CureSearch for Children’s Cancer is pleased to show its support for the Creating Hope Act, which was introduced in the House of Representatives today (Sept. 23) following the Second Annual Childhood Cancer Summit on Capitol Hill. Sponsored by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the legislation incentivizes pharmaceutical companies to develop drugs specifically for children with cancer.

Panelists at the Second Annual Childhood Cancer Summit on Capitol Hill on Sept. 23 included Nancy Goodman, Founder and Executive Director of Kids v Cancer; Ron Portman, MD, Development Lead, Pediatric Center of Excellence, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS); Eugenie Kleinerman, MD, Head of the Division of Pediatrics at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center; Peter Adamson, Chair of the Children’s Oncology Group; and Congressman Mike Kelly (R-PA). Congressmen Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) hosted the Summit. They are co-chairs of the House Childhood Cancer Caucus.

At the press conference prior to the Summit, John Lehr, President and CEO of CureSearch, thanked Kids v Cancer Founder Nancy Goodman for her vision and determination in spearheading the bill. “I’ve been behind Nancy since she first shared the idea of this bill with me two years ago,” said Lehr. “The Creating Hope Act is a step in the right direction, and that is why CureSearch for Children’s Cancer supports this act. We are grateful to all the members of Congress working to ensure ongoing research and drug development for children with cancer.”

Goodman, who held up a framed photo of her son while she spoke, told her very personal reason for initiating the Creating Hope Act. “I am here today because my son, Jacob, died 2 ½ years ago of a pediatric brain cancer. Jacob was a beautiful 8-year-old boy with red hair and a brilliant, kind smile when he was diagnosed,” said Goodman. “Two weeks after Jacob’s diagnosis, Jacob’s doctors knew the drugs they intended to give him were not likely to work. Yet they continued to use them because there were no alternatives. There have been no material changes in the treatment of Jacob’s form of cancer in decades.”

Only one drug specifically for children with cancer has been brought to market in the last 20 years. Currently, children with cancer are treated with modified dosages of drugs developed for adults. “We can do better,” said Goodman.

Hundreds of children’s cancer advocates from across the country filled the new Capitol Visitors Center Auditorium in Washington, D.C. for the Summit. Co-chaired by Childhood Cancer Caucus founders Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), the Summit brought together parents, children, legislators, physicians, and children’s cancer organizations to discuss the future of drug development for children’s cancer.

A similar version of the Creating Hope Act was introduced in the Senate in March 2011 by Bob Casey (D-PA) and Scott Brown (R-MA).

Sincerely,
Melissa Reichley
Director of Communications and Advocacy
melissa.reichley@curesearch.org

http://www.childrensbraintumors.com

We are more than halfway through Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and more than halfway to our goal of raising $100,000! Have you helped CureSearch for Children’s Cancer honor and remember the 36 children diagnosed with cancer every day by donating $36?

To honor and remember the 36 children diagnosed with cancer today and every day, please make a gift of $36. When you do, you could win one of three prizes generously donated by Starwood Villa Rentals:

5-night stay at The Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort Villas, Cancun
4-night stay in Westin Desert Willow in Palm Springs, CA
3-night stay in Sheraton Vistana Villages Resort Villas Orlando, FL
Don’t forget! During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we can double your gift! For every dollar donated through September 30, several of our most generous supporters have pledged to match the same amount, up to a total of $100,000! That means, with your participation, we can provide $200,000 to children’s cancer researchers – those working tirelessly to make treatment possible and a cure probable.

Please think of donating if you can.

Make your gift and help fund lifesaving research today at: curesearch.org/honor36.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras authorities say they have recovered 7.3 tons (6.6 metric tons) of cocaine from a semi-submersible craft seized off the country’s Caribbean coast.

Presidential guard chief Col. Rene Osorio says officials had earlier recovered 2.7 tons (2.5 metric tons). They have been unloading the drugs since Wednesday.

The submarine-like fiberglass craft is floating about 15 meters (50 feet) under the surface because the crew tried to sink it.

A U.S. Coast Guard patrol detected the vessel Wednesday off the coast of the sparsely populated province of Gracias a Dios, near the Nicaraguan border. Five crew members were detained.

So far authorities in Honduras have seized 13.8 tons (12.6 metric tons) of cocaine totaling some $500 million.

Weird News Photos More Multimedia A jury has decided that a set of rare gold coins found in a bank deposit box rightfully belongs to the U.S. government.
The decision, made on Wednesday, caps an unusual civil case that combined history, coin collecting and whether the set of rare $20 “double eagles” should have ever let the U.S. Mint in 1933.

Federal prosecutors had asserted that the coins never circulated when the country went off the gold standard. Most of the batch was instead melted down. SO WHAT!

But Joan Langbord, the daughter of a Philadelphia jeweler, said she found the 10 coins in her father’s bank deposit bank after he died. She said that her father could have acquired them legally, perhaps through a trade of gold scrap.

Write or call your members of Congress today

Cancer is the number one disease killer of children, and brain tumors are the leading cause of death from cancer in children. Yet, almost nothing is known about what causes brain tumors in children and the few risk factors that have been identified explain only a small fraction of all cases. As a whole, children diagnosed with malignant brain tumors have only a 60 percent survival rate, and for many tumor types, much less than that. Most children who do survive have long-term health problems and disabilities due to the invasiveness of brain tumors, surgeries, and treatment. The cure rates for many pediatric brain tumors haven’t improved in 20 years.
Mira’s Movement is supporting the effort to pass landmark federal legislation aimed at discovering the causes of childhood brain tumors, with the ultimate goal of preventing and curing this devastating disease. The National Childhood Brain Tumor Prevention Network Act provides $25 million a year for five years for research into the epidemiology (causes) of brain tumors in children, with the ultimate goal of preventing and curing this tragic disease.

On May 24, 2011, the act was introduced in the House by Representatives Barbara Lee (D-CA9) and Rob Bishop (R-UT1) and in the Senate by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and David Vitter (R-LA). (Bill numbers and text will be provided as available.)

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Veteran journalist Mark Haines, a fixture on CNBC for 22 years, died unexpectedly Tuesday evening. He was 65 years old.

Haines, founding anchor of CNBC’s morning show “Squawk Box,” was co-anchor of the network’s “Squawk on the Street” program, providing insight and commentary sometimes humorous and occasionally acerbic.

CNBC President Mark Hoffman called Haines a “building block” of the financial networks’ programming. Hoffman said Haines died at his home.

“With his searing wit, profound insight and piercing interview style, he was a constant and trusted presence in business news for more than 20 years,” Hoffman said in a statement to CNBC employees. “From the dotcom bubble to the tragic events of 9/11 to the depths of the financial crisis, Mark was always the unflappable pro.

“Mark loved CNBC and we loved him back. He will be deeply missed.”

Haines may be best remembered for his calming and commanding presence during the 9/11 tragedy when he reacted unflappably to the furious stream of incoming rumor and even more astonishing truth with a professionalism that rivaled any television anchor, said CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman.

Thomas Sowell
Bull About Bullying

There is a lot of talk from many people about bullying in school. The problem is that it is all talk. There is no sign that anybody is going to do anything that is likely to reduce bullying.
When politicians want to do nothing, and yet look like they are doing something, they appoint a blue ribbon committee or go to the U.N. or assign some Cabinet member to look into the problem and report back to the President — hoping that the issue will be forgotten by the time he reports back.

When educators are going to do nothing, they express great concern and make pious public pronouncements. They may even hold conferences, write op-ed pieces or declare a “no tolerance” policy. But they are still not going to do anything that is likely to stop bullying.

In some rough schools, they can’t even stop the bullying of teachers by the hooligans in their classes, much less stop the bullying of students.

Not all of this is the educators’ fault. The courts have created a legal climate where any swift and decisive action against bullies can lead to lawsuits. The net results are indecision, half-hearted gestures and pious public pronouncements by school officials, none of which is going to stop bullies.

When judges create new “rights” for bullies out of thin air, just as they do for criminals, and prescribe “due process” for school discipline, just as if schools were little courtrooms, then nothing is likely to happen promptly or decisively.

If there is anything worse than doing nothing, it is doing nothing spiced with empty rhetoric about what behavior is “unacceptable” — while in fact accepting it.

Might educators abuse their power, if the courts did not step in? Of course they could. Any power exercised by human beings can be abused. But, without the ability to exercise power, there is anarchy.

When responsible officials are prevented from exercising power, then bullies exercise power.

President Barack Obama has joined the chorus of those deploring bullying. But his own administration is pushing the notion that a disproportionate number of suspensions or other punishments for members of particular racial or ethnic groups is discriminatory.

In other words, if a school suspends more black males than Asian females, that is taken as a sign of discrimination. No one in his right mind really believes that, but it is part of the grand make-believe that pervades our politics and even our courts.

For years, there have been stories in New York and Philadelphia newspapers about black kids beating up Asian classmates. But do not expect anybody to do anything that is likely to put a stop to it.

If these were white kids beating up Hispanic kids, cries of outrage would ring out across the land from the media, the politicians, the churches and civic groups. But it is not politically correct to make a fuss when black kids beat up Asian kids.

None of this is unique to the United States, by the way. The same mushy-minded attitudes have been carried even further in Britain, both as regards criminals and as regards bullies in the schools.

Britain was once one of the most law-abiding nations on earth. But the reluctance of the left to put some serious punishment on criminals has been carried so far there that only 7 percent of convicted criminals actually spend any time behind bars. Britain has now overtaken the United States in various crime rates.

Years ago, there was a book published in Britain titled “Murder in The Playground.” The boy who ended up killing a fellow student on the school playground had previously committed crimes ranging from motorcycle theft to arson that created more than $50,000 worth of damage in school. For the latter, he was given 24 hours’ detention.

People who say that we should learn from other countries almost always mean that we should imitate what other countries do. But one of the most important things we can learn from other countries is to avoid the mistakes they have made.

A picture is worth a thousand words………..
A person’s mind and his desk………..

The Obama
Albert Einstein
Nat Hentoff
William F. Buckley

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/katie-couric-we-need-a-muslim-version-of-the-cosby-show/