When a year passes by as quickly as this one has, many times we forget those events that impacted us in one way or another and especially those people no longer with us who contributed in many ways to humanity.

In this column, I would like to re-visit 2003 some of those things as we say goodbye to it.

The lights didn't go out in Georgia, but they certainly went out in New York City in August. It was the nation's biggest blackout affecting some 50 million people in eight eatern seaboard states. They still do now know who or what caused it.

SARS frightened the world with its' emergence. The respiratory illness begun in China actually in November, 2002, however the Chinese government held back for nearly three months before announcing the disease. It was traced to a pig farm. The first case outside of China showed up in Viet Nam where it quickly spread to Singapore, then Asia, then to Canada and finally to the U.S. Before it was finally contained, it killed 774 worldwide. By April 30, 2003, there were 6,234 cases worldwide, with 237 of them in the United States, resulting in 54 deaths due to SARS in the U.S.

Medicaid costs that were only $770 million in 1966 as part of President Johnson's, the "Great Society" push, has grown to over $67.3 billion dollars. It has put such a burden on the financial affairs of individual states, California for example is bankrupt.

On March 1, 2003, Boyd E. Graves, filed suit against the United States Government, claiming he has proof that the government created the HIV virus during the goverments development of biological weapons using the Rous Sarcoma Virus which bears strikingly similiar homology to the HIV/AIDS virus. The Rous Sarcoma Virus also known as the Nazi sheep visna virus did not exist before 1932. The Nazis' developed the first strains and the U. S. Government Biologiocal Weapons program continued on with this deadly virus. It is a recombinant virus that was turned into the HIV (virus) agent, It was formed by converging a leukemia and a lymphoma according to Dr. Gallo and other researchers. The case is still pending.

Bill Gates began the process to a multi-billion deal with the Chinese for Windows. However, part of the deal if the Chinese is are going to crack down on black market copies of Windows, the Chinese want the source code to Windows. Bad idea, our own govenrment doesn't even have the source code to Windows.

Hurricane Isabel caused over $1 billion in property damage on the East Coast. When are we going to learn not to build where we shouldn't. The last nine hurriances have cost the insurance companies over $110 billion to policy holders. And this doesn't count the $24.4 billion that FEMA put into emergency funds for these hit areas.

More jobs are being lost due to corporations building plants overseas. Here is an example of how it is affecting small companies in the U.S.

A small company in Chicago who used to make a small part for Ford pickups from 1949 until last year for about $18.00, had to lay off 12 workers last month. Why? Because Ford now purchases the same product in China for less. Why? Because a worker in China earns $207 a month for making the part. In 2003, a $130 billion trade deficit will exist between the U.S. and China. That means, the U.S. will purchase $103 billion more goods from China than China buys from America. What has this cost in American jobs? Over 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 1993 to China. Nothing has changed in the last ten years regarding jobs moving overseas.

Since January, 2000, over 260,000 jobs have been lost to China and Eurasia, India and Paskitan, and this is just in manufacturing jobs, clothing, textiles, machinery. Since January, 2000, over 80,000 jobs each month have been lost in all work sectors. If you look at the manufacturing output of the U.S. in the early 1990's, factories here in the U.S. churned out over 28% of the GDP. Today, it is less than 11%. Since, January, 2000, over 2.7 million overall jobs have been lost to these countries that were once held by Americans.

Banks, tech firms, security firms, customer service firms have been exporting white collar jobs to China, India an Pakistan. It is predicted by Forrester Research, that another 3.7 million jobs will be lost in the U.S. to these countries within the next 5 years.

My question is to those that say the economy is coming back is this. If you have this many people losing jobs, which means less purchasing dollars for all goods, then exactly how is the economy coming back?

The war in Iraq begun on March 19th and officially ended 49 days later. That is still a matter of discussion on many fronts. I believe the war in Iraq is the single most important event that happened in 2003. It will have ramifications for not only Americans, but for people all over the world.

The most sad thing that occurred in the U.S. in 2003 was the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and her seven man crew. It was a moment in America that resembled the day that JFK was shot. America was stunned.

I would like to share this with my readers at this time also. Please try to help this organization concerning our military families that are suffering because of their spouses extended duty in IRAQ.

A sudden and prolonged deployment can throw a family into financial, emotional and spiritual crisis. Besides the emotional toll of being without a deployed mother or father, families must somehow learn to cope on a substantially reduced income when one of the major breadwinners is sent overseas. Utility bills, food emergencies, car repairs, plumbing repairs, baby-sitting, diapers, birthday parties, holidays, pregnancies-it all adds up. And with the recent reduction of $250 a month in many guard members' pay, it's easy to see how quickly a young family can go from stable to desperate.

There is an organization called, Operation Adopt-A-Family this holiday season. The non-profit organization distributes store vouchers and cash to the families of the deployed who are in greatest need, beginning with families of small children, expectant mothers-to-be, and large families of professionals with a recent drastic cut in income.

Operation Adopt-A-Family also matches volunteers with needy military families. The volunteers provide emotional and spiritual support to the family throughout the soldier's deployment.

Donations can be mailed directly to:
Honor Thy Children Foundation
Operation Adopt-a-Family
P.O. Box 10822
Portland, OR 97296

If you'd like more information about the fund, you can visit the foundation's website at: http://www.supportourtroopsusa.org

One of the supporters of the fund is former Marine Wayne Standiford of Condon, Oregon.. Having served in Vietnam, Mr. Standiford knows the difficulties faced by soldiers and their families caught in a war as it drags on and on without any clear victory in sight. That's why he's donating $1 to Operation Adopt-A-Family for each copy sold of his book, BURY ME WITH SOLDIERS.

This holiday season, help support Operation Adopt-A-Family.

Last but least, I would like to share this photo I received from the proud warriors of Baker Company in IRAQ who wanted to do something to pay tribute to their fallen comrades this Holiday Season.