A note to our readers

Hey --
Another Sunday.

As always, thank you to Dallas for his work on this edition and the following also worked on it:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
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 of SICKOFITRDLZ.

And here's what we came up with:

Truest statement of the week -- There were seven nominees for truests and we actually had to vote several times. Newsweek ended up winning in the fifth round.

Truest statement of the week II -- Paul Street came in a close second. The other five were worthy as well.

Editorial: Ehren Watada matters and so do the facts -- Ehren's not free. He's still reporting for duty. Three of the five charges were dropped last week. All of them were not. Facts matter. Photos from ThankYouLt.org.

TV: Disturbing Behavior -- Ava and C.I. ticked me (Jim) off with this. Their draft included seven paragraphs at the end of reports from SNL and 30 Rock. That was just our 'fun,' I was told. But it was too good to leave out. They finally compromised with one bit they'd include and then allowed for one quote. This is a really strong commentary and we know you'll like it.

Campaign Roundup (Ava and C.I.) -- and we know you'll like this additional piece by Ava and C.I. Mike had regretted, at the end of the writing session, that we didn't note Nader's marathon in any way. I thought about it and agreed it needed to be noted. I gave Ava and C.I. the choice between editing and typing or grabbing this assignment. They chose editing and typing. I then tried, "But we'll be done quicker if you write it." They finally relented. The Pacifica point? Ava and C.I. have pitched that for about six weeks now. It should have been its own article but there was never time. I'm glad they worked it into this because otherwise it never would have been addressed. The photos. They say: "We wrote it, we wanted two Sarah photos in it." Good enough for me. But they add, "Everyone's trying to guess if we're supporting Ralph or Cynthia. We're not saying. People know we aren't voting for McCain-Palin and we liked the two photos and felt it was to show support for Oklahoma community members as well as others readers who are supporting the McCain-Palin ticket." And for the record, it may be a guy thing, but Mike and I are thrilled about the marathon while Ava and C.I. have kindly stated it might get press attention and otherwise not given a damn.


Roundtable -- Long planned, finally dealt with. This is the religion roundtable. Hope you enjoy.

The stupidity of academia -- Elaine and C.I. were toying with a joint-article about Bill and Bernardine. That got placed on hold because some minor points from it could be worked into this.

Musical facts are still facts -- Closest we have to a mailbag this week.

Smoke-free (Dona) -- Dona wrote this and it's about her stopping smoking (not "quitting," "stopping" she can live with). Normally, when there's a piece here with only one byline, it goes higher up. Dona asked (demanded) that this go low and would have preferred it go before "Highlights."

Ralph finally gets some network news attention -- Transcript of Ralph's interview.

The speech Barack wouldn't give -- Palin's speech about women's progress.

Highlights -- Mike, Kat, Betty, Ruth, Rebecca, Marcia, Wally, Cedric and Elaine wrote this and picked out the highlights unless otherwise noted. We thank them for this.

And that's the edition. Dona's article is a must-read. Can't say anymore because when I type more than that she tells me to pull the sentences out. So let me just say read her article.

See you next week.

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