the debris in a pile along the shore convenient for pick-up by barge or boat. Church groups, Sunday school classes, civic clubs such as Rotary, Elks or Kiwanis, garden clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the YMCA, the staffs of banks and other businesses and similar groups could volunteer to clean up a specific portion of the lake.
Perhaps the county commission could select a person or department to schedule such activities and assign responsibility as well as to avoid conflicts and overlaps. The Lake Lanier Association has done this for years and might be willing to take on such scheduling activities as well as participate in the actual clean-up itself.
The most difficult part of this whole activity would be the actual collection of the debris from the lake's shore. This is where the prisoners or other volunteers could take a lead in loading the debris onto barges to be off-loaded by county or city equipment and transported to the appropriate landfill. Perhaps some of the marinas that own or use barges, or even the Army Corps of Engineers, could offer their use for actual transport of debris to appropriate off-leading locations.
I hope that we will never have another such opportunity to clean up the lake, with Lanier being at such low water levels. But hopefully we can all pitch in this one time to assure that we "Keep Hall Beautiful" for our own and future generations.
John D. Prien Jr.
Gainesville
Denying kids prayer avoids the real truth
How is it that we, the American people, allow our children to be denied the right and freedom to pray, sing and honor God each morning at school before classes start? Do we not realize that it is he what supplies everything that they need to go through the day?
In the past, people who did not have what we call a good education had enough sense and respect to know that they needed the help of our Lord in everything that they did, including getting an education.
Today, some of our educators have become so educated that they think it is no longer necessary to honor God any more. How ignorant has this nation become? How far must it fall before it realizes the real truth?
If education turns people against its creator, something is wrong. But it's not education that does the dirty work. It is the one that comes between the people and the education, who causes one to forget who is really in charge. God is the educator of all time. No one will ever reach his standard or height. If we are not smart enough to hear his word, we are finished.
Our foreparents prayed to him for help because they knew that he had the power to do whatever you believed he could do. If you can believe it, God can do it. But remember that he is a just God. He is not one that can be bribed.
Our foreparents were smart because they believed. Many of their prayers were answered. And we are reaping the benefit. That is something to be thankful for.
It is very dangerous to forget or not realize who you must serve. It was once said that man was made to serve. I am afraid many have chose to serve the wrong one. As Christians, we brothers and sisters in Christ must serve as examples that others may see and want to follow in our footsteps. That is the reason we must hear and live God's word, as much as possible, at all times.
I wonder what would happen if someone who didn't like the speed limits we have to abide by would go to the Department of Transportation and request that all signs be removed to let people drive as they pleased? Would the state not put up a hard fight and let that person win?
That is what happened in 1962 when Madalyn O'Hair petitioned the courts concerning school prayer. Christians did not stand up like the highway department will if such happens. It would be a disaster just like the schools are today.
Certain laws must stand when it comes to the well-being of humanity. It should not be a question of whether or not someone liked something that is a benefit to all mankind. God is a benefit to all mankind.
This is not just my opinion; it is the truth. Read Genesis 6:10-22 and Genesis 7:1-16. If that doesn't convince you, then there is no hope for anyone who doesn't believe.
Jesse Jenkins
Gainesville