The president's speech was a forceful speech, and I beg to differ with David Gregory,

and President Obama had me from Kentucky. Quoting in part from an article written

by Campbell Roberston: "For Obama A "Moment" Speech. At a time of great

obstacles to change Enshrined in the mythology of the American presidency

there is something called a Moment Speech, an address so forceful and eloquent

that it changes the way the country feels about its leadership and even itself."

To me, President Obama gave a Moment Speech, and it is defeatist to suggest

otherwise as his critics most certainly will but you must consider the source,

losers, most of them. Phyllis Kunz

As the focus of what President Obama's speech on jobs would be little attention was paid to the Governors the President has been working with on the same plan. California Governor Moon Beam just got a job bills passed with both Republican/Democrats. As the Media has been following the crying Speaker and King Cantor, President Obama has been working with State Governors who want to help their citizens get back to work. It's the way FDR worked during his Great Depression as some States who worked with him recovered quicker then others. People follow where the jobs are and it is a plan that was used before and worked. The Media has to stop following the childish law makers who only want attention and air time. You guys are missing the real news.

As we approach the 10th Anniversey of 9/11 President Bush just gave an inview with USA Today saying he takes credit for the capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden. Yes that's the news and that's the President's story. President Obama did nothing. It is sad to see how a person wants to be somebody so bad that even when the American people and the World saw the worse Terrorist capture we are to believe it really never happen that way. But most would rather believe it the way Bush told his story and if it makes the President feel better it's ok. At lease now the Texas history books will read it was President Bush who captured/kill Osama Bin Laden. And with any luck if President Obama can fix this broken Economy, we'll hear that it was President Bush who did it.

All the talk about illegal/undocumented immigrants and how they should be kicked out. Well it seems the current Governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez is one of the strongest supporters yet her grandparents are undocumented. Many of our current elected Governors are not only Anchor babies but their immigrants parents never become US citizens. Funny how that works. Foreign people come to the US on visa's and make sure their wives give birth to a child born in the USA.

President Obama's plan to fix Social Security hit to the heart of many Americans. With so many baby boomers retiring. I like the picture the President drew as what if. Paul Ryan benefited along with his family, the Social Security that allows widows and their children to get benefits. Paul even got to go to college because of those benefits and grew up to be a Congressman. What if? yes without those benefits would his life be like it is today as his Dad passed away at a young age leaving a wife and kids. Even Mr. Ryan's grandmother benefited from both Social Security/Medicaid in her years of need. It seems those who benefited from both Social Security and Medicaid to have a chance at the American Dream now don't want others to have the same. Many want to end Social Security but then the Government would have to return all monies due to those who put in the system. If the money isn't returned we have a law called thief by deception that can be used.

see you same time same place

Congratulations on your 9/11 interview with the president. YOU ARE REWARDED NICELY FOR BEING THE MOUTH PIECE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION.

How do YOU sleep at night knowing you present the American people with a slanted view of the news every night. You were given freedom of the press to keep washington honest. Not to crawl into bed with them.

Politics make for strange bedfellows. Sign me up:0) And who would kick him out of

bed!

Interesting audioclip of Jackie Kennedy quoting that JFK mentioned on several occasions that he couldn't even imagine LBJ becoming President, well, at this point it's hindsight, but it makes you think why did he pick him as his VP and makes you (at least me) wonder if he ever said "if anything ever happens to me" . . . . I'm sure you can figure it out, especially with all the conspiracy theories regarding his assasination.

During the Wednesday (8/31) Nightly News story about infant mortality rates, the producers listed several countries on-screen, along with each country's flag. But next to "Singapore", the producers actually displayed the flag of Poland (Poland and its correct flag were shown in the next shot). If these two nations share the same flag, does this mean that Poland has annexed Singapore? That would certainly be breaking news. Unfortunately, the real explanation is much less dramatic. The Nightly News producers simply couldn't be bothered to research the correct flag for Singapore, even though that information could be found in about ten seconds by googling "Flag of Singapore". In fact, the two flags bear only a minimal similarity. Poland's flag is white on the top half and red on the bottom half, and may be found with or without the national coat of arms centered on the white portion (the flag with the coat of arms is "for official use abroad and at sea", according to Wikipedia). The flag of Singapore is red on the top half and white on the bottom half, with a white crescent and five stars (in white) on the left side of the upper portion. So one flag is white on top, while the other is red on top. Not really very similar at all. But the Nightly News producers just didn't care enough to get this right. Appalling. Ironically, that night's broadcast featured an "Education Nation" segment. What kind of message are the Nightly News producers sending to schoolchildren? That it really doesn't matter if you show the wrong flag for Singapore?

It's certainly ironic that the producers would get a nation's flag wrong. Because every night on Nightly News, they bombard the viewers with image after image of the American flag in a desperate attempt to increase their ratings by appealing to the viewers' sense of rah-rah gung-ho patriotism. They figure if it works for Fox News, it can work for NBC News. They often show a waving flag animation behind Brian or Lester. Or a tattered flag waving in the breeze at a disaster site. Or a flag conspicuously in the shot when a Nightly News correspondent is reporting a story. Or a flag in the shape of Arizona whenever Nightly News reports a Gabby Giffords story. Or a flag in the shot every time they show a political candidate speaking. If there is any possible way to include a flag in a news story, the producers and camera operators do so. I'm sure that the NBC camera people are under strict orders to immediately find flags wherever they are. And for all we know, they bring along their own flags to insert into shots if there isn't one on display nearby. Using the American flag as a ratings gimmick is shameful. On Monday's broadcast, Brian Williams took thirty seconds to tell us that, "In Washington D.C....our cameras found Old Glory had survived near-hurricane conditions but was still flying over the U.S. Capitol." After telling us that the tattered flag was burned and replaced with a new one, Brian ended by saying, "And tonight the colors are flying proudly again on a new flag." Meanwhile, that shot of the Capitol flag had already been shown for fifteen seconds in a previous story. Forty-five seconds of footage of the Capitol flag? Is he kidding us? And he actually used the phrase "Old Glory". That's just absurd. A news anchor is supposed to report the news, not pander to the viewers with his ridiculously flowery patriotic prose. Brian sounds like a bad Hallmark card. Is he involved in some sort of bizarre competition to see which TV personality can come up with the most egregious faux patriotism? Why doesn't he just stand up and sing "God Bless America"? That is absolutely unprofessional conduct for a news anchor. But if it can get Brian a few micropoints in the Nielsen ratings, he's certainly willing to do it.

So if the Nightly News producers can spend so much time brandishing the American flag on their broadcast, is it asking too much for them to display the correct Singaporean flag? Sadly, the answer is "yes".

On the Thursday (9/1) broadcast, Brian wasted 100 seconds combined on the obituary of David Reynolds (the founder of Reynolds Wrap); a 61-year-old college football placekicker; and the safest and least safe cities for driving. This is news? Great job, Brian. You must be so proud.

On the Friday (9/2) broadcast, Harry Smith reported this story: "The government agency that regulates mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is suing seventeen of the world's largest banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. The suit is aimed at recovering some of the money Fannie and Freddie lost when the mortgage bonds that the banks sold them went bad. The lawsuits claim that the banks made false and misleading statements when they sold those mortgage bonds making them seem much safer than they actually were." However, Smith did not mention that General Electric was one of the seventeen institutions being sued. Obviously, he did not include them on the list because GE owns 49% of NBC Universal. Just another instance of Nightly News intentionally omitting facts in order to protect one of its owners.

I understand that Labor Day weekend is a slow news time, but does Nightly News have to resort to repeats? Also on Friday, Smith took 27 seconds to show us a photo supposedly of a shark swimming alongside surfers. Lester Holt reported an identical story on June 26. How many "shark swims with surfers" stories does Nightly News need to report?

But my favorite part of Friday's broadcast was seeing Anne Thompson reporting from Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. Thompson's story was just a two-and-a-half minute ad for the businesses on the town's boardwalk. "Come on down, we're open," they all want us to know. Obviously, the only reason Nightly News reported this story was to try to boost sales for the merchants in one of Brian's "beloved Jersey Shore" towns. Before and after Hurricane Irene, it's all about the Jersey Shore. It's shameful that almost every story on Nightly News has a hidden agenda to promote or protect an entity that benefits NBC, one of their sponsors or Brian Williams personally.

Here's what's been happening this week on Nightly News:

Sunday 9/4--In a story about the oil boom town of Williston, ND, CNBC's Brian Shactman told us that, "Walmart sells out of items every day--the Williston McDonald's--one of the country's busiest--paying $15 an hour to attract workers." Obviously, the Nightly News producers insist that their correspondents make a point of plugging regular NBC sponsors (such as Walmart and McDonald's) frequently during news stories. That's known as product placement. I wonder how much the sponsors pay NBC for these placements. Also on Sunday, we saw a 2:05 story about an injured penguin that convalesced in New Zealand before being returned to the Antarctic. During the broadcast, the producers aired three promos for this story because clearly it was a very important news story.
Monday 9/5--I have nothing bad to say about this broadcast. That's because there was no broadcast. Golf ran late in the New York market, so Nightly News did not air. This is the second time in 48 hours that Nightly News was pre-empted by sports. On Saturday, there was no Nightly News because of Notre Dame football. Clearly, golf and football are more important (meaning more profitable) than news to the NBC executives.
Tuesday 9/6--A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll informed us that Michele "Bachman" is polling at around 8%. This is the third time in three months that Nightly News has misspelled Michele Bachmann's name. On the June 26 broadcast, her last name was also spelled as "Bachman", and on Aug. 10, a "Meet the Press" promo spelled her first name as "Michelle". It is beyond comprehension that a network news organization cannot correctly spell the name of a major presidential candidate. Does anyone at Nightly News even care? Also on this broadcast, we were treated to an exclusive 2:30 "interview" (Brian's word) with Mishka the talking dog. This was the second Nightly News story on Mishka in less than a month. That's more stories than Nightly News reported in the past five years about the Sri Lankan civil war (which ended in 2009 and claimed more than 50,000 lives). But obviously Brian and his producers believe that Mishka is much more important than 50,000 Sri Lankans. Is there anyone out there who actually thinks that Nightly News is a serious broadcast?
Wednesday 9/7--Brian anchored the first part of the broadcast from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, in advance of the Republican candidates' debate, which he was co-moderating. I'm surprised Brian didn't allow Mishka to ask questions of the candidates. Later in the broadcast, Jim Miklaszewski did a 2:30 profile on soon-to-be Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer. Obviously, this story was done at Brian's insistence in order to promote the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation, on whose board Brian sits. Once again, Brian is using his broadcast to promote one of his personal pet projects. We were also treated to a 1:40 story on the upcoming auction of Liz Taylor's jewelry because Nightly News is all about reporting hard news.
Thursday 9/8--At the end of Anne Thompson's report about flooding in Pennsylvania, a caption informed us that Thompson was in Forty Fort, PA. Seconds later, another caption informed us that she was in Wilkes-Barre, PA, which is several miles away. Wow, that Anne Thompson moves fast. Later in the broadcast, we heard some tapes of air traffic controllers and pilots from 9/11/01, accompanied by Nightly News's on-screen transcripts. One transcript read, "It looks like that aircraft crashed into the Penatagon [sic], sir." The "Penatagon"? What's a "Penatagon"? How many sides does a "Penatagon" have? Is Jim Miklaszewski now the NBC News "Penatagon" correspondent?
Friday 9/9--Pete Williams is my hero. No matter how many times Brian segues to him with a treacly "Pete, good evening" introduction, Pete never takes the bait. He simply launches into his report without offering the seemingly obligatory "Good evening, Brian" reply. That's because Pete Williams is a serious journalist, not a television personality. Bravo, Pete Williams. This broadcast also showed us once again that the Nightly News producers desperately need to read the book "Transcriptions for Dummies". In the on-screen transcripts of Jackie Kennedy's 1964 taped remarks, the producers use double quotation marks (") for a quote within a quote. Someone needs to tell the producers than a quote within a quote is set off with a single quotation mark ('), not a double quotation mark ("). Sadly, there are a lot of things that the Nightly News producers need to be told. Finally, it was appalling to see Brian use the somber 9/11 anniversary as a way to plug upcoming NBC shows. He shamelessly offered promos for three different specials--Tom Brokaw's Friday Dateline, Brian's "exclusive" interview with President Obama (scheduled to air on Nightly News Sunday and Monday), and Brian's three-hour 9/11 special airing Sunday morning. To Brian, the 9/11 anniversary is just another event to be milked for ratings, like football or the Olympics. How disrespectful.

In reading this article inthis morning's Louisville COurier Journal: 9/11 Launched

Us Into An Unknown Future, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment Came to mind,

though a chilling cat-an-mouse game, is really all about the New Jerusalem and

so is The Demons, both Christian novels.

I quote from the article: "I wouldn't know what any of this would mean for a

while, none of us would, but the reckoning that day when I was so very much alone

felt like a moment of birth to a new reality, and the death of an old one I think

many people, on their own roads of discovery or reckoning, experience similar

revelations."

I quote from the unforgettable ending of Crime and Punishment: "That is the

beginning of a new story, though; the story of a man's gradual renewal and

rebirth, of his gradual transition from one world to another, of his acquaintance

with a new reality of which he had previously been completely ignorant.

That would make the subject of a new story, our present story is ended."

Did America on 9/11 give birth to the Jerusalem? I will leave that to the

theologians to answer, but who is to say that my interpretation is wrong.

Phyllis Kunz

In reading this article inthis morning's Louisville COurier Journal: 9/11 Launched

Us Into An Unknown Future, Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment Came to mind,

though a chilling cat-an-mouse game, is really all about the New Jerusalem and

so is The Demons, both Christian novels.

I quote from the article: "I wouldn't know what any of this would mean for a

while, none of us would, but the reckoning that day when I was so very much alone

felt like a moment of birth to a new reality, and the death of an old one I think

many people, on their own roads of discovery or reckoning, experience similar

revelations."

I quote from the unforgettable ending of Crime and Punishment: "That is the

beginning of a new story, though; the story of a man's gradual renewal and

rebirth, of his gradual transition from one world to another, of his acquaintance

with a new reality of which he had previously been completely ignorant.

That would make the subject of a new story, our present story is ended."

Did America on 9/11 give birth to the New Jerusalem? I will leave that to the

theologians to answer, but who is to say that my interpretation is wrong.

Phyllis Kunz

Dave, the word inevitable in my above post reminds me of Condi Rice

and her belief (Atlantic-June 2007 Last Chance--inside Rice's Ploy to

defuse a nuclear Middle East) and I quote in part..."Back then, Condi Rice

was much mor of a realist but she's gotten some religion, not in the

evangelical sense, but view of life and optimism and larger forces,

and the contest of good and evil, and the idea that time is on our side

It fits with a notion of historical inevitablity, and a notion of American

progress or a special mission in the world.."etc and I believe either my

husband or GWB dismissed the UN as a debating society. I hope that

is not true because I am reminded of that country song, "I am gonna take

my problems to the United Nations." It is Showtime!!! Phyllis