Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.



"Katrina vanden Heuvel avoids Winter Soldier" -- Betty's latest chapter. She works Scott Ewing's Saturday testimony for Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldiers Investigation. Betinna and Cathy Pollitt are still trapped in the closet and Katrina goes beserkers!



"Jason Hurd (IVAW's Winter Soldiers Investigation)" -- Elaine sharing quotes from Jason Hurd, a summary of his testimony and her thoughts. They are noted at the top because Wally and Cedric did not include them in their joint-post Saturday because they were rushing and thought they had grabbed all the links. Wally and Cedric will include them on Monday.



"Kat's Korner: Jack's not snoozing" -- Kat's latest CD review. It's Jack Johnson's Sleep Through The Static and we highly recommend reading it as well as buying the CD. (It's Elaine and Mike's favorite CD so far this year.)



"Ruth's Report" -- Ruth addresses the latest issue of Extra! and Keith Olbermann. You don't want to miss it.



"Nachos in the Kitchen (and Adam Kokesh)" -- Trina offers a simple recipe that you can fix in no time flat and snack on while you listen to IVAW's hearings (they continue & conclude today).





"adrienne kinne reveals the v.a. system" -- Rebecca covers Adrienne Kinne's very important testimony at Winter Soldiers that should have been picked up by all outlets. She also explains how Mike guessed right, everyone had grabbed the first panel. We're keeping this feature brief this week but we'll talk a little here. On Thursday, during the roundtable for the gina & krista round-robin, C.I. asked all of us to pass on who we wanted to highlight on Friday, whose testimony? C.I. didn't want to grab the choice sections for Friday's snapshot and have the rest of us thinking, "That's what I was going to highlight." So we were supposed to call (either C.I. or one of the people helping read the e-mails Friday -- Eli, Martha, Shirley and Heather) and leave our choice no later than 3:00 pm EST so C.I. would know before dictating Friday's snapshot. We all picked the first panel on Friday (Rules of Engagement). Mike read the Friday snapshot closely and noticed that C.I. covered that panel but not in depth and figured out everyone was probably signed up for it. Some did because that's the only part they heard, some did due to the topic (abuses committed in the war zones). All the panels were important Friday and Mike and Rebecca got to work calling people who hadn't posted (Trina called Adam Kokesh on Thursday so they didn't ask her to switch, Elaine had already posted when Mike figured it out) to see if there was someone else that could be grabbed. All but Betty, she points out. She saw Mike's post and grabbed a Saturday hearing because she knew C.I. was the only one who'd note Saturday. But due to that, others grabbed testimony from hearings other than the Rules of Engagement.





"the obama campaign's meltdown" -- Rebecca on Wright.



"Steve Mortillo at Winter Soldiers Investigation" -- Kat grabbed Steve Mortillo's testimony and she was present for that and wanted to share it because of what she saw while he was speaking. (This was her favorite speaker on Friday, read her post and see why.)



"Obama's sick mentor" -- Kat on Wright.



"Corporal Eric Estenzo testifies at Winter Soldiers..." -- Ruth covers Eric Estenzo's testimony from the panel on healthcare including after-care.



"Kelly Dougherty at Winter Soldiers Investigation" -- Marcia grabs Kelly Dougherty speaking on corruption, serving in Iraq and the ones who profit from the illegal war. She also talks about the need for women to be visible.



"IVAW's Clifton Hicks" -- Mike's post on Clifton Hicks that also includes the concern that all the posts are going to be on the first panel.



"Rev. Jeremiah Wright damsn the United States" -- Mike on Wright.



"Saturday's Winter Soldier Investigation" -- C.I. covers some of Saturday's hearings.



"For Those Who Care, IVAW's action continues" -- C.I. notes who's not covering or announcing IVAW's hearings, offers a criticism of CODEPINK (a reader of this site, Meredith, asked that it be noted and it's also noted in the roundtable we've already done) and, Elaine's favorite part, addresses how Phyllis Bennis writes 'about' Iraq.



We're putting in a note right here:



Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldiers Investigation continues today. You can stream at the IVAW website or catch the broadcast on KPFA with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home as well as on KPFK, WBAI and at the Pacifica Radio homepage. (You can also use the archives to listen to Friday and Saturday's hearings.) The times are ten in the morning until four in the afternoon on Sunday (EST) that should apply to all Pacifica stations that are broadcasting the hearings. Today's testimonies will cover how the US military is breaking under the strain of the wars and the topic ofe GI resistance. (Click here for a schedule.)



Back to highlights.



"The ugly side of Barack's 'hope'" & "THIS JUST IN! BAMBI SAYS 'THEY'RE JUST WORDS!'" -- Wally and Mike address Bambi's hope and Wright.



"Iraq snapshot" -- C.I.'s snapshot from Friday that includes an overview.



"The gifted Orlando Patterson" & "THIS JUST IN! ORLANDO PATTERSON'S GIFT!" -- Cedric and Wally address the psychic abilities of Orlando Patterson and reveal how Ghost was a primary influence on Patterson.



Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Kamikaze Sammy" -- Sammy Power goes down determined to take others out with her!



"The Old Fool George McGovern" -- Ruth on an old embarrassment.


"Should FAIR fire Peter Hart?" -- Peter Hart documented how Bambi was getting good press as a result of his perceived race. Kat wonders if he's the next be smeared as a racist?



"Hillary will attend Irish-American presidential forum" -- Mike shows his Irish-American pride.



"Iraq snapshot" & "Iraq snapshot" -- Wednesday and Thursday's snapshots. C.I.'s covering Congressional hearings and there's not time this week (unless a miracle comes about) to note the fact that The New York Times covered one of the hearings (on Thursday) that C.I. covered on Wednesday and they completely ignored all the important aspects (not surprising when one of the writers wasn't even in DC and the other appears to have only read the prepared opening statement of one witness).



"It's all over now, Bambi blue" -- Elaine on Wright.



"Amy "Trash" Goodman" -- Marcia notes how Goody buries reality.



"I Hate The War" -- C.I.'s Thursday night entry that was the most requested highlight by readers of this site.