Ladies and gentlemen: There can be no greater investment in Alabama's future than an investment in education.

Change makes us confront the great unknown. It introduces different things into our lives. Different places. Different ideas. Different people. It's all hard to accept at times, and change can often be a little scary. But if there's one fact that I've learned from raising a family, from running several businesses, from serving in Congress and now as Governor, it's that nothing has ever grown without changing.

I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism.

The fight for reform comes down to a simple goal: giving our citizens the confidence that government serves the people first and the people only.

The men and women who serve in our military have won for us every hour we live in freedom, sometimes at the expense of the very hours of the lifetimes they had hoped to live.

Victims of domestic violence need assistance and deserve justice, I commend the crime unit's efforts to put offenders behind bars and reach out to victims.

One person can make a difference. In fact, its not only possible for one person to make a difference, its essential that one person makes a difference. And believe it or not, that person is you.