Highlights

This feature was written by Wally, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric, Elaine and Mike. We also made all selections unless otherwise noted.



"Thomas Friedman Stereotypes Again!" -- Betty's latest where Betinna learns that Thomas Friedman can stereotype a group other than Muslims.


"Pizza in the Kitchen" -- Trina walks you through homemade pizza and continues to explain why she feels Dennis Kucinich is the strongest candidate.



"The faux who are our foes" -- Go Mikey! Picked by Rebecca, Jim, Kat and Cedric as well as by 15 readers e-mailing to this site. When Congress caves, you need to know who you can trust.

On a similar note you can read Elaine's "Katrina vanden Heuvel stabs her mag in the back" and it's not a highlight per Elaine who notes it was dashed off quickly "and mainly quotes C.I. I didn't know C.I. was going to be in my area or that we would all be going out. Mike and I were each typing away madely trying to get something up at our sites so we could go have some fun with C.I."



"we don't stand up for cowards" -- "You could be nicer." We get that a lot. We're not here to play nice, in case you missed it. Rebecca's explaining why we don't share the love easily with those who have a long history of buckling. Elaine adds, "Yeah, you buckle with the weight of the words" and notes that's from Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty's "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" which may need to become the theme song for grassroots Democrats.



"We worry about the wrong immigrants" -- You think you love Kat. We love Kat. In fact, we'll fight you over who loves her more! :D But this is Kat explaining that all the hoopla over "Mexicans" is nonsense and using a real life example to do so. (There was one angry e-mail to Kat on this, sent to The Common Ills public account. The woman insisted that the 'prisoner' isn't a spy. Kat told us her reply: "Okay, then she's stupid. I said she was either stupid or a spy.")



"Dems come up with 'brave' new plan!" & "THIS JUST IN! TRANSLATING DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP!" -- Cedric and Wally walk you through how to read Democrats.



"And the war drags on . . ." -- Elaine and Trina argued it first on Friday. Ty said he lost count of the number of e-mails coming into this site saying this was the pick for C.I.'s entries this week. Read it and find out why.



"THIS JUST IN! BULLY BOY'S 1ST VICTORY!" & "Those generous Democrats!" -- Wally and Cedric on what it takes for Bully Boy to win. (Hint, a lot of help.)



"This and that (Betty guest posting)" -- Betty 'filling in' for Rebecca. Rebecca and Betty both posted on the same day. They knew each was posting. Rebecca says she loves that Betty posts and Betty can do so anytime she wants. That goes for everyone but she's noted that to Betty when she's filled in before. Betty says she started a post (lost) mainly because she had a toothache and couldn't get to sleep. She says as long as no one minds "my chatter," she'll probably do this every now and then even when Rebecca doesn't need anyone to fill in. Betty's talking about the need to use your voice and not let anyone -- including yourself -- stop you.



"Iraq snapshot" -- Rebecca loved C.I.'s "And the war drags on . . ." but she argues this is the perfect example of how there are so many topics not being covered. She says any paragraph could be a full blown entry or post and that all the silence on Iraq "is inexcusable."



"End of the week" -- Of the ones who write this each week, Elaine's the biggest roadblock. She'll champion everyone else but insist on only one highlight from her and frequently fight against even that. She agreed to this one for only one reason: Fridays will probably be like this. She's at Mike's for the Iraq study group. She's tired. It's been a long week. Fridays will most likely be a 'just talking' type piece.



"Law and Disorder: Mumia, Cuban Five" -- Mike catching you up on Law and Disorder. A lot of stuff covered last week.