Dear Lester,

I was sorry to read about the church shooting in Knoxville.  I have a lot of affection for Knoxville, as it is my mother's hometown, and where my grandmother still lives.  I've spent many a summer vacation there.  I will never understand why these mass public shootings occur, most especially in houses of worship.  Is nothing sacred?  Is there nowhere left one can go to escape these lunatic losers?

Celine:  Please let us know how the panel with Speaker Pelosi goes.

Lots of love to Lisa, Jackie & Peaches, Stephanie, Celine, Claudia, Anna in the Islands, and Matt.  XOXO

Hi Lester
I saw Senator Obama on Meet the Press this morning he was impressive. Now I think the GOP has forgotten one of the most honest and smart Republican Law Makers was with Obama. Yes I do like Senator Hagel as I've followed his years in office too.

It was sad to hear about Senator Obama's personal message stolen and printing in the news paper while in Israel as that has never happen before. The Holy wailing wall goes back to B.C. and not once has it ever been corrupted, until now. Also the news of Americans living overseas and their strong support for Senator Obama.

It was sad to hear Senator McCain attacked Obama for not visiting the injured soldiers in Germany. As the Pentagon refused him and now he's attacked for it.
Now as the Arizona voters want to remove McCain as their Senator one can wonder why would be want him as President.

As the recession continues I expect more crimes will happen. American people deserve honest answers and Leadership. Now we're asked to pay for all the stolen taxpayers money. Our current Leaders have wasted and stolen taxpayers money and how asking the taxpayer to pay it back. Not one Contractor who wasted or stole money is asked to pay it back. It is good to hear that Americans have been given fake information from Fox News for the pass 7 years.

See you this evening Lester

Good Evening Mr.Holt, First of all it is so very tragic the church shooting in Knoxville. It seems as if no where one goes is safe anymore. I will never understand.  Terrible to hear about the bombings in Istanbul in a shopping district. So much suffering in this region. One always prays for peace. It will be interesting to hear about Mr.Williams upcoming interview with the President of Iran. Looking forward to the broadcast Mr. Holt. Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Celine,Claudia,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Hope your having a great vacation Anna!
Stay Safe Always Richard!!!
XOXOXO    

Wow, Ahmadinejad, now? Wow is this an extremely interesting development. This is Brians second interview with Irans leader the first here in New York. tremendous amount of signaling and saber rattling, hope Brian and his crew can cut through all the smoke and mirrors and give us a clear picture on what does Iran want from us and what common ground do the two nations have. Has there not been enough blood lost in proxy wars? Everyone, be safe. Lets see some real journalisim.

Will everyone who's more than a tad nervous about Brian please raise there hands? It's totally irrational on my part, still, as with any of our "blog family" I'll be happier when he's back in somewhere east of New Mexico!

Laurel,I spend my childhood summers in south central TN as well Fayetteville to be exact. I too am saddened. I don't know that there is a rational explanation for church/school shootings, other than the need of the shooter to make as big a splash as possible.  

Looking forward to both tonights and tomorrow's broadcast... This could get very interesting.........

Dear Lester,
While my husband and I respect NBC news coverage over all the others,(we watch you every day )none the less, we were appalled that Kevin Corke felt it necessary to interject HIS defense of Senator Obama with relation to the latest attack by John McCain for not visiting the wounded troops in Iraq ; and I quote " Obama was playing basketball with the troops". It is not Kevin Corke's role nor any news reporter to interject their own personal commentary . The responsibility of defending against comments and accusations should lie with the party that is the object of such accusations and NOT the reporter of it. Their role should be Unbiased. This was not the case tonight. This is one reason the media gets the bad rap it does.

Good Evening Mr.Holt, Nice broadcast this evening. First of all the shooting in Knoxville at a church was just horrible. Those poor children singing at the front of the church when all this happened. The men who tackled him and held him down certainly did a brave and good thing. So very sad to know one person was fatally shot. I really will never,ever understand thy these incidents happen at all. I hope all those who were injured recover quickly. The report by Mr.Arouzi from Tehran on President Ahmadinejad and his statement of 6000 centrifuges for enriching uranium was definitely disturbing. The want to participate in talks, but still seem to do the same things. It will be an interesting interview Mr.Williams holds on Monday with President Ahmadinejad.
The report by Mr.Colt from Baghdad about the growing number of women suicide bombers is terrible. Even though violence has dropped dramatically in the city it appears al-Qaeda is relying on women to carry these violent attacks out. The mother who is working at the checkpoints is really doing a good job keeping the neighborhood safer, since men can't frisk the women it is essential she is contributing much to the lowering in violence. I hope peace becomes the norm very soon so no one will be carrying out any attacks. Time is of the essence.
Finally, the report by Mr.Aspell on the Von Trapp family home becoming a place to stay was very nice. I am glad Maria is still alive and showing off different rooms of the home. The rooms were lovely and so were the outfits along with the chapel. I thought the movie was just great. Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Holt. Peace to you and to all!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Celine.Claudia,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Safe Richard! Hope to see you soon on Nightly News!
XOXOXO

I watched MEET THE PRESS this morning with considerable interest.  I thought that Tom Brokaw's questioning was hard-hitting and to the points of concern.  When I heard that an entire hour would be devoted to an interview with Obama, I was skeptical, but Brokaw conducted the interview with great skill in the tradition of Murrow and Russert. I hope that he has an opportunity to put McCain to the test as well.  But I was shocked to see that any content of that entire hour was omitted from the NBC Nightly News. In it's place was coverage of Obama's appearance before a friendly audience back home in Chicago.  That Brokaw forcefully and factually confronted Obama on the issue of the surge should have been the political headliner on all the news stations this evening.  The fact that NBC ignored it's own quality journalism suggests that it is leaning as far toward the left as Fox News is known to lean to the right.  I am very disappointed in the blatant political editing of the Nightly News.
Morgan Sincock
Philadelphia, PA
Tayninh@aol.com

Hello Dear Lester,
I have been tracking Senator Mccain about the surge, and I do not think he believes in it. He has indicated recently that the surge is successful at this time. That is, he knows it will not be successful in the near future. He is very confused about the surge, because he thinks it is the right "strategy". In military you have to achieve your goals at a minimum cost, but the surge has been very costly. It has increased our costs in lives and money, and spending for the surge has raised the deficit, inflation rate, and reduced the value of the dollar. Hence, it has destroyed our economy. Our imports have become very expensive and our people have been squeezed: less income (higher unemployment)with higher prices. Mr. Mccain does not see the other side of the surge, because he is wearing dark sunglasses. I have noticed that Senator Mccain has a tendency to be a dictator, because if you do not support the war you are not patriot. This tendency is a recipe for calamity. I have heard him defining victory in Iraq today in a way that cannot be achieved. Hence, he does believe to stay in Iraq for 100 years, because by that time Iraq will have no oil, assuming the production of five million barrels of oil a day. This is the same thing as saying that the military complex and oil corporations will generate huge profits. In other words, people should not trust his ideas because he is interested in supporting corporations at the expense of the American people. Best Regards, Adil Mouhammed.  

McCain dwells in the gutter. He's losing his mind too. Today on ABC he said US troops were greeted as liberators in Iraq. We don't need another president who doesn't accept reality.

Usually when Republicans say the word "troops" its part of a vicious groundless political smear.  They got away with selling the war in Iraq by calling anybody who didn't support it unpatriotic. "He doesn't support the troops" they'd chime. The accusation's potential scared lots of honest people into silence. Even the media now admits they were too afraid of being called unpatriotic to ask the right questions before the war.

Its creepy to watch the GOP, despite a total failure of their agenda, try to cling to power by bullying opponents. By using our troops and patriotism as symbols to slander all who dare disagree with them, the GOP wants to create another synthetic uproar of outrage. They want a media frenzy that destroys Obama's reputation. I love Obama for standing up to these punks.

Anybody who really loves America would want a fair, honest, factual and open debate about where we head next. John McCain wants the opposite. The GOP can't win on ideas or accomplishments so instead, once again, they've turned to the slime strategy.

The American media as a whole is an abysmal and absolute joke; the media’s recondite claim that Senator Barack Obama garners more news coverage is nothing less than sheer political bigotry and campaign sabotage. Why? Because, ostensibly Obama commands more news coverage (policy, charisma and nuance), and maybe that breakdown of coverage is Obama 60% and McCain 40%. But the media neglects to quantify the breakdown of those media coverage numbers.

To quantify, the breakdown of those media coverage percentages closely mirrors the following: Obama’s 60% media coverage is representative of 70% negative media coverage and 30% positive media coverage, compared with McCain’s 40% media coverage that is representative of 80% positive media coverage and 20% negative media coverage. Thus, the media feigns media coverage advantages for Obama, while, simultaneously undermining his campaign via overwhelmingly negative media coverage.
 
The media coverage is biased against Obama and most people know it; shame on the media, McCain, and all others who bemoan the coverage, while, not revealing the fact of the inherent biasness relative to that coverage. This propagates supposition, innuendo, and misrepresentations that further distract from Obama’s message; concomitantly, it sways and secures votes for the McCain campaign. Only in America could the media perpetrate the fraud of more media coverage for Obama, while, clandestinely tanking his chances of leveraging his intellectual and politically superiority to John McCain.

Per exemplar, the majority of the media pundits, lecturers and commentators demonstrated total and complete ineptness in disseminating the ostensible and inherent advantages from the speech Obama delivered in Berlin, Germany. Bush mostly garners protesters when he’s abroad in Europe, and for the media not to understand the ramifications of a possible future President Obama having a chance at restoring America’s image abroad, is simply intolerable. The media mostly spun a precedent setting and historic event (Obama’s speech in Germany) into asinine, negative political speculation and melancholy; while, simultaneously stating that Obama commands or gets most of the media coverage; again, Obama’s media coverage is seldom positive!
   
Respectfully Submitted,
Mr. Gerald M. Millner

The California fire situation is really awful. We have a president who doesn't want to take action on climate change lest it hurt the economy. What about the hurt climate change is already inflicting on the economy? How is California going to find the $$$ to continue to fight these awful fires?

Laurel--  I surely will tell you all about the Times Talk w/Nancy Pelosi. It may take a few days--I'm heavily scheduled both Tues & Wed. Have to remember to record Brian the next two days--won't even be home. It may be just as well to get a little distance before I comment on what she says. I am very disappointed in her performance as Speaker, so I'm going over there w/an edge and I want to be fair. So some time to mull it all over will probably be beneficial.

Thank you for the nice words the other day, but I really think any ability I have to discuss "War Journal" is due to distance from being immersed in reading it. Had I, like you, tried to comment on it in the middle of reading it, I'm sure I would have sounded like a babbling idiot--all emotion and no sense. It takes some digesting before you can be rational about that book.

To add to Stephanie's point--as Brian has said many times, Richard wants to be there. Richard has said that himself. He feels Iraq is the defining story of his generation and he wants to cover it, so it is a voluntary thing. Not so with our soldiers. Yes we have an all volunteer service--but I doubt they realized the kind of horror they were about to subject themselves and their families to. And unlike Richard, they can't leave. Richard has chronicled that horror so we have a better insight into what our military is being subjected to.

Jackie--  Sen. McCain really is stretching the truth these days, isn't he? Lot's of innuendo, little substance. I lost all respect for him when during the primary season, he accused Sen. Biden of having an Iraq position that was not true, and McCain must have known it to be untrue unless he had just arrived from some other planet!

Best to all the regulars and take care-

Hi Lester

How come the news about multiple bomb blasts in Indian city of Ahemadabad which killed around 45 people did not make the news on Sunday.

Where was the city that had soft hail?

Lester.
I loved your shirt and tie on Sunday night.  You're always immaculately dressed but this combination was a real winner.

If you don't understand why "these things happen" like the church shooting then listen to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, James Dobson, Ann Coulter or various other "fundamentalist radio/tv well-knowns".   They're brainwashing self-rightous hatred from the pulpit and the a.m. dial, hour after hour, day after day and that's what's driving the "emotional mentality" of these shooters.  In their minds it's justified killing for "God and Country".  It reminds me of Germany in the 1930s; the way Hitler systematically brainwashed the German people into "killing for *god* and the fatherland" while it was he himself who was the bad guy.  Like the Nazis of that era those on the American right (reich) today have been fostering the same attitude among their listens and flock for over 20 yrs.  That crowd now believes they're the "good" people and everyone who disagrees with them are the "bad" people while their own political and theological leaders are driving our country into bankrupty and stripping away the Constitutional freedoms of the average person.    

I saw you on Nightly News this evening with
Brian Williams and the story on children with
dyslexia was wonderful.

I liked the orange shirt.  Have a safe trip
to China, Mr. Holt.

Phyllis Kunz

At this time I intend to vote for Sen. McCain,
but it is ironic that he is linking Sen. Obama
to Paris Hilton because I have a cover story
of Pres. Bush and Paris Hilton in the summer
issue of RADAR 2005  The president is draping
some kind of award on a blue ribbon around her
neck.  So though I admire Sen. McCain tremendously
he did speak out of turn. And, of course, I support
President Bush.
Phyllis Kunz

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