I keep hearing we don’t have the money to check every package/shipment that comes into this country. When the package/shipment originates in Yemen or a high threat area wouldn’t it be reasonable to charge an extra fee to cover screening of the package/shipment as it enters the US. Last time I bought a plane ticket I was charged a fee for TSA. Think about it, the terrorists win when they make US taxpayers pay more to have TSA and other government agencies spend more on screening because of their activities. Handing those costs back to the country of origin would only be fair. If they don’t like their costs going up they can always hunt down the terrorists within their own borders.

Well, strange as it may seem, Hewlett Packard Laser Jet cartridges were purchased with the caveat that you should only purchase HP cartridges. They even gave you a mailer to see that the old ones were returned, recycled, disposed of, whatever -- properly. My husband, (being a self-professed "Cheapie Charlie") in his infinite wisdom, noted that was a lot of money and a lot of work, so he purchased a "recharged" cartridge. He did THAT only once. The thing exploded, sending black dust all over the place. What a noise, what a mess, and fortunately, there was no carpeting. Have no clue about today, but this was an innocent effort to save money. Proved more costly time wise and cleanup wise. Me I was simply wise, and did not say the obvious, "I told you so."

Brian,

Richard Engel's reporting put the terrorist threat in perspective and if anyone should have insight it is

Richard. On the negative nasty campaign ads, well it's hard to put a positive spin on the one in

Kentucky where the woman got stomped and it should air until election, in my opinion. Politics is

ugly because everything is at stake in our country as confirmed by NBC's "commerical" around 6:55 PM

where the Chinese own America and they are laughing at our expense. It was so scary it made

me sick to my stomach. Outsourcing Girlscout cookies Are they kidding us?

Have a nice weekend

Phyllis

Good Evening Mr.Williams, Always a fine broadcast! Always wonderful to see Richard in the studio!

Now on to the broadcast. First of all the report on the possible terror threat which comsumed so much attention in the news today. The report by Mr.Pete Williams indicated that suspicious packages were found on several flights including a UPS jet. Finding out it was toner cartridges within a box carrying a laser printer and the toner cartridge having things attached to it as well as white powder was cause for some concern. The package coming from Yemen and labeled to come to the United States could make it a possible threat, yet nothing was found after the packages were searched. Yet, many questions arise as to what exactly it was intended to do as it was going to be sent to a Jewish Community Center and a Synagogue.

Richard's analysis told of the ineptness of those who put together the packages and how they were being sent to the United States. As Richard stated alot of attention was spent on this incident today and much money. Richard's experience in being in Iraq as he has seen fake IED's being placed to see the reaction of soldiers proves these devices when found cause much attention and reaction.

Mr.Sheehan stating the country kept going and was not disrupted by this incident is encourging.

Always excellent analysis by Richard! Always great to see you in the studio!

The report by Mr.Costello about airport security told of how changes are always being made in airports to being more effective in stopping any terror threat. All the pat downs, bomb sniffing dogs and extra security will hopefully have an impact to keep any threats from happening. Always being vigilant at all times.

The "Making A Difference" segment by Mr.Alexander about the children at the elementary school raising money for Unicef at Halloween instead of collecting candy was wonderful. Hearing from the children about how good it is to help other children in need is moving and touching. They are having a great impact on the lives of children in need of medicine, food and other needs. Saving so many lives in a great thing for these children to do. Nice piece!

Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Happy Halloween to You! Peace to You and to All!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Claudia,Celine,Anna,Lori,Cary and Matt!

Be Well Always!

Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard! Always excellent analysis! Great seeing you in New York studio!

Take Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!

XOXO

Lisa

Brian,

NBC's :commercial or whatever it was should be shown repeatedly until Nov. 2. If people do not

get out and vote after seeing it, God help us all. It even scared my husband and nothing gets to him.

Phyllis

Hey Brian

I am fed up with tv commercial breaks that are sometimes nothing but political ads. I've done my part by voting absentee a couple weeks ago...so I'll sure be glad when Wednesday comes around.

Take it easy

wow, interesting, i disposed of a laser printer and toner cartridges this week. i'm hoping they were able to fix it and use it, it was a good little printer before i messed up the paper feed. the only thing i really need is a little photo printer since i just print my boarding passes at the airport 2x a year. my sleep disorder has been awful, i got minimal sleep for two days and then slept 12 hours today from 10:30 a.m to 11:00 p.m. yowza. so, i missed all of the fun. and, i'm still tired, so it's back to bed for moi, hopefully, i have some daylight hours tomorrow, that would be wonderful . . . . best, anna martina

Show notes for this week:

Tuesday--Brian Williams narrated a 25-second obituary for Paul the Octopus, who had correctly predicted the winner of eight World Cup matches earlier this year. On the Aug. 11 broadcast, Ann Curry spent the same amount of time narrating an obituary for former Illinois Congressman Dan Rostenkowski, who was a U.S. Representative for 36 years and had been one of the most powerful members of the U.S. House. Apparently, based on the lengths of their obituaries, Brian and his producers believe that Paul the Octopus and Dan Rostenkowski were of equal importance.
>Brian spent a scant 35 seconds reporting on the $750 million settlement that GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay as a result of knowingly selling contaminated and mislabeled drugs. There was no film on the story, just narration by Brian. Meanwhile, this story was front page news--upper right hand corner, above the fold--in Wednesday's New York Times and in other newspapers around the country. Brian and his producers drastically and intentionally underreported this story in order to minimize the damage to Glaxo, a heavy advertiser and frequent in-show sponsor of Nightly News.
>Tuesday's final story was mostly comprised of a rambling speech by Maria Shriver in which she talks about communicating with her dead mother. Shriver's speech clearly belongs in the Christine O'Donnell/Carl Paladino/Sharron Angle wacky world. But the funniest part of Shriver's speech was when she introspectively ruminated about what she might be doing after her tenure as First Lady of California ends in January. I think that anyone who hasn't been living in a cave knows that Shriver will soon be working for NBC again, either in their news or entertainment division. She may even end up at Nightly News, which would mean that she did, in fact, go to work for NBC's entertainment division.
>On his Tuesday blog, Brian misspelled the name of Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (he spelled her name as "Ginsberg"). Ironically, on the 2/23/09 Nightly News, Brian reported that Senator Jim Bunning had misspelled Justice Ginsburg's name (also as "Ginsberg"). According to Brian's report that day, "Adding insult to injury, he misspelled her last name not once but twice in today's statement of apology." Say what you want about Brian, but he only misspelled Ginsburg's name once.
Wednesday--During a story about the Florida Governor's race, an on-screen graphic incorrectly identified candidate Alex Sink as a Republican. She is a Democrat. On the May 18 broadcast, a graphic identified Florida Senator Bill Nelson as a Republican. He is a Democrat.
>The "news story" about tubeless Scott toilet tissue was really just a 40-second commercial for Scott products. It was a way of thanking the company for their advertising.
>Brian reported that, "The actress Mariska Hargitay from 'Law & Order: SVU' was at the White House today to mark Domestic Violence Awareness Month along with Dodgers' manager, baseball veteran Joe Torre...." Clearly, this story was contrived so that Brian could plug NBC's "Law & Order" franchise. By the way, Joe Torre is not the Dodgers' manager. That job belongs to Don Mattingly.
Friday--Once again, Brian identified Richard Engel as NBC's "Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent". He is actually the network's Chief Foreign Correspondent.

And finally, what is the deal with the subliminal George W. Bush ads that Nightly News has been showing for the past week or so? Once a night, after a commercial break ends, but before the broadcast resumes, we briefly (for perhaps two seconds) see a still photo of Bush striding across a lawn, with the NBC News logo in the middle of the photo. Since NBC News doesn't do anything unless there is some self-promotional benefit involved, I'm guessing that this message is a subliminal promo for an interview someone at NBC (probably Matt Lauer) will be conducting with Bush on or about Nov. 9, the release date for his upcoming book.

NBC FYI There will be an interview with former GEORGE W.BUSH on November 8 which I am

looking forward to and I will also buy his book. Phyllis

Mr. Fleming, I know where you are coming from and I respect your opinion, but this political ad was the

most effective and powerful one I have seen; chilling and it should get out the vote on Nov. 2. PhyllisKunz

Did I miss something? Just one question which I hope is answered on Nightly News this evening.

If there knew in England that "two explosive devices" were found aboard, why in this world did

they allow the plane to take off?" Phyllis Kunz

Brian: Ive just learned via N.B.C. news. com that 26 more packages are being sought for possible explosives. I'm sure that is a low number because a pattern is starting to emerge. First, we have devices with toner popping up; the next step may be toys, toilet paper food, and so forth. The terrorists in Yemen are the most active thugs, more so than the groups in Pakistan or Afghanistan. This is a serious series of events, and no doubt ongoing. We must remain vigilant and take these events as a tremendous threat to our country. As I said, there are probably more suspicious packages out there. Hoprfully. they will all be found and disarmed. Have a great weekend!

Brian, I just learned that President Obama said packages bound for the United States contained

explosive material and is a credible terrorist threat. Phyllis

I started watching the Rally about 20 minutes after it started. I think what you left out in trying to figure out what to call it was a giant game of Simon Says. Am I the only one unsettled by a large group of white Socialist gathering together and throwing their arms up in the air on command? Oh and there were signs with Hitler references too tisk tisk. Haven't seen pics of trash left behind so I guess they didn't leave the place trashed like the 10-2 crowd did, so there's room for "hope"

Brian, after reading an AOL article on Nancy Pelosi I see her in a new light, and it is positive. Her

latest read was The Red Book on Carl Jung --an out there book as she described it -- and I am

big on Jesus and Jung. But here's the kicker. I was browsing through Barnes & Noble and

spotted a book entitled THE BIG RED BOOk, and, of course, it got my attention because of The

Red Book. You know how it is one book leads to another. I bought the book because it is a

must have. The BIG RED BOOK is perhaps the greatestwork of RUMI, the medieval mystic who

also happens to be the best selling poet in America. Rumi was born in 1207 to a long line of

Islamic theologians and lawyers on the eastern edge of the Persian Empire in what is now in

Afghanistan. I am itching to read it and hopefully after Tuesday I will get to it. I have hundreds

of books ahead of me.

Caught you on the TODAY Show this morning with Lester Holt.

Phyllis

Thanks for the info on that device. It's useful, reliable info, as always. That's why I featured Brian in my 'Rally to Restore Sanity and/or FEAR' sign yesterday- my sign said "I get my NEWS from Brian Williams, my VOICE OF REASON from Jon Stewart, and my EPIC WIN from Stephen Colbert!" If interested, view it here: http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/12644/slide_12644_170076_large.jpg

Greetings Brian from a fellow MD alum! If you agree with me that bullying is a form of "social terrorism" - I hope you'll join me in Ocean County at the live launch of BullyAlarm.com and join the Respect Revolution!

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Thank you on behalf of the 160,000 children who miss school everyday for fear of bullying.

I realize I am late in replying to Dave about the Rally in Washington last weekend, but you have it totally wrong. "Large group of white Socialists???" Where did you see them? I was in the middle of the crowd and I completely missed them!  What I did see were very young people, middle agers, elderly people, white, black, hispanic, muslim.  And the one "Hitler" sign I saw was carried by a veteran who had fought in WWII and is a bit more familiar with Hitler than I believe you may be.  And what you did not seem to grasp was Jon Stewart's point reiterated over and over.  We are all individuals.  Stereotyping and generalizing debases us and misses who we are.  It was a great rally - and surprise, surprise, we were asked to clean up after ourselves, and we did.