cynicism about sports is easy.  Just like it is about your opponent, right John?.  We are used to being that way.  But I offer you a ray of hope in our suspicious, expecting performance-enhancing drugs world.  

We do have some GOOD people there.  I even know one of them.  He's a member of the US Soccer team.  Yesterday, he scored the winning goal in the match against Japan. But, as much as I love and respect Stu, I wish I didn't know him.......

A special welcome to anyone who is new to The Grieving Room.  We meet every Monday evening.  Whether your loss is recent or many years ago, whether you have lost a person or a pet, or even if the person you are "mourning" is still alive ("pre-grief" can be a very lonely and confusing time) you can come to this diary and process your grieving in whatever way works for you.  Share whatever you need to share.  We can't solve each other's problems, but we can be a sounding board and a place of connection.

This is the schedule for the upcoming weeks:

August 11 - filled by birberwitch
August 18 - filled by bigjacbigjacbigjac (bigjac - please confirm!)
August 25 - OPEN
September 1 - OPEN
September 8 - filled by Random Factor
September 15 - filled by NewDirectionsMom
September 22 - filled by Lize in San Francisco
September 29 - OPEN
October 6 - OPEN
October 13 - OPEN

This link will take you to past editions of The Grieving Room: http://www.dailykos.com/...

Please contact  smnytx at yahoo.com to volunteer to host an upcoming week, or respond in this diary.

apparently the real news is they FOUND one.......

Coburn checked........

I’ve posted before on childhood cancer.  The stats and the faces.  The "compassion" of some Republican Senators (interestingly enough, S911, the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act, passed within 4 days of that Post! The power of the kos!)

But a recent article in CURE magazine entitled No Child Left Behind frightens me.  And it should you too.  Because if you have kids, know kids, are a kid, then you should know that 1 in 300 kids are diagnosed with cancer before the age of 20.  4 out of 5 of them survive at least 5 years.  But the long term affects of using smaller doses of adult chemo regimes effects them developmentally, internally, and increases the chances of secondary cancers.  

So, why don’t we just develop new drugs specifically for children......I mean it’s the #1 Killer disease of kids today.  

Last time I wrote about how I consider America's efforts to battle childhood cancer to be a national tragedy. Today let's consider the "compassion" of Republican senators.  S911 is the Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007.  It’s in the Senate, having been passed UNANIMOUSLY in the House.  It funds $30 mil/yr for 5 yrs for research & awareness for the #1 killer disease of our children, childhood cancer.  [For comparison, that's 2-1/2 hrs of the Iraq war. So our war is vastly under-funded and under-publicized.]  BUT – the bill is stuck in the Senate!  WHO would NOT support such a non-controversial, bi-partisan effort that passed the House unanimously and has more than enough support to pass on the Senate side? Hmmmm...I KNOW!...it's gotta be that they want to INCREASE the funding - right?

Numbers
46 kids. Happy, healthy, athletic, having fun, innocent. That's the number of kids who will be diagnosed with childhood cancer today.

And tomorrow. And the day after. All through next week. All month. All year. Ad infinitum. Until we stop it.

Look again, randomly, 7, black, white, yellow, brown, 2 days or 20 yrs old. That’s the number of kids who will die from childhood cancer today.

And tomorrow. And the day after. All through next week. All month. All year. Ad infinitum. Until we stop it.

When you read the stats, see the numbers, NEVER EVER forget those numbers have NAMES; faces full of love, Moms & Dads, brothers & sisters, friends & families, hopes & dreams....futures.