A Note to Our Readers

The note will go up this evening.

Hey --
And we're back. First off, if Blogger/Blogspot acts up next week, no highlights. We ended up finishing about two to three hours earlier than we've done lately but it could have been an hour if we hadn't done highlights. We know readers like them, we do as well. But four hours were lost attempting to log into Blogger/Blogspot and not being able to do so. The illustrations take time as well. Due to the e-mails, if we have them, we'll post them. Rebecca works hard photo shopping them (thank you, Rebecca) and we enjoy doing them. (We worked on them while Blogger/Blogspot was down.) But next week and any other that Blogger/Blogspot acts up, we'll end up doing a post where we note highlights but don't repost them in full. It's a time issue.

This week, we had highlights:

Humor Spotlight: Wally and Cedric explain Love Bully Style
Blog Spotlight: Rebecca breaks it down for Gail
Kat's Korner
C.I. explains "And the war drags on"
Blog Spotlight: Mike gives John Kerry a campaign warning
Blog Spotlight: Elaine on justice
Humor Spotlight: Thomas Friedman returns
Kitchen Spotlight: Halloween Gorp in the Kitchen

We thank everyone for their permission to repost. We also had new content and that's by the following:

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

The new content?

The students of Gallaudet University are standing up -- This was the last thing we wrote and when the decision was made to include highlights, C.I. said, "Fine, but this is being written." We wanted to tackle the topic last week. There wasn't time. In the time since, members of the community who are hearing impaired had weighed in and C.I. had told them we'd cover it here and had planned to last week. We're sorry for the delay. We're always running behind but this is important and needs coverage. It's an important issue and it is a part of student activism that's going on around the country. (And around the world.)

John Mayer's Waiting on the World to Change -- Delays? We did the illustration last week but it wasn't dry so we couldn't scan it and pass it on to Rebecca who photoshops illustrations and posts them at her site (which is where we pull them from). We think this actually benefitted from the delay. The final draft of the text last week got completely rewritten, rethought out. It's an example of where a delay (and two editions worth of drafts) paid off.

Matthew Rothschild's "shameful thing" -- Mike was going to tackle this but time was short. We were up for it (including C.I., if it hadn't involved students, C.I. probably wouldn't have participated). We link to Alan Maas in it and he references the commentary we're addressing. Dallas, who hunts down all links (thank you, Dallas), couldn't find the commentary and we had two theories: (1) it was pulled and (2) maybe it wasn't said? On the first, C.I. said it wouldn't be pulled from the site. There might be a correction or an apology but it would stay up. Which left us wondering where it could be? C.I. zoomed in on "said" in Maas' article and asked Dallas to check the daily two-minute radio commentaries. It was there but Dallas had to listen because there was no text with it. (That may be a new development. Previously, it has included text.)
If you go after students, we think you're "shameful" one. That's all of us involved in this. This probably was the feature that took the longest time. In the first draft, a great deal more was covered. It's a group process and we had to go with what we all could live with. Everyone gave a little on this. (Anytime someone doesn't want to give a little, that's fine, they can simply say, "Note that I'm not a part of that feature.")

The Third Estate Sunday Review E-mail Bag -- Dona hoped this would be a quick feature. We were finally in Blogger/Blogspot on one computer (Betty's) and we were way behind due to the log in problems. It ended up being longer than we thought but Ty notes it's popular in the e-mails that have come in so far.

Quck take: The Generals! -- Having failed at a quick feature, Dona said, "No links, just an opinion piece." We tossed out ideas and came up with this topic.

CounterWhen? -- Another feature that should have been written last week but there wasn't time. For those who've written for our "data," here is your answer.

Cory Kahaney & Maureen Langan (Ms. Foundation event) and Bob Watada's speaking tour --
Bob Watada is beginning his third speaking tour to raise awareness on his son Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq. Also note that: "First up, at the Ms. Foundation event Monday, October 23rd, two of GreenStone Media's The Radio Ritas will be performing: Maureen Langan and Cory Kahaney. If you've heard them (and the third Rita Nelsie Spencer), you know that's going to be a treat (and a worthy cause). We don't believe the newly started GreenStone Media has an NYC outlet yet so it's also a chance for New Yorkers (and surrounding areas) to hear what they're missing out on right now. (You can listen online at GreenStone Media.) The event is at Carolines (Broadway at 50th or 1626 Broadway Between 49th and 50th Streets ) and Maureen Langan and Cory Kahaney are scheduled to take the stage at 5:30 p.m. We're sure the event and the performance are 'Don't miss'."


Truest statement of the week -- C.I. was crossposting as we were starting this note (taking entries from The Common Ills and transfering them to the mirror site) and Jess noted we didn't do a "truest" this week. What captured last week's theme? Jess suggested a visual and we agreed. So we have a "truest" and, for a change, it's a visual. (And a funny one.)

Editorial: Kyle Snyder's return to the US is part of a movement of resistance -- Kyle Snyder is returning to the United States from Canada next month. This is important. (And Ty says the second most popular feature in the e-mails that have come in so far.) There's a "__/___" that we left in and didn't realize. C.I. and Jim were disputing the line in Private Benjamin. We meant to check that out before posting. Those betting on C.I. being right were correct. So what was the most popular feature? Do you have to ask?

TV: Parlor games are rarely riveting -- Sally e-mailed wondering what else there was to review? She's a big fan of the reviews but feels like they've covered so much already this year.
Ava and C.I. respond that "what will we review?" is their big question each week. They're thinking, right now, of tackling a show they enjoy but are pretty sure they'll address another show. (They'll also be making calls throughout the week to find out if anything's in "danger" and if so grab that. As they've noted before, they're attempting to grab anything that might get pulled before January right now so that they've got some things to review throughout the spring. Rebecca suggested a syndicated show last week and they are going to grab that but will wait for the summer on that. It will still be on then.)

So that's the edition. Hopefully, you found something that made you laugh, made you think or made you angry. See you next week.

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