Why I Support Barack Obama: By Volunteer and Veteran Brandon U.

I grew up in the small town of Aiken, S.C. We were raised in a three-bedroom house under challenging conditions. Our house had leaking ceilings and had to be heated by an old, black, cast-iron stove. We didn’t have hot water; I remember boiling water on the stove just to take a warm bath. My grandmother and my mother had to work two and sometimes three jobs to provide for me and my sister, Sabrina.

But, growing up, they had a vision for our future that far exceeded our situation. Their lessons of hard work and dedication shaped my life and led me to join the South Carolina Army National Guard at the age of 17, and at the age of 19, volunteer to serve our country in Iraq with the 122nd Combat Engineering Company attached to the 101st Airborne. Our job was to find Improvised Explosive Devices, also known as IEDs, and make it home in one piece. We were lucky; we brought everyone home physically in tact. But the mental stress of combat took hold on many of my fellow soldiers.

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Employee-Owned Texas Aviation Company Says Passing the American Jobs Act Will Help their Community

An employee-owned company in Texas says the American Jobs Act will help their company, and their community. “The employer portion would allow for us to have more funds to invest in growth and capital equipment in 2012,” explains David Ickert, VP of Finance  at Air Tractor, Inc. “The worker tax relief would allow for more available cash in the pockets of US workers which could be used for purchases to help in a positive manner in the local economy.”

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2 breast cancer drugs show promise

Two drugs tested in patients with advanced breast cancer significantly lengthened the time before their tumors worsened, according to studies published yesterday, and physicians said the treatments might eventually benefit many who are fighting the second most common cancer in US women.

The results of the large international trials, both led by an oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, are likely to drive the approval of the two drugs and to change treatments for women with the two major types of breast cancer, specialists said. These cancers account for about 80 percent of cases, and many of these patients suffer relapses when their initial treatments stop working.

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