So - nothing on McCaffrey?

Brian:  It is all about jobs!   Americans need to get back to work and feel like we live in a robust economy.

When Obama shouts "Help is on the Way!"   It makes people psychologically feel they can spend, spend, spend.    This is very untrue.   Americans must stop buying so much stuff and stuff.  

Try shopping Toys R Us.  Everything is plastic junk.   High quality is hard to find.  You have to search for it.    I have always lived on the fact I would rather have a few nice Ralph Lauren, Talbots and Anne Taylor suits than a closet full.   (Then again my life is not micro-managed by bloggers who rate my ties. Go figure!)  Maybe it is the Yankee in me.   My aunts in New England have aways preached less is more.   Until we return to the less is more society, Americans will continue to search for the next best to make a quick buck.

Monday bests to All!

Hey, Brian. I heard of that just now on the radio actually (about the recession). I hope that is so that it will end sooner than we expect. It sounds like that would make sense.

This Thanksgiving was of course like no other I've ever remembered, with not only the horrible attacks on Mumbia but also the unbelievable and unnecessary tragety in New York at Wal-Mart. I still can't begin to imagine how something like that can even happen.

Aside from all of the terribly sad things which happened over the holiday, I did have a good, safe and family-filled Thanksgiving weekend. Pretty much from Wednesday night through Saturday night. Thanks Brian, I hope you had a good, safe and family-filled Thanksgiving weekend, too.


Hoping to join you tonight.

-Cary

I'd like to hear an explanation from you rather than the NBC pr department speaking to this weekend's revelations in the New York Times that Barry
McAffrey has been promoting his private defense industry interests in the guise of "expert commentary" on NBC News.  This is corruption at its most insidious, influence peddling masquerading as objective commentary.  I would expect better from NBC News.

Mr. Williams,
How long will it be before your conscience or your shame compells you to publicly, and honestly, address NBC's disgraceful promotion of General McCaffrey as as an independent military analyst? The NYT's article is a devastating indictment of your shoddy journalistic ethics, and your ongoing efforts to obscure or dismiss this scandal.
The story has only grown since the initial reporting in April of '08. You need to offer more than snide dismissals, defensive back-pedaling, or protestations of innocence.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, Nice to see you this evening and another great broadcast as usual. First of all the report by Savannah Guthrie concerning President-Elect Obama's nominations for the National Security Team yield some very experienced people. All of them will have a tough job ahead of them with two wars, the attacks in Mumbai, tensions between India and Pakistan and many, many other issues overseas. It is an impressive group of people and I hope they can be extrememly effective in handling the difficult situations.
The report by Stephanie Gosk from Mumbai really showed how only a few militants were able to take over such a large hotel of the Taj Hotel. Hearing from the man at the fishing village how the boat arrived on shore and only 8 men got out carrying heavy bags must have looked extremely out of place, yet there doesn't seem to be enough patrolling of the waterways. They were able to go unnoticed by authorities which is frightening. The government will surely change how they handle their own homeland security. Too many innocent lives have been lost.

The report by Andrea Mitchell told of how the news of these attacks was felt all around the world. The tensions between India and Pakistan are certainly very high and the fact they are both nuclear nations raises more concerns. Troops in those regions will be moved to borders to protect against terror groups entering the other nation. Hopefully, no more attacks such as the ones in Mumbai will happen again. Time will tell.
The cover you showed of the New Yorker featuring President-Elect Obama interviewing potential dogs was most cute and charming. When you mentioned he doesn't want a "girlie" dog and that hopefully your family dog Lucy didn't hear that statement it was so cute too. I'm sure Lucy knows how much she is loved at home by everyone in your family. Especially you Mr.Williams.
Governor Palin was in Georgia campaigning for Republican Candidate Saxby Chambliss. I get to go to the polls one more time tomorrow. So I really hope one of them comes out a winner. The advertisements have been going on for weeks. I am ready for this to be over.
The report by Mr.Mullen about the Channel Island Foxes being saved from extinction was nice. It is good the officials helped relocate the eagles to another area so as the foxes wouldn't be hunted by them. Now hearing there are 650 foxes shows it was effective and nature will return to a balance. The foxes did have cute faces!
Thank you for the broadcast Mr.Williams! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Mr.Williams! Peace to You and to All!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Claudia,Celine,Anna and Matt!
Be Well Always!
Stay Safe and Well Richard! Great to see you On "Morning Joe" this morning! Excellent as always!
XOXO

I think it's nice that they helped restore the foxes to the Islands off California, but at 5.4 MILLION dollars, seems a bit illogical with PEOPLE really needing money for the basics right now.  Like, how about doubling it to save the 3 toed sloth?  The naturalists would probably pop for a billion of tax dollars to bring back the platypus if they could.  Where do actual humans figure in on the priority list of those needing assistance?

Well if they are finally admitting that we are in a recession, "I've known it for months", that must mean that we are really in a DEPRESSION and heading for another Great Depression like in the 1930's.  I have always said this country is in a lot worse shape than Bush and his people are saying.  They will not let on just how bad it really is; But we will soon find out.  We better hope that President Obama can clean up the MESS like President Clinton did after the first George Bush.

Any plans for Mr. Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor, to address the latest NYT's article in a non-spin, serious manner?  Or will your organization continue to dismiss and belittle serious journalism just because it is embarrassing to NBC and Mr Williams, Anchor and Managing Editor?

Finally the procrastinators have admitted that there is a recession.

If the top economists have admitted that there was a recession than it would have prevented the downfall of General Motors, Washington Mutal, Lehman Brother, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Wells Fargo and other worldwide financial entities which are no more.

Then, all those trillions upon trillions of taxpayer money was preventable and the economic outlook would be much brighter than it is today.

But all those economist have hidden themselves in definition of what a "recession" is defined by. Those economists should go to hell because they have procrastinated the recession and have costed the planet the largest amount of money humankind could have tabulated. The money burned during the last year amounted 30 trillion Dollars.

But with the United States election it was poison to admit early that it was a recession because it could have hurt the economic discussion among the contenders. But this procrastination was Democratic motivated, because all of those Barney Franks and Chris Dodds were on the forefront of the denial of recession. It is Chris Dodd who heads the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and John Kerry heads the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. And look which Democratic no-goods are at the helm in the House. It is Henry Waxman who heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and it is Barney Frank who heads the House Committee on Financial Services.

Why is Robert Bazell using his reports to reward advertisers and punish competitors?  Last Friday, Bazell reported on a new imaging scanner that can detect brain aneurysms.  The scanner is made by Philips, but you would hardly know it from Bazell's report.  Bazell never once identified Philips as the manufacturer of the scanner.  The only way viewers would know who made the scanner was from the tiny "Philips" logo on the machine way behind the right shoulder of the doctor who was explaining the procedure.  Clearly, this was intentional.  I can guarantee you that if the scanner had been made by GE (NBC's parent company), Bazell would have mentioned GE several times, and he would have treated us to a full-screen display of the GE logo.  Unfortunately, Bazell regularly uses his reports to reward NBC advertisers  by prominently displaying their products.  Similarly, Bazell regularly downplays products that are competitors of NBC advertisers.  It's a shame that Bazell and his producers engage in this type of petty activity.  A news report should be only about the facts of the story, not about advertising politics.

Brian,
I hope that this time you will address the serious, undisclosed  conflicts of interest, as detailed on the New York Times front page about your military analyst Barry McCaffrey and his Defense Solutions.  You are seriously harming your credibility by avoiding addressing this, and that of NBC News.  And now we discover emails between NBC EPs and McCaffrey coordinating the response to the controversy, or should I say conspiring to stonewall the legitimate questions regarding McCaffrey's conflicts of interests.  In addition, instead of meeting your critics headon, you sink to questioning their patriotism and declaring a retired general, and NBC itself "above the law."  This is extremely dangerous territory for a news organization, but you are doing it to yourself.

I enjoy watching your news programming. However, it saddens and disappoints me that NBC News has failed to acknowledge the business ties of Gen McCaffrey, who is frequently on NBC and MSNBC and who has known financial conflicts of interest, as reported by David Barstow this past Sunday in the NYTimes. It even makes me question the integrity of other reporting done by Brian Williams and your networks (I enjoy watching MSNBC, too). Just wanted to let you know, because if this isn't corrected soon, I will stop watching your 'news' programming in order to avoid the propaganda.

Hi Brian - I like you (really) and watch your show most evenings. But your failure, last night, to even acknowledge the prominent NYT article about NBC's relationship with Barry McCaffrey was cowardly and calls your credibility into serious question.

So, nothing on McCaffrey?  Do you really think you can just ignore this and expect us to trust you ever again?

I enjoy your newscast but am troubled by your repeated use of the word bailout with reference to the auto industry. Are they not asking for a bridge loan, not just a handout/bailout like the finance companies received. Big difference, eh? One you pay back, one you don't? Could you clear that up?

You need to get rid of McCaffrey.  And you need not to replace him with another war shill.  And you need to speak directly about the problem you have here.  Good grief.

Brian I'm your biggest fan and it's time to address the issue of Barry McCaffrey. I know your proud of all Military soldiers who serve our country but you and I know once they leave for private lives it's business that pays their bills. Many spoke people use their prior experience to push for their current jobs. But let personal friendship or respect for a person's service get in the way of honesty.  All of us have been taken in one time or another, look we all were taken in by the Bush Administration. Barry McCaffrey did what he had to do for his company and now it's time you do what you have to do for your viewers and yourself.

NBC news will Gator up and do the right thing.  They always do.

To those who wonder how long NBC and Brian Williams can continue to ignore the scandal of which they're a principle player, the answer is "forever".

How can NBC report this story, years too late, when doing so is to acknowledge that the company is too corrupt and self-serving to be entrusted with the news?

From the SPJ code of ethics:
"Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability."

Not to mention:
"Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct."

and of course

"Admit mistakes and correct them promptly."

Your silence doesn't pass this journalist's smell test, anyway.

Brian -after reading all of these comments, don't you feel any obligation or duty to speak of the General McCaffrey affair?

Integrity is earned over a long period of time by being honest in actions and motives. If that ethical integrity is in any way compromised, it is difficult to repair the damage.

Hi Brian, I am a big fan of yours and tivo the Nightly News to savor after the kids are in bed. On our family trip to NYC for Thanksgiving there was no sign of economic downturn- the shopping was insanity! There seemed to be money flowing everywhere, at high and low end stores and restaurantes alike. And yes, the turnpike was jam packed too! I know we're in a recession but even my local mall parking lot is always full, its puzzling.  Who are these people that can afford a $100 t-shirt? Are our priorities out of line? Has the economic seperation of poor and rich widened even further? On a side note- we really enjoyed the NBC Studio Tour and visiting your desk. Keep up the great work!

Amazing that NBC News is so blinded with liberal bias that they will bury a story as important as the fact that Obama's fraudulent American citizenship goes before the Supreme Court tomorrow for conference.

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