Dear Brian,

I've been meaning to say that I really enjoyed your responses the other day to the questions that have come up on Newsvine.  To me, process is as interesting as content.  Thanks for enlightening us....  Also - and you may have addressed this, already - I take it you have done away with the video "Early Nightly"?  I really enjoyed that feature....

See you at 6:30!

Oh, and here's hoping for improved health for Tony Snow.  I read that he's been hospitalized.  I always enjoyed his "battles" with David Gregory.

P.S. - To Lisa and Jackie and Stephanie:  Be well, and enjoy the sunshine!  And, Stephanie, you haven't lived until you've had someone call you, "ma'am."  And I don't mean in a polite, Southern kind of way.  I mean in a good-Lord-you're-old kind of way.  Yikes.  :-)

Good Evening Mr.Williams, Interesting statement at the beginning of your post Mr.Williams. It is amazing how the price of rice has risen 140% globally over the past year.
I want to thank ladytechie for the information you provided about rice on Mr.Williams last Daily Nightly post. I had not thought about the different types of rice. Thank you so much for the information.
I will be interested in the piece about a strange occurence in Alaska. Especially since it is your personal favorite story of the day. And finally, I realize you don't have the time to respond to all the posts, but I always love knowing you read them all. Thank you so very much for writing the Daily Nightly posts and reading the comments. Your the BEST Mr.Williams! Looking forward to the broadcast!
Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie and Stephanie!
Be Well Always!

I've worn glasses since I was 9. Now that I'm 33, I loathe them.  Pain in my way.  I vowed a long time ago, though, that I would not pursue lasik.  (I can't do contacts.)  No laser is going near my eye unless it is necessary to preserve my sight.  I'll just live with glasses.  I'll be interested to see what the fuss is now about.

Laurel, I see I still have something to look forward to in the near future!  At least I'm still "Miss" by most people.  :)

I've been watching the rise in rice for at least 6 months, ever since I got the computer with Vista and have the BBC News widget on the right-hand side of the desktop.  I am glad to see its making news in America, now, as sometimes it seems like I need to go outside the U.S. to get a better picture of world - and even national - events.  

If your staff can please investigate the story that the Clintons sought counsel from Jeremiah Wright when they were having marriage difficulties about Monica Lewinsky. This was brought up by Michael Moore, when he was describing how decent Barack was for not throwing this in their face. This story would stop Hillary from constantly hounding on this.
This needs to break!

Interesting events on this day;

1800 Congress approved a bill establishing the Library of Congress.

1877 Federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans, ending the North's post-Civil War rule in the South.

1915 The Ottoman Turkish Empire began a mass deportation of Armenians during World War I.

1916 The Easter uprising began when some 1,600 Irish nationalists seized several key sites in Dublin.

1953 British statesman Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.

1962 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, Calif., and Westford, Mass.

1968 Leftist students at Columbia University in New York City began a weeklong occupation of several campus buildings.

1980 The United States launched an abortive attempt to free the American hostages in Iran; eight U.S. servicemen died.

1990 The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

1996 The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.

2005 Pope Benedict XVI was installed as leader of the Roman Catholic Church in cermonies at the Vatican.

and so it goes...

Never miss Nightly.  Re: Lasik...How does an opthamologist determine if a patient will benefit from Lasik.?I've heard it's NOT determined until procedure is done.

Dear Brian,
Enough already.  The press took 30 seconds of Jeremiah Wright's almost 4000 hours of preaching and took out of context what he was saying. You keep bringing it up - and now, when Bill Moyers tries to have an honest interview - you go on line and throw doubt into the mix.  Why is it that you feel the need to "stir the pot" of dissention?  By taking clips from Wright's sermons, you show that you know absolutely nothing about prophet preaching.  Why don't you learn more before you report something that is not the truth?

Mr. Williams, I will keep watching, and hope that in the near future there will be a "larger" interest in the "Transportation  needs of the USA". Did you know that for the most part a great deal of people drive alone on the highway? And yet the Automobile industry is still building their majority of vehicles for more than two ocupants.Did you know that GM actually built a Single rider vehicle many years ago that got 200 mpg and could travel at speeds of over 60 mph. Why are the failing auto makers still making vehicles that they can't sell, because they are too big and are not cost effective? If I could get the prints for this vehicle, I build one and drive it every day. Its perfect for every day use. I can't understand what those people are thinking, or maybe they arn't thinking at all. By the way, your doing a great job. Thanks in advance for reading this.  

Brian - I've worn glasses since the age of 16 months and have had necessary eye surgery.  I would never advise anyone to have elective eye surgery - when things go wrong with that, there is no recourse.  Eyes are irreplaceable, treat them well.

Mr. Williams,

It seems like a night reporting on lasik eye surgery might be a slow one, which sounds uplifting, given the recent barrage of bad news stories that have taken up that little screen next to your head for so many weeks lately. No eye surgery for me, thanks, I enjoy my contacts, even though they can get blurry at times. I didn't realize how quickly rice was becoming the new "clean drinking water" for developing nations. I wonder if any news organizations outside of the U.S. that are not affected by this are even covering this story. Though I guess I answered my own question, in that practically everyone is affected by it. I've just always wondered how similar an international news story is covered by say Russian or Chinese media, or even as diverse as Finland, as opposed to U.S. coverage.Anyways, looking forward to the broadcast.

P.S. I want to say thanks to Anna, Laurel, and Stephanie for the kind words. The "chatrooms" or message boards that I have been accustomed to are not as friendly as this one. I also don't know how you regular posters on here are able to write so much every single day. I usually stumble through my posts the few times a week that I am on here.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, Another great broadcast this evening. The report by Anne Thompson concerning the rising price of rice really showed how many restaurant businesses are deeply effected by the increase in costs. Hearing from the owner of the Pakastani/Indian restaurant and how much it costs him for flour now was eye opening. Also, hearing in British Columbia from the pasta business owner and how shocked the price of wheat, rice and corn has made him. Plus, the cost of fuel. I certainly hope all these costs come down soon because everytime one hears about the economy recently it has been grim news. I hope it becomes positive soon. On another note I hope all those cars lined up on the New Jersey Turnpike for gas were able to take advantage of the price to avoid the .22 hike tomorrow. They all deserve it for being in that long line. With regards to Anchorage,Alaska it must have been strange for the people to see hazy skies from the wildfires in Russia and Mongolia. At first I thought you were going to mention more lights in the sky. At least this has a reasonable explanation. Although rare for the people to see there in Anchorage. Finally, I enjoyed Ian Williams piece on rejuvenating the coral reefs in Asia. These students are doing some fine work at planting healthy coral to grow even more reefs. I liked the picture they gathered for at the bottom of the ocean. Good work!
Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie and Stephanie.
And again thank you to ladytechie for the rice information!  

Mr. Williams,
I find myself watching your show daily.  It's become part of my afternoon that is looked forward to.  Thank you for talking to America as friends or at least interested neighbors.
I don't think I've ever been moved to respond other than to my wife about the topics at hand on your show.  Until tonight!  I find the story about Rev. Wright to be offensive.  Not racially but intellectually.  It doesn't matter wheather or not I'm educated on the history of the black church as Mr. Capehart stated.  Isn't all of this really about the words and tone of those words that Rev. Wright used.  The simple fact that people aren't raised under the same roof as eveyone else doesn't change the fact that we are ALL responsible for the things that we say and do.
As a lifelong Democrate it is sad to watch us as Americans stumble all over ourselves at the mention of race.  My mother, God rest her soul, taught me a long time ago... "People always give their opinions, and if your only response is that their opinion is racist.  Then you are probably the racist.  Because you brought the word to the table for discussion!"

W.C. Raborn
Mooresville, N.C.
Really enjoy the show!

Evenin' Brian,
Last weekend I watched an early morning farm report.  I'm sorry, I don't remember the channel.  The complete program was devoted to the problem of government farm subsidies.  Specificlly, there was a report about rice growers in TX and how they are no longer able to rent land to grow rice.  Seems that we are now providing Ag subsidies according to the number of acres you own.  Now, the wealthy land owners make more money by leaving the land idle and collecting the subsidies.  The only thing that has to happen to get the money flowing is that a disaster (of any kind) must be declared in that state.  The powerful Ag lobbiest are doing a great job as our House of Reps have voted to leave farm subsidies in place, as is, and the Senate wants to increase farm subsidies.  Please, do the investigation and a report regarding this ... our citizens should know how our taxes pay the wealthy to leave land idle.  How much is this effecting rice shortages here at home?  The farm subsidy program is completely misdirected and few of the dollars spent actually go to the average struggling farmer.

         

Your right Brian so much is going on today it's hard to keep up.
The rice story was a little strange I wonder if that was the just get people to buy and store up rice. Wal Mart got low profits so you just never know these days.

I read about how the White House Press Secretary doesn't allow some important questions to be asked by reporters. I had no idea it was a selected question secession. Thanks to Helen Thomas all that came to light. I think if you can't asked the questions that are important to Americans why bother at all.

I'll be watching tonight at 6:30 pm out here in Cally.

Stephanie: I respect every one's opinion and never judge one that is different then mine. I lived and learned from one of the best era's this county has ever had. As a Black woman I grew to admire strong, smart, educated woman. JFK was like many the live impression for my growth. Those of us who listened to JFK, Dr. King and many other great leaders found you learn more by listening and speak your mind even as a girl. I admire woman like Eleanor Roosevelt, Sandra Day O'Connor, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride and Hillary as they paved the way for future generations of woman to Make a Difference. I enjoy all the comments from old friends and new ones but never ever disrespect another person's opinion.  So when I cheer about my girl Hill it's just that's my girl Hill.  I'm so glad you never saw me at my son's football game I was really wild.

Best of all Lisa, Laural and Stephanie and all the bloggers on this site.

On your 23 April broadcast you pointed out that "race" continued to be an issue in the Democratic primary and Andrea Mitchell gave you support by saying "16%" of all white males considered "race" when deciding their vote. That really shows yours and NBC's true colors.  Why was it not also pointed out that a very large majority of Blacks were voting for Obama because of his color?  What happen to your sense of fairness, truth, and honesty or is it your belief that only white males can be "racist"?

@ lnp:

Here's a little video link to David Gregory.  This is not exactly a battle but just a little fun for a Thursday -- David Gregory rocking out to Mary J.   A true classic.

http://wonkette.com/336213/david-gregory-rocks-out-to-mary-j?autoplay=tr

INEXPLICABLE The Syrian Reactor story 11 mins into the broadcast(CBS led with it). Hezbollah’s patron making plutonium not that important?
  What I found even more incredible was the way you tried to dismiss its importance by saying something like
"some experts were skeptical of Syria's ability to build a Nuclear weapon? Really what experts don't think N. Korea building a reactor in Syria is not a serious matter?  Names please.

The North Koreans were helping them and they certainly know how to build a weapon. What do these phantom experts believe the reactor was for? making electricity?
  Why the intentional effort to downplay the story?

I appreciate NBC airing excerpts of Reverend Wright's interview on PBS, and telling when he'll appear on Moyers' Journal. I'm a white Christian and I agree with the essence of Wright's controversial comments: God will not "bless" a nation that unjustly destroys another nation (Iraq), ignores the widening gap between rich and poor, and fouls the environment, snubbing its nose at science and other creatures which share the planet with us.

Mr. Williams,

Over a million people celebrated the wonderful world of Cannabis on Sunday, 4-20-08.  There we peaceful rallies all over the world, in Boulder CO, more then 10,000 people, with no arrests.  This was a massive global event, but I saw one story in all of major media.  Ok, yes it comes behind the pope, but these were major demonstrations against government prohibition, and you just ignored it.  Where have all the reporters gone?

I was so waiting to see your "favorite" story tonight, Brian, since you made a point to mention it, but wouldn't you know it.... the phone rang, and I missed it!  I did see Ian Williams' piece (saw it - didn't hear it) and those photos were so cool.  To work underwater like that would be sooooo neat.  Not a job I can do, but I'm glad the kids got a chance to be a part of this.  

I did see the lasik story.  If I wasn't clear earlier, I'll say it again: I will never allow sharp instruments near my eyes for an elective procedure!  I don't consider the risks to be worth it; I'm sad to see that those who did choose those risks are now suffering from them.  After all, they mention the risks, but that doesn't mean you're going to suffer from all of them.

Brian: if you responded to every post, you'd never make it past your computer.  At least you read them!

Matt: I am now a full time writer.  I just choose to make "Daily Nightly" a must read and choose to leave my comments here, where they are more appreciated & respected than the comment boards of my local paper. I'm afraid I suffer from a blog addiction, but this one is tops on my list!  :)

Jackie: I can picture you cheering your son's games in my head.  I'll bet you occasionally made his embarrassed by your exuberant support!

Andrea: SO COOL that you posted a list of today's events from history.  Thanks so much!

Nightly News has been pretty good for awhile but the double standard where Obama gets bad press for lousy guilt by association smears while McCain gets a free walk and even praise for doing nothing has to stop.

The big omission tonight by NBC was allowing McCain to get away with bragging about how well he would have taken care of New Orleans when, in fact, McCain voted against the relief money Congress gave to New Orleans. How could NBC let McCain get away with this fraud? I know NBC got a press release about McCain's votes.

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-24-2008/0004799604&EDATE=

McCain was given credit for distancing himself from Bush.  What else could he do? And neither McCain nor NBC brought up how during the New Orleans crisis Bush stayed on vacation with only brief interruptions. Bush played golf and went to a birthday party and played guitar and kept his vacation schedule. The reason why the response to Katrina was so uncoordinated was Bush put a guy who was with him at the ranch in charge of Katrina but kept that same guy in charge of Bush's trip coordination.  The guy Bush put in charge of Katrina had virtually no contact with anybody at the White House or Homeland Security or FEMA at all.

NBC made New Orleans a cause so I'm shocked they'd let McCain get away with snowing the public like that. A few good questions were asked but McCain got a chance to run his guilt by association smear against Obama again. Why not ask McCain if people should leave their church when they find something wrong then shouldn't Catholics all have left the church after the child molestation scandal surfaced?

Please provide more even handed coverage of the presidential race in the future.

Mr. Williams,

I continue to be amazed that NBC News and the majority of American media are ignoring the fact that the Bush Administration has broken International Law by authorizing the use of torture in interrogation.  

Why are you ignoring this issue?

Just today, an exacerbated Helen Thomas brought the issue up with Press Secretary Dara Perino (aired live on CSPAN2).  Perino lied to Ms. Thomas.  This, even after the President admitted to ABC News his authorization of torture on detainees. Yet, I still fail to see any coverage of this issue on NBC News.

Why are you ignoring it?

The President of the United States authorized a technique that is recognized as torture.  (Though, I am aware of how the Administration tries to spin this issue, but, regardless, waterboarding is torture.)  

The President of the United States violated Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions.  He has, in effect, committed a War Crime.  Yet NBC News has failed to investigate and present this issue, an issue that is paramount to the continued success of our Democratic Republic.

As a public service of the American People, NBC, and by extension, you, are to be held accountable for your failure to investigate a War Crime that has shamed and appalled the American People.

I ask that you act responsibly and do the job for which you are charged.

With all due respect,

Good show tonight Brian
I guess race is still a problem as we're seen with the Government and Law Makers comments. Most Americans have moved passed it but like a cold it always come back. It's like being on this website where people can comment and view opinions with race being involved.  

Now as for the report on Syria having a Nuke sight. Well if the US/Isreal want Syria to come clean first maybe the US can come clean. Everyday we hear more and more reports of lies we're been told. It's getting old. It's been known for a long time our troops were coming home and committing suicide and even killing their wives yet it's covered up by the Government now it's news. The big story was Walter Reed Hospital and the lack of medical treatment plus the poor conditions our troops were in. Suprise nothing has changed it's still the same.

I do feel bad for John McCain as he just can't make since and always seems to be stuck in confusion. It's hard to fake it these days and John just can't fake it. I'm sure the people of Louisiana know McCain really isn't interested but just wants their vote. Most of the people in your video are old enough to have seen it happen many times before with a candidate.  It's so easy for McCain to say what he would have done if he were President yet he was told about the Katrina storm when he was with the President. The news Media here on the West Coast had continued coverage.  

I will be watching Rev. Wrights interview. I guess being born in the 1940's I remember those years also and the stories being told today are different then those I lived. It's better to deal with the truth as then you can move on.  By making up lies and excuses only prolongs the really that we all have to face.

Have a great night all and my friends Lisa, Laural and Stephanie.

Regarding the issue of world competition over food shortages. For many years our country had a farm price support program where we paid farmers to let their land sit idle.   Wonder if that's still going on?  Wouldn't that be an ultimate perversion of all logic if we were doing this given the situation with world food supply and our national debt?

Brian, in my little rice lesson last night, which was written from an American point of view, I failed to mention that while limits here are an inconvenience, these shortages are real and disastrous in other parts of the world. Nightly newsers will remember a riot in Haiti a week or so ago, that was based in large part on  food prices.  We seem caught in a vicious cycle of our  own making. Ann talked tonight about other countries eating diets more like ours, and we're eating more food from other lands. The cumulative effect is that famine will become world wide in a worse case scenario, rather than local as it has been in the past. Scary.
I noticed the last time I went to the store that even buying locally doesn't protect against price increases, I buy a brand of flour that is produced about 50 miles from here, and it had gone up about 1.00 for a 25 lb bag.  

That's a serious post for me! In honor of our youngest poster I'll add my age too, tho I swear I've given it away at least a dozen times here.

Thank you for the segment on the health crisis in Vieques.  The residents of this island have suffered under deplorable treatment for many years.  The attitude and response of the navy to this obvious health crisis is deplorable.  Perhaps it is just my cynical thinking but anytime the government, especially a branch of the military, abandons an area such that it can become a nature preserve, I get suspicious.  What are they really trying to hide?  

I wonder would this situation have developed in the same way if Vieques were in the middle of California, Texas or even NY.  The residents of Vieques do not receive true representation at the federal government level and thus suffer even more.  

Please continue to follow this story and make it part of our nation's discussion.

Over a period of months, Nightly News has left the impression that, overall, the surge in Iraq has been a success.

At times you will qualify that, saying words to the effect that the violence has been reduced.

Sadly, though, there's too little in the way of pointing out the obvious:  The surge's sole purpose is to punt this problem to the next president.  Petraus is doing that on Bush's behalf.  The military is streteched to the limits.  The troop levels are unsustainable

The Bush policy for Iraq has been open-ended, blank-check, no-requirements, no-benchmarks.  Other than the reduction of violence, the troop surge has been an abject failure, and that needs to be reported and reiterated.

Dear Brian,

Since this has been dubbed "Earth Week," I hope you will "recycle" (as Norman from NYC laments) a piece that Tom Brokaw put together for Tuesday's edition of Today.  It was a history of Earth Day, and it was marvelously done.  Even though Earth Day has passed, I think the segment would make a nice finish to Friday's broadcast.  Just a thought.  Not everyone has a chance to watch Today, and it was just too good not to be repeated!

All the best.

My comment is on "Schools Face Funding Crisis".  The story states that many districts still rely on property taxes.  As house prices fall, property taxes fall, and this squeezes school budgets.  That all seems correct for 2008.

However, this drop follows many years in which house prices went up faster than incomes.  Presumably, in those years, school revenues were growing faster than their primary expense (salaries).  I'm a regular viewer, but I don't recall any earlier stories about "Schools Enjoy Revenue Windfalls".  Why is the unusual drop a story, but the unusual increase wasn't?  

Even without the earlier story, this story could have included a question like, "This recent drop follows many years when revenues grew faster than salaries.  How did you use those windfalls?  Were they saved for a rainy day?  Or used to pay down debt?"  

It seems that your reporter only tossed softballs.  

I'd to make a comment about Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC today.  If she turns up on your nightly news, putting her own slant on the news I will be very disappointed.  We switched from ABC News after the last debate which we thought was ridiculous.  Anyway, she kept repeating over and over that Rev. Wright said Obama's speech on regarding him was "just politics."  I listened to the speech and he didn't call the speech "just politics."  Rev. Wright said Obama was a politician not a minister.  With Andrea Mitchell saying "just politics" over and over she lead the viewers.  This kind of reporting is wrong.  Please don't put this kind of reporting on the evening news tonight!  Let us hear the comments and make up our own minds.  Thanks, Vicki

Please take note of the Chicago Tribune article on April 4th about Rev. Wright's military service.  He is a real patriot and that ought to be noted amidst all the criticism of him.

Games,between the Government,and the News-game playing,it is the people who lost. This President should be in prison,and the media,has failed  to report,due to being scared since Peter Jennings,w/ ABC News,after the white powder hit the mail the news went south,and the Country continue to fall into Bush's hole,the media is the only hope to check and balance,yet the Media is part of the rich game players,the jobless is much higher than reported,and the Government is for them with money,and this hipe about Obama's Minister is trash.I say god says damn America Government,and it's corruption.The people that goes to Church ;or them ,that understand the study of religion,would say the same,there is about 80 percent of the United States ,that says<God Damn America>,as I am sure many more in the East that says more. The war is against anyone that stands up to this Adminastration, until this Government has murder all that refuses to hand over their Country to the interest of this Admin. Office.

It always amazes me how little Americans care about what happens in the world as long as it doesn’t directly affect them.  There is a situation brewing in Zimbabwe that has the potential to result in the violent death of hundreds if not thousands of people.  It has been brewing ever since the country began suffering from hyperinflation in 2004 with inflation topping 100,000% in the last year: where a loaf of bread costs more than $1,000,000 Zimbabwe dollars.  Since the presidential elections held on March 29 the situation is about to explode.  It’s been nearly one month and no official election results have been published.  The fact that these results are not forthcoming and that Mugabe’s government is calling for a recount even before they are can only lead one to assume that Mugabe has lost and doesn’t want to admit defeat.  Now there are indications that Mugabe will resort to violence to remain in power.  Have people already died?   Does anyone care?  You wouldn’t know it by what is said in the American news media; there’s a column or two in the printed media, but none on the television or radio.  Shame on you for remaining silent as what appears to be a terror campaign against the Zimbabwean people gains momentum.  We talk about wanting democracies to flourish, well Zimbabwe’s is about to be squashed.  Here’s a story that needs to be aired to protect the people in that country; it is your duty to not to remain silent.  Silence is consent to whatever occurs on your watch!

I read the full sermons that the “sound bites” of Reverend Wright are based on.  If you haven’t, you should.  Should America be proud of what it did to Native Americans, the encampment of Japanese Americans and the enslavement of Black Americans? No?!  As one who cried by the ineffectual press coverage in the lead up to the war in Iraq and my powerlessness to stop the war, it too should be added to the list of shame.  I strongly believe God would not bless this list.  But this is also the America that used religion to perpetuate slavery and the separation of the races.  Show some courage and put these sound bites into context.

Dear Brian, excuse the familiarity in my address, I try to watch every night for something more balanced  and tolerant in the form of video news. I usually hear most of your stories first on NPR. I write with an antidote about the "rice hoarding". I laugh to myself whenever I hear there is a shortage, and say "only if you live in a third world country". But it becomes personal when your beloved Parents upon hearing all the media buzz, and who don't eat much to begin with by their own admission "we still have a half eatin bag in the pantry from this year",would go out and "buy a couple of bags, just to be safe!". Would you stop with the stories highlighting just how stupid we act when we hear something on the news. I.E. Cosco or SAM's rationing amounts of rice!  ps and you can lump me in with the rest of your fans, but in an effort to keep you humble, which is why I like to listen to you, I won't be giving any gratiitus praise. Our society is already celebration crazy.

Brian:  I am sure if you were there tonight and reviewed the segment about the 15 Y/O Brittish girl going to the North Pole to see global warming you would have noticed that with pictures of her on skis etc. someone threw in a file picture of penguins on ice flows.    Whoever edits the video needs to be told that penguins are in the South Pole not the North Pole.   I wonder how much else in the segment was fabricated for our viewing.    

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