1. Asking Congress to increase spending for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), specifically the National Cancer Institute (NCI). When you factor in inflation, funding over the last eight years has not been increased. Think about that…cancer kills thousands of Americans each year but apparently we cannot afford to pay for research. And just for kicks, imagine asking for money while Congress was getting ready to spend $700B to bail out Wall Street.

2. Attending the first Undy 5000 in Philadelphia, PA. The Undy 5000 is a series of 5k walk/runs benefiting the Colon Cancer Alliance. For everyone who participates, instead of a t-shirt, they get a pair of boxer shorts.

3. Pondering how to get blue spatulas, vacuum cleaners, air fresheners, etc. into stores during March–colorectal cancer awareness month. I am not sure I think cause-supported marketing is the way to go but it must be working since I cannot escape seeing something in the color pink this month.

4. Turning 41 and handling it better than last year when I hit 40. Props to the husband who pulled off the successful surprise birthday dinner meet up with friends. Of course, the fact that I was 600 miles away helped keep the surprise, but still, he did good.

What have you been up to lately?

With the growing financial crisis, there are scores of people who are actually bailing water out of their homes and assessing the damage. As the nation with a short attention span, we have forgotten the death and destruction that occurred across the Gulf coast last weekend.

The before and after photos from Hurricane Ike are sobering. Entire communities were washed away and the fear is that many people were, too. Similar to Katrina, it will take months, if not years, before the actual death toll is known. There are a few lessons to be learned here:

• When told to evacuate, GO. Protecting your stuff is not worth dying over. And the logic that a previous hurricane turned at the last minute does NOT indicate another hurricane will also.
• Be prepared in advance. If you have a home on the ocean or close to the ocean, have your evacuation plan ready well in advance of a storm.
• Establish a plan to contact worried relatives and friends. Emergency officials are overwhelmed with the sheer number of phone calls from worried friends and family members.

Said last night here at the house of clay. I think I will let that statement hang here for the holiday weekend. Have a great Labor Day and we’ll think of you as we explore the wilds of Sea World in Orlando.

I boycotted the recent Olympics due to the games being held in China. I do not buy into the theory that by putting China on the international stage, we someone hastened the end of totalitarian rule. (I don’t agree with the Cuba embargo either but that is story for another day.) I find it reprehensible that more media attention was given to the fake fireworks at the Opening Ceremony than to the brutality of the Chinese regime. I find it disgusting that people spent such large amounts of time reporting the lip synching incident versus the rampant killing of baby girls under China’s one child policy.

As an Atlantan, I am upset that our city was criticized for the street vendor situation (our corrupt mayor let his cronies set up tents around town to sell Olympic crap) but China can throw people in prison to keep them quiet while the county is the focus of the world’s attention. I don’t believe for one minute that having the Olympics in China will benefit the average Chinese citizen. If you don’t believe me, track down the families that we thrown out of their homes to make way for Olympic construction. If we did that in the civilized world, the media and community activists would be marching in the streets. In China, they got away with it and we let them.

The Olympics are supposed to be a shining example of the triumph of the human spirit. How ironic to celebrate that in a place where people spirits are systematically broken by their government. Lest anyone think I forgot, the China-Darfur connection will be discussed in a few days.

When a good friend sent me that piece of flair on Facebook, I laughed and thought to myself “we have one year of middle school under our belt with little drama, so our mad parenting skills are going to prevent us from having any middle school drama”. Perhaps the universe saw that as a challenge because the first 9 days of 7th grade have been an emotional roller coaster for our normally happy-go-lucky 12 year old. The boys are not sitting with the girls at lunch because one of them has to sit with his new girlfriend. The new cheerleaders are mean and make fun of the girls who tried out in the spring and practiced all summer. The new teachers are too scary and it took them a week to find out which class was the gifted class. The list could go on and on and on. For those of you who know me in real life, you also know that I don’t really drink. I sense that about to change…

Under mounting pressure from the press as well as fellow Democrats, John Edwards decided to admit to the worst kept secret of the summer—he did indeed have an affair with a former campaign consultant. The language used by Edwards makes the word choices made by President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal look completely honest and forthcoming. While I find the entire episode troubling, here are some of the things that jump out at me:

• Edwards felt it was important to point out that his wife, Elizabeth, was in remission from her breast cancer when the affair commenced. So, it’s okay to cheat on your cancer survivor wife but not your dying wife? I think he would be well served to discontinue pointing out Elizabeth’s specific health status when he was having sex with someone else.

• Lest anyone think it was a love affair, Edwards was NOT in love with his mistress. Perhaps it would all be easier to forgive if he said he was swept up in the emotion of the moment and still staggering from the prospect he might lose his wife. To dismiss it as just sex with someone he did not care about makes Edwards seem even more sleazy.

• Edwards said he did not know of any payoffs to the woman in question but it was possible that some of his friends might have given the woman money. If my friends are going to pay blackmail money for me, I think we’ll have a conversation about it. Why do I suspect he means that a verbal conversation did not take place but they communicated via email, text message, etc. The entire interview smacked of someone finding specific words that were accurate so when questioned later he can claim factual accuracy.

• The baby cannot be his because someone else in the campaign impregnated her. What was going on within his staff and he and another staffer, both married, had an affair with the same woman. What a coincidence!! And now, conveniently, she is refusing a paternity test. That works out well for Edwards. We get to take his word that the affair ended by then and of course, we should believe him because he told 99% of the truth the first time. Give me a break.

The final sad observation is that Elizabeth Edwards asked for privacy right now and commented on the voyeurism that is rampant in American society. I seem to be able to live my life in relative anonymity. If privacy is a concern, perhaps running for President was a stupid idea. The arrogance and blind ambition shown by Edwards is truly stunning. He announces for the presidency knowing he has a rather significant skeleton in his closet. He finds out his wife has incurable cancer and continues to run for President. He denies the reports of the affair for months and now they want some peace and quiet? For a man who tries to convince the country he understands the plight of the little guy, this episode shows just how out of touch he is with the rest of us.