A note to our readers

Hey --
We always have computer problems!

On the plus waiting and waiting for Flickr allowed us to do a short feature we hadn't thought we had time for.

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.

And Dallas. We thank of all them.

Here's what we've got:

Truest Statement of the Week -- there were a ton. We went with this one because it is a truest and also because of what we focused on in another article. (And also because Kinne isn't being reported on in any coverage we've seen and her testimony was very important.)

Editorial: Are you ready to listen -- In many ways, media silence greeted the first Winter Soldier Investigation. Guess what . . .

TV: Nothing-ness -- I have never had a harder time coming up with a title for Ava and C.I.'s piece. I read this thing (after reading it out loud to everyone) several times and if it doesn't fit, bring on the complaints of how my bad title destroyed Ava and C.I.'s masterpiece. Except for the short feature done while endlessly waiting on Flickr, this was the last thing done. We were cooking and racing along. So they decided to hold off their piece (Ava and C.I.'s commentary is usually what lifts everyone's spirits when I read it out loud -- what, you thought it was my voice!). We knew they working in Abby Hiser and that's really all we knew. They'd complained about the TV sitcom some time ago. We weren't surprised they grabbed that. And we saw their tons of notes on scraps of paper. Are you, we asked them, easing viewers back into entertainment reviews? No, they just had a number of things they wanted to comment on. It's really surprising how well this all mixed together. Yes, they've written the most popular feature article of the edition yet again. But there are others that may give them a run for their money.

Veterans Healthcare -- This is our big article. It was even bigger. First off, Congressional statements not linked to appeared in C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" Wendesday and "Iraq snapshot" Thursday. We hear you in the e-mails, you think C.I.'s Congressional hearings coverage needs to be amplified ("If only in a reposting!" wrote Gerald last week). We agree. We also have only so much time. We were able to work that in here. This is actually a feature C.I., Elaine, Mike, Wally and Ava have been advocating for some time. Since it was a topic for an IVAW panel this weekend, we finally got around to it. As we note, the limited coverage that we've seen all focuses on Rules of Engagement (two panels on Friday). As Mike, Kat, Elaine, Betty, Cedric, Wally, Marcia and Rebecca explain in "Highlights," that was almost the sole focus for sites posting in the evening Friday (and morning Saturday). It was important and it did catch attention. So naturally, we went another way. (To Mike, :D.) But this is also an important issue and it didn't catch attention. We all have the power we choose to use and we decided to emphasize this. We will be covering Winter Soldier next week as well. Again, there are time limits. We started late because C.I. was typing up notes (transcript) for El Spirto so that those not able to stream and those with hearing disabilities would be able to keep up with Winter Soldier. We had problems with Flickr (always) and we had a roundtable. Something's got to give. But we will be covering Winter Soldier again next weekend and we'll probably be looking over any coverage we can find to see what didn't get covered. This edition, we did two articles and the editorial on it.

Roundtable -- This almost didn't go up. Thank Ava and C.I. if you appreciate it. I was saying we should hold this and Ava and C.I. hit the roof. Not because they gave a damn when it ran but because they had typed up the @@#$$$&&!!! thing and couldn't believe they'd spent so long typing only to find out that we could have been getting sleep already because the thing wasn't going to run. We're primarily exploring race and gender in the 2008 Democratic Primary race. Jess' comments were a shocker and the only reason Ava and C.I. would agree to hold it was if Jess wanted time to think about whether or not to include them? He didn't. His approach is our approach: Say it. Say what you think, say what you feel. Somebody doesn't like it, in the words of Cedric, "Oh well."

Barack's serving Chicken Sop for the Soul -- This was one we went back and forth on. On the plus, it was a short feature. On the minus, C.I. and Elaine feel there's too much emphasis on party politics these days. But all agreed the story didn't get enough attention and we had an illustration (held over from last week due to Flickr problems) that we could use. C.I. adds, "It's also about Iraq. Elaine and my objection in terms of this feature was the use of a press release which immediately gives an out to anyone who wants to say, 'Oh, that's what Hillary said!' The issue itself is addressed by Ava and myself in the TV thing. "

Dumb Ass of the Week -- The short feature you almost missed but Flicrk wasn't uploading images so we had time. This is exactly the sort of thing that C.I.'s been catching (we grabbed it from a snapshot) covering the Congressional hearings. Walter Jones, you have earned your title.

Negative Critisicm of Winter Soldiers Investigatio... -- We were surprised by the e-mails coming in stating we wouldn't say anything bad about Winter Soldier. If we didn't like something, we would have just stayed silent. If we really disliked something, we'd address it. Betty hated this panel (see roundtable) and we heard from female IVAW members about it as well. There were two strong points and that's noted. But the rest of it? Three speakers didn't stick to the topic.

A Hatian-American is not an African-American -- Short feature because C.I. was ignoring the e-mailer when he wrote TCI and then he started writing us (sixteen times). So there's your response and it's all you're going to get.

Support the candidates that support the truth -- this is a press release and we're noting it because we're trying to note the ones who got the word out on IVAW. If you're in the 11th Congressional district, there's someone you should consider voting for.

Winter Soldiers Investigation coverage by the community -- Mike, Elaine, Betty, Rebecca, Cedric, Wally, Marcia and Kat (did we forget anyone?) did two highlight features. This is just noting the coverage in the community on Winter Soldier.

Highlights -- And this is their tradional highlights feature. We thank them for both.

That's the edition. See you next week.


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

P.S. One more thing. C.I. checked e-mails (at TCI) around three in the morning. That's when we found out WBAI had NOT broadcast Saturday's hearings. Where we could remember, we removed WBAI from the links for Winter Soldier. Our apologies that it was included. We were listening to KPFA and wrongly assumed that a three day Pacifica event would be broadcast for three days on Pacifica stations. WBAI broadcast it on Friday but not on Saturday.