Washington (CNN) -- The Senate adjourned Friday without approving extensions of cash and health insurance benefits for the unemployed after a lone senator blocked swift passage due to his insistence that Congress first pay for the $10 billion package.
Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky, led a spirited Senate debate with Democrats over the issue -- at one time cursing at another senator on the floor. Bunning said he doesn't oppose extending the programs -- he just doesn't want to add to the deficit.
According to two Democratic aides on the Senate floor Thursday night, Bunning muttered "tough s---" as Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, criticized Bunning's stance on the package.
An aide to Merkley said the senator didn't hear the remark. A spokesman for Bunning said he was aware of the reports about the senator's language but didn't have a comment.
On Friday, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, sent Bunning a letter asking him to "stand down immediately" from his stance.
"Unemployment insurance is a lifeline to the long-term unemployed whose families have been hit very hard by this recession," she said.
For his part, Bunning maintained on Friday that if all senators could agree that the benefits are so important, then they should find a way to pay for them.
"If we can't find $10 billion somewhere for a bill that everybody in this body supports, we will never pay for anything," he said.
Democrats argued the safety net funds are classified as "emergency" and therefore don't need to be offset.
Starting Monday, the jobless will no longer be able to apply for federal unemployment benefits or the COBRA health insurance subsidy.
With the Senate not in a position to vote on the extensions until next Tuesday at the earliest, senators and their staffs scrambled to determine the practical implication of letting the programs lapse -- even if for just a few days.
In addition to funding unemployment insurance and the COBRA health insurance program for people who have lost their jobs, the bill would have prevented a scheduled 21 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.
Those cuts will technically go into place when doctors' offices open Monday. But because there is a two-week delay processing Medicare payments, a short-term lapse of the program is unlikely to affect payments, according to experts in the medical community and a Senate Finance Committee aide contacted by CNN.
Likewise, unemployment benefits could be delayed -- but if Congress acts next week, they will probably be minor, according to a Labor Department analyst who spoke to CNN. That's because Congress will likely approve the funds retroactively to make up for the missing days. An aide to Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus confirmed the Senate will try to pass the funds retroactively.
Other programs involving federal flood insurance, satellite TV licensing, and small business loans, will also go dark until Congress passes extensions.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/26/senate.jobless.benefits/index.html?hpt=T2
Feb 27, 2010
Buffett vents on financial fat cats
EW YORK (Fortune) -- Warren Buffett has an elegant solution for the thorny problem of too-big-to-fail banks: Put the bankers' bank accounts on the line.
Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), lashed out at the damage wrought by overpaid, unaccountable finance-industry bigwigs in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, released Saturday.
Buffett has been criticizing overreaching corporate managers and complaisant directors for decades. But the question of how to motivate good corporate behavior has taken on new weight as Washington debates reining in the financial giants whose missteps brought the economy to its knees two years ago.
The Obama administration last month proposed separating banks' proprietary trading activities from their federally subsidized deposit-gathering and lending ones. Other proposed rules would increase the amount of capital banks hold against losses and how much cash they carry to deal with a surge of withdrawals.
But Buffett said there's a simpler way to cap risk-taking: Forcing lavishly compensated CEOs to take responsibility for assessing the risks at their firms -- and putting their own wealth at stake, to boot.
"It is the behavior of these CEOs and directors that needs to be changed," he wrote. "They have long benefitted from oversized financial carrots; some meaningful sticks now need to be employed as well."
The comment reflects a theme that has run through Buffett's letters to investors over the years: Shareholders are best served by managers who think like owners. More often, he has said, they are ill served by executives who instead pursue value-destroying mergers or pile up debt in a bid to boost returns.
Buffett, 79, is the controlling shareholder at Berkshire and has received $100,000 in annual salary for the past quarter-century. Since he took over Berkshire in 1965, the company's net worth has increased at a 20% compound annual rate.
So it's no surprise when he heaps scorn on the bankers who made tens of millions of dollars annually as they steered their financial supertankers onto the rocks. The four biggest financial "fiascoes" -- presumably including the bailouts of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) -- cost investors more than $500 billion, by Buffett's count.
Shareholders didn't cause those meltdowns, but "they have borne the burden, with 90% or more of the value of their holdings wiped out in most cases of failure," Buffett wrote. "The CEOs and directors of the failed companies, however, have largely gone unscathed."
0:00 /11:16Inside Buffett's brain
It's bad enough that corporate insiders escaped major financial harm in the bailout debacle. But some even managed to keep their jobs: While Citi and BofA have shaken up their boards, 13 pre-bailout directors remain at the two banks. Vikram Pandit continues as CEO of Citi, while Ken Lewis only recently stepped down as CEO of Bank of America.
Consider too the modest toll paid by the execs who were behind two other major collapses of 2008, former Bear Stearns Chairman Jimmy Cayne and longtime Lehman Brothers chief Dick Fuld.
While both owned sizable amounts of company stock, neither by any means had the lion's share of his wealth tied to the firm. Fuld, for instance, sold nearly $500 million of Lehman stock in the years leading up to the firm's September 2008 failure. And while Bear's collapse cost Cayne $1 billion, he was still worth $600 million after its March 2008 panic sale to JPMorgan Chase.
Thus the bill for the firms' lever-up-and-bet-big strategy was largely borne by smaller shareholders, including many employees, and the taxpayers who must now foot the bill for extraordinary government aid extended later in 2008 to the rest of the financial sector.
Since the crash, the notion that executives should have more skin in the game has become commonplace. Big Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), which Berkshire owns preferred shares of, and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) are now paying top executives largely in stock that must be held over a period of years, in the name of coupling risk with reward.
But officers' and directors' commitment to shareholders must go further, Buffett said.
Boards that don't insist the CEO take responsibility for risk management are "derelict" in their duty, Buffett wrote. And in cases where a failure to act prudently results in government assistance, "the financial consequences for [the CEO] and his board should be severe."
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/27/news/companies/berkshire.accountability.fortune/index.htm?hpt=T2
Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA, Fortune 500), lashed out at the damage wrought by overpaid, unaccountable finance-industry bigwigs in his annual letter to Berkshire shareholders, released Saturday.
Buffett has been criticizing overreaching corporate managers and complaisant directors for decades. But the question of how to motivate good corporate behavior has taken on new weight as Washington debates reining in the financial giants whose missteps brought the economy to its knees two years ago.
The Obama administration last month proposed separating banks' proprietary trading activities from their federally subsidized deposit-gathering and lending ones. Other proposed rules would increase the amount of capital banks hold against losses and how much cash they carry to deal with a surge of withdrawals.
But Buffett said there's a simpler way to cap risk-taking: Forcing lavishly compensated CEOs to take responsibility for assessing the risks at their firms -- and putting their own wealth at stake, to boot.
"It is the behavior of these CEOs and directors that needs to be changed," he wrote. "They have long benefitted from oversized financial carrots; some meaningful sticks now need to be employed as well."
The comment reflects a theme that has run through Buffett's letters to investors over the years: Shareholders are best served by managers who think like owners. More often, he has said, they are ill served by executives who instead pursue value-destroying mergers or pile up debt in a bid to boost returns.
Buffett, 79, is the controlling shareholder at Berkshire and has received $100,000 in annual salary for the past quarter-century. Since he took over Berkshire in 1965, the company's net worth has increased at a 20% compound annual rate.
So it's no surprise when he heaps scorn on the bankers who made tens of millions of dollars annually as they steered their financial supertankers onto the rocks. The four biggest financial "fiascoes" -- presumably including the bailouts of AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) -- cost investors more than $500 billion, by Buffett's count.
Shareholders didn't cause those meltdowns, but "they have borne the burden, with 90% or more of the value of their holdings wiped out in most cases of failure," Buffett wrote. "The CEOs and directors of the failed companies, however, have largely gone unscathed."
0:00 /11:16Inside Buffett's brain
It's bad enough that corporate insiders escaped major financial harm in the bailout debacle. But some even managed to keep their jobs: While Citi and BofA have shaken up their boards, 13 pre-bailout directors remain at the two banks. Vikram Pandit continues as CEO of Citi, while Ken Lewis only recently stepped down as CEO of Bank of America.
Consider too the modest toll paid by the execs who were behind two other major collapses of 2008, former Bear Stearns Chairman Jimmy Cayne and longtime Lehman Brothers chief Dick Fuld.
While both owned sizable amounts of company stock, neither by any means had the lion's share of his wealth tied to the firm. Fuld, for instance, sold nearly $500 million of Lehman stock in the years leading up to the firm's September 2008 failure. And while Bear's collapse cost Cayne $1 billion, he was still worth $600 million after its March 2008 panic sale to JPMorgan Chase.
Thus the bill for the firms' lever-up-and-bet-big strategy was largely borne by smaller shareholders, including many employees, and the taxpayers who must now foot the bill for extraordinary government aid extended later in 2008 to the rest of the financial sector.
Since the crash, the notion that executives should have more skin in the game has become commonplace. Big Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), which Berkshire owns preferred shares of, and Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) are now paying top executives largely in stock that must be held over a period of years, in the name of coupling risk with reward.
But officers' and directors' commitment to shareholders must go further, Buffett said.
Boards that don't insist the CEO take responsibility for risk management are "derelict" in their duty, Buffett wrote. And in cases where a failure to act prudently results in government assistance, "the financial consequences for [the CEO] and his board should be severe."
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/27/news/companies/berkshire.accountability.fortune/index.htm?hpt=T2
Michael Jordan reaches deal to buy NBA's Bobcats
CNN) -- Retired basketball icon Michael Jordan bought a majority share of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, officials said Saturday.
Jordan, who was already a minority owner of the team, headed a group that bought a majority share of the team from businessman Robert Johnson, Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson said he has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell majority interest of Bobcats Sports and Entertainment to Michael Jordan and MJ Basketball Holdings, LLC. The deal is subject to NBA approval. Details on the purchase price were not available.
Jordan has overseen the team's basketball operations in recent years. He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.
Johnson, who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001, announced that he had been looking for someone to buy earlier this year.
His fortune was depleted by an expensive divorce, but in a 2009 interview with CNN, Johnson estimated his net worth was still $1.1 billion.
Johnson's resume is full of firsts: BET was the first African-American owned company traded on the NYSE. He was the first African-American billionaire in the United States. And, in 2002, he became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports franchise.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/27/michael.jordan.bobcats/index.html?hpt=T2
Jordan, who was already a minority owner of the team, headed a group that bought a majority share of the team from businessman Robert Johnson, Johnson said in a statement.
Johnson said he has signed a "definitive agreement" to sell majority interest of Bobcats Sports and Entertainment to Michael Jordan and MJ Basketball Holdings, LLC. The deal is subject to NBA approval. Details on the purchase price were not available.
Jordan has overseen the team's basketball operations in recent years. He won six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.
Johnson, who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001, announced that he had been looking for someone to buy earlier this year.
His fortune was depleted by an expensive divorce, but in a 2009 interview with CNN, Johnson estimated his net worth was still $1.1 billion.
Johnson's resume is full of firsts: BET was the first African-American owned company traded on the NYSE. He was the first African-American billionaire in the United States. And, in 2002, he became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports franchise.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/02/27/michael.jordan.bobcats/index.html?hpt=T2
City removes trash cans, streetlights to save cash
Colorado Springs, Colorado (CNN) -- If you come to a neighborhood park in Colorado Springs, plan on bringing your own trash bags.
To save money, the city has removed the trash cans.
Need to catch a bus? Don't try on evenings or weekends. The city has cut that service, too.
And when the sun goes down, Colorado Springs is going to look a little bit dimmer. Crews are removing a third of the city's streetlight to save money on electricity and light bulbs.
Watch city's PSA on streetlight deactivation
It's this conservative city's way of closing a $28.5 million budget gap.
"You can cry about the fiscal situation ... or you can take it as an opportunity to change, reinvent yourself and innovate and that's what were going to do in Colorado Springs," City Councilman Sean Paige said.
These aren't people trying to be lazy and live off the system.
--Brian Kates, community center director
Other governments are considering higher taxes to avoid such cutbacks, but in the state of Colorado, there is a taxpayers' bill of rights. It prevents state and city governments from raising taxes unless such a measure is approved by the voters.
"We put it on the ballot last fall, and they said 'no,' " said Paige, a Republican. "They declined to write the city a blank check, and they said, 'City, tighten your belts. We're tightening ours. You need to do the same.'
"We're going to respect that," he added. "I'm not going to cry about that."
It's not a new concept in Colorado Springs, touted on some Web sites as a "libertarian paradise." The city's garbage collection, zoo and philharmonic are all privately funded.
The city is even auctioning off its police helicopters on the Internet.
Want to place a bid?
The latest budget cuts could be felt at community centers like Meadows Park, which is bustling with after-school programs for kids, as well as exercise classes and hot meals for seniors.
Unless the center can find private funding, Colorado Springs is slated to shut it down at the end of March.
"I'm hoping that some sort of a miracle will happen so we can keep the centers open," said Sheryle Nix, 56.
Something's got to give.
--Chuck Fowler, City Committee chairman
RELATED TOPICS
* Colorado Springs
* National Economy
Every day, Nix eats a $2 lunch at the center because she can't afford to eat in a restaurant and has trouble preparing her own food.
"I have a traumatic brain injury, so this really helps keep me on schedule to eat lunch," she explained.
Jeanie Schweitzer, 55, returned to Colorado Springs to take care of her grandmother Elsie, who suffered a stroke. She brings Elsie to the center to get her out of the house.
"I don't think they should be shutting it down. There should be enough money," Schweizer said. "It's not that much in the big picture to keep it open."
The center is a lifeline for parents who work and cannot pick their kids up after school ends in the afternoon.
Lindon Jackson, who is 13, has been coming to the Meadows Park after-school program since she was 3. When asked what she'll do if the center shuts down, she said, "Nothing."
"I'd just be home doing nothing."
Whether the government should continue funding Meadows Park and other community centers like it strikes at the heart of the political argument over the role of government, particularly during an economic downturn.
"The model of governments, from the federal government down to municipal governments, don't work anymore," according to Chuck Fowler, chairman of City Committee, an alliance of local businesspeople set up by Paige.
"They don't take in as much money. They can't possibly provide the same amount of services, pay their employees, pay their pensions. Something's got to give."
Fowler believes that the solution may be in weaning people off of government services.
"The larger the government is, the more conditioning with certain people that they don't need to take personal responsibility of their life," he said.
The budget cuts, according to Fowler, "could really recondition people's ideas about what government should be doing."
"Should it be doing all of these things, or should it really be focused on the vital things that clearly have a public interest?"
But Brian Kates, who runs Meadows Park Community Center, says the people affected by the government cutbacks "are pawns in the game."
"These aren't people trying to be lazy and live off the system," Kates said. "These are hard-working, intelligent and bright [people], and they're not asking for much. We're giving them just the very basics."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/25/spellman.colorado.springs/index.html
To save money, the city has removed the trash cans.
Need to catch a bus? Don't try on evenings or weekends. The city has cut that service, too.
And when the sun goes down, Colorado Springs is going to look a little bit dimmer. Crews are removing a third of the city's streetlight to save money on electricity and light bulbs.
Watch city's PSA on streetlight deactivation
It's this conservative city's way of closing a $28.5 million budget gap.
"You can cry about the fiscal situation ... or you can take it as an opportunity to change, reinvent yourself and innovate and that's what were going to do in Colorado Springs," City Councilman Sean Paige said.
These aren't people trying to be lazy and live off the system.
--Brian Kates, community center director
Other governments are considering higher taxes to avoid such cutbacks, but in the state of Colorado, there is a taxpayers' bill of rights. It prevents state and city governments from raising taxes unless such a measure is approved by the voters.
"We put it on the ballot last fall, and they said 'no,' " said Paige, a Republican. "They declined to write the city a blank check, and they said, 'City, tighten your belts. We're tightening ours. You need to do the same.'
"We're going to respect that," he added. "I'm not going to cry about that."
It's not a new concept in Colorado Springs, touted on some Web sites as a "libertarian paradise." The city's garbage collection, zoo and philharmonic are all privately funded.
The city is even auctioning off its police helicopters on the Internet.
Want to place a bid?
The latest budget cuts could be felt at community centers like Meadows Park, which is bustling with after-school programs for kids, as well as exercise classes and hot meals for seniors.
Unless the center can find private funding, Colorado Springs is slated to shut it down at the end of March.
"I'm hoping that some sort of a miracle will happen so we can keep the centers open," said Sheryle Nix, 56.
Something's got to give.
--Chuck Fowler, City Committee chairman
RELATED TOPICS
* Colorado Springs
* National Economy
Every day, Nix eats a $2 lunch at the center because she can't afford to eat in a restaurant and has trouble preparing her own food.
"I have a traumatic brain injury, so this really helps keep me on schedule to eat lunch," she explained.
Jeanie Schweitzer, 55, returned to Colorado Springs to take care of her grandmother Elsie, who suffered a stroke. She brings Elsie to the center to get her out of the house.
"I don't think they should be shutting it down. There should be enough money," Schweizer said. "It's not that much in the big picture to keep it open."
The center is a lifeline for parents who work and cannot pick their kids up after school ends in the afternoon.
Lindon Jackson, who is 13, has been coming to the Meadows Park after-school program since she was 3. When asked what she'll do if the center shuts down, she said, "Nothing."
"I'd just be home doing nothing."
Whether the government should continue funding Meadows Park and other community centers like it strikes at the heart of the political argument over the role of government, particularly during an economic downturn.
"The model of governments, from the federal government down to municipal governments, don't work anymore," according to Chuck Fowler, chairman of City Committee, an alliance of local businesspeople set up by Paige.
"They don't take in as much money. They can't possibly provide the same amount of services, pay their employees, pay their pensions. Something's got to give."
Fowler believes that the solution may be in weaning people off of government services.
"The larger the government is, the more conditioning with certain people that they don't need to take personal responsibility of their life," he said.
The budget cuts, according to Fowler, "could really recondition people's ideas about what government should be doing."
"Should it be doing all of these things, or should it really be focused on the vital things that clearly have a public interest?"
But Brian Kates, who runs Meadows Park Community Center, says the people affected by the government cutbacks "are pawns in the game."
"These aren't people trying to be lazy and live off the system," Kates said. "These are hard-working, intelligent and bright [people], and they're not asking for much. We're giving them just the very basics."
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/25/spellman.colorado.springs/index.html
Breast 'awareness' trumps self-exams, docs say
(CNN) -- A vacation to Washington nearly a decade ago led to a life-changing revelation for Kathi Cordsen. Passing by a breast cancer awareness event, her mother blurted it out: Her doctor had just confirmed that she had breast cancer.
She'd found the lump during a self-examination.
Fortunately, Cordsen's mom had found the cancer so early that she was able to have a lumpectomy and didn't need chemotherapy or radiation. That's why, today, Cordsen checks her own breasts every day in the shower.
"It was such an inspirational thing to find out that it saved her life, that's for sure," said Cordsen, 57, who submitted her story to CNN's iReport. "It's just important, to want to live and take care of yourself."
Read Cordsen's story here
New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that women age 40 to 49 don't need to have routine mammograms anymore and that breast self-exams aren't recommended in general. The group found no evidence that self-exams reduce breast cancer death rates, and it discourages teaching women how to examine themselves.
New trends in self-exams
Although major cancer-awareness groups such as the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure disagree with the new guidance on mammograms, continuing to recommend routine mammograms for women 40 and up, guidance on self-exams has been trending toward the task force's suggestions.
Both the American Cancer Society and the Komen foundation have been advocating that women be "aware" of their breasts rather than do a formalized self-examination procedure a few days after the menstrual period once a month.
The American Cancer Society makes no recommendations for how often or in what capacity a woman should check her breasts, just that she should be aware of any changes, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer.
Being told to do this formal procedure resulted in "a huge guilt trip" for women who developed breast cancer, he said.
Video: Mammogram study draws fire
Video: Mammogram guidelines 'outrageous'
Video: New mammogram guidelines
Preventing breast cancer
RELATED TOPICS
* American Cancer Society
* Susan G. Komen for the Cure
* Breast Cancer
"They said, 'I wasn't good enough. I didn't do it often enough. I didn't do it right. It's all my fault,' " he said. "That was pretty anxiety-provoking for a lot of women."
When Cordsen did find lumps, which turned out to be benign, she felt "scared to death." Still, she's shocked that the task force and several organizations would recommend against teaching self-exams.
"It isn't going to affect me at all. I'm not going to stop searching," she said. "I'm just worried it's going to affect a lot of kids coming up. They're just going to grow up not knowing how important it is."
The Komen organization has been focusing on letting women know what they should be looking for, rather than the procedure itself, said Susan Brown, director of health education. Here's the group's guidance.
"We're not telling people to do it or not to do it," she said. "We're focusing on what's normal for you."
The existing research on the subject does not conclusively support breast exams. The Komen Web site cites a meta-analysis of the the two largest randomized controlled trials, one from China and one from Russia. These trials found no difference in breast cancer deaths after 15 years between women who regularly self-examined and women who did not. Moreover, those who did check themselves had almost twice as many biopsies with benign results as those who did not.
Cordsen, however, thinks it's "crazy" to tell women not to examine their breasts.
But the cancer groups clarify that they're not saying "don't check your breasts"; they're just not for teaching a formal process anymore and want you to be aware of any changes.
When the Komen group turned its focus away from the self-exam process, some women who had found their own breast cancers did complain. But when Brown spoke to some of these women individually, she realized that they had largely detected lumps by coincidence -- they happened to notice a change in their bodies -- rather than during a formal self-exam at a scheduled time of the month.
At M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, doctors do not recommend that women formally examine their own breasts either. They preach "breast awareness" instead, said Dr. Therese Bevers, medical director of the center's Cancer Prevention Center.
"We were overcomplicating this, and it actually was a turnoff for a lot of women," she said. "Women go, 'I don't know how to do it, so I don't do it.' "
Generally, women should be aware of their bodies and should notice something like a lump on their breasts to the same extent that they would on their arms.
Awareness is also the main message for Dr. Anne Wallace, professor of surgery and director of the Moores Breast Cancer Program at the University of California-San Diego. Knowing your health history, when you've had sex and what's new to your body are important, she said.
Still, there are patients who would benefit from self-exams if they did them. Wallace has seen patients with large dents in their breasts and tangible masses within. When she asks them whether they had noticed anything there, they say, "Oh, gosh. I can't touch my breast. I don't know if it's new," she said.
The emotional weight attached to self-exams is so great for some women that Wallace advocates putting associated public health money toward mammograms, rather than trying to get women to be more comfortable with examining their own breasts.
"If you're used to feeling your breasts and know your lumps and bumps, then keep doing it, but if they scare you or whatnot, don't make it happen," she said. "I think we should have, years ago, lightened up on it."
Wallace estimates that 50 percent of women routinely feel their breasts for lumps.
Dr. Lori Goldstein, director of the Breast Evaluation Center at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also cited the China study that showed no benefit in self-examination but said it's "value-added and complementary to mammography screening."
What else helps and hurts
Part of breast cancer risk has to do with genetics, and particularly strong links have been found to the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. You should be aware of your own risk by taking into account your family history.
There are, however, actions that women can take to help prevent breast cancer besides having mammograms, having clinical exams and being aware of changes in their breasts.
Maintaining a healthy weight as an adult, especially after menopause, is important in decreasing risk, Brown said. Physical activity has also been shown to decrease risk in women generally, she said.
Limiting alcohol intake is another healthy lifestyle choice linked to decreased breast cancer risk, she said. There's a 20 percent greater risk of breast cancer associated with women who consume two to three alcoholic beverages per day compared with non-drinkers.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/17/breast.cancer.self.exams/index.html#cnnSTCText
She'd found the lump during a self-examination.
Fortunately, Cordsen's mom had found the cancer so early that she was able to have a lumpectomy and didn't need chemotherapy or radiation. That's why, today, Cordsen checks her own breasts every day in the shower.
"It was such an inspirational thing to find out that it saved her life, that's for sure," said Cordsen, 57, who submitted her story to CNN's iReport. "It's just important, to want to live and take care of yourself."
Read Cordsen's story here
New guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say that women age 40 to 49 don't need to have routine mammograms anymore and that breast self-exams aren't recommended in general. The group found no evidence that self-exams reduce breast cancer death rates, and it discourages teaching women how to examine themselves.
New trends in self-exams
Although major cancer-awareness groups such as the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure disagree with the new guidance on mammograms, continuing to recommend routine mammograms for women 40 and up, guidance on self-exams has been trending toward the task force's suggestions.
Both the American Cancer Society and the Komen foundation have been advocating that women be "aware" of their breasts rather than do a formalized self-examination procedure a few days after the menstrual period once a month.
The American Cancer Society makes no recommendations for how often or in what capacity a woman should check her breasts, just that she should be aware of any changes, said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer.
Being told to do this formal procedure resulted in "a huge guilt trip" for women who developed breast cancer, he said.
Video: Mammogram study draws fire
Video: Mammogram guidelines 'outrageous'
Video: New mammogram guidelines
Preventing breast cancer
RELATED TOPICS
* American Cancer Society
* Susan G. Komen for the Cure
* Breast Cancer
"They said, 'I wasn't good enough. I didn't do it often enough. I didn't do it right. It's all my fault,' " he said. "That was pretty anxiety-provoking for a lot of women."
When Cordsen did find lumps, which turned out to be benign, she felt "scared to death." Still, she's shocked that the task force and several organizations would recommend against teaching self-exams.
"It isn't going to affect me at all. I'm not going to stop searching," she said. "I'm just worried it's going to affect a lot of kids coming up. They're just going to grow up not knowing how important it is."
The Komen organization has been focusing on letting women know what they should be looking for, rather than the procedure itself, said Susan Brown, director of health education. Here's the group's guidance.
"We're not telling people to do it or not to do it," she said. "We're focusing on what's normal for you."
The existing research on the subject does not conclusively support breast exams. The Komen Web site cites a meta-analysis of the the two largest randomized controlled trials, one from China and one from Russia. These trials found no difference in breast cancer deaths after 15 years between women who regularly self-examined and women who did not. Moreover, those who did check themselves had almost twice as many biopsies with benign results as those who did not.
Cordsen, however, thinks it's "crazy" to tell women not to examine their breasts.
But the cancer groups clarify that they're not saying "don't check your breasts"; they're just not for teaching a formal process anymore and want you to be aware of any changes.
When the Komen group turned its focus away from the self-exam process, some women who had found their own breast cancers did complain. But when Brown spoke to some of these women individually, she realized that they had largely detected lumps by coincidence -- they happened to notice a change in their bodies -- rather than during a formal self-exam at a scheduled time of the month.
At M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, doctors do not recommend that women formally examine their own breasts either. They preach "breast awareness" instead, said Dr. Therese Bevers, medical director of the center's Cancer Prevention Center.
"We were overcomplicating this, and it actually was a turnoff for a lot of women," she said. "Women go, 'I don't know how to do it, so I don't do it.' "
Generally, women should be aware of their bodies and should notice something like a lump on their breasts to the same extent that they would on their arms.
Awareness is also the main message for Dr. Anne Wallace, professor of surgery and director of the Moores Breast Cancer Program at the University of California-San Diego. Knowing your health history, when you've had sex and what's new to your body are important, she said.
Still, there are patients who would benefit from self-exams if they did them. Wallace has seen patients with large dents in their breasts and tangible masses within. When she asks them whether they had noticed anything there, they say, "Oh, gosh. I can't touch my breast. I don't know if it's new," she said.
The emotional weight attached to self-exams is so great for some women that Wallace advocates putting associated public health money toward mammograms, rather than trying to get women to be more comfortable with examining their own breasts.
"If you're used to feeling your breasts and know your lumps and bumps, then keep doing it, but if they scare you or whatnot, don't make it happen," she said. "I think we should have, years ago, lightened up on it."
Wallace estimates that 50 percent of women routinely feel their breasts for lumps.
Dr. Lori Goldstein, director of the Breast Evaluation Center at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also cited the China study that showed no benefit in self-examination but said it's "value-added and complementary to mammography screening."
What else helps and hurts
Part of breast cancer risk has to do with genetics, and particularly strong links have been found to the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. You should be aware of your own risk by taking into account your family history.
There are, however, actions that women can take to help prevent breast cancer besides having mammograms, having clinical exams and being aware of changes in their breasts.
Maintaining a healthy weight as an adult, especially after menopause, is important in decreasing risk, Brown said. Physical activity has also been shown to decrease risk in women generally, she said.
Limiting alcohol intake is another healthy lifestyle choice linked to decreased breast cancer risk, she said. There's a 20 percent greater risk of breast cancer associated with women who consume two to three alcoholic beverages per day compared with non-drinkers.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/17/breast.cancer.self.exams/index.html#cnnSTCText
Student admits hanging noose in campus library
(CNN) -- The University of California San Diego has suspended a student who admitted to hanging a noose in a campus library, school officials announced Friday.
"We are feeling real pain, and we will take real action," said UCSD chancellor Marye Anne Fox told reporters. "The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is my primary concern."
The student, whose identity was not released, admitted Friday to police at the University of California San Diego that she hung a noose Thursday night in the library, police said.
"Detectives have interviewed the student and taken a statement," UCSD police said in a release. "The investigation is ongoing as we continue to identify and interview witnesses."
After Thursday's discovery, hundreds of people joined a campus rally to oppose racial intolerance. "It's OK to feel hurt and angry about this," said one participant. "We've been silent for too long."
Watch iReport of campus protest
One student said she feared for her safety.
The student's admission came the day after police were alerted to the presence of the noose in a library bookcase at the school. Fox said the admission was a result of "pressure from our UC San Diego community."
"This underscores the fact that our university is banding together," she said.
In a crime alert bulletin, police said they received several reports Thursday around 10:30 p.m. of the noose on the seventh floor of the Geisel Library. It was found hanging in an aisle facing windows.
"Officers spoke with people who were in the area, but no one witnessed the noose being placed on the bookcase," police said in a campus notice.
Hanging a noose with intent to terrorize is a crime, it noted.
On Friday, the school announced several measures it was taking in response to recommendations from its Black Student Union. They include the establishment of a task force on minority faculty recruitment, a new commission to addressing declining African-American enrollment and finding space for an African-American resource center.
"I want to emphasize these are the initial steps, and I realize we have a lot of work ahead of us," Fox said.
The noose incident occurred two weeks after Black History Month was mocked in an off-campus party that was condemned by the school.
It's unclear how long the student is suspended for.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/26/california.noose/index.html?hpt=T2
"We are feeling real pain, and we will take real action," said UCSD chancellor Marye Anne Fox told reporters. "The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is my primary concern."
The student, whose identity was not released, admitted Friday to police at the University of California San Diego that she hung a noose Thursday night in the library, police said.
"Detectives have interviewed the student and taken a statement," UCSD police said in a release. "The investigation is ongoing as we continue to identify and interview witnesses."
After Thursday's discovery, hundreds of people joined a campus rally to oppose racial intolerance. "It's OK to feel hurt and angry about this," said one participant. "We've been silent for too long."
Watch iReport of campus protest
One student said she feared for her safety.
The student's admission came the day after police were alerted to the presence of the noose in a library bookcase at the school. Fox said the admission was a result of "pressure from our UC San Diego community."
"This underscores the fact that our university is banding together," she said.
In a crime alert bulletin, police said they received several reports Thursday around 10:30 p.m. of the noose on the seventh floor of the Geisel Library. It was found hanging in an aisle facing windows.
"Officers spoke with people who were in the area, but no one witnessed the noose being placed on the bookcase," police said in a campus notice.
Hanging a noose with intent to terrorize is a crime, it noted.
On Friday, the school announced several measures it was taking in response to recommendations from its Black Student Union. They include the establishment of a task force on minority faculty recruitment, a new commission to addressing declining African-American enrollment and finding space for an African-American resource center.
"I want to emphasize these are the initial steps, and I realize we have a lot of work ahead of us," Fox said.
The noose incident occurred two weeks after Black History Month was mocked in an off-campus party that was condemned by the school.
It's unclear how long the student is suspended for.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/26/california.noose/index.html?hpt=T2
Feb 8, 2010
City faces snarled traffic in final days before Tet
HCM CITY — A stretch of National Highway13 in HCM City faced big traffic jams yesterday morning as thousands of workers tried to catch buses back to their home provinces for Tet, and many residents went to cemeteries to clean and decorate ancestral graves.
The rising number of buses leaving the Eastern Bus Terminal took National Highway 13, which connects Binh Trieu Bridge with National Highway 1, for the central provinces, while vehicles from Kha Van Can Street poured onto the highway as well, creating major traffic problems.
Nguyen Thuy Loan, a resident in Thu Duc's Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, said that yesterday's traffic jam, which lasted from 7.30 am to 11am, was the worst encountered on National Highway13 in the last five years.
According to the deputy director of the Eastern Bus Terminal, Thuong Thanh Hai, as of 11am on Sunday, nearly 750 buses carrying some 17,000 passengers had departed from the terminal. He said that the bus terminal was expected to provide services to some 40,000 passengers on Sunday, doubling the other days' figures.
Illegal services provided by hundreds of other buses that operate without permits made the situation even worse.
These "illegal buses" stopped to pick up passengers everywhere they could, even on the flyover or at the stopover behind the traffic posts, creating chaos on the National Highway, which runs to the central and northern provinces.
Thousands of migrant workers from Song Than, Binh An, Binh Chieu and Linh Trung were seeking buses back home for Tet at the foot of the Song Than Flyover.
They could not buy a "legal" bus ticket at the terminal, as the number of passengers needing to travel during Tet far exceeded the number of bus tickets provided.
Most of them had to pay twice as much as the normal ticket price for a bus ride back home.
Nguyen Thi Linh, a migrant worker from central Binh Dinh Province, said that she had to pay half the price of the "illegal" ticket up front, and then she waited at a stopover for over two hours. The bus never picked her up, ruining her plan to go home to see her family, after having spent two years away from home. — VNS
http://vietnamnews.vnanet.vn/Social-Isssues/196674/City-faces-snarled-traffic-in-final-days-before-Tet.html
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