JustLisa

Today I participated in a phone conference with Senator Obama and wanted to share some of the things from the notes I took. The more I learn about him, the more I learn about the state of nation in general. These are the things that stood out for me:

To heal race and class divisions, he believes we need to work at the root of where these problems manifest by providing equal education, health care and job opportunities to all.

For health care, he'd like regulations in the insurance industry so that all insurance covers essential services and management for chronic diseases such as diabetes. There was a woman in the call who has been on an insulin pump for 20 years with her work insurance paying the bill. In a year she will be 65 and retire. Medicare will not pay for the pump so she'll have to go back on multiple injections of insulin after 20 years of having the luxury of a pump.

On the topic of ethanol, the Senator would like to see more money go into research for improving extraction of the ethanol to get more out of the corn. He'd also like to use the celluose from corn stalks and switch grass to make fuel so that we make good use of all our agricultural products and by-products, not just corn.

There was also a woman on the call who is on the ADAP waiting list for AIDS drugs. Her husband died of AIDS two months before their child was born. She said she was #208 on the list meaning that 207 people have to die before she can get her meds. That is just wrong. He would like for us to put quality controls in place so that we can import more medicine from other countries to alleviate our high costs and shortages.

I know some people will say that it's just more political rhetoric by yet another candidate wanting a vote but I am sticking by what I have said before. I've met him and he's genuine. I could feel it and if I'm good at anything, it's reading people.

Some additional reading on where he stands on other issues. You can look up other politicians on that site as well.