A Note to Our Readers

Another Sunday and it ran pretty smoothly for a change. We missed Rebecca's participation. But otherwise, it was a pretty smooth edition. We think that's in part because people had very tight schedules outside of the edition and we stayed focus.

Let's start with the obvious, Ava and C.I.'s latest TV feature, "TV Review: Crumbs or Morsels?"
Prepare to laugh. We did when we read it and didn't expect the left turn in the conclusion. It's an Ava and C.I. piece because of those left turns. By the time we were reading it, C.I. had already bailed. So we have only Ava's word on this, but this was the review that they had the least time to discuss (let alone write after discussing -- they watched the show while on the phone together but hadn't even compared notes until right before they grabbed time to write it) and it was also the easiest to write.

(If C.I. has a different opinion, we'll note it next week. We'll also note that in a piece last week when we jokingly repeated C.I.'s comment in jest about our book collections, the books that made the feature weren't being insulted. C.I. was, jokingly, making fun of how sparse our collections were, not insulting the books that we were able to include. A number of e-mails came in asking about that.)

What else you got? What else you want?

All features for this edition, with the exception of the TV review, were written by:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim;
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man;
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review;
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills);
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix;
Mike of Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz;
and Wally of The Daily Jot

The State of the Union is TUESDAY [see note added]. That led to us noting a few states as well. "State of the Democratic Party" addresses the disappointment that the party was in 2005. "The Campus Report" provides a look at some of the political moods at colleges. "The real State of the Union Address" is what Bully Boy would say if he had any honesty. (Confession's good for the soul, Bully Boy.) We also offer up "Music soundtrack: Hair" which wasn't the Broadway musical whose soundtrack we were planning on reviewing. But readers assumed it was and were very excited by the prospect. Why musicals for our music piece (we're intending to do at least two more over the next few months)? Because Kat doesn't review them and doesn't intend to. Why try to do contemporary music when Kat does it so well? So we'll be reviewing at least two other musical soundtracks.

Leaving music, we return to a "State of the Uninformed." We want to be clear here, C.I. wasn't sure that we were in the article, we love Laura Flanders. We think she hosts a wonderful radio program and is smart, funny and insightful. We hated one guest. We hated him because he didn't seem to want to engage. He seemed to want to do his own talking points and didn't appear too interested in Flanders' questions or, even, to be listening to her at times. We also didn't like that he repeated false spin (the same nonsense Bill O'Reilly recently trotted out).
We listen to RadioNation with Laura Flanders (we'll be listening tonight when she has on Dave Zirin, among other guests), we love the show. Our criticism is directed at one guest, not at Flanders who attempted to engage the guest but he didn't seem to interested in a conversation. (He did seem really interested in pontificating on his book.) C.I.'s not participating in this note because it's back to speaking about the Alito nomination but C.I. had expressed concern about the feature and how it might be read. So let's clear that up. We love the show, we love Flanders, we listen each weekend. We didn't care for a guest who didn't seem to engage or know his facts.

What's left? "Editorial: Will the Dems Stand Up or Stab Us in the Back?" We really like this editorial. We weren't sure how it would go. C.I. had exactly thirty minutes before bail time. Ava and C.I. did the TV review and then joined us for the editorial (already in progress). Ava made some suggestions and we knew we wanted to end with NOW's action alert but we were honestly stuck. Tick-tock, tick-tock. "Oh for God's sake, this is Shampoo!" C.I. said. Huh? "It's the big scene where Jill and George officially end it." We're still going, "Huh?" while C.I. asks Ava (C.I. and Ava being the only reliable note takers) to "take this down" and then dictates a portion of the scene. "Gotta' go."

Will it work? We're skeptical (and we've all seen the film and enjoy it tremendously). Then Ava types into it into the editorial and we see it. It's like the entire piece was working up to that point. Will the Democrats be faithful to the base? They haven't been thus far, not the "leaders."
We think this is our favorite editorial of the year. Jess dubs it "organic."

Hopefully, you'll find something to enjoy, something to scream about, something that makes you think. We'll see you next weekend.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava

C.I. phoned and asked, "How tired were you?" Real tired. The State of the Union is Tuesday (not Monday as this originally stated) and there are protests. From The World Can't Wait:


TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 8pm EST:
In large cities and town squares across the country, we will rally one hour before Bush's address. At 9:00 PM let the world hear us as we symbolically drown out Bush's lies bring your own noise - drums, pots and pans, musical instruments - your voice. Let taxi horns blare and church bells ring, as we bring our own state of the union message: BUSH STEP DOWN!
Find a protest in your area.

Easiest way you can get active. Do it.