Inspection

McCain and Hagee Part Ways

The Catholic church being the whore of Babylon and now God making Hitler punish Jews is too much for McCain. He and Hagee have rejected each other. McCain didn't know about Hagee's offensive remarks before Hagee's endorsement. The remark about Jews was going to hurt McCain in Florida. Catholics......well, not too much of a problem. Throw out the Pastor's along with the lobbyists.

BTW, Sen. Leiberman likes Hagee too.

Budget Hero

Think you can solve the budget problems of the USA? Here is your chance to do it. Go play Budget Hero, a budget balancing simulation at American Public Media.

I had no problem reducing the debt to 2.2 trillion by 2018 (10% of GDP), delayed the budget bust from 2033 to 2070+, and only slightly reduced the size of government. I cut the military budget by 10%, repealed the Bush tax cuts for the rich, put a tax on greenhouse gases, added 50 cents to the gas tax and required health insurance for all. Try it yourself. Good Luck.

Tumor Grading and Staging

In light of Sen. Kennedy's brain tumor a few words about tumor grading and staging are in order. Tumor grading is a pathologic exercise. By that we mean a piece of the tumor is removed and prepared for microscopy for assessment. The degree of differentiation of the cells (decline in differentiation is bad), cell atypia and other features are graded. Tumors are graded on a scale of I - IV (sometimes I - III).

Grade I tumors are the least aggressive in their appearance under the microscope. Grade II tumors are of the intermediate type and Grade III tumors are those that appear most aggressive, poorly differentiated and atypical.

Cancer staging is different. Staging is a clinical exercise that evaluates the behavior of a tumor. It can be a better guide than grading a tumor when it comes to therapy or determining the outcome of the cancer. A common cancer staging method is the TMN system. T is for the size of the primary tumor; N is for the extent of local lymph node involvement and M is for distant metatases or spread of the tumor.

T is scored from 1 - 4, with T4 being any tumor that invades the chest (breast cancer being the example). T3 is any tumor larger than 5 cm. N is scored from 0 - 3, with N0 meaning no lymph involvement. N3 would be metastases to mammary lymph nodes located beneath the sternum.

M is scored 0 or 1 - no distant metastases or distant metastases observed.

There is no specific information about the grade of Sen. Kennedy's brain tumor other than that it is 'high grade' - not good. Persons with high grade, malignant gliomas typically have a year to live at best, especially in older people.

John McCain - Mr. Average

John McCain believes what the 'average' American believes - whether it is true or not. The average American believes Iranian president actually has a role in formulating Iran's foreign policy. It's actually Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who is in charge. We need a President who can explain this to the average American, not agree with them.

How many Americans still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 911 attacks?

Sen. Kennedy - Brain Tumor

Bad medical news for Sen. Edward Kenneday. He has been diagnosed as having a malignant glioma. That diagnosis doesn't tell us everything we need to know. There are two types of nervous tissue cells - neurons and glial cells. Neurons are neurons but there are several different types of glial cells. Glial cells, often called neuroglia cells, provide support and nutrition for neurons. Most neurons are incapable of dividing, but glial cells can divide at different rates. The different types of specific glial cells include:

Oligodendrocytes - these are the cells that form myelin sheaths around nerves in the central nervous system

Ependymal cells - these cells make up the walls of the ventricles or chambers in the brain and produce cerebralspinal fluid

Astrocytes - these important cells are the most abundant glial cells in the brain. They form the blood-brain barrier, provide nutrition for neurons and have a role in brain repair

Radial glia - are important during brain development

Microglia - are glial cells that are phagocytic. This is the cell that provides the first line of defense against infection of the brain

So there are astrocytomas, ependymomas and oligodendroglioma (pretty rare) as possibilities. Grade IV astrocytomas called glioblastoma multiformi are very dangerous, account for over half of primary brain tumors and have a very poor survival rate. Ependymomas are more commonly found in children when they occur in the brain itself. They only make up about 5% of adult cranial tumors. Oligodendrogliomas are usually found in middle aged adults and account for about 9% of cranial tumors in adults.

John McHugh Must Run for Congress

The poor guy's net worth is only $41,004! He needs the job!

Randy Kuhl wants to Fix Government

Here's one good for a laugh. Republican Congressman Randy Kuhl (NY-29) is looking for suggestions on 'fixing' government. I gave him my suggestion even though I'm not in his district. Fix government by getting rid of Republicans who think government can't work. Appoint agency managers that actually are qualified, rather than political hacks like Brownie.

Congressman Kuhl claims to be tired of political partisanship but that doesn't stop him from voting the Republican party line over 85% of the time. He brags on his website of voting in favor of S. 2499, the "Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007". If he cares so much about SCHIP why did he vote against H.R. 976 just a few months before. This was the Bill that proposed to expand SCHIP. The one which Republicans opposed. Randy also favors eavesdropping without a warrant. I mean why bother getting FISA involved...you can trust Randy. Kuhl also would like to keep troops in Iraq, that why he voted against H.R. 1591 and H.R. 2956 which proposed lowering the number of troops in Iraq. Oh yeah, Kuhl is also one of the "let's torture them crowd". He voted to sustain Bush's veto of H.R. 2082. Kuhl wants to change government? How about finding a competent President that can actually govern?

Have some fun and go to Randy's website and tell him how you think government should be changed. Maybe one way of "Fixin DC" would be to get rid of Randy Kuhl.

Oh yeah, could we also see about getting someone to run the EPA that actually cares about the environment?

NYS High Performing Public Schools

Is your school district listed as high performing? You can go here to find a database and search engine to answer that question.

John McCain Uses Time Travel!

John McCain has used a time machine to change the future. He traveled to 2013 and fixed most of our problems. What I don't understand is why he didn't travel to 2009 to fix the problems sooner. This is one of the dumbest political ads I've ever seen. Sure, go ahead and promise to fix the economy and end the war by the end of your first term. All politicians are going to do that. But don't play a stupid political ad claiming those things are already accomplished. Remember "Mission Accomplished"?

What Happened to Conservative Family Values?

Check out the The American Family Values statement at GOP.gov. No mention of gay marriage bans, parental notification laws, prayer in schools, abstinence etc. No, now they talk about job flexibility, healthcare and retirement security, healthcare for kids, education access, and supporting military families. I guess they've learned what voters want.

Looking around a bit more, I see that the GOP is complaining about Democrats reject a "clean" troop funding bill. Gee, I guess what goes around eventually comes around.