Barack Obama in Kansas!

Okay...most of you who may venture to this blog from time to time know me and know that I am a Democrat. I wouldn't say I'm extremely liberal, but more so than most of the people from this part of the country.

I went to hear Barack Obama speak in El Dorado, Kansas yesterday. There were probably 5000 people standing in a long line outside of Barton Community College in below freezing temperatures in a RED STATE! (I understand he had 10,000 plus in Denver today standing outside in long lines.) My father, brother, brother's friend Shawna and I all went to hear what this junior Senator from Illinois had to say that was causing so many people around the country to get so excited. I wanted to feel the energy of a young, Democratic presidential candidate speaking to people in a mostly Republican state.

I must say that I have admired him ever since his speech at the Democratic Convention 4 years ago when he was just a newly elected junior senator from Illinois. Even then, the democrats recognized him as one of the rising stars in the democratic party. I was impressed...so impressed that I bought his book "The Audacity of Hope" which was the theme of his speech that evening. I've been reading it the past few weeks, and have been more and more impressed with him all the time. But yesterday was the topper.

There were so many people that about one-third of the people who where there in line had to go to an overflow room in the training center to sit on the ground and watch Senator Obama from a large video screen. Yes, we were in that group! At first there were many grumblings from people (including my brother) that "we didn't come all the way here to watch him on a video screen!" Yet I didn't see one person leave. There was this feeling in the air. This feeling that you just didn't want to miss out on history. After around 2000 of us packed in to this overflow room, suddenly there he was! He was coming to see us first! Of course! He came simply to tell us that he was so appreciative of our willingness to brave the cold and then sit on the floor in front of this video screen to see him. He was so gracious and genuine! It wasn't the stuffiness or pompousness you've come to expect from our politicians. And it wasn't the feeling that "yeah...he'll say anything to get elected." He wasn't fake or pompous or stuffy or anything like that. He was GENUINE. Best of all...after speaking to us for a few minutes, he stayed to shake some hands. While he was busy shaking hands to my right, I quietly made my way to the left by the exit as I knew he would have to go by me on his way out. Sure enough...he stopped right in front of me! As I was waiving my book he looked right at me and said, "Put your name in it and give it to my security agent and I will sign it out back. Without hesitation, I scribbled my name in it and handed it to one of his secret service agents, not even thinking how I was going to get it back. Sure enough, within minutes, prior to even beginning his speech, that same agent came back in the room with my book....SIGNED! I was ecstatic! There were people around me wanting and taking pictures of me with my signed copy of his book! It was the feeling that people understood that this guy was going to be our next President of the United States! It was a great feeling. But more than being happy that he signed my book, I was feeling very optimistic about our future as a country for the first time in a long, long time. I listened intently as he spoke with so much passion about what he wanted for our country. He had so many great, no...AMAZING, ideas about how to change things in Washington and around the world. It was as if a light bulb went off, and you just think "why didn't anyone else ever think to do these things?" It's because he's not tainted by years in Washington and all the "business as usual" nay-sayers that are too worried about getting re-elected that they are afraid to go out on a limb for their beliefs. They don't think outside of the box. His "inexperience" in Washington may be his biggest asset!!! But make no mistake, he is SO INTELLIGENT! This guy knows what he's talking about! He's no rookie!

Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, I'm going to ask one thing of you. PLEASE (with an open mind) listen to what Barack Obama wants to do for this country! PLEASE! For the sake of this country, your children or grandchildren, and their future...just listen to him. Listen with an open mind to what he has to say...what he wants to accomplish as President of the United States. I'm not asking you to change political parties or anything...just listen with an open mind. He wants to UNIFY the people of this country and the people of this WORLD regardless of whether you're Black, White, Asian, or Latino...not matter what religion you are or whether you are Democrat or Republican. He knows that we are a much stronger country working TOGETHER than we are fighting about our differences!

Here's a link you can go to to hear him speaking at Martin Luther King's old church this past week. I think this speech really gets across what his hopes for this country are....his "Audicity of Hope".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf0x_TpDris

SiCKO

I just finished watching the movie "SICKO" with my son, Jordan, and I'm "sicko" to my stomach! Not sick to my stomach as in being a terrible movie. On the contrary, sick to my stomach as in being an excellent movie that made me literally feel sick at how corrupt our country has become! So corrupt, in fact, that the wealthy insurance companies, hospitals, and even politicians (imagine that!) can continue to rake in the money while the middle class and poor who can't afford health insurance literally die in their wake. Seeing how countries like Canada (Michael Moore brought this little fact up in his movie "Bowling for Columbine"), England, France, and even Cuba live with free, universal healthcare. That's right...FREE! For EVERYONE! And the drugs that we pay hundreds of dollars for are FREE or (in one instance with a 9/11 worker) only 5 cents for a drug in Cuba that she pays over $100 for every month in America! In fact, the United States is the ONLY western country that DOESN'T have free, universal healthcare! It's absolutely sickening! If you haven't seen this movie, you MUST see it. And I am well aware of some of you who may be leary of believing what Michael Moore has to say and who may not watch this movie because of him. You really must watch this movie. Don't live in denial any longer. Just because this is the United States and we are Americans, it doesn't mean that our healthcare system can't be seriously broken and in need of repair. Our healthcare system is not based on helping and healing people, it's based on money pure and simple.



Listen....I work for a large health insurance company. Not the same kind of health insurance company that this movie refers to, but I'm sure universal healthcare would adversely affect my career. I don't care. There's a better way to do things. I don't know what it is, but the next time you turn on the T.V. and see the presidential candidates debate, listen to what they say about healthcare. Ask yourself "Why" they believe what they believe. If they are against universal healthcare, ask yourself why! Better yet...ask THEM why! If they are for some type of universal healthcare, listen to them. Find out what they believe...how they plan to fix it. It can happen and it will be better for EVERYONE! Okay, maybe the CEO's for the large insurance and pharmaceutical companies will have to find new jobs, but I think they've been living off the rest of us long enough.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! It has been some time since I wrote anything here. To put it mildly, the holiday season is a very busy time in my business since many companies have end-of-year benefits enrollments, and that is what Aflac does the best. This year, not only did I have my regular end-of-year enrollments, but the City of Salina also became an Aflac customer so I had to throw in a week of meeting with firefighters, police officers, and street workers. Hopefully, things will slow down just a little to give me some time to myself and my family that has been unavailable lately.

This past year has been a good year, but in some ways a hard year. Good because I quit smoking (although I still slip up occasionally) and my business is growing, but hard because Angelina and I ended a 3 year relationship which was a constant struggle and also because I am experiencing some challenges with my daughter. You see, she is a high schooler now, but she is still only 14. Unfortunately, she seems to think she is 18 and wants the freedom an 18 year old gets. The problem is that as a divorced parent, it's difficult when your ex doesn't feel the same way about parenting a 14 year old girl as I do. Hopefully we won't have to wait until something bad happens before we get on the same page.

The years go by so quickly as you grow older. This year I will turn 44. I'm not sure how middle age affects most women, but I thought I had already gone through a brief bout with mid-life crisis. I was wrong. I'm going through it now. No...I'm not going to go out and buy a Corvette or something (I would if I had the money...although not because of any type of mid-life crisis). It's just that I find myself thinking about my own mortality and longing for the simpler times. I find myself wishing I had made different decisions in my life and wondering why I'm where I am today. I wish I was happy like I was when I was 21. Not that I'm unhappy...it's just that I haven't felt happy with my life and who I am for quite some time. I'm not doing the things with my life that I wanted to do when I was a kid. I wonder when I'm finally going to be able to support my family the way I always wanted to. I'm tired of explaining to Jordan that I can't afford this or that. I always wanted to be able to give my kids more than my parents were able to give me. That has not happened. I guess that's why it has always been so important for me to give my kids all the love I could. Love is free and easy to give to your kids. If they feel loved, they will never feel short-changed in life.

What's my New Year's resolution? Hmmm..... I guess to become more secure in my job financially. I'm doing well in terms of numbers, but the money is still hard to come by. I'm making as much or a little more as I did teaching, but that doesn't say much. As a single parent...that doesn't say much at all. Here's wishing everyone I know a healthy and prosperous New Year!