Scott Brown and Cancer

Friends - the Pan-Mass Challenge is just four days away. Will you help me raise money for this incredibly important cause? One hundred percent of proceeds go directly toward cancer research. Click here to donate today. Scott Brown I write to you today to talk about something very important to me. It's not related to my campaign or bills under consideration by the United States Senate.  I'm reaching out to ask for your help in fighting cancer - a terrible disease we are all too familiar with but that continues to take the lives of people around our state, our country, and the world. For the third year in a row, I will join 5,500 other cyclists riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge (PMC) to raise money for life-saving cancer research and treatments. There are many impressive facts and figures about the PMC I could share but these two really jump off the page: Since its founding in 1980, the PMC "has raised $338 million for cancer research and patient care at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute through the Jimmy Fund." "The event donates 100% of every rider-raised contribution directly to the cause." Plain and simple, the PMC's focus on its mission is laser-like and they are vigilant in ensuring the funds they raise go to that mission. This year's goal is $36 million - ambitious as always - but achievable with the commitment of people like you who want to wipe out the pain that cancer inflicts on its victims and those who love them. Last year I rode in honor of Judge Samuel Zoll of Salem, who passed away in 2011 from gallbladder cancer at the age of 76. A veteran of 27 Pan-Mass Challenges, Judge Zoll was a beloved friend and mentor to me and a key figure in my early development.  He called the PMC "more than just a bike ride, more than just a demanding physical challenge, more than just the camaraderie surrounding a missionary expedition - it is a commitment beyond one's self interest which drives you in pursuit of the final chapter in the history of curing a devastating disease, a disease that has touched so many." I couldn't agree more. This year I ride for him and as a member of "Team Lenny."  The team is dedicated to raising money - through the PMC and Jimmy Fund - for the Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Leonard Zakim was a civil rights activist, who as executive director of the New England Region of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), worked tirelessly to build stronger relations within diverse greater Boston communities. Lenny was diagnosed with cancer, and as a result of his ordeal battling cancer, founded the Zakim Center at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute to provide support services for patients undergoing cancer treatments. Having sought empowerment and self-determination during his own treatments through alternative therapies unavailable at the Dana Farber, Lenny was compelled to establish a center 'in house' that offers integrative and coordinated therapies to improve cancer patients' capacity to endure treatments and to increase their resiliency. I am writing you to ask you to sponsor my Pan-Mass Challenge ride by making a donation to the Jimmy Fund to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute's Leonard P. Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies. There are two means to sponsor my ride: Visit www.pmc.org and use my Gift ID 71018-3 "Scott Brown." The other is to mail a check back to me, made out to PMC/Jimmy Fund, at P.O. Box 566, Wrentham, MA, 02093, with the PMC ID# 71018-3. Thank you and train safely. Scott Brown

Copyright (C) 2012 Scott Brown for US Senate All rights reserved.

Paid for By Scott Brown for U.S. Senate Committee Inc. www.scottbrown.com

If you’ve got (an A) — you didn’t (earn) that.

The President tried out his new business speech with his girls and they thought it sounded funny as well.

 "    Look, (girls) if you’ve been successful (in school), you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by (students) who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

    If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got (an A) — you didn’t (earn) that. Somebody else made that happen. "

Of course they asked if that means having to study should be done by someone in the government instead of them.