Ex-U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pa. says he has cancer again

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Former Sen. Arlen Specter confirmed Tuesday that he is fighting cancer again, calling the latest diagnosis "another battle I intend to win."

The 82-year-old Specter issued a brief statement through his Philadelphia office. A family spokesman reached by The Associated Press declined to comment on the type of cancer or confirm news reports that he had been hospitalized.

Specter, who was Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator, has overcome two bouts with Hodgkin's disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system, since 2005. He also has survived a brain tumor and cardiac arrest after bypass surgery.

In his statement, he said: "I'm battling cancer. It's another battle I intend to win. I'm grateful for all the well wishes I've received. I'm looking forward to getting back to work, to the comedy stage, to the squash court and to the ballpark."

In retirement, among other activities, Specter occasionally performed standup comedy at clubs in Philadelphia and New York. He played squash nearly every day into his mid-70s.

His 30-year career ended after he switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. He lost the Democratic primary in 2010, and Pennsylvania voters elected conservative Republican Pat Toomey, then a congressman, to replace him.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-us-sen-specter-pa-says-cancer-again-151945962.html

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Somalia lawmakers select new speaker

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? Somalia's parliament Tuesday elected former labor minister Mohamed Osman Jawari as the new speaker. The speaker's selection by 228 legislators is a step toward the election of Somalia's next president.

Jawari, who led in the first round of voting, was challenged by Ali Khalif Galaydh, who once had been Somalia's prime minister during the U.N.-backed caretaker government whose mandate expired on Aug. 20. Galaydh, who was prime minister from 2000-2001, pulled out in the second round of voting, saying he favored Jawari for the post. Jawari was then declared the winner.

The process to select the Horn of Africa's next government has been criticized for corruption and threats of violence, international observers say, even as some praise it as a watershed moment in the Horn of Africa nation's road to peace and stability.

A group of Somali elders has been tasked with selecting the full list of 275 parliamentarians, but the election of the speaker apparently went ahead without the complete number.

It is not clear when a new president will be sworn in.

Somalia has lacked a stable government since 1991, when the overthrow of the dictator Said Barre ushered in violence as rival clans jostled for power. Observers say the different interests of Somalia's clans have to be carefully navigated by the technical committee and elders who are helping to select the country's next leaders.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somalia-lawmakers-select-speaker-151702732.html

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Teach Your Kids and Teens the Dangers of Underage Drinking

The following is an excerpt from a post on USA.gov blogs. ?You may read the full article there.

Back to School is an exciting time for both students and parents as they prepare for a new school year and new challenges both in and out of the classroom. It also serves as a great time to remind students about the importance of staying safe and making healthy lifestyle choices.

Source: http://theantiquarianlibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/08/teach-your-kids-and-teens-dangers-of.html

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Satellites See Isaac Make Landfall Over Louisiana

Hurricane Isaac made two landfalls late last night (Aug. 28) and in the wee hours of this morning, and NASA satellites caught the whole show from their perch in orbit.

Isaac made its first landfall over a small spit of land in Plaquemines Parish in southeast Louisiana at 7:45 p.m. EDT (1145 UTC) before re-emerging over water. It stalled over waters near the Louisiana coast for several hours before making its second landfall at 2:15 a.m. CDT (0715 UTC) just west of Port Fourchon.

The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph (130 kph). Isaac is still a hurricane and is maintaining its strength over the wetland-dominated terrain of southeastern Louisiana.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES-13 satellite spied the landfalls, and an animation made from its observations covers the period from Aug. 27 through early today (Aug. 29). A visible light image from the satellite spied the first landfall as sunlight was fading over the United States.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured a view of Isaac's rainfall rates on at 11:05 p.m. EDT yesterday, just 3 hours and 20 minutes after its first landfall in southeastern Louisiana. The heaviest rainfall rates, near 2 inches (50 millimeters) per hour surrounded the center of the storm, causing inland flooding on its slow crawl, according to a NASA statement.

Flooding is a big threat from Isaac because of its slow movement, and because it is drawing a lot of energy from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, NASA said. ?Levees in Plaquemines Parish have been overtopped in some areas, though levees in New Orleans are holding and pumps are working.

Isolated tornadoes are also possible as Isaac continues moving inland, and a tornado watch has been put in place for some areas of Louisiana and Mississippi until 4 pm CDT.

Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/satellites-see-isaac-landfall-over-louisiana-135705948.html

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Paul delegates mounting floor fight over new rules

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Ron Paul's delegates are trying to mount a floor fight over new GOP rules designed to limit the ability of insurgent presidential candidates to amass delegates to future Republican conventions.

They are getting help from other delegates, though it is unclear whether they can rally enough support to challenge the rules on the floor of the convention Tuesday.

Mitt Romney, the party's presumptive nominee, has plenty of delegates to win any floor fight. But the dispute could provide an unwanted distraction for party leaders who would rather focus on promoting Romney and defeating President Barack Obama.

"It's so heavily scripted. This is not the forum in they want to air the proverbial dirty laundry," said Juliette Jordal, a Paul delegate from Minnesota.

The new GOP rules would bind delegates to the outcome of presidential primaries and caucuses, allowing candidates to choose which delegates would represent them at future national conventions. Currently, state parties choose national delegates, usually at state and congressional district conventions.

The convention's rules committee approved the new rules last week before the start of the convention in Tampa, Fla. The rules were scheduled for a vote by the full convention Monday but many activities were delayed because of Tropical Storm Isaac.

A handful of Paul delegates tried to provide a taste of what's to come after Monday's brief convention session. After the session, a handful of Paul's supporters gathered near the rear of the convention hall and waved signs bearing Paul's name.

They included delegates from Oregon, Nevada and other states where the Texas congressman had support. They said they were upset about the pending rule changes.

"It's going to shut us out of the process," said Oregon delegate Larry Ericksen, a Paul backer compelled by state rules to vote for Romney at the convention. "We deserve a voice in the process."

Supporters of the new rules say voters expect the delegate count to reflect the outcome of state primaries and caucuses.

They point to states like Maine and Minnesota. Romney narrowly won local caucuses in Maine and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum handily won the presidential caucuses in Minnesota. But Paul's dedicated supporters were able to win most of the delegates in each of those states by taking control of the state conventions.

Ten Paul delegates from Maine were subsequently replaced by a convention panel last week after the panel decided they were picked through a flawed state selection process.

Paul didn't win a single primary but he was able to amass 177 delegates, according to the tally by The Associated Press, largely by organizing supporters at state conventions.

Opponents of the new rule say it would limit the ability of state parties to reward local activists, and Monday's weather delay is giving them time to organize.

"A lot of people who get elected as delegates and alternates to the convention are people who have been paying their dues for years and years," said Stavros Mendros, a Paul delegate from Maine. "I think it's a big mistake for the RNC to make."

___

Associate Press writers Brian Bakst in Tampa, Fla., and Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/paul-delegates-mounting-floor-fight-over-rules-171350475.html

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Early Abuse Weakens Adult Response to Skin Cancer ...

Clearly growing up with abusive parents is no great shakes no matter how you look at it.

Early abuse has been correlated with later-life depression, stunted brain development, anxiety, alcohol abuse?and I?m just getting started.

But, even knowing how damaging early childhood abuse is, a study caught my eye that surprised me, and brought home abuse?s devastating potential in a new way.

For it seems as if early childhood abuse can weaken the body?s immune system and make it more susceptible to skin cancer, specifically?Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common type of skin cancer.

Just this past June researchers published their findings in the Archives of General Psychiatry in an article entitled ?Basal Cell Carcinoma:Stressful Life Events and the Tumor Environment.?

Researchers took a 3-pronged approach.

First they studied 91 subjects with basal cell carcinoma, and administered the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire [you can see a detailed peer-reviewed article on the questionnaire ?here] which?assesses parental neglect and antipathy, physical abuse, and sexual abuse up to the age of 17. This was?o discover if the patients had experienced parental abuse, and, if so, to what extent.

As a second component to the study, the researchers then assessed patients with the Life and Events Difficult Schedule, created by Brown and Harris, which is merely (as you?d figure) a measurement of the stressfulness of various life events. to found out if they had experienced a stressful event within the previous year. (?Stressful Events? qualifiers included divorce, job loss, or death of a loved one.)

Finally they biopsied the tumors and measured the tissue levels of mRNA located on the immune cells (that sounds very hyper-scientific and fancy, but fundamentally mRNA just means?Messenger RNA, which is a form of RNA that codes for amino acids. This measurement ?indicates immune response to the BCC tumors, and it seems we can all wrap our heads around that.).

Armed with that their scales and immunology reports, the researchers looked for an interaction between parental abuse and a stressful life event in the year preceding in order to predict immune response to the BCC.

And, sure enough, the relationship existed. Let them factor out age, gender, history?of depression?even current depression?those who had had a stressful life event within the past year, if that was confounded by emotional mistreatment by a parent, they had a significantly poorer immune response to the tumors than those who ?just? got a lousy hand the year before.

They write,

?Among BCC patients who had experienced a severe life event within the past year, those who were emotionally maltreated by their mothers (P?=?.007) or fathers (P?=?.02) as children had a poorer immune response to the BCC tumor. Emotional maltreatment was unrelated to BCC immune responses among those who did not experience a severe life event. Depressive symptoms were not associated with the local tumor immune response.?

Maternal maltreatment scores inversely relate to decrease in immune mRNA scores

It?s a breakthrough study, because if emotional maltreatment at any early age can affect ?BCC?well, then, what cancers?can?t it effect, some much more difficult to manage to BCC?

David Spiegel, M.D., associate chair of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and a psycho-oncologist, told Psychiatric News,

?while basal cell carcinoma is a relatively benign cancer, there is increasing evidence that immune function is crucial in cancer surveillance, especially in regard to the growth of metastases.?

But as in so many studies that find fascinating answers to cleverly posed questions, we?re left here again with an unanswerd question that lies at the very base of all this work and the fascinating findings.

We have progressed light years in our treatment of cancers and our approach to tumors?but a paper like this indicates that undercutting the best of care is the patient?s early years, spent denigrated, demeaned, disheartened.

What, I?d like to pose to the?National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Gilbert and Kathryn Mitchell Endowment, who so generously study, what do we do now, knowing how damaging early maltreatment is?

We don?t need a medicine or a charm or a drug company working over-time to develop something new; we need a systemic change in how parents treat their children, and how we as a society put up with those adults who mis-treat their children.

Is it possible that all the billions of dollars poured into cancer research each year will never achieve all we hope for?because, at the core of the family unit, there is a dissolution that precludes future health?

And, if so, who will put up the funding, and who will dedicate their lives to the research, to making childhood a safe and protected place for our children to inhabit?saving them from multiple diseases down the road, and improving their immunity enough so that they?ll have a fair fight, should cancer beckon them under its devastating wing?

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Source: http://candidaabrahamson.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/early-abuse-weakens-adult-response-to-skin-cancer/

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Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa (Crock Pot ...

While Ben and I have the same views on important matters like family, religion, money management, and hugging, we have to laugh at how opposite we are regarding other parts of our lives.

He loves to skateboard, while I prefer to play tennis.

I?m a coffee drinking early bird, and he?s a hip hop listening night owl.

He hates heights, while I want to jump out of airplanes.

Fly/drive. Summer/winter. Cake/pie. I could go on for days, people!

Fortunately opposites do, in fact, attract, and let?s be real ? I totally married up.?Somehow I was lucky enough to find a guy who will chase after my misdirected tennis balls ?til blinded by sweat, lay with me when I fall asleep at 8pm, fly next to me over oceans, hold my hand in the sweltering heat when I need to hear the cicadas at night, and stuff his face with cake just to make me laugh.

The whole jumping out of an airline bit though? Non negotiable. I can?t get through to the man!

Opposites also tastefully attract in food, which is easily proven by Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa.

Smoky chipotle pepper-laced pulled pork combines with sweet cherry-peach salsa in a juicy taco that Ben and I both agreed is absolutely mouthwatering. And I quote, ?This is the best thing you?ve made in a long time.? followed by, ?Omg I can?t wait to shove this in my mouth.? regarding his second taco, and ?I?ve never had juicier pork in my life.? Cough,?TWSS, x2.

These tacos were made even better due to the fact that they were cooked in the crock pot. All I had to do was throw everything in the crocker at night, set it on the base in the morning, then turn it on. The fresh, summery Cherry-Peach Salsa can also be made a couple days ahead of time, which means dinner can be on the table in the time it takes you to shred the pork. Love that!

Start the pulled pork tacos by assembling and prepping the ingredients for the pulled pork.

First slice 1 large onion into quarters, then separate the layers into the bottom of the crock pot. I used a 5 quart crock pot, btw, which fits this recipe beautifully.

Next, address zee butt. A 4-5lb pork butt! Pork butt is actually pork shoulder ? a fact I recently learned after an incredibly confusing conversation between me and my aforementioned husband regarding a requested shoulder rub in which he kept saying, yeah I?ll rub your butt! Right. Moving on!

FIRST cut the pork into 5 or 6 big hunks, then liberally season each piece with salt & pepper. Per the pictures below, I forgot to cut the pork and put it in whole before removing and cutting up. Leaving it whole would have cost me hours in additional cooking time!

Next add a few ingredients that will make the pulled pork taste wonderfully smokey, with a hint of sweet: 4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, 2 Tablespoons adobo sauce, 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar (un-pictured) and 20oz Dr. Pepper.

Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeno peppers and are more?smoky?than spicy, in my opinion. You can get cans of them packed in adobo sauce right in the international foods aisle. I generally only use 1 or 2 per recipe, then stash the leftovers in my freezer.

Pop the top onto the crock pot then either stash it in the fridge overnight and place it on the base in the morning, or put it onto the base now and cook on low for 8 hours.

Now, as I mentioned, not only can the pulled pork be prepped in advance, but the sweet Cherry-Peach Salsa that goes on top can be made up to 2 days ahead of time too!

To 1 cup each fresh chopped cherries & peaches, add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 minced jalapeno, the juice of 1 lime, and a dash of salt.

Mix everything together, then try to save some for the tacos. This is one of my favorite fruit salsas to date, and is seriously delicious on it?s own.

When the pork is cooked through, and fall apart-tender, shred it all up, place it into a bowl, then strain the juices from the crock pot through 2 layers of cheesecloth, and enough of it back in to cover.

Spoon the juicy pork onto a few fajita-sized flour tortillas, top with the cold cherry-peach salsa, then devour!

Smoky Pulled Pork Tacos with Cherry-Peach Salsa

Print this recipe!

Serves 6-8

Pulled Pork Tacos slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients:

For the pork:

4-5lb pork butt (may be called pork shoulder)

salt & pepper

1 large sweet onion

4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce + 2 Tablespoons sauce

1/2 cup BBQ sauce

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

20oz Dr. Pepper

Fajita-sized flour quesadillas

For the Cherry-Peach Salsa:

1 cup chopped sweet cherries

1 cup chopped peaches (about 1 large peach)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 jalapeno, minced

salt

juice of 1 lime

Directions:

1. Cut onion into quarters then separate layers into the bottom of a 5 quart (minimum size) crock pot. Trim pork butt of excess fat then cut into 4-6 large pieces and season well with salt & pepper. Lay seasoned pork on top of onions then add chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, and Dr. Pepper. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or until pork is tender enough to easily shred with a fork.

2. Remove pork pieces from the crock pot and shred, then place into a bowl and set aside. Strain juices through a double layer of cheesecloth and add back to shredded pork. Serve with Cherry-Peach Salsa in flour tortillas.

3. For the Cherry-Peach Salsa: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Make up to two days in advance.

I was afraid the pork would be too sweet with the addition of BBQ sauce, Dr. Pepper and brown sugar, but it was perfect. Definitely not too sweet, because, wouldn?t you know it ? while I love sweet & savory dinners, Ben?s all savory, all the time. Sweets are for dessert! Which he also doesn?t like. Come on!

I also originally wanted to make just a cherry salsa to top the tacos with, as a wink and a nod to Cherry Dr. Pepper, but I?m so glad I threw chopped peaches in there too. Their scent and flavor is just outrageous right now, and guess what? Even though Ben?s a savory guy, he LOVED the fruity salsa. That?s a major win, people!

Knock the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce down a bit if you are sensitive to heat but as is, the heat level is only about a 5/10, and the cherry-peach salsa helped tone it down too!

~~~~~

Do you and your mate have opposite interests, or are you pretty similar? What do you like to do together?

While we definitely have a lot of opposite interests, Ben and I like driving in the country, planning for our future, cooking, and going out to eat together!

Source: http://iowagirleats.com/2012/08/28/smoky-pulled-pork-tacos-with-cherry-peach-salsa-crock-pot-recipe/

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