What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far far from it but there is no free lunch as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.

The things that have always been important: to be a good man to try to live my life the way God would have me to turn it over to Him that His will might be worked in my life to do my work without looking back to give it all I've got and to take pride in my work as an honest performer.

For far too long we've allowed the other side to paint us as racist as sexist inhumane war mongers - well today as a conservative black Republican and former solider I'm here to set that record straight.

As a former football player who has carried a football more than 4 000 times trust me I did not go into ballroom dancing with my body being 100 percent with no aches or pains or ailments coming with me. When you're dancing you're doing stuff that your body's not used to and so you start to aggravate those old injuries.

Then I was lucky I met with my future husband and I started new life with my husband and I was happy again. He was a musician. I start to travel with him through Europe also and around the former Soviet Union.

By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly I renew them I enjoy them a second time while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past and which I no longer feel.

I'm so thankful for the Internet because actors and singers and performers now have a way to connect with their fans on a very personal level which I think is quite special.

I want to clear up a few myths about myself. People have written that I was a kindergarten teacher and a former Miss Texas and neither is true.

As a former teacher and a mother and grandmother I know firsthand the importance of a quality education.

Former Olympians also get paid to make appearances. Many of them won their medals in an era when Olympic success didn't go hand-in-hand with financial success.