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The Saturday Before...

Just a quick note about our surroundings here at Rockefeller Center.  Since the Christmas tree arrived outside and Radio City Music Hall started its holiday show schedule... tourists seem to have taken control of this little part of Manhattan.  Of course, we have visitors here year 'round.  But it seems like each year the crowds have been growing.  Their presence helps remind us that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. As we prepare to celebrate the holidays... the world is facing some tremendous challenges.  One is the threat of a growing nuclear weapons program in North Korea.  President Bush's trip to Vietnam highlighted the concerns today.  NBC's David Gregory is traveling with the President and he'll have the latest tonight.

From Iraq... the latest on the 4 American contractors kidnapped this week.  NBC's Tom Aspell will have that story.

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The Friday edition

We are making some changes at the top of the broadcast, and you'll see by airtime what we decide. I've been so interested at the response to our reporting on Darfur/Chad, and on Mike Taibbi's very personal series. We'll cover the President in Vietnam, and continue our "Coming Home" series tonight.

It's hard to believe the big game is almost upon us. You can feel the tension.

It's hard to believe Yale plays Harvard tomorrow.

Just kidding, but not entirely. To Ivy Leaguers, it's the "Big Game" in Cambridge tomorrow. To Big Ten fans, the Big Game is tomorrow, of course -- they don't get any bigger -- and the Ohio State vs. Michigan contest will now have an added emotional component, with the death today of Bo Schembechler, who we will remember on the broadcast tonight.

While I've been accused of wearing "Michigan colors" on the air Monday (in this atmosphere, a blue tie with a gold stripe takes on a new meaning), I can assure you I have expressed no preference in this game. I love football, college and pro, and sacrificed my right knee as an unspectacular offensive end in high school, but I don't have enough of a dog in this hunt to put up with the e-mails from the other side, to be perfectly honest about it. I'll be watching along with everyone else.

Speaking of your e-mails, we'll read a few of them on the air tonight.

Have a great weekend. We hope you'll join us for our Friday edition.

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Early Nightly is up

Brian ends the week in his New York anchor chair tonight. It's a week we're particularly proud of, by the way. If you missed any of Ann Curry's reporting from Chad, you can find it all here. And if you missed any of our "Coming Home" series focusing on the joys and hardships faced by troops returning from deployments, you can find last night's story here, where you'll also find links to all the rest.

NBC's James Hattori concludes our "Coming Home" series tonight. That's one of the stories Brian touts in today's vlog. Click here or on the image to watch.

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Bush's first reaction to Hanoi

For those of us on Air Force One this morning, our curiosity with today’s stop was endless. We all peered out the window as the President’s aircraft made its final approach toward Hanoi, the capital of communist Vietnam.

I was just a toddler when America was getting out of the war, so it was hard to connect emotionally to the passions and the pain of America’s bloody chapter in Vietnam. Yet, descending the stairs of the plane, I took a deep breath in wondering how many young Americans reacted to the smell of Vietnam by questioning whether they would die there, never to smell home again.

On this hazy, humid day an American President was greeted as a friend, not an enemy. This war-torn capital has been transformed. Now it’s the host of a regional economic summit. A billboard opposite Air Force One displayed names like Microsoft, Samsung, and Citigroup, sponsors all, of Vietnam’s economic prosperity.

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Help for veterans on the job front

If you're a member of the National Guard or Reserve back from a deployment and having trouble with your employer, there are resources set up to help you. Here are some that I discovered while researching tonight's story in our "Coming Home" series by Lisa Myers.

Here's a good FAQ from the Labor Department for reservists called to active duty.

Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve: ESGR was established by the Pentagon in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between reservists and their civilian employers. ESGR's mission is to gain and maintain active support from all public and private employers for the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve. Volunteers serve as informal mediators between the employer and employee and inform and educate them on what the law requires while assisting in finding a mutually agreeable solution.

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Busy Thursday

As I reported on the air this week, when I spoke to Congressman Steny Hoyer a few days ago, he was supremely confident that he had the votes to prevail as Majority Leader in the House against John Murtha (who was supremely confident that he had the votes to prevail). Hoyer indicated -- but did not say directly -- that he didn't know where Murtha's math was coming from. Today Hoyer prevailed. The new Speaker lost her first fight. We'll cover it all tonight.

It's November, and in our weird world that must mean severe thunderstorms are spawning tornadoes and making news. While we wait for the ritualistic National Weather Service "declaration" of tornadoes. (Most incidents are assumed to be "flat wind" absent an on-site determination. I've seen this happen even in the face of eyewitness videotape of a massive funnel cloud.) We already know that this violent weather system that continues to churn its ugly way north has taken almost a dozen lives along the way. We'll report on that tonight as well.

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An ex-smoker's day of reckoning

I have to admit that when I woke up on Nov. 7, the day I was scheduled to have a Spiral CT (Computed Tomography) scan for lung cancer, my first thought was thoroughly melodramatic: Will I ever again begin my day free of any concerns about a serious health issue? I was lucky enough to never have been seriously ill, but the scan, I knew, was merciless. If I had a cancerous lesion or nodule tinier than a grain of rice, if I had evidence of emphysema, it would be right there on the screen in front of me. A specialist who knew what she was talking about would give me the bad news.

That specialist was Dr. Claudia Henschke of the Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan. She co-authored the report on early CT scans for high-risk smokers and ex-smokers. I certainly qualified -- 40 years of a pack of unfiltered Camels a day, but it took me 14 months after quitting smoking to decide to get tested. Without question I was afraid of what I might learn; and, too, I felt so good! Still strong, no symptoms at all of any lung issues. I could play hard, fast tennis against young guys, walk 36 holes on various golf courses, single-hand my 14-ton boat in heavy weather. But as the months went on, even though I wasn't tempted to smoke, the questions wouldn't go away: Had my decades of smoking set a time bomb in my chest? Had it already been ignited? Should I take the one test that could at least answer that last question?

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Early Nightly is up

Wild and tragic weather leads the broadcast tonight, followed by the latest maneuvering among Democrats in Congress.

Brian previews those stories and more in today's vlog. Click here or on the image to watch.

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Telling the stories of Katrina

5130 Cameron Boulevard in New Orleans, the 1000th home gutted by volunteers working for Catholic Charities. Photo by Steve Majors.

It's just another sad house on a street of sad houses in a sad post-Katrina neighborhood. But this house was supposed to be remarkable. After all, it was the 1000th flood-damaged home to be gutted by volunteers from a local agency. I'd been to many "milestones" like this before -- all indeed important, but also manufactured by well-meaning groups who wanted the news media to notice their efforts.

After almost six months in New Orleans, I understand the danger of Katrina fatigue. I mean, I've stood in so many mud-caked homes, partially gutted buildings, cramped FEMA trailers and newly-framed homes, that I can't count them all. So you can see why this one seemed like all the rest.

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ABOUT TONIGHT...

Gen. John Abizaid's military experience may prepare him for the minefield of questions he faced and is still facing on the Hill today... and his answers just might make up our lead story tonight on Iraq. I've also asked Andrea Mitchell to profile the Iraq Study Group -- the wise men and women who may rescue this nation and this President from the crisis in Iraq. We also have a major airline deal (potentially) in the news, and Trent Lott is back in management. Ann Curry will again report on the situation in Chad, and we'll continue our emotional series "Coming Home," about this nation's most recent veterans.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT...
What a great day this was to read the posted comments to this blog... such an outstanding array of correspondence -- and since we're on a first-name basis here, special kudos and particular thanks to Charles, Brenda, Chris, Daniel, Dewey, Roberta, Joan (as always), David, Celine, Lynn and Scott for the content of your letters and the thoughts you expressed. That is exactly what this forum should be for.

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