Hey --
Another Sunday nightmare. Here's who participated on 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 Dallas who we thank. We also thank Isaiah for his illustration we reposted.
Truest statement of the week -- Naomi Wolf had five contenders and we went with this one. If you want to see which section you would have selected, use the link to watch, listen to or read Amy Goodman's interview with her.
Editorial: Cover the December 11th War Resisters hearings -- Is it going to get coverage? We know it deserves coverage. But considering that Eli Israel is but one of many names who've gone public in 2007 and received zilch from independent media (broadcast and print), we just don't know. (Eli Israel is the first US service member to resist while stationed in Iraq. We feel we have to add that he did not to Canada. We feel we have to add that because there's been no coverage of him.)
TV: Fumble Line -- This was one of the nightmares. It wasn't a problem when Ava and C.I. cautioned us that they weren't sure they had anything this week. It wasn't a problem when we read it (to steal from Ava and C.I., "We'll get back to that"). It was a problem when a PBS friend (the same one who had a problem last spring with one of their commentaries after it posted) called to find out what they were going to say about Frontline? They had written the commentary and shared the basics. "A heated exchange" describes perfectly what we heard. Ava and C.I. were pissed and the person on speaker phone as well. In the end, Ava and C.I. said agreed to pull a name. (And they note, they were correct. A friend who was with Simon & Schuster already called to ask, "Were you talking about ___? Yes, she's quoted in" one of the books released while the person was at the publisher. They'll be naming next week when they can get ahold of that book.) Since they were pulling a woman's name, they then felt it was only fair to pull the names of the two men. This makes the delay seem briefer than it was. Since their feature rarely causes a hold up (and since it wasn't the only delay), no hard feelings. Back to when we read it. As Dona said, "I thought you told us it would be two paragraphs if that?" Exactly. They had a great deal to say. I am not insulting or devaluing the work they do covering entertainment programs -- they make many excellent political points with those. But for those who sometimes wonder why I always urge them ("Urge? Try demand," says Ava) to cover a news program it's for commentaries like these. Here's why they didn't think they had much: they watched a bad program. Here's why they need to do these news programs: they know all the details, all the backstory. You're getting the fact that the program's celebrating an anniversary that has yet to arrive, that leads them into the history of the show, that leads them into the way the 2004 election was covered, which leads to the program from last week, which leads to the critique of the specific episode.
Bilal -- Bilal Hussein needs to be set free. He doesn't need to stand trial and then be freed, he needs to be freed by the US military right now.
Mailbag -- The first feature we worked on. Betty pulled one section where she was speaking when Kat reminded her, "You just gave away Betinna." Betty didn't realize that until she looked over the transcript and saw Kat was correct. Otherwise, nothing got pulled.
Holiday Shopping Suggestions -- Do you still have gifts to buy? If so consider the ones listed.
Laura Flanders speaks with Dennis Kucinich -- We hadn't planned to write this one and it didn't make the print version. But we ended up doing it due to the long delays.
Peter Byrne on The Nation -- During the long delay, Ty remembered we hadn't dealt with the comments by Peter Byrne that a number of you had e-mailed about. There are typos here (probably in everything) but I said, "Post it!" as soon as it was typed because I didn't want C.I. going through and softening it up.
Kimberly Wilder urges you to vote for Donna Warren -- Kimberly Wilder makes the case for Donna Warren. (Again, C.I.'s the only one of us who could vote in that election. Of those participating in this note, we could vote in KPFA's LSB election.)
Things to watch, things to listen to -- Our guide. A big problem. Due to Laura Flanders' program which we couldn't get an air time for. Prior to the delay, this was to go up before her show aired online via Air America Radio's website. We missed that and had to track down another station. Not easy. We will note that a station on the West coast broadcasts her around midnight.
Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Betty, Wally, Cedric, Kat and Rebecca wrote this and picked out the highlights unless otherwise noted. We thank them for it.
That's it, see you next week.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.