November 2007 - Posts
By John Rutherford, NBC News Producer
WASHINGTON - The National Archives today released 122,800 pages of mostly routine correspondence from the Nixon presidency, none of it apparently earth-shaking but some of it mildly interesting.
One of the more amusing letters was from Nixon aide Egil Krough Jr., thanking a friend for helping secure a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge for Elvis Presley following Presley's 1970 Oval Office meeting with the president.
"We meet many fascinating creatures in this business," Krough wrote, "but I think that meeting between the president and Elvis Presley was one of the most interesting."
Presley pledged his support to the president in the war on drugs, only to die a few years later of a heart attack brought on by years of prescription drug abuse.
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By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
DALLAS – I had an interesting conversation with a close friend of mine the other day. She’s an Iraqi who’s been living (legally) in the United States for the past three years. We were on the phone, talking about Thanksgiving.
"My lawyer is so nice," Rafraf said. "She invited me to Thanksgiving with her family, but I told her I’m going home."
By "home" she meant my house.
Rafraf’s parents, and ten brothers and sisters still live in Iraq. She’s one of thousands of Iraqis who have risked their lives to work with Americans – in her case working as a translator for NBC News in our Baghdad Bureau.
Here in the U.S., my wife and I are Rafraf’s family. We helped bring her here to attend college in Florida. My daughters think of her as a big sister. We always encourage her to come home for Thanksgiving.
"It’s funny," she told me, "because I don’t think my lawyer is a Christian. Isn’t Thanksgiving a Christian holiday?"
"It’s an American holiday," I answered. "And it’s one of the few ‘true’ holidays we have left."
By "American" I don’t mean citizens versus non-citizens, immigrants versus non-immigrants, blacks versus whites, vegetarians versus meat-eaters, doves versus hawks, Republicans versus Democrats, Native-Americans versus Non-Native Americans, or rich versus poor.
I’m not talking about any of the myriad things that divide us as a nation. I’m talking about all of us – the 300 million of us that make up the American Family.
For 364 days each year we may focus on other priorities in our lives. But on the fourth Thursday each November, we’re asked to reflect on the things that we’re grateful for. We don’t have to drink green beer, send gifts, carve pumpkins, or shoot off fireworks. We are asked, simply, to be thankful.
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By John Rutherford, NBC News Producer
ARLINGTON, Va. –
Army Staff Sgt. John Linde last talked to his wife on Saturday, Nov. 3.
"He sounded like he missed home, missed the family," said his wife, Vilma, according to newspaper reports. "He was able to speak with his daughter. We were able to tell each other we loved each other. Then, on Monday, they told me he was gone."
Linde and three other military police officers from the 10th Mountain Division were killed Nov. 5 by a roadside bomb in the northern Iraqi town of Tal Al-Dahab. He was buried on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery.
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| Getty Images |
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Victoria Linde, 8, comforts her sister Erica during a burial service for her father, Staff Sgt. John Linde, at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday. Also pictured are Linde's widow Vilma Linde and father John W. Linde. |
"He served to the point of death so that others could be free," Chaplain (Maj.) Gary Studniewski told several hundred mourners, including Linde's widow and daughters Victoria and Erica, on a gray, raw morning.
Linde was an outdoorsman who enjoyed hunting, fishing, and racing ATVs while growing up in New Jersey and New York.
"I just never considered myself any kind of a great father," his dad told News10Now. "But other people tell me I must have been because he came out so good."
Linde enlisted in the Army in 1996. He completed one tour in Iraq in which he received a Bronze Star for fighting off an attack on a convoy. A neighbor said Linde was not looking forward to his second tour.
"He said he was lucky the first time, to say the least," the neighbor told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. "I just wish his luck had held out the second time."
Linde would have turned 31 on Nov. 11, Veterans Day.
(Linde was the 397th Iraq casualty to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. At least the next three Arlington burials are private, so the 400th Iraq burial will be closed to the press.)
By NBC News' Alison Kartevold
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. – As Drew Peterson took his case to the court of public opinion on the Today Show on Wednesday, he maintained his innocence, but was ready to convict the media for what he sees as excessive attention to the case.
Police are re-examining the suspicious death of Peterson’s third wife, Kathleen Savio, whose body was exhumed Tuesday, and questions have been raised about the mysterious disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy, but he denied involvement in either case.
The Illinois police sergeant told host Matt Lauer that he is not concerned about the police investigation into both cases, but is angry that the media is camped out in front of his house and has all but convicted him.
"I can look you right in the eye and tell you I had nothing to do with either of those instances," he said, adding, "I’m not afraid of law enforcement. I’m afraid of the media."
When Lauer asked Peterson why he agreed to appear on the show when he is the subject of an investigation, he said he did so in an effort to "get the media off my back."
Peterson said he was, "here today, in attempt to basically let them see my face, here I am. Please get away from my house and leave my family alone."
However the scene in Peterson’s neighborhood on Wednesday was relatively quiet, but relative being the key word. CONTINUED >>
By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
DALLAS – I interviewed a 10th grader the other day, and I can’t get her story out of my head.
Fifteen-year-old girls usually don’t have much to say that adults would consider "newsworthy." I should know – my oldest daughter is 15, and while I care deeply about the mundane dramas in her life, I doubt reporters would line up to relay those dramas to the world.
But Mariela Torres’ story shook me. She’s a cute, bright girl. Everybody seems to like her.
It was one of Mariela’s friends who first offered her "cheese" when she was just 13 years old. Mariela had never used any drugs before that day. "Cheese," she was told, wasn’t really a drug – it would just make her feel happy.
Here’s what Mariela didn’t know.
Cheese is the slang name for a mixture of black tar heroin and Tylenol PM. The substances are combined and come out looking much like parmesan cheese. The resulting product is sold for as little as $2 per hit.
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| NBC News |
| Mariela Torres, a 15-year-old Dallas 10th grader, who was addicted to the mixture of black tar heroin and Tylenol PM called "cheese." |
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By Don Teague, NBC News Correspondent
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The human spirit never fails to amaze me. Our ability to overcome adversity, to fight for the things that really matter, to struggle against the odds.
Nowhere is that spirit more obvious or inspiring than here at the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio – a high-tech rehabilitation facility at Brooke Army Medical Center, built entirely through private donations. It’s where hundreds of service members who’ve been badly wounded in combat begin the long and painful road to recovery.
I arrived at the center this morning, several hours in advance of President Bush’s visit this afternoon. What a humbling experience.
There are hundreds of men and women here, recovering from horrific wounds. Burns, amputations, blindness. They have suffered and lost, and paid the price for service.
Yet, most are smiling – even through pain.
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