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The American Cancer Society’s (ACS) endorsement of the House-passed health care bill is a betrayal of the trust of millions of Americans who have made the group one of the nation’s most trusted and broadly based charities. The ACS endorsement of controversial legislation opposed by a majority of Americans is fraught with risk. It might make highly-paid ACS leaders feel important to be charmed by Barack Obama, but it is unfair to the corps of volunteers who organize and take part in fundraising drives like “Relay for Life” and “Making Strides for Breast Cancer.” No doubt, a significant portion of...

The American Cancer Society, which has long been a staunch defender of most cancer screening, is now saying that the benefits of detecting many cancers, especially breast and prostate, have been overstated. It is quietly working on a message, to put on its Web site early next year, to emphasize that screening for breast and prostate cancer and certain other cancers can come with a real risk of overtreating many small cancers while missing cancers that are deadly... --snip-- The new analysis — by Dr. Laura Esserman, a professor of surgery and radiology at the University of California, San Francisco,...

Contact: Alisa Zapp Machalekalisa.machalek@nih.gov 301-496-7301NIH/National Institute of General Medical Sciences Gene variant linked to risk of stroke and heart attack for those on Plavix NIGMS media availability WHAT: A new study reports that a gene variant carried by about a third of the population plays a major role in this group's response to an anti-clotting medicine, clopidogrel (Plavix). People with the variant produce a defective version of the CYP2C19 enzyme and are less able to activate the drug.One of the world's best-selling medicines, Plavix prevents blood clots in people with heart disease by keeping platelets from sticking together. But about...

CHICAGO—The American College of Surgeons is deeply disturbed over the uninformed public comments President Obama continues to make about the high-quality care provided by surgeons in the United States. When the President makes statements that are incorrect or not based in fact, we think he does a disservice to the American people at a time when they want clear, understandable facts about health care reform. We want to set the record straight. Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid $50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact,...

0's gonna need two asprin and a bag of ice--STAT!

I have just received the American Community Survey form from the Census Bureau. This is the replacement for the 2010 long form and is being given randomly to a certain number of households. My knee jerk reaction was to chuck it and wait for my official Census Form to come in order to only give my name, rank, and serial number. However, I started looking at what my answers to the questions would be (ie. Caucasian, US citizen, Suburban driving, self-employed professional, non-grandchild rearing, enabled not disabled) and started to think maybe my lifestyle needs to be counted. What do...

If you see the federal government as a benign force that seeks only to make your life better, then the questions in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey may not bother you. But if you have a smidgen of doubt, or if you value your privacy, you probably aren't going to like some of Uncle Sam's invasive queries. Like: What is your race? Your personal ancestry or ethnic origin? How many rooms are in your home? Is anyone at home deaf or hard of hearing? Does anyone at home "because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition" have "serious...

MY REFUSAL TO COMPLY! January 29, 2009 I received the American Community Survey about a month ago. This compulsory 28 page document published and administered by the U.S. Census Bureau clearly demonstrates the need to ask the question " Who is out-of-control in our government?". Perhaps, more importantly, "Who is in control, outside of our government?" I decided, almost immediately, not to comply. A little investigation confirmed my suspicion. Namely, there are countless others of you out there who share a common concern about this interrogative survey as well as the motives of our government. I say " our government"...

Sixteen appointees and advisers helping president-elect Barack Obama's Justice Department transition efforts all recently sat on the board of an organization little known outside legal circles: The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. The liberal legal network, which blossomed during eight years of Democratic exile, counts as its veterans Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric Holder: Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain; and future White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown. Seven other recent board members are advising the incoming administration on legal, education, and labor-related issues. Theresa Wynn Roseborough is rumored to be a top candidate...

In my recent letter to you concerning the TTC, I misquoted some information about the company known as Cintra. Mr. Patrick Rhodes of Cintra wrote in response to my mistake. Therefore, I stand corrected with the following: Fellow citizens, the company, Cintra, is not affiliated with ZAI-ACS. Cintra is partnered with Zachry on some TxDOT projects and ACS is partnered with Zachry on some other TxDOT projects. Therefore, I hope this clarifies the over-zealous statements in my letter. Cintra is a Spanish-owned company, and ACS is a larger Spanish-owned company. Zachry, a Texas company, is affiliated with each of them...

Lately I have heard from some of you, asking about the Corridor. Most folks believe it is over, dead, gone from our beautiful East Texas. I have been watching our government's actions on this subject. Did you know that in TxDOT's cover letter to the federal government it states they will only use existing highways to build their corridor? Did you know that TxDOT also stated that it may need to build in non-existing paths also, some time in the future. Citizens, I write you today to make sure you understand that the corridor issue in Trinity County has not...

Over the past couple years, we’ve noticed a suspicious number of ticket camera editorials by the Orlando Sentinel. After looking more closely, we noticed that nearly every editorial in the Sentinel was strongly in favor of installing ticket cameras. Furthermore, we noticed that nearly every pro-camera article was written by one member of the Sentinel’s Editorial Board, George Diaz.This seemed odd, so we decided to look into it further.After some quick research, we discovered that George Diaz appeared at a symposium held by The National Campaign To Stop Red Light Running in late 2007.As we covered on this blog previously,...

The Texas Transportation Commission approves the staff recommendation for a proposal by Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure (ZAI/ACS) to develop the Texas portion of Interstate 69. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) selected the ZAI/ACS proposal over a proposal from Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors. The proposed ZAI/ACS master plan would develop the southern section of U.S. Highway 77 to interstate standards without tolling that portion of the road. The proposal advances planning for I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). The selection of ZAI/ACS for a development contract has no impact on TxDOT's environmental study that will determine the route for I-69/TTC. TxDOT will...

AUSTIN — The Texas Transportation Commission on Thursday selected San Antonio's Zachry Construction Corp. and a Spanish toll road developer to plan a superhighway from Texarkana to Brownsville. The $5 million contract calls for Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure to create a financial plan for the Interstate 69 segment of the Trans-Texas Corridor. "This team represents the best in the balance of local and global expertise necessary to complete a project of this scope," said David Zachry, chief operating officer of Zachry Construction Corp. The private developers' plan calls for seven new loops around Corpus Christi and other cities...

Seeking “a more productive and informative conversation about transportation,� Texas Department of Transportation officials have scheduled a series of town hall meetings along the Interstate 69/Trans Texas Corridor, including in Rosenberg. Also this month, the department issued a formal request for proposals from potential “private sector partner,� for “detailed plans on how to finance, design, construct, operate and maintain I-69/TTC.� A panel of TxDOT officials will answer questions from the public about the massive highway project, starting at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 24, at the Rosenberg Civic Center, at 3825 State Highway 36. A portion of the controversial project is is...

Is the Anerican Cancer Society shilling for Hillary-care with recent spate of TV ads portraying presumed cancer victims who can't afford medical insurance? What about principle that not-for-profit groups have to be non-partisan?

The American Cancer Society this week will take its biggest step ever into the politics of health care reform, spending $15 million in advertising on behalf of Americans with too little health insurance or none at all. The cancer society - the nation's richest health charity, in both donations and volunteers - traditionally focuses its advertising on encouraging Americans to quit smoking or get a screening test. But this year's campaign will feature television commercials that portray the challenges of uninsured and underinsured cancer patients, accompanied by a call for people to do something about it. The change comes after...

ATLANTA, Aug. 30 — In a stark departure from past practice, the American Cancer Society plans to devote its entire $15 million advertising budget this year not to smoking cessation or colorectal screening but to the consequences of inadequate health coverage. The campaign was born of the group’s frustration that cancer rates are not dropping as rapidly as hoped, and of recent research linking a lack of insurance to delays in detecting malignancies. Though the advertisements are nonpartisan and pointedly avoid specific prescriptions, they are intended to intensify the political focus on an issue that is already receiving considerable attention...

The coming week’s issue of the scientific journal Nature, made available online today, includes several extraordinary new studies on an alternative avenue to embryonic-like stem cells that does not require the destruction of embryos. In the most important paper, scientists at MIT have chemically reprogrammed regular adult cells (like skin cells) in mice to function and appear like embryonic stem cells. They express their results with simplicity and confidence: “Our results establish that somatic cells [i.e. normal adult non-reproductive cells] can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent state that is similar, if not identical, to that of normal embryonic stem cells.”...

While the Patriot Act and National Security Agency wiretapping have received enormous attention and criticism from the mainstream media, another federal agency has been quietly gathering far more personal information about U.S. residents than those laws ever can. And this unreported project affects thousands more people. Our inquisitive federal government has been demanding that selected U.S. residents answer 73 nosy questions. They are threatened with a fine of $5,000 for failure to respond. When I first heard about this from a reader in Lake Geneva, Wis., I thought it might be a joke or an anomaly. But when another in...

A new book by David Horowitz and Richard Poe has enraged the Left and alarmed many conservatives. It exposes the machinations of a radical clique working at the highest levels of government and finance to undermine American power. That book is The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party. It hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week in print. Here to tell us about The Shadow Partyis co-author Richard Poe, our esteemed colleague at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, where he serves as director of research. Mr....

MADRID (AFX) - Actividades de Construccion y Servicio SA is leading a consortium of investment funds and local companies to compete with Grupo Ferrovial SA in bidding for multi-million dollar Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) contracts, Cinco Dias reported, citing the Texan Department of Transport. ACS' consortium includes Zachry and UBS Securities, and will be bidding for contracts to construct the TTC I-69, a multi-modal transport corridor which is expected to be longer than its TTC I-35 sister project, in which Ferrovial is heavily involved. Zachry is in a consortium with Ferrovial in its contracts for the TTC 1-35. But Zachry...

NEW YORK (AP) -- In the eyes of her stepfather, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was an out-of-control troublemaker. She stole money from her parents and broke her siblings' toys, she stole milk from a younger sibling and broke their computer printer, he said. And when he found that she had gone into the refrigerator and taken a cup of yogurt she wasn't supposed to have, he flew into a rage. Police say Cesar Rodriguez beat the little girl to death, then tossed her on the floor of what was known in the family's apartment as the "dirty room," a rodent-infested room...

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg vowed yesterday to punish any city workers who are found to have mishandled the case of a 7-year-old Brooklyn girl who the police say was killed by her stepfather. It was the strongest sign yet that the mayor is dissatisfied with the city's actions in the events leading to the death of the girl, Nixzmary Brown, and officials say it also reflects his concern that there was a communication breakdown between child welfare caseworkers and police detectives involved in the case.

From The Daily News We never talked to girl - NYPD City policy called for cops to investigate Nixzmary Brown's injuries alongside child welfare caseworkers - but detectives never even talked with the girl, according to the NYPD and the notesFull Story (I have this bridge I'd like to sell you....) Archives of Rudolph W. GiulianiMAYOR'S MESSAGEMayor's WINS AddressSunday, February 15, 1998New Instant Response Teams Will Protect Children Firstby Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani MAYOR GIULIANI ANNOUNCES INSTANT RESPONSE TEAM PROGRAM TO TARGET MOST SERIOUS CHILD ABUSE CASES Hey Mike, what's up with the Instant Response Teams?ARCHIVES OF THE MAYOR'S...

Administering Stem Cells To Patients With Myocardial Infarction Leads To A Reduction Of The Infarct Doctors at the Catholic University of Leuven, connected with the University Hospital - Gasthuisberg, the Stem Cell Institute Leuven (SCIL), and the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), recently publishing a major breakthrough in the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Their research shows that the administration of a patient's own stem cells has a significant positive effect on the heart's recovery: in the patients studied, the size of the infarct was clearly reduced. The use of stem cells appears to be safe, and...

Unfortunately, the posting of any AFX news content (that presumably includes excerpts) is expressly prohibited, so I can only leave you with this link: Ferrovial, ACS compete for 2.1 bln eur Texas motorway contracts - report

SACRAMENTO – A little-known legal process with a name only a lawyer could love has become a booming business for the state of California, yielding annual revenue that doubled in one year to more than $800 million in each of the last two fiscal years. When the owners of stocks and bonds have had no contact for three years with the banks and corporations holding their valuables, the property is regarded as unclaimed and "escheats" to the state. Search for missing money The state controller's Web site, www.sco.ca.gov, prominently displays a search function that allows residents to enter their names...

Significant numbers of older men whose results on a popular screening test for prostate cancer are normal may nonetheless have cancer, a new study has found. The result, medical experts say, raises questions about what a normal test score should be and whether these men are better off let alone or treated when, through biopsies, cancer cells are discovered. It also amplifies a controversy over the test, known as the P.S.A., and whether finding prostate cancer early and treating it by removing or destroying the prostate is, on balance, helping or harming men. The P.S.A. test is a blood test...

Study Will Examine Genes, Environment Several federal agencies have teamed up to launch one of the most ambitious biomedical projects in history -- a massive study to identify the biggest threats to children's health. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency are working together to plan the project, the National Children's Study. The study would examine a vast array of factors that may affect physical, mental, emotional and developmental health by following more than 100,000 children across the country...

The speaker at D.A. R. Constitution Hall on November 9, 2003 was Algore, former vice perpetrator (or should that be "vice perp-a-traitor" in view of the Chinese Communist government money accepted by the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1996?). The sponsors were two quite misnamed groups. Move On, the left wing anti-impeachment promoting a simple censure of Clinton and a "move on" after Clinton was caught lying under oath to fix the outcome of a civil rights case against him, was never able to "move on." The American Constitution Society, whose allegiance to America and its Constitution is highly questionable,  is an...

Amber Waves Of Grain And Other Cereals Crucial To Humans on Mars Washington - Oct 24, 2003 Mars came nearer to Earth this year than it has in more than 50,000 years, but a new technology could bring it closer still. Scientists have developed a fully sustainable disposal system to deal with waste on long-range space flights using a simple byproduct of wheat. Wheat grass, an inedible part of the wheat plant, can be used to reclaim pollutants produced from burning waste on a spaceship, according to researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and NASA. The wheat grass itself...

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently joined U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, anti-Pledge-of-Allegiance Judge Stephen Reinhardt and other like-minded liberals and feminists to launch a new organization called the American Constitution Society.Its mission is to challenge The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, which promotes the nomination of judges who believe in the U.S. Constitution and in the U.S. system of federalism.The left doesn't believe the Constitution should be the bench mark of court decisions or that we should abide by the requirement that "all legislative powers" belong to...

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg recently joined Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno, anti-Pledge-of-Allegiance Judge Stephen Reinhardt, and other like-mined liberals and feminists to launch a new organization called the American Constitution Society. Its mission is to challenge the Federalist Society, which promotes the nomination of judges who believe in the U.S. Constitution and in America's unique system of federalism. The left doesn't believe that the Constitution should be the benchmark of court decisions or that we should abide by its requirement that "all legislative powers" belong to the Congress. Liberals believe that new rights should be invented and public policies...

Ginsburg, the politician Posted: August 15, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke to the American Constitution Society recently, I focused my criticism on the substance of her remarks. I hoped others might join my in my outrage that a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice might actually suggest that the U.S. judiciary should be influenced by the constitutions and courts of foreign countries. In condescending language undermining the principle of American sovereignty, she said, "our island or lone-ranger mentality is beginning to change." Justices, she said, "are becoming more open to comparative...

When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg spoke to the American Constitution Society recently, I focused my criticism on the substance of her remarks. I hoped others might join my in my outrage that a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice might actually suggest that the U.S. judiciary should be influenced by the constitutions and courts of foreign countries. In condescending language undermining the principle of American sovereignty, she said, "our island or lone-ranger mentality is beginning to change." Justices, she said, "are becoming more open to comparative and international law perspectives." "While you are the American Constitution Society, your perspective...

State to charge E-ZPass users $1 a month The Associated Press 7/11/02 5:45 PM  TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey will hire a single contractor to run its E-ZPass system and it will charge drivers who use E-ZPass a $1-a-month service charge to help pay down the system's $400 million debt load, state officials said Thursday. Other states with E-ZPass have a similar monthly service charge, officials said. The new fee -- assessed to more than 1 million E-ZPass customers -- is expected to cut the debt in six years. Gov. James E. McGreevey said he also wants to cut...

<p>ITHACA -- They sang, they danced, they played cello and the bongos in a true alternative graduation ceremony. But the multi-talented seniors at the Alternative Community School also celebrated their commitment to justice, equity and compassion at commencement Monday night.</p>