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Medal workers

Janette Harper said something that struck me.  She said, "I love what I do.  I could probably go and make more money somewhere else, but I don't get up and dread going into work.  I love my job."  Correspondent Don Teague, camera crew Mike Heimbuch and Randy Foster, and I went to visit Tomball, Texas, a suburb of Houston, in search of the
Purple Heart medals in an early stage waiting for enameling
detail work, the purple heart, and George Washington's head.
Photo by Bethany J. Thomas
factory that manufactures the Purple Heart. Inside the Graco Awards plant, we found many employees just like Janette Harper - patriotic and very proud of what they do. 

Janette is the supervisor of what they call "the cavern." It's the place where all the enamaling and soldering is done for the medals. It's nicknamed for being a quiet oasis found through several doors among the loud machinery in the rest of the plant. Once inside, you'll find women bent over magnifying glasses enamaling by hand medals created at the plant.  Janette is also the mother of two sons in the military.  One of her sons has actually received several Navy awards she made and Janette said that made the job all the more special.

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In tonight's news

We are following the latest developments in Iran tonight. As the U.N. Security Council decides whether or not to place new sanctions on Iran, British officials are demanding that Iran release 15 British Marines and sailors who were captured by the Iranians this week. NBC's Rehema Ellis is following that story.

Also, there's new information on how the U.S. Army handled Pat Tillman's death. He's the pro football player turned soldier who was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan. A new report says nine officers including four generals could be held accountable for mistakes that were made following Tillman's death. NBC's John Yang reports.

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Friday's lineup

Far from today's vote in Congress and far from the counter-event at the White House, dismounted foot patrols continue their work at this hour, in and around Baghdad. They are being carried out by members of the military who have been trained to carry out the mission -- and who force themselves to keep their heads in the game even if there's talk back home about a change in that mission. It's what they have to do. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., said today, "we're going to bring those troops home." The president later said, while not in so many words: no you're not. The fight goes on. On two fronts. We'll cover both tonight.

In a package of coverage we are calling "The Day After," we'll look at the reaction to the Elizabeth Edwards announcement, and the personal and political impact.

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Early Nightly -- What a Rush!

Today's vlog isn't about the news of the day, but about the way information is delivered in this Internet age -- specifically, through online encyclopedia "Wikipedia" -- which Brian finds less than accurate on a very personal level.

Click here to watch the vlog
Click for related story on Wikipedia | See Brian's Wikipedia entry

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Even in hell...

The little girl, maybe 6 years old, was shoeless in the scorching sand.  I looked closely at her feet, struck by how old they appeared, wrinkled and calloused gray, and it occurred to me, she’s probably never worn a pair of shoes. 

I saw her near Nyala, in Sudan’s Darfur region, in a camp for displaced people called al-Salam, Arabic for peace, it is a place surrounded by war.

Now, 700 camps like this one dot Darfur, and the majority of the people in them are children. Glimpsing a brand new baby in one camp, when the wind caught the fabric of her mother’s headdress, I wondered how one keeps a child alive in this hell.

The feet of children -- old and worn by the sands of Darfur.
Photo by NBC News

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In sickness...

If you haven't seen it, you should watch it. If your family hasn't yet been touched by cancer, it will. If you're looking for a way to deal with cancer in a forthright way and with great grace, this -- according to the majority of those I've sampled who watched it happen -- was it. (Click to watch 20 minute video.)

Today John and Elizabeth Edwards stepped before the media in the very same Chapel Hill courtyard that once served as the backdrop for their wedding reception. Moments earlier, and for some time in advance, the Web site Politico.com was reporting that Edwards was ending or suspending his campaign for office because his wife's cancer had made a comeback. As I later said on the air: only one of those two stories turned out to be right. Elizabeth Edwards went to the doctor to investigate a pain in her ribcage. They discovered a spot of metastasized breast cancer on the other side of her ribcage.

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accountable to god

With Ann's remarkable interview with President al-Bashir still reverberating around diplomatic and relief aid circles, there is one part that hit home more than anything else.

I was reading the interview transcript and watching the tape late Monday night going over new excerpts we could put in the Today Show spot on Tuesday. On a personal note, it was nothing short of amazing to see Ann and her team there up close next to a man we had spent so much time psychoanalyzing and studying from afar. How could he let this happen in his country? Was he complicit?

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Early Nightly is up

Brian talks about today's emotional announcement from presidential candidate John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth that her cancer has returned.

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Whose America?

Several of you commented in this blog on our coverage Wednesday of workplace raids to round up illegal immigrants. Rather than address those messages, I’d prefer to share with you some of my experiences in covering this story.

While so much has been reported about immigration in this country, and we might think we understand the issues, I realized as I was working on this story that the immigration problem is so big and so complicated -- and so emotional -- it defies anyones ability to tell it all in a single story.

All we can give you is a snapshot of the problem in a 22-minute broadcast  But, it's the complexity of the issue that explains in some measure why there's been no reasonable immigration reform.

Some might think "Why the difficulty, after all? We have immigration laws, some people have violated them so kick them out."

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Final goodbyes for the 3rd ID

Capt. Pancho Perez-Cruz took a moment to reflect for us. In a few minutes he would take off for Iraq by way of Kuwait, at age 30 already a veteran tank company commander with two tours under his belt. "Last night I was thinking," he said, "what would I say to my guys? Should we do a prayer, or not?" He said he knew many of his soldiers were nervous, and that he knew from experience what that feeling was like, especially for the rookies. "It's fear of the unknown, but it's all right to have that: that means you're living. That means you're alive."

They did the prayer. "We come to you today, Lord, a little nervous, a little scared," Pancho's first lieutenant intoned. "Lord, look afer our families, and give us the strength we need to do our jobs. Keep us all safe so we can all come home, amen." Pancho spoke to his men, huddled close around him. "Keep your head in the game, stay together, stay tight, and we'll be all right. Hoo-ahh?" As one they answered, "Hoo-ahh!"

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