Just what the doctor ordered: a massage
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/22/art.massage.jpg]
Dr. Sanjay Gupta
CNN Chief Medical Correspondent
I'm not a big fan of massages. As a neurosurgeon, I've never been completely convinced that the science behind them is all that sound. Yet there's no denying that they're popular — particularly among baby boomers and others who try to get active and stay fit with bodies that seem to grow achier all the time. But increasingly, research is showing that all those boomers may be onto something — that there are solid reasons for just about everyone to consider getting a good rubdown.
Investigators at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine recently took a close look at the effect of massage on a very specific group of people who might be most in need of pampering: cancer patients. In a study of 380 adults with advanced-stage cancer and at least moderate pain, the researchers found that those who received massage therapy had greater improvement in pain and mood than patients who were touched in a manner similar to massage but without the precise motion and pressure a trained therapist uses.
For these patients, even a little relief can mean a lot. Generally, about a third of cancer patients experience significant pain. As for mood, according to the National Cancer Institute, 15% to 25% of cancer patients become clinically depressed at some point during their illness. And the very nature of treatment for a serious illness often makes things worse.
Republican attacks show fear and desperation
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/15/art.mccain.obama.split.jpg]Roland S. Martin | Bio
AC360° Contributor
CNN Political Analyst
Editor’s Note: You can read more from Roland at RolandSMartin.com
Watching Sen. John McCain and top Republicans swing wildly in their attempts to slam Sen. Barack Obama, with less than two weeks ago to go before Election Day, is like watching an old fighter –clearly out of gas, his legs turned to rubber, and all he can do is grab, hold, punch behind the back, just anything to try to win.
McCain's campaign is no longer about issues. He and his supporters want to bring up anything and everything to derail Obama, and nothing is sticking, so they just keep returning to their old bag of tricks.
In the past two weeks, we've seen Minnesota Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann make one of the most audacious statements ever, suggesting that Obama holds anti-American views, that other members of Congress have the same views, and that the media should launch a widespread investigation to ferret them out.
No, seriously, she said that on MSNBC's "Hardball."
It didn't take long for the folks on the left to get a hold of her comments. After the video spread like wildfire, Democrats across the country pumped $700,000 into the campaign coffers of her opponent. The normally talkative Bachmann is now on lockdown, not granting any interviews, as she has to work hard to hold onto her seat.
The Shot: Chimp on Segway
A chimp crashes a Segway during one of our favorite Japanese tv shows.
But whom will Susie the Shoplifter endorse?
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/22/art.jacksgreatgrandmother.jpg caption= "I told her I wouldn't pose for this picture unless she changed out of the muumuu."]
Jack Gray
AC360 Associate Producer
I have a rule: I do not talk to anyone wearing a muumuu who is not my great-grandmother. So, you there – the guy on Seventh Avenue holding the clipboard, humming the theme song to the A-Team, eating the banana that looks like it was grown on Three Mile Island and wearing eyeglasses that look like they belonged to Larry King circa 1987 – kindly step to the side and find someone else to sign your petition to ban Koala bear go-cart racing. Because I’m pretty sure you never sent me ten dollars enclosed in a Garfield birthday card.
That’s the thing about New York. Every street you walk down someone wants “just a minute of your time.” Sorry, I’d love to help but I’m late to have an anvil dropped on my head.
Do you have these people with clipboards out in the real world? I didn’t think so. But you do have raccoons and they scare me just as much.
Meanwhile, it was only a matter of time. It’s not just Joe the Plumber anymore. In her interview on CNN yesterday Sarah Palin brought up Chuck the Teacher and Molly the Dental Hygienist. Somewhere out there, Pat the Pickpocket and Lenny the Loan Shark are feeling very left out.
I mentioned my great-grandmother earlier. Well, were she alive today she would no doubt be among the first in line at the polls come Election Day. She took great pride in her right to vote, though I’m not sure she ever fully understood the concept. She’d always try to vote for both candidates because she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.
Last night we heard the news that the Republican National Committee has spent some $150,000 on clothes for Sarah Palin and her family. A Palin spokeswoman is downplaying the extravagance, saying the plan all along was to give the clothes to charity after the election. And by “all along” she means “since last night.”
More polls are out today. Personally, I don’t know a single person who has ever been called by a pollster. I certainly have not. The closest I came was a woman who – despite my attempts to explain to her that she had dialed the wrong number – insisted my name was Doris.
Finally, ask and ye shall receive. The campaign by many of you in the comments section to get me to appear on-screen has been a success. I’ll be on Erica Hill’s webcast – one night only, just to confirm that I do not belong in front of a camera – sometime next week.
And you didn’t even have to stand outside with a clipboard to make it happen.
al Qaeda: The Looming Terror
David M. Reisner
AC360° Digital Producer
7 years after 9/11 many experts al Qaeda has regrouped, re-organized. The video tapes and audio tapes keep coming... promising more attacks. But those who know al Qaeda best say the only chance we have to defeat it, is to understand its past, see where its strengths lie today, and know where it wants to go in the future.
AC360° sat down with Lawrence Wright, Pulitzer prize winning author of "The Looming Tower: al Qaeda and The Road To 9/11" and CNN Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen, one of the few journalists to have met Osama bin Laden, and author of 'The Osama Bin Laden I Know: An Oral History."
Some of you might be familiar with this special when it first broadcast earlier this year, others may have seen it streamed live on CNN.COM on the 7th anniversary of 9/11.
The feedback from both broadcasts was tremendous so we decided to place all parts of the program online for you to view:
In part one we investigate the underpinnings of al Qaeda & the man whose trip to America inspired bin Laden's jihad
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In part two we investigate bin Laden's descent into the shadows of radical Islam and a war that made him an underground legend.
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In part two we look at how and why bin Laden turned his sights on America.
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In part four we investigate how the terrorist group decimated after the U.S. response to 9/11 could rise again.
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In part five we investigate how the U.S. and the world can defeat this new type of enemy.
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Morning Buzz: Palin Expenses
Penny Manis
AC360 Senior Producer
The clock is ticking louder, less than 2 weeks till Election Day. There's a widening gap between Barack Obama and John McCain. Our latest CNN Poll of Polls shows Obama now leading McCain by 9 points nationwide, 51% to 42%, Obama’s widest margin to date. Both candidates will continue to slug it out till the bitter end. Today, McCain joins Sarah Palin in Ohio and Obama campaigns in Virginia. Joe Biden is in Colorado.
Wolf Blitzer sits down with McCain today for an interview which we’ll feature tonight. We’ll find out what his strategy is for gaining ground in the homestretch. Yesterday we featured Palin after she sat down with Drew Griffin. What did you think of her interview? Clearly we are also trying to get Joe Biden and/or Barack Obama to deliver fresh interviews on the heels of the McPalin speaking out, but neither have bitten just yet.
This morning, Sarah Palin’s staff is answering claims that she charged the state of Alaska for travel expenses for her children. Palin’s camp indicates “Like spouses and children of Governors across the nation, Alaska’s First Family make public appearances, attend events, and perform ceremonial duties in their role as the family of Alaska’s Governor. When members of the First Family participate in events, the state provides for travel to and from those events.” Do you guys think this is a big deal?
Another doozy for the Palin camp this morning: some media reports that the RNC has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize Palin since her pick to be running mate. I will leave to y’all to weigh in there-I'm sure you will have plenty to say.
On Wednesdays we release poll numbers from battleground states, today we’ll see figures from W. Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio. John King will get in front of the Magic Wall and illustrate how these fresh numbers shift the electoral map.
We also have polls today related to how you feel about the bailout. The bottom line is Americans don't like financial bailouts, they don't like the government having an ownership stake in banks or failing businesses, and they don't like Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. But they do like government assistance to homeowners who are having trouble paying their mortgages. Check out those specific numbers on our site later today.
Markets continue their seesaw, this time they are all down overnight globally. I want to steal a colleague’s line from one of our internal notes this morning: “It’s like investors around the world are doing the wave… and today, they’re on the down side... will NY stand or sit?”
Last night we didn’t bring you our Most Wanted report because we ran out of time due to the Palin intvw, tonight Tom Foreman will show us the latest Culprit of the Collapse and continue the series.
See you 10pET!
The next Cabinet?
Who would Obama name to his cabinet? Colin Powell? Warren Buffett?
Who might McCain appoint? Joe Lieberman? Mitt Romney? Todd Palin?
Some people are already looking past the election, and wondering who the candidates will choose to lead their government.
So we wondered – who do you think they should choose for cabinet posts, and for the Supreme Court for that matter? The next president is expected to nominate at least three justices.
The presidency is bigger than any one man. Cabinet members will shape the direction that an Obama or McCain administration will take.
Who do you think the candidates should choose for the court, and for some of the cabinet positions below?
Supreme Court Justices expected to leave soonest:
John Paul Stevens
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Anthony McLeod Kennedy
Cabinet Posts:
Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security
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