As a permanent resident of the United States for 11 years I am always amazed as to the fuss with illegal immigrants. It is a simple 3-4 week process to obtain a job and get the proper paperwork in order. I am proud to be a legal resident who pays state, federal and local taxes. The only thing I can not do in this country is vote and for the last 11 years I haven't seen anyone worth running to the polls for. I think the emphasis for accountability needs to be placed on employers who don't want to pay honest wages and file legal paperwork. As long as there are employers willing to pay under the table and pathetic wages there will be people from all underprivileged countries willing to sneak through. Lets go after them instead of the poor people trying to make a life for themselves. Yes they are breaking the laws but the American people who employ them are breaking worse ones. As a nurse I witness every day the price these people pay to work low paying jobs and end up loosing limbs and other abilities only to become a strain on the health system because we can't turn them away. Who would. They deserve better and the American public deserves to not have their assistance programs taxed to the limit by illegals.

Carter in trouble? Really? And what did he do wrong? Thank goodness Carter is a straight talker and told the truth about the Bush Administration. Most Americans seem to share Carter's view. Too bad NBC did its best to discredit Carter by suggesting such comments were out of place and giving extensive coverage to the viciious White House attacks on Carter. So are you incompetent or in the the administration's pocket?

I just read your speech for the Tulane University Graduation Commencement Ceremony. I was born, raised and still live in New Orleans. To say it is difficult to stay in this city, is an understatement, but it is home. I do not know what the future holds for our city, but I know that without people like you and others who work so hard to keep things in perspective for us, to continue to tell the truth, and to encourage others to do the work that needs to be done here...we do have a FUTURE. Thank you.

Can you please tell us how we can watch the msnbc Blair hour? Is it on the website? Thanks.

Editor's response: The full hour was not encoded for the Web site, but there are shorter versions available on the MSNBC TV site and the Nightly News site.

Concerning your Monday night story on the New England Journal of Medicine article that concluded that users of the diabetes drug Avandia are at a significantly increased risk of heart attack: I find it negligent (at best) or deceitful (at worst) that you failed to mention that GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Avandia, is a major sponsor of your newscast, through traditional commercials as well as inside-the-show sponsorships. (As recently as 5/11/07, GSK was the sponsor of your "Making A Difference" segment.) Your failure to disclose your relationship with GSK raises serious questions in my mind as to whether or not you treated your advertiser with kid gloves. I believe you have an obligation to inform your viewers of any and all situations in which your sponsors are subjects of your news reports. If you are, in fact, reporting impartially, you have nothing to fear from such a disclosure.

Your story about the newly found connection between Avandia and heart attacks was very interesting to me. I took Avandia for my diabetes for about 2 years and have never been so sick in my entire life as during that time. My doctor finally switched me to a long acting synthetic insulin and I would never want to go back to Avandia in a million years. The insulin is far more effective, infinitely less toxic and costs less than half as much as Avandia. Now my sugar levels are so consistently normal that my doctor tells me that I am even better off than most non-diabetics.

Part of the problem here is that in spite of their rosy claims, the drug companies are not as innovative as they pretend to be. Instead they follow a practice of creating what are called "me too" drugs in which an existing drug is used as a starting point for any and all new drugs for a given purpose. Thus all the problems with one drug are carried over into its derivatives. I found this out the hard way as a result of a sulfa allergy that left me unable to take a long laundry list of many of the new drugs created over the last 10-15 years simply because of this copycat practice. In the publishing industry or in schools the same practice would be called plagiarism but for some reason the drug companies are allowed to get away with it freely. This is what happened with Vioxx and all its cousins and I would not be the least bit surprised to hear a few months down the road that Avandia's sister drug, Actos had been found to be unsafe too.

Another ever-present factor here is the greed of the drug companies and their advertising. They are so eager to make windfall profits that drug side effects and patient safety takes a back seat to sales and high prices. It is plain for anyone to see how far overboard this has gone by the fact that one arthritis drug is actually allowed to be on the market even though it can cause tuberculosis and lymphoma. The drug companies must be thinking, "it doesn't matter if we kill the patient, at least we will get his money and improve his ailment in the process". If the drug companies did not spend such huge sums on advertising (I read a few years ago that it was typically 33% of their budget these days) then they might have more money to spend on creating safe, effective drugs but they seem determined to con everybody in the world to take their drugs whether they need them or not. This practice is new within the last 10 years and should be stopped. If somebody is making money by claiming that some drug has improved their life so dramatically then you simply cannot believe a word they are saying (including Dr. Robert Jarvik). All drug advertising should be directed exclusively at doctors if for no other reason than the fact that individuals on the street cannot simply go out and buy these drugs without the doctor behind them. I cannot help but to notice that about 75% of the advertising for NBC Nightly News comes from the drug companies. That is only slightly more tasteful than the septic tank drainage company that sponsors my local NBC news shows, complete with video of sewage bubbling up out of the ground just as you are about to put a spoonful of supper into your mouth.

President Carter is not too far off with his "worst foreign policy ever" comment regarding Bush.

If I were a right-wing nationalist who thought that all the oil in the Middle East was rightfully ours, I'd be pretty steamed over how badly Bush and Cheney botched what was at first a brilliant war plan. In the old days the smart boys in the CIA would have immediately installed a brutal strongman, maybe an Iraqi general fond of money and palaces (someone we could deal with) as the new leader of Iraq. The country would have been quickly pacified by the Iraqi military and the oil and money would have flowed like water.

But these clowns decided to disband the Iraqi Army (dumb) and then instituted a democracy that handed Iran's friends (the Shiites) power (double dumb), which guaranteed a total Sunni revolt (triple dumb). The ensuing chaos has been too much for our thinly stretched forces to handle.

June 8 Mr. Williams? By running the annual commencement speakers segment, you are annually excluding all of us who study on the quarter system.

Our ceremonies don't happen until mid-June, which comes too late to highlight on your broadcast (given someone says something worthy of repeating).

Might I suggest a later air date next year? Maybe late June? Then you could really claim to replay the best of the best.

Just a suggestion. No "How dare you's."

And keeping in mind your past reporting on college students keeping their names off the Internet to stay pristine to future employers, I will simply sign...

Joe Senior,
University of California

Dave, if you Google "Dragon Skin body armor", there is a very interesting entry from Wikipedia that identifies the manufacturer as Pinnacle Armor. It consists of discs made of silicon carbide that overlap like fish scales. In the back of this old retired science teacher's mind something is saying that is the second hardest substance after diamond, if my mind isn't failing me. That impressed me.

The article also mentions the Army's current Interceptor system is cheaper. Hm-m-m...

The problem consistently mentioned with Dragon Skin is that some discs are laminated and apparently problems have arisen with the adhesive failing at high temperatures. Pinnacle claims to have corrected this problem.

Chris Eldridge in the post above this: "Army Responds.." has some reasonable arguments against it however.

I think Lisa calling for side-by-side tests is entirely correct, and I hope we haven't heard the last of this.

And Joan--can we add Yogi to your list? He just did a commencement address in which he is still advocating taking that fork in the road!

Why, oh, why is it so difficult for reporters to do their homework.

It's an "unwritten rule" for former presidents to criticize current ones? If so, it's a "rule" that both Reagan (http://tinyurl.com/2axneh) and Bush I violated with Clinton (http://tinyurl.com/2h6aq5).

And that's without even trying.

"Unwritten rule?" Please.

.

Brian,
I almost fell off the treadmill at the gym in laughter at the "Delta, Dawn as in what's that flower you have on comment". The young whipper snappers might not get it but the majority of us loved it.

Why can't the Senate & House or at least the proper committee pass resolutions requiring the army to conduct new IMPARTIAL testing on the dragon skin protective gear? If the army can spend hundred of dollars on a hammer why not make a true investment in the safety of our heroic troops?

PS It was great to see the segment on the wayward whales. Nearly everyone I know has gotten hooked on the story. Guess as a nation we really are starved for human interest news with the potential of a happy ending.

Hope you guys acknowledge that most of America thinks that Jimmy Carter is absolutely correct. Check the polls, blogs, watercooler talk yourselves. Just don't listen to White House spin.

Hi Brian -

I'd like to nominate two speakers for your "best of commencement speakers of 2007": Willie Randolph and Bernie Williams. No, they are not the usual honorees, but worthy just the same and apparently wildly popular with their audiences.

Also, I see that you are on the Choate Graduation program - my Dad was an alum, and so is my niece. Welcome to the neighborhood.

Would love to know more of the remarks from the 'prominent writer' about your blog. I view it as a conversation and an exchange of thoughts and ideas. For those of us who are 'regulars' it is part of our daily routine and because of your interests and travels etc., it is enormously educational. You've set a very comfortable tone here and we never know at the start of the blog whether you will be deadly serious or absolutely hilarious or both!

Good Evening Mr.Williams, I know everytime he is on your broadcast I have to gush, but I can't help it. It was wonderful to see Richard and to know he was in the London Bureau. (Looking handsome as always!)Anyway, the situation in Lebanon seems as if it is toppling into pure chaos just like the rest of the Middle East. With all the violence going on in that region I would find it difficult to pick out the bank robbers. I feel sorry for the civilians who must endure this fighting everyday. And with regards to Iraq, I don't see a difference of situation do to any surge of troops or security from that country. Thank you for your broadcast Mr.Williams. Always keep Richard safe! Hopefully he can come to New York and stay. I wish that would happen.

Oh Brian Williams. That deadpan delivery of "..Delta
and Dawn,as in 'what's that flower you have on?'"
made me laugh out loud. Exactly why I love NBC
Nightly News and will always choose to watch. You
dip into pop culture without sacrificing your
dignity. My all time favorite will always
be "...Tibbles and Bits" though.

I have questions about the dragon skin. Who makes it? Are they a big enough company to handle the orders. Are there any politicians that stand to profit from the company getting the contract? In one of your stories I think you said something about "test performed under room temperature" Does temperature make a difference in the performance? How may times has the military upgraded the body armor used now since Afghanistan and Iraq wars started? Thanks

Quite frankly, I, too, read your blog, and if you would have ever told me I'd be reading the blog of a TV anchor, I would have told you you were crazy. But it does seem to be authentic, and often more personal than your on-air avatar. And I do love your Sopranos posts, too. Let the masses watch Charles Gibson. You are the thinking person's news.

President carter has been an inspiration ever since I recorded the Camp David Accords on my audio cassette player at the age of nine. I am a long time member of his Center for peace and have nothing but praise for his fair and even assessment of Middle Eastern affairs. His assessment of King George’s crusade was not only justified but -- to me -- actually a bit on the light side. The neocon labeling of nations that had nothing to do with 9/11 as the ‘axis of evil’ was by far the most devious and despicable ploy in US history (right up there with Theodore Roosevelt’s starting of a secret war with Columbia just to annex Panama). No wonder other nations see the need for weapons to defend themselves from US “imperialistic aggression.” This is no joke. They played our post 9/11 patriotism like the finest violin and are literally criminals who’ve wrapped themselves in our flag and have dared us to call them unpatriotic.

The most upsetting thing to me is the thought that -- to them -- this war has probably only just begun. They’ve not botched Iraq as we think. They are not stupid. A civil war is exactly what they wanted in Iraq. It was a way to ‘divide and conquer’ a nation and its people as all such colonial actions attempt to do. It destabilizes the entire region and it is now clear that they knew this would happen from the latest Senate intelligence reports. They are guilty of war crimes of that you can be certain! To take down all controls in a nation widely know for its sectarian tensions and then to utterly refuse to protect the people is a heinous and barbarous act worthy of NUREMBERG, not just impeachment.

We’ve been utterly dupped America. The Dems and republicans who voted for this war are just as guilty and have probably been in on it right from the start at the behest of the Israeli lobby all along. It’s a bitter pill to swallow to think our country is now the spitting image of everything it said it once stood against.

Good Evening Mr.Williams, First of all congratulations on your honor at Tulane University and being the commencement speaker. I do hope someday to meet you and tell you what a great job you do on the broadcast and on "The Daily Nightly". That would really be an honor and privilege. And just for the record I would never start off by saying "How dare you..." on any e-mail of mine. I just think it would be mean and nasty and I just don't think it is right. I have too much respect for you and your colleagues to say such things. I'll be looking forward to the viewer e-mail part of tomorrow night's broadcast. I hope you picked nice ones. Finally, I am happy you enjoyed "The Sopranos" episode again. Looking forward to the broadcast Mr. Williams!

It's real simple. Illegal immigration is wrong ! No other country would tolerate this ! Illegals are only here to USE this country & have no regard or respect for our constitution. They also have NO rights or protections, under the same; because they're "under the radar" & should rate the same 'status' as "enemy combatants", INVADING our nation. We have no clue how many of these people are even here, no less how many are Terrorists or Drug Dealers ! Why is this even a questionable issue @ all ?!

Congratulations on being invited by Tulane to give the commencement speech and thanks for the link to the article on it. It sounds like it was a very moving ceremony, especially when everyone who'd done volunteer work had been asked to stand, and I'm looking forward to your yearly piece on the "best of" the commencement speakers.