Let me guess, you are not flying that cheap but efficient airline, the one that does not have business class and first class seats, it is called Southwest Airlines. If that's the case, you should not be complaining. You choose comfort over time and perhaps many other things.

The last time I flew was nearly two years ago now, from Knoxville, Tennessee to Washington, D.C.  Never again.  Halfway through the flight, we experienced turbulence, after which the captain announced, "I have no idea where that came from.  There was nothing on the radar, and nothing has been reported by other pilots."  I white-knuckled it the rest of the way home.  I don't know how you do it.  Can't you take the train?  

Btw, you look very handsome when you wear your reading glasses on camera.  You should do it more often!

Happy Sunday!  I hope you make it home to freezing cold New York in time for the broadcast....

Mr. Holt, your "cameo" appearance last night
was awesome, and, hopefully, you will be back
in the driver's seat this evening.  Have a safe trip.

Lester calm down just look at it as a story for your book on your travels.
Now I noticed as the GOP candidates count their votes there not many.  I think most Americans know by now we're in a recession and don't have to wait for the White House to admit it.  When you leave the food store with one bag and no money or the gas station with a half a tank of gas and no change you know it's a recession.

I wonder where has Dick Cheney been lately I found out.  Stelmach, Cheney see eye to eye on oil. Yes Dick is busy in Canada making deals for his company with the rich oil rights in Alberta Canada. Good to see Cheney is working hard for his company while the US goes in a recession. Let's hope the next VP has time to work for the American people.  But I guess since Cheney has Halliburton taken care of it's time to look out for himself.

UK confirms Senior State Dept. Officer Marc Grossman tipping off Turkish Embassy about Valerie Plame's Brewster Jennings counter proliferation operation. It's so sad to see how the White House set a CIA covert agent up just to stop her husband from telling the truth about Iraq.  Yes now we know all the information told by Bush were fake and cherry picked to illegally bomb Iraq.  As for Mrs. Plame she was sit up royally by Dick Cheney and now her life will always be in danger.

It was also sad to hear about how General Tommy Franks got paid big bucks for a fund raiser for injured troops.  The charity gave itself the money and little to the cause for the troops and General Franks was paid big bucks just for his name. So sad to see what he thinks of the brave soldiers under his command.  I thought about how Rumsfeld and Generals all lied under oath saying he didn't know nor ever looked into the murder of Pat Tillman.  Brenner and ex Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert got millions of the stolen Saddam money.  We are starting to hear so much of the actions done by the current Administration and their appointees. Congressman from Michigan funding the terrorist. Secret deals giving billions of dollars for cooperation in criminal acts by the US.

Lester we'll see if Americans have had enough of the corruption and lies.  What's surprising is how Huckabee uses God like Karl Rove did for Bush. One could say God was said to be in the White House already or was He?  Romney used the best trick in the book and told the voters of Michigan he's bring back the car industry and they fell for the lie. Fred Thompson couldn't even get his State to vote for him.  Rudy is just out there selling his book as the lies aren't working anymore. As for McCain I can't wait to see if his State of Arizona votes for his because there was a petition to recall him in his State.

Lester,  I look forward to your reporting tonight.  Your personna in reporting brings a sense of integrity, honesty, and believabilty.  I enjoy watching you on the Weekend Today show...you always seem relaxed and comfortable and we welcome you into our homes. I must say we miss Campbell...Amy is fine and Jenna seems nice enough but is a little overwhelming.  Keep up the good work..

I made a mistake involving Mr. Williams and blacks being ordained to the priesthood on CBSNews.com that I feel the need to correct.  Here's the full story.  The first black man to hold the Mormon priesthood did not receive it after June 9, 1978, nor did he live in the twentieth century. He actually was born July 25, 1808. His name was Elijah Abel, and he was ordained an Elder in the Melchizedek priesthood, March 3, 1836. He was later ordained a Seventy, December 20, 1836, the latter ordination being renewed April 4, 1841. Many years later in Utah, he was called in 1883 to serve a mission for the Church in Canada. He returned home, sick, the following year, and died Christmas day, 1884 (Bush, "Mormonism''s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview," Dialog, vol. 8, no. 1).

Not only was Elijah Abel ordained to the priesthood, at least two of his descendants were also. Elijah''s son, Enoch, was ordained an Elder November 10, 1900. Enoch''s son, also named Elijah, was ordained a Deacon sometime before 1925, ordained a Priest July 5, 1934, and ordained an Elder September 29, 1935. Records indicate at least three other blacks, a man with the last name of [Walker] Lewis, on Samuel Chambers, and another named Edward Leggroan, were also ordained into the Mormon priesthood; Lewis as an Elder, Chambers and Leggroan as a Deacons (Ibid.).


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Posted by denn034 at 06:32 PM : Jan 20, 2008
+ report abuse
In addition to Elijah Abel...was Walker Lewis, a barber in Lowell, Massachusetts. Little is known of Lewis''s background other than that he was apparently ordained an elder by William Smith, the younger brother of the Mormon prophet. I incorrectly identified this Lewis as Mr. Williams in another posting for another story that doesn''t allow postings anymore, I switch from NBC to CBS and back and that led to the unintentional mistake.

Good Evening Mr.Holt, First of all I am very happy you made it back to New York. Flying around the country can be really frustrating for people and when someone like you has to travel so often it makes it even more of a headache. It is somewhat humorous that you have to be returning to the same place next Saturday to cover the Democratic Primary in South Carolina. I hope the weather is less cold and not so snowy and rainy. Yet, I am glad you made it back for Nightly News. Now on to the broadcast. The two parties of candidates still don't really have a frontrunner. Every time there is primary there is a different winner. Obama was in Atlanta today and Huckabee is in the South. Florida ought to be exciting considering the candidates haven't been down in the State as yet. Certainly a diverse group of voters. I'm fortunate that I am voting on Super Tuesday which might be a deciding factor for whether some candidates continue on with their campaign. Time will tell. The "In Depth" interview that Mr.Brokaw conducted with Former President Clinton brought about how historic it is having these two candidates in the Democratic Party . In any case no matter who is elected to this Office of President from either party they must find a way to work with each party and try to bring everyone together to solve the many problems our country is enduring right now. A year from this date will be Inauguration Day and it will be a most important and historic day for our nation. On another note the talk of a merger between Delta and Northwest brings to mind many questions on how much passengers will be paying for flights. Having to pay to check your luggage and for soda on the plane doesn't make flying more enticing to me. It seems to evoke more headaches of delays. And in reference to your ordeal of today at the airport Mr.Holt I don't think it would have made you feel better. It is too bad you and Mr.Williams don't have your own charter planes to make flights to all these destinations. Finally, the monkey who helps that young man who was paralyzed in the car accident is really making a difference in this young man's life. That organization does some fine work in training these animals to help people. Very nice piece! Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Holt. Try to relax this evening and watch the Championship Football Game. Peace to all!      

Oh forget the presidential race for a couple weeks.  THE PATRIOTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!  That's the only news I'm going to care about for the next couple weeks... and who is going to play against them!  I'm rooting for the Giants right now.  We shall see!  

Since I've been watching football all afternoon, I missed the broadcast.  I hope you made it back, Lester.  I am certainly glad that my life doesn't require that I hang out in airports and airplanes.  Sounds like I'm not missing anything special!

As we watch and wait to learn who our nominees will be, I can't help but think to myself that there's only one man who can
really help our country.

Let's get real folks, we have more critical problems facing our country that I can remember in my 60 years.  
There is the economy which according to the specialists is about do down the toilet.  We have wars raging,
the lack of adequate healthcare for millions, unemployment increasing, mortgage meltdowns and the list goes on.  
Each of these problems is extremely serious as are the issues I didn't mention.

We don't just need a new president, we need a miracle!  the miracle is out there but a good many people haven't yet
seen the light.  Now more than ever before, I believe the most critical quality we need is a president is the ability to
unite the people of this country in the most dire time since our country began.  We must keep our people united to
prevent Chaos.  Together we can reach the stars, divided we will fail.

The only Candidate who can deliver on "unity" is Barack Obama.  This man transcends race and gender... he is the miracle man
and I believe  that god game him to us now at the hour of our greatest need.  

Just think, he was barely known, yet he has been able to give the almighty Clinton's much to worry about.  To me, the answer
is simple... Obama is the MAN for us now!  Before we can go ahead and resolve all these tragic problems, we must put our
differences aside and unite as one people!

God Speed Obama... GOD SPEED!

Hi there,  my name's Kate Burton-Vizard from London, United Kingdom.  It was good to read your blog and to hear how much everyday hassle you have to put up with in your travels.  The title Anchorman really is appropriate in such a turbulent role where you have to appear unflustered and cool at every turn.  How DO you do it?
Best regards Katy

Hi, my name is Steve Souther and I'm from South Carolina. It's great to be the center of attention. I agree with Diane Smith. We do need to come together. Probably the most important thing we can do right now is to allow sufficient debate in our country. As a nation we have been debate-starved for a long time. Maybe this is why the race has been so close. Having been lock-stepping into one of the most important decisions a nation can make--going to war--we are opening the field as wide as possible...    I read where the happiest people in the world (Norway?) vote seven times a year. Any way, I did see Senator Obama in Charleston recently. I rode my bycicle across the Ravenel Bridge to the Cistern in order to hear him. A bonus: Johh Kerry showed up! Along with about four thousand people, I too felt that history was in the making.  I'll tell you, race is a big issue here. Growing up in Charleston, I remember when students at St. Andrews High School would brag about shooting in the midst of gathered blacks on the street corners of the city during the civil rights era of the 60's. Nothing was ever done about these injustices.  It will take a very long time to overcome such a blight in our past. The iron may be that Blacks themselves may cause Obama to loose because, as one influential lady in Walterboro said to me the other day: "I don't know if America is ready"

Best regards,   Steve

I enjoy your presentation Lester. You bring a lot to the anchor chair. But the problem you're having with your flight isn't that we don't have enough air space...the problem is that there's not enough concrete...RUNWAYS...to handle the traffic. There's an important difference.

Obama did very well and clearly won the debate tonight, Hillary knows by now that the can no continuously try and explain what an orator has said, only the orator can explain himself.  Obama is ready to lead and has the experience to prove it:

-         Was a grassroots community organizer in Chicago beginning in l985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
-     Attended Harvard and was president of the Harvard Law Review.
- Project VOTE organizer in 1992, where 120,000 new voters were  
     registered.
-     Worked as a Civil Rights Attorney, fighting for the rights of everyone.
- Lectured on Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago (for ten
     Years).
-         Elected to the Illinois State Senate in 1994  (served eight years).
-         Elected to the US Senate in 2004.
-         Was one of few elected officials (Illinois State Senator) who publicly and courageously spoke out (before the Iraq war began); in opposition to the presidential preemptive war powers and the plan to attack Iraq.

The Clinton campaign is built to divide and detour and conquer, with personal attacks, innuendos and untruths, rather than debating the issues and differences and advantages that may exist.  What really bothers me is that the Clintons don't seem to care that their tactics are divisive and detrimental to race relations, well so much for the Clinton’s love of America, race relations and unity, they have proven themselves to be dividers, and the debris of this lands this month during the celebration of Martin Luther Kings celebration month and amidst the pictures on TV of white supremacist walking around in Jena Louisiana with lynches in their hands, yes this day in over 40 years from the Civil Right movement, January 21, 2008.

Hillary has voted wrong on the war and several different bills, Bill Clinton brought us NAFTA, which has caused Americans hundreds of thousands of jobs and is threatening to destroy the middle class.  Obama is ready, he has the foresight and knows how to make the right choices for America, Obama is a uniter and can successfully negotiate across the aisles, boarders and oceans of the world, Obama is the one.

A sentence from AOL  It was not clear what he (CLinton
meant by a hit job, referring to Obama..

It was a classic Freudian slip for a b--w J-b.

Or, remember when Hilliary was trying to change her
image and she and Bill Clinton were shown on TV
with the Sopranos who then may have told Clinton there
would soon be a hit job on him.  Whatever!

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