Speed of Life

by Gregg Chadwick   NBC broadcast a fundraiser tonight to raise money for hurricane relief for the communities hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. (If you are on the West Coast the event will be re-broadcast across NBC and its affiliated networks including MSNBC starting at 8pm.) To donate, visit RedCross.org or iTunes.com/redcross; call 1-800-HELPNOW or 1-800-RED-CROSS; or text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation. The telethon,  Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together , was hosted by newscaster Matt Lauer and included poignant performances by Staten Island's Christina Aguilera, New Jersey's Jon Bon Jovi, and Long Island's Billy Joel, as well as Steven Tyler with members of Aerosmith, and Sting.   Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed the event with a powerful rendition of Land and Hope and Dreams from his most recent album Wrecking Ball . Bruce dedicated the song: "We're gonna send this out to the people of NY and NJ, and to al...

by Gregg Chadwick President Barack Obama comforts Donna Vanzant today in Brigatine, New Jersey (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)   The Megastorm Sandy roared into the Atlantic Coast on Monday night.  A thousand mile wide swath of destruction marked its path. The storm raged from the Carolinas to New England,  dumped a massive freak snowfall on West Virginia and  flooded much of coastal New Jersey and New York City. Hundreds of thousands lost electricity, buildings were washed away, homes burned to the ground, and many died. But it could have been so much worse. As the night of Sandy wore on, many of us were reminded of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the feeble efforts to save the city of New Orleans. I was on twitter most of the night, communicating via 140 character messages what we knew and how to reach help. People were scared, information was spotty and at times poisoned with fake news from a now disgraced  Republican campaign manager who cruel...