Coffee with Kel

Building relationships, encouraging hope

politics

Keep Nurses in Georgia Schools!

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From the Georgia Association of School Nurses:

In 2000 the Governor at that time (Barnes) appropriated $30 million of the Tobacco Settlement funds toward School Nurse Salaries. In 2004 that money was moved to the Department of Community Health to be used to draw down federal match funds to support the Indigent Care Trust funding for hospitals and then it was returned to the Department of Education to continue funding some School Nursing positions. In 2006 Governor Perdue moved that funding to the Department of Education budget as a line item where it reportedly would be more “safe” from reallocation for other agencies.

In the Governors 2010 Budget proposal, this line item is completely eliminated. This $30 million is only a small portion of what is required to staff nurses in all schools. The counties who do staff nurses in all schools are doing so for the most part with local funds (received from the Ad Valorem taxes). Some systems also participate in the Medicaid reimbursement for some approved R.N. provided services, grants and various other limited sources.

As a parent with one child in Georgia public school and another one coming up to public school in a few years, I find this to be an outrage.  Removing nurses from schools is of detriment to our schools.  Nurses do so much and are of so much value to schools. Removing them is not only causing a loss of jobs, but is also potentially putting students in jeopardy. Any cuts to funding for schools is cause for alarm. So, please, if you live in Georgia, sign this petition to let our Legislators know that we do not support this decision. Please also email Governor Perdue and your local representatives. If we take action, maybe we can put a stop to this before it causes any harm to Georgia’s schools and children.

My thoughts on our new President Elect…

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This morning I have been thinking a lot about the outcome of our Presidential election. I expected that I would be disappointed if McCain didn’t win because he was the candidate our family had chosen to support. I will say that I am somewhat disappointed that he didn’t win, but I am a far cry from “devestated” or upset about it. There would be no point in letting an election affect my life to THAT degree, in my opinion. I decided a long time ago that whichever man won this race would get my full support. I stand by that and will fully support President-Elect Barack Obama. I will pray for him and hope that he leads our nation with Christian character, upstanding morals and unfailing integrity. I believe he will do that. He has a whole nation to answer to, not to mention the God he also serves.  I believe him to have a true heart and a desire to work hard for this nation. I would like to see us all unite in support of him because he has some challenges ahead and he NEEDS prayers and support as he goes forward.

Despite “my” guy not winning, I will say that it feels pretty cool to be living in this historic moment. Our first “non-white” President has been elected. That’s HUGE. Really huge. I have never been really sure that we’d see that in my lifetime and we have. That excites me. That shows progress from a nation that was once so racially torn. I’m all for unification on the racial front. After all, we’re ALL God’s children. He designed and created every race, every individual in His own image. We should embrace and appreciate His work in people.  1 Samuel 16:7 has a passage that states this better than I ever could. It says this: “…The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” Amen!!

I encourage all of us to really put our prayerful support behind Barack Obama and the other leaders of our nation. A change is coming and we can pray it to be change for good. I won’t go into this whole “God bless America” business either because I don’t believe in my heart that God will bless a nation that doesn’t turn to Him prayerfully and faithfully. I think that has to be first. I will pray that God guides America and that our leaders turn to Him for guidance, wisdom, courage and discernment. I hope we will all do that. Let’s move forward with hope and trust. Let’s pray this through, shall we?

I voted…

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Today I got to exercise one of the greatest privileges that we have as Americans. I voted.  Although I know that my one vote won’t ultimately affect the outcome of any election, I still know how important my vote is because of the privilege it carries. I took my girls to the poll with me today and they were SO well behaved. Macey is starting to understanding the process of voting, so she was particularly thrilled to be there. The wait was almost nothing and the poll workers were all SUPER sweet to the girls and me. We all left there with our stickers on our shirts having proudly voted today.

My ultimate hope and prayer for the Presidential election is that whomever assumes the role does so with the utmost integrity and solid faith in place. I do hope that “my” candidate wins, of course, but I will support whomever and I think we should all remember to do just that. Not because I said so, certainly, but because it’s our duty as Americans. We don’t have to agree on everything and we don’t have to like everything the President says or does, but I believe that he deserves our support as a nation united.

Is it November yet?

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I really don’t want to wish life away, so I don’t literally want it to be November quite yet. I want to savor October and enjoy all of the adventures of early fall. But, honestly, in some ways I do wish it were November so that this election season would be behind us already. I am already over it. I never fail to be disillusioned by candidates and this year is no exception. All the slinging back and forth, all the he said/she said, all the fluff talk and especially all the lies. I’m just done with it. I sometimes wish we could vote “none of the above” and start over fresh. Don’t get me wrong, I have chosen my Presidential candidate and I will confidently place my vote. It’s just that I wish that campaigns were run more cleanly on both sides. I wish that candidates would just stand on their own truthful platforms and run for this nation and not against someone else. I wish they would all clean up their acts. I suppose that sounds naive and is in many ways wishful thinking. But, honestly, if my children behaved the way some of these politicians do, I’d be embarrased. Name calling, mudslinging, lie-telling. When does it end? Those are not qualities I expect in a leader of this great nation.