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Subscribe to RSS1) Why do people say to Bob Woodward, "What's that? You're writing a another book and you'd like us to invite you into our meetings and inner sanctum? Hell, yes, Bob! Get in here! How soon can we start on this little project of yours? (Author's note: I'm not complaining here, mind you—as a lover of history, it's important that the stories of our time get told, by multiple sources in multiple places—it's just that the collateral damage is always high, and, as if on cue, people are expressing surprise.)
2) Does everyone who is visiting the U.N. gathering here in New York really need a motorcade? Here's an old theory that you often hear in Washington: What if we just put these officials in a cab, or a Toyota Tercel with a mismatched right rear quarter panel? Wouldn't that attract less attention?
3) Do we believe the latest Titanic "revelation"? Is it possible that we wouldn't have come across this detail before now, given the exhaustive research and scholarship that has gone into the sinking of the Titanic?
As I say, questions for discussion. We hope you can join us tonight on the broadcast.
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TO THE NBC STAFF AND BLOGGERS ON THIS NIGHTLY NEWS SIGHT
I see Brian every where I have traveled this summer from Chicago, Florida, NYC and now New Jersey. I was going to the post office and read this in the local Asbury Park Press.
WEST LONG BRANCH — He says he doesn't understand why, but on Thursday Monmouth University will celebrate the career of NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams and present the longtime journalist with the school's annual Monmouth Award for Communication Excellence. [
Yes he does deserve the award but Brian these actions are because your the best their is in the news today. Yes we're have many greats who applied the real Jounalist ethics but today we see very few. Congrads and smile you are doing for American public something that we have long for that is honest news fair/balanced. I'll be leaving for a visit in Virginia and if I see you again I will know your truly Universal.
a fan and friend Jackie
Brian: Yes, I believe visiting dignitaries on their way to the U.N. should use cabs and private vehicles, but they also coild use hanson cabs and pogosticks. What about garbage trucks and wheelchairs. They indeed would be more inconspicuos. Plus it's cheaper to use varied forms of transportation. Achmadinajad could have used a camel to make him feel more at home. So there. that's the right solution!
Working in midtown as you do, I'm with you on the motorcades and the shut down streets, I'll never forget I got caught in one of those shutdowns when Clinton was going to the Hilton on 6th and 53rd, 53rd was shut down from the east side to the west side, way beyond 6th avenue where the hotel is. Just throw these dignataries in a '67 Buick or something when they come to New York and no one will even notice.
Forgot to say Congrats on the Monmouth Award for Communications Excellence ! ! ! !
I so hope that Rep. Waxman stands firm and gets Congress to force the DeCosters out of business. Here in Maine, we've been nauseated with the DeCosters thumbing their noses at laws and regulations across the board for as least 30 years. Bag eggs, violations of labor laws, environmental laws, animal cruelty laws, and more that we don't know about. This company alone has been the overwhelming factor in my choice to never buy commercial eggs again. I simply could not support them.
Stephanie, Maine
Good Evening Mr.Williams, Another fine broadcast this evening as always. I'm sure having Mr.Woodward join your was most interesting and since he just wrote a new book. Always new information to be told. I can agree with you the officials and many world leaders attending the United Nations gathering would attract less attention if they did not ride in a huge motorcade. Simply would be easier and nto have to stop traffic and block streets. But that never really happens. Finally, the "Titanic" revelation abotu what caused the ship to sink seems unbelievable, but if true it is certainly a tragic error on the part of the crewmen. Turning the ship towards to iceberg instead of away seems very unbelievable as the main reason the ship sank and the secret was kept all these years. Someday the reason will be told because there have been so many theories.
Now on to the broadcast. First of all the report from Mr.Costello about the Iowa egg farmers testifying before Congress concerning the massive egg recall. After seeing the photos taken of the farm after the recall it was horrible to think this farm was allowed to stay in business. Mr.Decosta explained he was personally sorry, but more could have been done to prevent this outbreak from happening in the first place. The FDA should have inspected the farm and it is unfortunate the regulations for standards were placed after the recall. Time will tell as to what decision is made.
The report by Andrea Mitchell about Mr.Woodward's new book about the White House showed the conflicts of ideas and opinions amidst the Administration and the Generals over the War in Afghanistan. Much disagreements among the officials over such a tumultuous region and the sending of more US Troops. Quite staggering to hear.
Nice to see the huge Harvest moon! Unfortunately, it is cloudy here so hopes of seeing the planet Jupiter may be slim. Always hoping it will clear!
Interesting find of a new dinosaur. I must say your comments are always funny Mr. Williams!
The piece by Rehema Ellis about the new film "Waiting for Superman" about education is certainly eye opening and interesting. So important a child receives a good education.
Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Peace to You and to All!
Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Claudia,Celine,Anne,Lori,Cary and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard!
Take Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!
XOXO
Lisa
Good evening, Brian!
1) When I think Bob Woodward, I cannot help but think Robert Redford in All The President's Men. Absolutely LOVE that movie. Other than that, I have no answer to this one!
2) Agree with you 100% here. Why isn't this one obvious? Really.
3) I don't know if I can believe this one regarding the Titanic. The movie Titanic was released during my childhood, and since then became the movie of my childhood, which made both my brother and I very interested in the real Titanic. We both say this is hard to believe, and he sarcastically believes an asteroid is at fault. Just thought I'd share... History has a way of surprising you sometimes (which is totally fascinating!), but as much as this has been studied, I don't know if this one can be true.
Thank you for tonight's broadcast, as well as last night's that I didn't get to commenting about. I was glad to see Kate Snow's report on Afghanistan about the "bacha posh", the girls dressed up as boys. I had read a fantastic article about it on The New York Times Monday morning, and was very glad to see it getting coverage on Nightly News! As much as it "helps" these families, it also represents a very sad and serious situation in Afghanistan.
As for tonight's broadcast, a very touching report from Rehema Ellis on "Waiting For Superman". I will do what I can to find it so I can see it and tell others about it.
I agree with my friend Lisa here, I always love the funny comments you slip in during what you call the "white board" stories! Never ever fails to make me laugh. Thanks! That's pretty rare for a news broadcast. At least I say so.
I am so sorry to hear it's cloudy in New York tonight. It's a bit on the cloudy side in my neck of the woods, but I'm going to try my best to see the harvest moon!
Goodnight, and take care.
-Cary
P.S. I do NOT like bed bugs. And Jon Stewart's airing of Isabella Rossellini didn't help. My friends and I are still haunted by that. (Sorry to remind you.)
hola, cary,
i had an even weirder dream than your brother. i dreamt that the titanic's speed broke the laws of physics and the boat entered a higher realm where scale was much different. everything in the ocean was HUGE. so, i dreamt that this gigantuan LOBSTER reached up with one of it's humongous claws and ripped open the ship's hull. just like that . . . . . go figure . . . . . . i have a book that won the pulitzer prize and it is called 'godel,escher,bach: an eternal golden braid' by douglas r. hofstadter. i can only read SMALL pieces of it at a time. it is 'a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of lewis carroll'. it has to do with the brain and thought processes and perceptions and it ends with several chapters on artificial intelligence. there is something in the book called a zen koan. the o has a flat line over it. the koans are about 'questioning perception and posing absurd answerless riddles' and they compare that treatise to paintings by m. c. escher, which, if you've seen them, you know what they mean. what is it really a picture of?! escher was genius in his perceptions. it's about pointless questions 'and the paintings, like a zen koan are trying to break the mind of logic'. here is an example: a monk asked ganto, 'when the three worlds threaten me, what should i do?' ganto answered, 'sit down.' 'i do not understand' said the monk. ganto said, 'pick up the mountain and bring it to me. then i will tell you.' uh, go figure.
i want to know where the logic is of the poor cancer patients who are not allowed to have the expensive new cancer treatments that they really need. i, myself, would choose to not go the chemo route. tielhard de chardin, a french catholic priest that the church almost cast out, whom i've quoted before in the blog, wrote a paper on the balance of life and questioned what we are doing to God's balance of life by prolonging it by artificial means. however, that is me, and i'm glad that my father opted for chemo and we had him with us that much longer, although it was very hard for him. in another 10 years, these new, expensive treatments will not be so expensive, there will be newer ones, and those by then older treatments will do the trick. fast-forward. if we could only send them now into the future 10 years to get those same treatments at the cheaper cost! where is arthur clarke or isaac asimov when you need him?
have a great thor's day,
best, anna martina
One more thing if I may. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post this in this space or not, but I'll give it a try. On the subject of music, I'm just here again to remind you that we (or I) love your taste in music and encourage you to please share what you've been listening to lately! A small playlist would be fantastic! I don't mean to be a bother, but whenever you have the time, we'd love to tune in. On the same note, I watched a movie and staked out a song in the soundtrack. I'm crazy about this song lately. A fantastic performance: http://bit.ly/aNZJmI
Snap, congratulations on the Monmouth Award for Communications Excellence!
Brian: This latest revelation about the Titanic is interesting, but is it true? Too many years have gone by before this explanation was revealed. Why did the grandaughter of the helmsman, who commited the steering error, wait so long to reveal this covered up information? I don't know whether to believe this story on not. I would have to do my own research to solve this one.
Is someone trying to keep this story hidden???
“The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded Indiana $1.36 million for increasing the number of children adopted from foster care.” (from WTHR news)
It is pure absurdness to learn that Indiana may choose to not use this money towards the promises that Indiana ( in care of Mitch Daniels and DCS’ James Payne ) made to the children adopted from foster care! These children adopted post Jan. 1, 2009 whom do NOT and will NOT ever be qualified for FEDERAL adoption subsidy have been placed on an ‘Indiana State Adoption Subsidy Waiting List’ that our leaders chose to allot ZERO dollars for the current biennium budget!
Please do what you can do to make sure that the 1.36 million dollars that has been awarded is used to fund the State Adoption Subsidies that are only available if there are sufficient funds in the Adoption Assistance Account established under IC 31-19-26.5-10. If you read my letter below that explains how Indiana has gotten away with paying ZERO dollars towards Indiana State Adoption Subsidies for adoptions completed after January 1, 2009, you will also learn that all of the children on the Waiting List are not, nor will they ever be, eligible for Federal Adoption Subsidies. We only sit and wait for Indiana to prioritize these children and make good on the 'Waiting List' promises.
My letter that I have emailed to every Democrat General Assembly member:
Children, MOVE to TOP PRIORITY:
Before you read this and attach any preconceived notions, I assure you that this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with, allow me to repeat, NOTHING to do with the proposed 10% cuts to adoption subsidies for those families already getting subsidies.
This is about families who ADOPTED AFTER 2009 that may NEVER get ANY of the PROMISED State adoption subsidies due to the creation of the Indiana State Adoption Subsidy 'WAITING LIST'. Very few people even know about it's creation but I am confident that once our Democratic Leaders become aware of this information, they will not ONLY appropriate money for the Waiting List, but will also bring to light one of the ways that our Governor has 'saved Indiana money'.
The Indiana State Adoption Subsidy Waiting List is allowing our Governor and CPS Director to ROB our children!
In Indiana, prior to 2009, pre-adoptive parents of children in foster care where the children did not qualify for Federal Adoption Subsidy, would apply through their local counties to attempt approval for ‘State Adoption Subsidy’. Local power and funding over these decisions regarding the subsidy was fully removed by January 2009 and taken over by the State of Indiana which in turn implemented a complete over-haul. All foster children that do not CURRENTLY meet the Federal Adoption Subsidy eligibility requirements can either remain in foster care until their age finally meets the Federal Transition Program ( 1 footnote ) where eligibility will be phased in by age over the next nine years for those STILL NOT adopted, or Indiana’s children in foster care may get lucky. These children may GET ADOPTED by parents who will trust Indiana’s leaders to recognize that the State Adoption Subsidy Waiting List ( 2 footnote ) needs to be Funded to enable these adoptive parents to provide for these needy children. These children have now been adopted after January 2009 and are in limbo on the Subsidy Waiting List. These children ARE ELIGIBLE and WAITING for Indiana State Adoption Subsidy BUT the DCS budget restraints caused by political priorities, have contributed to the decision of NOT allotting funding to the Subsidy Waiting List.
Shortly after January 2009, Indiana's leaders realized that their short-lived solution to State Adoption Subsidy had created disdain among every child advocate that became aware of the State Adoption Subsidy guidelines for anyone applying after January 2009. The problem WAS that Indiana had set the same guidelines for Indiana State Adoption Subsidy that would qualify a child for Federal Adoption Subsidy (a.k.a. Title IV-E). When this became apparent that this would cause Indiana to not have to pay any State Adoption Subsidy for those children adopted after Jan. 2009, some 'child-robbers' swept in and came up with the MOST RECENT PLAN that has NOW been implemented; Lower the age for Indiana State Adoption Subsidy to age 2. For any child adopted after January 2009 that does not qualify for Federal Adoption Subsidy, but will now be eligible for Indiana State Adoption Subsidy, DISCLOSE and reveal the eligibility for State Adoption Subsidy but include a 'State Governments way-out of paying the subsidy' stipulation. This stipulation is the creation of the ‘Indiana State Adoption SUBSIDY WAITING LIST’:
On the Indiana State Adoption Subsidy Agreement page, stipulate that the adoptive parents understand that they are being placed on a 'Waiting List' and will not receive any Indiana State Adoption Subsidy until the list works it way down to their children's names. It 'sounds' terrific, doesn't it? Especially if the list is created by order of the most needy or a first come first serve basis.
Finally, herein lies the problem; according to my sources from CPS and other child advocates, with Governor Mitch Daniels awareness, CPS (a.k.a. DCS) Director James Payne determined that for this current biennium budget, the Indiana State Adoption Subsidy Waiting List would receive ZERO dollars. Therefore, ALL of the children that are on the Waiting List and have been officially approved to receive Indiana State Adoption Subsidy, are ALL being denied the Indiana State Adoption Subsidy!
Can you please speak to everyone that you know about revealing this heart wrenching, stomach curdling revelation about the lack of value Indiana's leaders have placed on some of our MOST neediest children?
Please do whatever is in your power to ensure that the Indiana State Adoption Subsidy Waiting List receives specific, allocated, appropriated, and complete funding to provide for these needy, adopted children. You should be aware of the fact that the adoption subsidy that will be provided from the ‘Waiting List’ fund is already set for the very basic of minimum state adoption subsidy.
Please fund the State Adoption Subsidies that are only available if there are sufficient funds in the Adoption Assistance Account established under IC 31-19-26.5-10.
If our leaders cannot solve this problem for the very basic reason of allowing for our most troubled and suffered children to be adopted into a loving forever family, will they consider that if they choose to not help these children now, a lot of them may end up needing prison beds later!
Most people in Indiana are not aware that our governor is a contributor to this atrocity. If our nation knew that our governor could take candy from our babies and sweep the whole situation under the rug to paint such a pretty economic picture, would they ever have considered that anyone would want him to run for president?
Thank you for your time and efforts put forth into Indiana’s forgotten children. Your impact will make a huge difference in the lives of these children and our communities’ future.
Sincerely,
Angela L. Finney
765-606-4787
( 1 )
http://www.nacac.org/policy/MoEBriefJuly09.pdf
Page 2, See top of page, the section titled
Transition to Full Federal Eligibility
( 2 )
http://www.in.gov/dcs/files/Admin_Letter_Adoption.pdf
Page 6, Section 6, Subsection C: State Adoption Subsidies are only available if there are sufficient funds in the Adoption Assistance Account established under IC 31-19-26.5-10