Kennedy will be undergoing more tests in the next few days to determine the best treatment options for him. There are a few different types of gliomas but under current treatment protocols all of them have a poor prognosis, with only 50% of people being diagnosed living longer than a year after diagnosis.

Traditional treatment usually involves a combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, though they are usually just used to prolong the patient's life rather than cure the cancer.

However, one promising area of research into the treatment of gliomas is the use of certain compounds in marijuana. Researchers at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Madrid's Complutense University found that cannabinoids induced apoptosis (cell death) in glioma cells and also inhibited the growth of gliomas.

In addition, the cannabinoids did not harm non-cancerous cells in any way, unlike radiation and chemotherapy. (study)

Other clinical studies have also shown cannabinoids to inhibit gliomas as well as other types of cancer.

All of the experts in the media are telling us that Kennedy's prognosis is poor and that his only options are chemo and radiation, when the research clearly shows otherwise. Unfortunately, this treatment is illegal and not approved in the United States or Canada because of the ridiculous stigma associated with marijuana.

With the poor prognosis given to glioma patients who undergo chemo and radiation, isn't it their right to try something that might work better? Isn't it our right as human beings to have access to a natural plant that could save our lives?

Ted Kennedy has been a champion of research into medical marijuana. Now he has the chance to bring this issue to the public eye in a very personal way. I hope for his sake and the sake of all people who are told they have "incurable" cancer that he does.

"I will be able to carry out my duties fully before the treatment and within hours afterward," Olmert said. "My doctors ... informed me that there is a full chance of recovery and there is nothing about the tumor that is life-threatening or liable to impair my performance or my ability to carry out the mission which has been bestowed upon me."

Olmert will have surgery in the next few months.

Yeltsin was the first freely elected President after the fall of the Soviet Union. He suffered many health problems throughout his life and it was often a concern that he would die in office. He resigned from office in 1999, naming Putin as his successor.

"He created a new kind of power," said Vladislav Starkov, editor of the weekly newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. "He created a new economic situation. A new psychological situation. A new international policy. A new Russian mentality. Of course, there were many mistakes, stupidities. But today we live with and take for granted absolutely new political ideas and institutions . . . This is Yeltsin's legacy."

Former Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin, 76, Dies

"I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't satisfied in my own mind as to the nature of it and the fact that not only will I have an average lifespan but in the meantime I will not be affected in anyway by it. Now of course nobody knows the future but that has been in the history for almost three years now in terms of no symptoms and no sickness."

Thompson is considering a run for president in 2008. About that, he says:

"I'm just going to wait and see what happens. I wanted to see how my colleagues who are on the campaign trail do now, what they say, what they emphasize, what they're addressing, and how successful they are in doing that, and whether or not they can carry the ball in next November."

Norwood had a lung transplant in 2004 due to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Unfortunately, the immune suppression drugs he took as a result of the transplant led to lung cancer in the non-transplanted lung. The cancer later spread to his liver.

"Charlie was a great member of this body and a friend to all," Rep. Nathan Deal, a fellow Georgia Republican, said on the House floor. Gov. Sonny Perdue ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at all Georgia state buildings.

Georgia Congressman Norwood Dies at 65

"He has spent three months just sick as a dog and finally just said, 'That's it. I'm going home,'" Stone said. "The goal now is to make him as comfortable as he can be ... for as long as the Lord will let him stay with us, and nobody knows how long that will be."

Norwood, who is 65, says he will not rule out future treatments if his situation improves, but for now plans to spend time at home with family.

Rep. Norwood returns home for hospice care

A Mayo Clinic spokesman says yesterday morning's surgery was a success and the 82-year-old former president is expected to be released this week.

Former President Bush Undergoes Hip Replacement at Mayo Clinic

--Barron Lerner

The illnesses of politicans have a long and fascinating history. After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a major stroke in office in the late 1910s, he concealed the damage of his incapacity. His wife, Edith, essentially ran the country during the end of her husband's second term. Franklin D. Roosevelt not only concealed the extent of his polio but also that he had severe hypertension and congestive heart failure that probably made him unfit to run for the presidency in 1944. John F. Kennedy had Addison's disease (adrenal insufficiency) and other illnesses that he purposely kept known from the voting public.

In recent years, largely thanks to Ronald Reagan, it has become expected that politicians be truthful about their medical conditions. The public feels entitled to know if their leaders are fit to serve. Indeed, after Reagan was shot in 1981, Congress passed the 25th amendment to the Constitition, formally putting in a plan of succession if and when a president becomes incapacitated.

In Senator Johnson's case, there are indications that he is doing well. Early reports suggest that the bleed, from an AVM (arteriovenous malformation) has stopped and that surgery to remove the blood was successful. Hopefully, he will be able to continue his role as senator. The next few days will be crucial from a medical perspective.

The immediate candor about what happened to Johnson reveals how the illnesses of politicians, once routinely concealed, have now become common knowledge among the public.

Barron H. Lerner, MD, PhD
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Author of "When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How We Look at Medicine" (Johns Hopkins, 2006)

At the time of his death, Pinochet was under indictment in three cases stemming from the massive human rights abuses during his long reign, and for tax evasion.

Pinochet, former Chilean dictator, dies at 91

Kirkpatrick was the first female ambassador to the UN and was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1981. She was a member of the President’s cabinet and a member of the National Security Council.

Former UN Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick is Dead at 80

Yet the fact that Castro's brother, Raul, 75, is still serving as acting president has some in the intelligence community believing that the Cuban government wanted Fidel Castro, 79, off the public stage before his death to gauge public reaction to his absence.

Report: Castro Has Terminal Cancer

U.S. intelligence sources say Castro has cancer: Time

She was diagnosed in March 2006 and underwent chemotherapy at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Ms. Richards rose to the governorship with a come-from-behind victory over millionaire cowboy Clayton Williams in 1990. She cracked a half-century male grip on the governor's mansion and celebrated by holding up a T-shirt that showed the state Capitol and read: "A woman's place is in the dome."

Ann Richards dead at 73

The handsome, blue-eyed Mathias was the first Olympic decathlon winner to cash in on his fame. He tried acting for a time, making movies with Victor Mature and Jayne Mansfield, playing himself in "The Bob Mathias Story" in 1954 and starring in the 1959-60 television series, "The Troubleshooters."

Bob Mathias; Congressman, Twice Olympic Champion
Bob Mathias, 75; Decathlon Ace Was Actor, Congressman
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