Back in California and it seem like Brian Willams again is following me. Watching ESPN yes every Sunday Football game and how I was so glad Eli and Giants won. But to my surprise I saw Brian William with Bob Costas. Yes Brian we will be watching tonight and you can bet I will give you my review. Now as a favor to me have Seth Meyers on the show, yes he's funny but he does get out what people are thinking and saying.

As Americans march for jobs and the President fights everyday for jobs and the people few reported that Speaker Boehner and his fellow law makers have scheduled on 73 days this year to actually show up for work. This transparency is really telling as a freshman salary/benefits is 178,000 dollars a year for two months work. No wonder nothing is getting done, just think if you showed up only two months out of the year on your job you'd be fired. What is really shocking is in Aug. the law makers had only one work day. But these are the law makers the voters elected a majority in 2010, you get what you vote for.

Now the news about Herman Cain is right out of a Karl Rove play book and more to come. Herman Cain is right he never had to pay for the settlement it was done by the company. Bill O'Reilly had the same problem when Fox paid the suit. Isiah Thomas settlement of 5 million was paid by Madison Square Garden. As Herb moved up the corporate ladder and was away from home working with such pretty ladies well. This is so much like the Good Wife as the little woman was home doing her housework/raising kids and cooking. No wonder Mr. Cain said his wife wont be campaigning with him. Now many will spin/twist/lie but just follow the money as no one pays big bucks for nothing and you can bet the investigation found evidence for the company to pay a settlement and silence. Sexually harassing woman seems to be common with law makers these days. The attacks on Elizabeth Warren were seen worldwide with no apology. Justice Thomas even lied under oath when he sexually harassed Anita Hill and the many other female victims weren't allowed to testify. Mothers raise their sons to respect woman but it seems many men have forgot that.

As the media had the headlines Qaddafi got rid of his deadly weapons and destroyed them. President Bush called Libya an allie no longer an axis of evil. Halliburton and other companies got big oil deals and even Law Makers made big investments for large profit. Life was good and profitable. Well that was then and now we learned Qaddafi lied and the weapons were found as the new government notified. To the surprise to the US corrupt team, Libya has been working with Hillary Clinton all this time. It shows how much respect these new governments have for this US Administration. Poor Connie Rice has a book of what if's and I was thinking about it.

see you same time same place

Brian, I didn't realize Mona Simpson was his sister who is the author of "Anywhere But Here", a great novel about

mothers and daughters, and on Page 507, Chapter 16, A Lot of People's Secret, I wrote Story Idea,

d--n good -- next to the first sentence "Nobody knows it to this day, but my husband almost killed

Hitler." I paraphased "Nobody knows it to this day, but my Uncle almost killed Winston Churchill."

See you at 10PM. Phyllis

On Thursday's Nightly News, the lead story was about the health benefits of aspirin as a cancer-fighting drug. In truth, this was just a 2:40 product placement for Bayer. The story featured only one national brand of aspirin--Bayer. All the other aspirin brands were generic or store brands like CVS or Sunmark. The story also clearly showed two vintage Bayer newspaper ads and just for good measure, it featured an 8-second clip from a current Bayer TV commercial. This story was a joke. It was nothing more than a shameless way to plug Bayer aspirin. And the fact that they showed it as the lead story is even more shameless. The message was obvious--buy Bayer aspirin and you won't get cancer.

Bayer is by far the most frequent advertiser on Nightly News. They advertise virtually every night--and as often as four times on a single broadcast (in addition to aspirin, Bayer also makes Aleve, Alka-Seltzer and One-A-Day vitamins). And Bayer products sometimes sponsor "Making A Difference" segments. So it was no coincidence that Brian Williams and his producers chose to run this as the lead story, since that was the most effective way to promote Bayer. Clearly, this was a way for them to say thank you to Bayer for all their advertising.

It was also no coincidence that this story was reported by Robert Bazell. Whenever the Nightly News producers want to promote a product in the medical or health care field, they give the assignment to Bazell. He's the broadcast's professional shill. He will gladly promote a product by placing it in the best possible light (or conversely, he will protect a product from negative publicity by countering or downplaying the claims against it). So promoting one of Nightly News's best advertisers is nothing new for Bazell. In fact, promoting Bayer aspirin is nothing new for Bazell. Been there, done that. On the 12/6/10 Nightly News, Bazell reported virtually the same story--the health benefits of aspirin. This "news report" began with a five second clip from a Bayer commercial. Then there were three close-ups of Bayer aspirin: A box on a shelf in a Walgreens, a pill in someone's palm and a bottle of Bayer. No other name-brand aspirin was shown in the story, just generic or store brands. Even an animated graphic of a bottle simply labeled "aspirin" was brown and yellow--easily recognizable as Bayer's traditional colors on their aspirin bottles and the main colors on their website. This story was virtually identical to last Thursday's story. Which means that Bazell has shilled for Bayer aspirin twice in less than a year. But wait--there's more. On the 6/8/10 Nightly News, he spent two-and-a-half minutes reporting on an obscure Danish medical study which claimed that Naproxen (sold as Bayer's Aleve brand) may reduce the risk of heart attacks among its users. Needless to say, the story featured plenty of close-up shots of Aleve. Chalk up another Bayer product placement for Robert Bazell. Of course, Bayer is not the only company that Bazell shills for. He has also done "news reports" about Pfizer products, GlaxoSmithKline products and even one for Cheerios (a major Nightly News sponsor).

Bazell's 5/12/09 Cheerios story was so obviously meant to promote the cereal that it was laughable. It was purportedly about how the FDA had reprimanded General Mills for making false claims about Cheerios. But the report intentionally minimized the FDA aspect of the story and instead spent most of its time promoting the positive attributes of Cheerios. This was Bazell's first line: "It is one of America's iconic products--Cheerios." Well, that certainly set the tone of the story. We were then shown 20 seconds of Cheerios commercials while Bazell told us that, "Soluble oat fiber--a key component--can help reduce cholesterol." In other words, Bazell just made the very claim that the FDA had expressly forbidden General Mills from making. He then briefly interrupted his Cheerios love-fest to mention the FDA reprimand: "A letter from the FDA to General Mills, the manufacturer, says that the health claims have gone too far. The big problem is those claims about how much cholesterol can be reduced in how many weeks. They are repeated on the box. The FDA says those are drug-like claims that can only be made after studies have been submitted to the agency and approved." So rather than acknowledging that General Mills made inappropriate claims, he chose to defend the claims as if they were mere technicalities. As Bazell said this, he was sitting at a table with a bowl of Cheerios in front of him, and at least six boxes of Cheerios neatly stacked next to him. He looked like he was in a Cheerios commercial. Actually, he was. Bazell continued, "In a statement, General Mills said, 'The science is not in question and we look forward to discussing this with the FDA and reaching a resolution.'" The science is not in question! Bazell did not take issue with the General Mills statement--he simply accepted it as fact. The General Mills statement also appeared on screen alongside a pleasing graphic of a breakfast table with a bowl of Cheerios, a box of Cheerios and a glass of orange juice. We then saw a close-up of milk being poured into a bowl of Cheerios. There was a brief interview with a doctor who said that three grams of soluble fiber is not really going to help you, but that it's better than eating something that's high in fat. Bazell then twisted this statement into, "Food industry experts say there is no question that Cheerios is a healthy product but the FDA seems to be paying more attention to the claims that companies make." No question! Bazell's commercial--I mean news story--ended with boxes of Cheerios going by on a conveyor belt, a slow pan down a box of Cheerios, and a mother pouring some Cheerios for her toddler. That is unbelievable. The actual point of the story--the FDA's reprimand of General Mills--was completely dwarfed by the positive images and Bazell's unabashed praise of Cheerios. I think it's pretty obvious that Bazell and his producers worked closely with the Cheerios marketing team to devise the best possible on-air strategy for combating the FDA reprimand while also presenting Cheerios in a commercial-like "news report". (For another Cheerios promotion in a news story, see Kristen Welker's 9/24/10 Nightly News report. It's a how-to manual for product placement.)

Robert Bazell will plug a product on Nightly News any time he is told to do so. He is absolutely shameless in that regard. And he doesn't care that by doing so he is committing a serious ethical breach. As a science, health and medical reporter, viewers assume that Bazell's only priority is to provide them with accurate and honest information, not to promote Bayer or some other Nightly News sponsor. So by serving the advertisers instead of the viewers, he could conceivably be jeopardizing the viewers' health. I can't think of any other way to say it: Robert Bazell is a shill. Any time Bazell reports a story, the viewers should immediately wonder which product he is promoting. Because the chances are pretty good that he's promoting something.

King Obama still at it with executive orders. If Bush had done this, you liberals would have had him impeached. This is Chicago politics at its best. no need for negotiation. Just ram it thru.

Also see you liberal news people could not take it anymore. Had to dig up dirt on the black republican as he was getting to much attention. No way you can have something like this happen. If the republicans have a black man running against your chosen one, the race card cannot be played and that is the only thing Obama can run on as he has no record of accomplishment to run on. YOU ALL MAKE ME VERY SICK.

Remember Bill Clinton, he did not have only accusations against him. He did the real thing and you let him off with no reporting. Will you do the same here. I doubt it.

Caught you commercial about how you massage the news that most people have already heard. Have to get the liberal slant on it for the day.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, A great broadcast this evening. Really looking forward to the premiere of "Rock Center" at 10:00pm! It is going to be an excellent show!

The report by Mr.Allen about the Nor'Easter snowstorm that hit during the weekend has caused a tremendous amount to problems for so many millions of people. Seeing the huge trees down with leaves still on the branches in incredible so early. Millions without power which could take a week or more to be restored certainly puts a strain on all the residents to try and keep warm. People are really making the best of trying any way possible to cook food on fires or grills. One does hope the power gets restored soon. Hoping everyone keeps warm and safe.

The report by Mr.Costello about Jet Blue passengers being stranded on the plane for seven hours showed how awful the conditions on the plane. The poor people dealing with no food, water or working toilets and people needed medical attention. Also, the parents having babies with them aboard the plane with no way to change them. It must really have been a relief to see the police officers arrive on the plane to help in the desperate situation. No wonder there was applause from the passengers. Hopefully, this wil not happen again and Jet Blue will refund all the passengers although there will be fines by many people against the airline. Time will tell.

The "Making A Difference" segment by Anne Thompson about the little boy who is racing cars to raise money for cancer research and met with Jeff Gordon was so moving. It is understandable why Jeff Gordon was touched by what this little boy was doing. Seeing Mr.Gordon and the little boy together lookign at the racecars and talking was so sweet. So very inspirational!

Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. See you at 10:00pm for "RockCenter"! Peace to You and to All!

Be Well Everyone!

Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard! Looking forward to your report on "RockCenter"!

Take Extra,Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!

Lisa

Regarding the story about the Jet Blue flight, well, so much for the Tarmac Delay Rule, as they say, rules were made to be broken !

As of the moment I’m typing this it’s less than an hour for the long awaited premiere of the show, I’m sure your followers here on the blog will be watching.

Speaking of the blog, I know Ann made a plea on the Today Show for you to join the “Twitterverse”, I’m sure your timeline probably blew up this weekend with all the messages you received. But before you do that, don’t you think you should once again visit us here on the blog and say hello and few words like you used to do?

And, thank goodness that annoying advertisement that was on the right side of the blog is finally gone, hope that’s a final decision and it’s not brought back!

What did I think of the Rock Center with Brian Williams.

First the show gave great current event stories of where the jobs are. As the men spoke of why they venture out just for jobs it's good but we need a bill to cover millions in need who can't do the jobs mentioned.

Richard was great and goes places not even foreign journalist would go. I do agree Syria is next to end Dictatorship. Bashar al-Assad is young but seems to live in the shadow of his father. Richard has gained respect from citizens in foreign countries. NBC has the best as no other foreign correspondent comes close to Richard.

everyone wants to change the Constitution. We have two Governors who are Anchor Babies and looking at many successful Americans many who had parents who came here for the same reason. Even Senator Rubio's parents made sure he was born her as they traveled back and forth from Cuba. Money buys alot and China knows America loves money.

Jon is always great and nice switch up with him at as the last interview. He is so down to earth well yes he has a mouth but he did good with you. Now remember Seth does say what people are thinking so give him a chance.

I liked the show because you have an hour to give a complete report and your choices were great. As you continue I will feel free to give some small suggestions ok

Brian

 Congrats. Your not as good looking as the Play Boy Bunnies, but what the hell!

Your first Rock Center was a home run. Just don't burn yourself out and be sure to add your great humor when you can.

Brian

Rock Center rocks!!! You are the best in the business and the best looking!!! Congratulations!!!!

Phyllis