A Note to Our Readers

Hey --

It's holiday weekend and we are very late. I'll comment on that throughout. ("I" being Jim.) Here's who worked 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,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
and Marcia SICKOFITRDLZ.

We thank all of those who helped and we thank Dallas for his help always.

Ridiculous Statement of the week -- Amy Goodman, comedian.

Ridiculous statement of the week II -- Again, that was brought to us. We note it happily.

Editorial: "Pimp" was not the word -- Remember, the next time our 'left' 'independent' media wants to call out sexism. Of course, the reality is, they don't call out sexism. If they have sexist and racist remarks to call out, they call those out. They make a big production out of being offended by the sexist remarks as well but reality is that on their own, they regularly ignore calling out sexism and, in fact, often contribute to it. They certainly did last week. We ended up with a merger in this editorial. Another feature was started but on hold until Ava and C.I. could speak to enough friends regarding Ensler's latest for-show event. When the calls came in it was Sunday evening. We quickly pulled this from a scrapped feature and inserted it into the editorial.

TV: Bad TV takes no holiday -- Ava and C.I. -- no surprise -- hate this. They always hate their writing. Why they hate this one especially is that Dona and I had a very loud argument and they had to stop writing this and come in to see what was going on. When they picked back up, they'd lost their steam and just wanted "the damn thing" over. They swear it's obvious where the stopping point was. It's not obvious. It's also another epic on their part. They hit hard, they make you laugh, they are amazing. If it looks like the strike is over (of if the contract is signed before the 25th), they hope to offer up an entertainment program next Sunday. They're toying with an animated series but that's iffy right now -- as is the chance that they might not be reviewing news and public affairs program. I am thrilled the writers appear to have gotten what they deserved as a result of standing up and striking. I am personally thrilled that, as a result of the strike by entertainment writers, we were able to enjoy Ava and C.I. taking on the news programs week after week. They did amazing work. They set standards. They are one of a kind and the deserved hallmark/calling card of our site.

Roundtable -- This was what Dona and I argued over this morning. The roundtable went on for six hours -- some minutes more but I don't hold the stop-watch, Dona does. There are a number of topics covered in our rush transcript and we think it is very lively. I'll talk more about the argument in a bit. I really think this is a strong roundtable but it was also one of endurance.

The Sad Rot of the Left -- Community member Heather disagreed with an endorsement of Barack Obama. She left a comment at a website. The author of the piece decided to e-mail her and disagree. His comments (Ava and C.I.: You knew it was a man, didn't you?) were ridiculous. Read it and enjoy for the laugh factor but join us in shaking our heads over the sad rot of the left.

Swanson Dinners Music Theater Critique -- This was a longer piece. Dona told Ty, "Turn it into a short piece. The roundtable's a nightmare to type, we need short pieces to break things up." Ty did. We'll probably provide the parts cut as a stand alone feature at another date.

Women's History Made Before Your Eyes -- Dona, Kat, Ava and C.I. wrote the intro to this piece that is Hillary's speech on Super Duper Tuesday. Apologies to Rebecca because we did agree, at the start of the writing edition, that we would do a serious article on Hillary. As it was, even this was forgotten during the writing edition. Dona, Kat, Ava and C.I. pulled this together quickly this evening after Rebecca called to remind about this feature.

House Armed Service Committee Hearings you should... -- C.I.'s commentaries on two Armed Service Committee hearings you should have heard of. Dona writes a lengthy intro. In her intro she notes the problems with this edition. She is correct. My apologies for wasting (I wasn't the only one) so much time. As she pointed out, we could all be doing something fun tonight instead of rushing to finish typing and editing. The whole day was blown. The main reason was defocusing in the roundtable. Although I wasn't the only one, I'm the one acting as moderator. I should have been stopping the meandering non-topic discussions. Instead I not only contributed to them, I often led on them. Along with telling Dona I'm sorry, I need to say that to Ava and C.I. who had to take down notes on a six hour plus roundtable and the bulk of the notes were never used. There will not be a roundtable next week. When we next do one, I will try to ensure that it lasts no longer than two hours tops and hopefully a lot less than that.

Highlights -- Mike, Kat, Rebecca, Betty, Cedric, Wally and Elaine wrote this and selected all highlights unless otherwise noted.

That's what we got. See you next weekend.

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