The 2011 WHC Garden Brunch featured two great organizations, CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Our honorary co-chairs Susan Axelrod and Wendi Murdoch led the push for advocacy and results.

2011 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch from whcinsider on Vimeo.

Thanks to your generous donations, CURE Epilepsy is having a record-breaking year in raising funds to find a cure. Your dollars are making a difference. Recently, a CURE-Funded Project had a major breakthrough. UC Irvine and French researchers identified a central switch responsible for the transformation of healthy brain cells into epileptic ones, opening the way to both treat and prevent temporal lobe epilepsy. Epilepsy affects 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population, and TLE is the most common form of the disorder in adults. Among adult neurologic conditions, only migraine headaches are more prevalent. TLE is resistant to treatment in 30 percent of cases.

“We’re quite excited about this discovery,” UCI neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Tallie Z. Baram said. “Understanding how previous brain infections, seizures or injuries can interact with the cellular machinery to cause epilepsy is a crucial step toward designing drugs to prevent the process. We don’t want to just treat people with epilepsy. We hope to develop medicines that will prevent epilepsy from occurring – and influence the lives of millions of people around the globe.”

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is using the month of July to encourage leaders to recognize the importance of health workers. There is a shortage of more than 3.5 million health workers across the globe and millions of existing health workers lack the support, equipment, and training they need to provide quality care. These nurses, doctors, midwives and community health workers are vital for progress on global health and development and for ensuring the millennium development goals are met.

In September, decision-makers will convene at the United Nations General Assembly to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals. It will be an opportunity for governments to announce substantial and specific commitments to support and invest in health workers. By sharing your voice on these issues, together change can be made.

Here is our photo gallery including David and Susan Axelrod, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Sarah and Todd Palin, Matthew Morrison, Jeremy Piven, Bill and Bernie Daley, Tina Tchen, Eric Podwall, Chelsea Handler, T. Boone Pickens and many other notables.

We are proud to support the work of CURE Epilepsy and the White Ribbon Alliance, and encourage you to do the same by clicking on the links below.

WHC Insider 2011 WHC Garden Brunch Bill Daley, Boone Pickens, Chelsea Handler, CURE Epilepsy, David Axelrod, Dr. Tallie Baram, Jeremy Piven, Matthew Morrison, Rupert Murdoch, Sarah Palin, Susan Axelrod, Tina Tchen, UC Irvine, Wendi Murdoch, White Ribbon Alliance

Apple CEO Steve Jobs wowed the crowd at The Wall Street Journal’s 8th D: All Things Digital conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. In 2007, when Jobs last spoke to All Things Digital conference attendees, the world hadn’t touched an iPhone or imagined the iPad. What a difference a few years can make.

Check out what Jobs had to say in these clips of his speech to this year’s sold out D8 conference, including his thoughts on the smartphone market and the love hate relationship Apple has with Adobe’s Flash.

The three-day conference brings top innovators to the table to discuss media and technology – but this is Southern California, after all, so they also let their hair down at the AOL after party. Check out the photos of movie moguls and top tech geeks, including FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Rupert and Wendi Murdoch, Arianna Huffington, Eric Hippeau, Tim Armstrong, and Jennifer Khoury, enjoying a set from Natasha Bedingfield.

WHC Insider News All Things Digital, Apple, Arianna Huffington, Eric Hippeau, Jennifer Khoury, Julius Genachowski, Natasha Bedingfield, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs, Tim Armstrong, Wendi Murdoch

2010 WHC Garden Brunch: Story Landis, Susan Axelrod, David Axelrod

While at the 2010 White House Correspondents’ Garden Brunch, guests were asked to share the best advice from their mother in honor of Mothers Day Every Day and CURE Epilepsy.

Some of the answers from the media, business, and political elite who stepped across the lawn at the 18th annual brunch are posted below – and be sure to WATCH the video of the tribute to two important causes which affects the lives and health of families all across the globe: maternal mortality and epilepsy.

Susan Axelrod, Founder & Chair of CURE Epilepsy spoke from the heart about the disease and the desperate need to support research and find a cure. Axelrod, the honorary co-chair of the brunch, was joined on stage by “Glee” star Matthew Morrison, People’s cover boy Chace Crawford, and HBO’s “The Pacific” star Joe Mazzello, as well as the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato, who showed their support for CURE Epilepsy and MDED by signing a giant Mother’s Day card.

CHERYL HINES: My mom taught me to have fun in life. That’s what it’s about!

RUPERT MURDOCH: My mother told me to look after my sisters!

DANA DELANEY: Tell the truth – it’s easier to remember

STEVE WEBER: Swallow your spit

SUSAN SHER, First Lady’s Chief of Staff: 1. Always wear lipstick 2.
It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor man. (I followed neither.)

WOLF BLITZER: Do the best you can!

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON: Be fearless!

NICK JONAS: Treat women with respect!

JOE JONAS: Coins are not edible!

DEMI LOVATO: Pack clean underwear!

JOE MAZZELLO, HBO’s “The Pacific”: Make it real

DAVID GREGORY: Always wear socks!

KIM KARDASHIAN: My favorite thing my mother taught me is…. To be myself

CHEVY CHASE: Make sure you shake few hands. You can get hurt.

JAYNI CHASE: Wear comfortable shoes.

PATRICIA ARQUETTE: Get quiet and ask God to let you feel who you are …your true self.

BRET BAIER: Always open a door and pull out a chair for a lady!

ANDREA MITCHELL: Watch out when you cross the street

2010 WHC Garden Brunch for MDED and CURE Epilepsy from whcinsider on Vimeo.

WHC Insider Washington Andrea Mitchell, Arianna Huffington, Bret Baier, Chace Crawford, Cheryl Hines, Chevy Chase, CURE Epilepsy, Dana Delaney, David Axelrod, David Gregory, Demi Lovato, Jayni Chase, Joe Jonas, Joe Mazzello, Jonas Brothers, Kim Kardashian, Matthew Morrison, MDED, Nick Jonas, Patricia Arquette, Rupert Murdoch, Steven Weber, Story Landis, Susan Axelrod, Susan Sher, WHC Garden Brunch, Wolf Blitzer

Billy O'Reilly

Keith Olbermann

The so-called cease-fire between Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has ended … it may have been the shortest and least observed cease-fire in history.

According to a New York Times article, parent CEO’s Roger Ailes and Jeff Immelt got the pair to tone down their attacks. At least they had until the Times pointed it out, which has set off a new round of hostilities. Olbermann denied any deal to play nice and launched a new segment — “The Worst Persons in the World” — which was topped by O’Reilly and Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch.

O’Reilly, who refuses to mention Olbermann by name on his show, put Jeff Immelt and GE’s Securities and Exchange Commission fine back in his sights.

So, was there a cease-fire? Will there be another brokered peace? Howard Kurtz’s article in the Washington Post today cites Ailes as saying he could control his nutcases, but Immelt couldn’t control his.

gtruong News Media Bill O'Reilly, Howard Kurtz, Jeff Immelt, Keith Olbermann, Roger Ailes, Rupert Murdoch