A Note to Our Readers

Hey --

Another week, another edition.

Highlights?

We don't got 'em. How come? Print edition had 'em. Also had new content. We decided to keep it in the print edition and, at the last minute, devise entirely new content for the site. Consider it a double marathon session.

The following did not participate in this edition and we thank them for that:

Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man;
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ils);
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix;
Mike of Mikey Likes It!;
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz;
and Wally of The Daily Jot

Wait? "We thank them for that"? Yes, we do. It's important for people to take time off. When we realized (Saturday morning) that we'd be working on some farewell NY features, we decided we'd make it an edition put out by the core six. That way, people could enjoy some time off, enjoy the holiday. We love their input. We love their help. We love their contributions. But, most of all, we love them and they deserved time off.

So new content written by:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and, me, Jim as well as by C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review.

New content:

A note -- We were just about to do the highlights online when we realized, we didn't want the edition we'd completed online. This note was just to alert any early readers that content was going up and we weren't on holiday.

Iraqi army boasts they squeezed out Number Two -- but did they remember to wipe? -- Short pieces! Always the mantra of Dona. And it became even more necessary when, at the time we're usually finished or winding down, we suddenly have to come up with a new edition -- and to do quickly and when we were all wiped out from doing an edition.

'Checks in the Mail!' -- The so-called FactCheck.org. We actually, this is how tired we were and still are, had no idea what this was. We copy and pasted the titles in here and I (Jim) just asked, "Hey what's 'Checks in the Mail!' about?" No one remembered. We had to look it up. We were writing quickly.

Little Lee-Lee Happy At Last? -- Lee Siegel had some unpleasant news. We'd write him some sort of note but we imagine he's too busy reading all the e-mails he sent himself.

The Appeaser Rumsfeld -- This was the first thing we had when we decided new edition.

Somebody's Lying -- Dona was screaming, "We've got to wrap this up! I mean now!" And that's before we started this piece! The latest revelations on Plamegate, to hear many in the mainstream tell it, means that it's a non-story, that it was always a non-story. Not so fast.

Stupid -- C.I. reminded us, when we were trying to come up with ideas for our second edition on Sunday (we hope to never again have to do two completely different editions) that we'd heard a program this week and spoken then of writing of it. We really loved the writing of this. All of us. Dona loved working on this one so much, she forgot to watch the time. We still love it.

Musical Roundtable -- Thanks to reader Ray who e-mailed to let us know this was out of order. It should have been the last thing you saw. It's the last thing we worked on that morning. We thought we'd post it, post the TV commentary, post the editorial and be home free. But we had to do it first. C.I. also did an entry at The Common Ills while we were doing this roundtable. We wanted, all of us, to get some sleep. When we finally got it up (Blogger was acting up), the whole Blogger/Blogspot went screwy. We couldn't get anything up here, C.I. couldn't get Isaiah's drawing up at The Common Ills. We decided, screw it, we're going to sleep. It's a holiday weekend, we'll post the other items later. We felt the roundtable acted as a good end point and that anyone wondering about the 'credits' for this edition would get the idea from the roundtable. But it ended up out of order. Covered are CDs by Michael Franti and Spearhead, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Kind of Like Spitting (among others).

Relocation -- A goodbye NY edition meant that yes, the rumors were true (the ones Mike was spreading!) that we were indeed relocating from NY to CA. We actually did that at the end of spring or the start of summer. (We're not sure on the dates. Dona & Jim were the last come out to CA.) But we made the decision after coming out and we've sat on it both to make sure we'd stand by it as summer drew to a close and also because we had other things to focus on. (Wendy wonders if next edition will focus on Iraq? It probably will. In both the 1st edition this week -- print -- and the 2nd edition -- online -- we did work in Iraq but we didn't make it an Iraq focused exclusively edition.) Holiday weekend meant we needed to clean shop. We have relocated. That's our announcement. Reader TJ e-mailed to ask about the comment re: C.I. pulling something from a roundtable (done elsewhere). TJ wondered why that was such a big deal (Ava and Jess being involved). Ava doesn't talk about her personal life is (A). When Ty told us about that e-mail we thought we knew the answer. Then Ava told us, "Actually, that was pulled as was something else that no one but Mike and C.I. knew." Huh? C.I. said it wasn't about anyone working on this edition ("including me") and that it wasn't stated but "I know it's happened, it happened around July and it didn't need to be announced there. It's not bad news, like Ava and Jess isn't bad news, but people have a right to decide whether or not to disclose personal information." So we know that whatever that was, it didn't involve the six of us, C.I. knows, Mike knows and the rest of us are confused. But, TJ, there's apparently something else that was discussed ("Alluded to," Ava corrects me) that got pulled.

TV: Swift Justice -- The two most pissed about Blogger/Blogspot going out were Ava and C.I. "Wait a second," Ava said. "We had to write two TV commentaries [in this marathon] and neither are going up?" They did write two. The print edition contained a review of Don Johnson's show. (They can't remember the title, neither can we. We're all tired. Last week, "Vanishing" is in the title of one of their commentaries because they thought that was the title. Ty caught it in the text as he read over it and they fixed it. They realized the title was wrong after it posted but decided it fit the piece and left it.) It's funny. They hate it. They hate everything they write. (And yet, they refuse to reread any of it. We think they'd laugh as much as everyone else if they'd re-read any of their stuff.)

Editorial: Know your enemy -- Friday, Dallas Morning News slimed Cindy Sheehan. C.I. got e-mails on it and e-mails came in here on it. We love our Texas readers. (We're trying to figure out if we can make a trip to the area sometime soon.) We know they're passionate and involved. We know they don't give up. What happened with Sheehan fits in with a larger picture of big media. But we open with Texas to note how difficult it can be there (due to the media situation) and to say we are amazed at how strong all of you are to keep on fighting. What's the alternative? True. But it still takes eneregy and strength. Ty, Ava, Jess and C.I. remembered the examples that had arisen in the past (about media) and those and the ones mentioned in the e-mails that came in Friday were used.

And?

Though we don't have highlights, we will do recommendations:

"roundtable" and "Roundtable & snapshot" and "Found in the paper" and "A roundtable" all feature the Thursday roundtable that Ava, C.I., Rebecca, Cedric, Mike, Kat and Betty participated in. (We hope we didn't leave anyone out.)

We recommend Mike's "Lotta Links pushes Voice of America -- the war crimes of indymedia,"
Rebecca's "e-mails and iraq", Kat's "Feeling Moody," Elaine's "Taste Makers, time for you to wake up," and Wally ("THIS JUST IN! DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS DO HAVE A PULSE!") and Cedric's ("Democrats do have a pulse") joint-post. (Among many other posts.) In addition, a second roundtable was done (Rebecca, Trina, Elaine, Betty and C.I.) and it's at several sites but we'll note it at Trina's: "Roundtable in the Kitchen."

We do thank Dallas for his help with links and input. We tried to shoo him away but, as he pointed out, "Who are we kidding? Do an edition without me?" We did try to make it as easy as as possible for him (though we doubt we did). We thank him for all of his help. (Dallas also checked our comments re: DFW media to make sure the calls rang true. Unlike us, he actually experiences that media. Thank you, Dallas.)

And that's it for us this week. See you next week.

--Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.