Cancer Respects No-one

Two prominent people in politics have been stricken again with cancer. Both Tony Snow, White House Spokesman and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, presidential hopeful, have announced that they are again fighting cancer that has returned after being treated previously.

Elizabeth Edwards, 57, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. At the time it was thought that she was completely cured, but it has returned and has now spread to her bones . It is considered "treatable" but not "curable". John Edwards in consultation with his wife has decided to continue to seek the presidential nomination.

Breast cancer will be diagnosed 178,480 times in 2007, according to the American Cancer Society and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today. 40,910 deaths are expected this year from breast cancer.

Tony Snow, 51, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005. He had his entire colon removed in hopes of aggressively attacking the cancer. He recently discovered that his cancer has also returned and spread to his liver. He has taken a leave of absence from work but hopes to return as soon as possible.

Colo-rectal cancer cases this year are expected to reach 153,760 and more than 52,000 people will die of the disease. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US according to the American Cancer Society.

I think this forces upon us the reality that cancer is a very serious problem, not only in the US, but worldwide. Anybody, anytime, anywhere can be diagnosed with this terrible disease. The dignity with which Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards have faced their challenges should be an inspiration to all of us.

Of course they are both public figures and are expected to live their lives in the public glare, but they are also human beings and just like all of us have emotions and fears. They are facing the same situation that hundreds of thousands of people will face this year, a look at their own mortality.

Cancer respects no-one regardless of class, race, sex or any other method we use to differentiate ourselves from one another, in the end we are all human beings and we are all mortal. Good luck to both of you Tony and Elizabeth. I hope you beat the odds.

Bob Woolmer Update

Was Bob Woolmer killed because he knew too much about corruption in cricket? That is the question on the minds of investigators, cricket officials and the public in general. There is much speculation that he was about to expose the darker side of the game where players have been known to accept money to throw games. There have been well documented cases in the past in which guilty players have been banned, either permanently or for an extended period of time, for engaging in "match-fixing". The following clips examine some of these issues.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=4dQ3lWJIbNg]
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QByEd91MOAU]
Whatever the reason for Bob Woolmer's murder, he was a man who loved the game of cricket and lived his life with integrity. His untimely demise is a blight on the sport and hopefully the perpetrators of this despicable act will be brought to justice in a timely manner. Below is a tribute to the life of Bob Woolmer - May 14th 1948 to Marh 18th 2007.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QWhca-GDbUE]

Murder in Jamaica

Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan Cricket team, was found murdered in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica. The Jamaican police said the cause of death was: "Due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation" In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Robert Woolmer’s death is now being treated by Jamaica police as a case of murder.

Mr Woolmer was found “lifeless” by a maid in the bathroom of his room at the Pegasus Kingston hotel. The former England all-rounder, a diabetic, was surrounded by blood, vomit and diarrhoea. Much of the vomit was sprayed high on the walls, suggesting a violent struggle.

Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston and a former Scotland Yard detective, said there was no sign of forced entry into Mr Woolmer’s hotel bedroom, nor had his possessions been disturbed, increasing speculation that he was killed by people he knew. It was likely more than one killer was involved in the “particularly horrific” murder. “It would take some force because Bob was a large man and, therefore, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him.” He added: “We do not know how many people there were in the room.”

All the guests at the hotel were interviewed by the police, including the entire Pakistani Cricket team. The team was allowed to leave Jamaica the next day after leaving DNA samples and fingerprints with the authorities. The police however have no witnesses nor suspects at this stage of the investigation.

There are suspicions that Mr. Woolmer may have been murdered to prevent him from exposing illegal activities in the cricket world involving corruption and match-fixing.

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), would not rule out corruption as a motive. “We don’t know whether this is corruption-related at this stage,” he said. “We believe that in the past few years we have been able to keep corruption under control.”

Mr Speed said that Lord Condon the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon, was standing by and willing to assist with the inquiry. He has been involved with helping the ICC to fight corruption within the sport.

Mr. Bob Woolmer leaves behind a wife and two children. His body will remain in Jamaica until an inquest is held. For more on Bob Woolmer's life and career check out his official website here

Porno Stats for 2007

We all know that Pornography is a big some might even say a huge industry. Here are some stats that attempt to quantify the "Big" or "Huge":

The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Netflix and Earthlink combined. Worldwide revenues in 2006 topped $97 Billion. In the US alone porn revenue was over $13 Billion exceeding the combined revenues of ABC, CBS and NBC.

Every second:

• $3,075 is being spent on porn


• 28,258 Internet users are viewing porn


• 372 Internet users are typing adult search terms

Top Porn Revenue Countries:

• China 28%


• South Korea 27%


• Japan 21%


• USA 14%

Some Internet Porn Stats:

• 4.2 Million Porn websites (12% of total websites)


• 68 Million daily porn search requests (25% of all requests)


• 42.7% of Internet users view porn


• 1.5 Billion porn downloads (35% of all downloads)


• 89% of all porn pages are in the US


• $4.9 Billion in sales

For additional information and much more stats check out this site

Chuck Schummer on Subpoena Showdown

Sen. Chuck Schummer in this interview describes why it is so important to have White House officials testify (under oath) about the firings of the 8 Federal Prosecutors:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=gxIgUOjbsmw]