Hey --
It's Sunday, we're about to call it a "night" (at 10:26 a.m.)
Before we do, let's credit the ones who helped with the writing of this edition:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and, me, Jim;
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude;
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills);
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
We thank all the above for their help. We also thank Dallas for locating links, for being a soundboard and more. We thank Rebecca for her photo shopping of our illustrations.
We honestly were supposed to have people taking off this edition. The parody we were tossing around until Whine On whined to C.I. and, while noting Whine On's comment, C.I. came up with the perfect title for the parody.
Editorial: The Unknown War Resister -- you know what, people are dying. We're not going to play nice and say, "Great job!" It's not been a great job. After three years, you'd think they could do better. When you think of the 'biggest story' (the one they can all get behind and cover -- which certainly isn't Falluja), it's Judith Miller. That's independent media's biggest contribution to ending the war. Covering Judith Miller's PRE-war coverage. Maybe they didn't just take a vacation this summer?
TV Review: Confessing to no talent -- There's a line in this review, a question that Ava and C.I. asked a friend. He laughed and, on the phone, told them they had to put that in. Others told them the same thing. They went back and forth. They went with it after consulting everyone they knew basically. It's funny. And it's the perfect reaction to Madonna's hideous special (which came in fourth in the overnights -- fourth). This is a hilarious review that's all the more humorous if you sat through part or all of it. When we were doing the illustrations, we had it on the background because Ava and C.I. wanted to be sure that they hadn't missed something, something they could see as redeaming that would allow them to trash this review and start over. (They wrote this ahead of time.) They found nothing. The line made it. We're happy. Regular readers will be as well.
Magazine Parody: The Elector -- This is not one magazine, but three. "Lazy" is based on two writers. Everyone else should be one person (except for the editorial in the parody). And one thing is not written by us. The last lines of the parody, sad but true, were written by an actual writer at a left magazine.
Iraq's civil war -- hair splitting isn't ending the war. It's a civil war, it's been one for some time.
TV Review: Burying the living -- Yes, you have two reviews from Ava and C.I. Consider it your holiday gift. Why two? They didn't feel like the two specials could be lumped together. They didn't care for either but in one case, "Someone had nothing to say, in the other case, they weren't allowed to say anything."
MyTV's Fascist House -- yes, Kat is back with the core six. She came back from Ireland two Thursday's ago and stayed with Betty on her way back home. She got out here Monday of last week. Kat back? Collage! Madonna was chosen for the photo, that's the "neck brace" Ava and C.I. note in their review.
Junior wasn't all that? You don't say -- thank God for independent media like . . . The New York Times? Well at least they reported it.
Taking care of the most pressing business first -- Rebecca and Dona smoke regularly ("All the time!" shouts Dona). Others involved have quit (like Elaine) or "stopped" (like C.I.). I (Jim) take a puff or two every few weeks. There's your disclosure. It's not needed. As the article points out, it's the silliest focus the 'empowered' could have. Way to defocus.
Highlights -- still can't e-mail to the site so this is a round up.
See you next Sunday.
--Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.