A Note to Our Readers

Hey --

Another Sunday, another new edition.

Thanks to Ava and C.I. especially for this. We'll get to why but we wanted to note that upfront.

Who participated in this edition?

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and 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,
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

And also Dallas as a sounding board and as our link locator.

Last week, we were in Tacoma, showing our support for Ehren Watada. We were all tired. Rebecca even suggested to Kat that she take the weekend off. (Which she could have. We appreciate her help and everyone else's but anyone can take time off when they need it.) We didn't realize how tired we were. We did our longest piece on Saturday followed by a short piece. Then we dismissed everyone (Betty, Rebecca, Elaine, Mike, Cedric and Wally) so they could get some sleep. Since Rebecca discovered she was pregnant, that's been our schedule. While they grab five to six hours of sleep, we focus on other topics we can write on and stay up throughout. Usually us includes Kat because she's generally here with us.

So what happened? Ava and C.I. went off to do their TV commentary. Kat said, "I'm closing my eyes for just a minute." Everyone followed. Ava says C.I. and her words upon finishing their commentary and finding the rest of us asleep went something like, "What the f**k? We're up busting our asses when we even suggested a best of for this week, everyone shoots that idea down and then we end up the only ones awake?"

They started two pieces and typed up the long piece -- every word -- so that Dona and I could edit it when we did wake up. We woke up around four o'clock. We are very rested. (Ava just uttered an unprintable to that.) We are very sorry that they ended up the entire time and we are very grateful that they typed up the two completed features and started two more (as well as that they did a wonderful TV commentary).

Shout out to Isaiah, before we go further, for his latest comic. Check that out.

New content?

Highlights -- done by all. It was too late and too rude to farm this out on others when four of us had a lengthy nap.

MyTV's Fascist House -- Yes, it's back. It's a regular feature -- still surprised by how popular it is. The text is by all. Usually the illustration is only by some (Kat, Dona, Jim, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I. and myself). However, we started clipping in Tacoma so Cedric, Wally, Mike and Sunny (she runs Elaine's office) were able to help us with the collage.

Update on Gallaudet University -- Update to the story of the longest, continuous student led protest of 2006. You don't want to miss the latest.
Thank you to ___ for permission to use her name but with the university threatening action against protestors who weren't arrested, we're not about to. We appreciate your answering questions for us Saturday and we admire, always, your strength and those of the student body at Gallaudet.

Cracked Up Crackdown -- Bully Boy just offers more of the same, the less it works, the more he offers more of the same.

Women and the military -- this was a topic we were going to cover. This is one Ava and C.I. researched while the rest of us were sleeping, outlined (ditto) and started. We all worked on it but it was so easy after they'd done all that earlier work.

The Nation Stats -- we're posting our new content, we're thinking we're done, we're moving, we're grooving, C.I.'s thinking it will all be over soon (C.I. still had entries at The Common Ills), then it hits us, we never did this short entry. The overall stats are not improving, check it out.

Roundtable -- we're beginning to really, really hate roundtables. We love doing them, we hate writing them up and editing them. Ava and C.I. take notes. (If their hands cramp and they need a moment, they signal to the other but usually they're both taking notes so they can compare and be sure nothing was missed or written down wrong.) Then the rest of us are stuck with typing it up (Kat, Jess, Ty, Dona and myself). Then (or sometimes before the typing), Dona and I edit it down. Because of our long nap, Ava and C.I. ended up typing this up. They could've edited it. (That may have been more work than they wanted.) When we woke up, Dona and I immediately got started on editing this down.

TV: All just a bit of (CBS) history repeating -- as usual, Ava and C.I. hate their commentary and refuse to look at it. C.I. says they almost did because, at one point after they finished typing the roundtable, they considered posting it, this and the two pieces we had worked on and completed (give or take a polish) with a note that "This is it" and then going to bed. They both say that would have happened if the Ehren editorial had been completed already. It wasn't. So they didn't. Read the commentary, it's great.

Editorial: The court-martial is over -- the Ehren editorial. It should be over for him now, no more threats of court-martial again.

And that's it. We thank Rebecca for photoshopping illustrations. We'll see you next week.

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

P.S. Jess caught this last Monday and we meant to correct it. We forgot. Never mind, C.I. and Ava fixed it while we slept. The editorial last week didn't note that it was Isaiah's illustrations. It does now: '[Illustration is "Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts 'Peace Resister'."]'