A note to our readers

Hey --

Sunday. And we finished really quickly for us. First weekend of the new year as well. Maybe a good sign? (No, we'll be back to finishing at noon or three p.m. in no time.)

Along with Dallas, the following helped on this edition:


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,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ
and Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends.

We thank the above. And here's what we came up with.

Truest statement of the week -- Ruth. This is from her year-in-review and we even included the photo which, for the record, was popular with readers here and not just with Ruth.

Truest statement of the week II -- Martha and Shirley nailed it. Iraq never mattered after they stole the nomination from Hillary. And the whiners never really gave a damn about Iraq even before, they just pretended in order to have another tool to attack Hillary with.

Truest statement of the week III -- Betty's year in review where she notes her huge disappoint in the so-called sisterhood.

Editorial: The bum works for you -- Don't forget it. There has been such a screwed up view long before Barack but it's going to be even worse with Barack if people don't grow the hell up. Barack is an employee. You are the boss. He works for you. Never forget it. If there is ever anything 'special' about him, it is the people who employed him. We do not have a monarchy. We do not have a King or Queen. The bum needs to get to work. And for those of us who remember 2005 and the WHINING about the inuagural balls at a time of war, what the hell is happening today?

TV: Head Games -- Ava and C.I. wanted to do one pure entertainment TV piece because they're not sure that's going to be possible again any time soon. Due to the holidays, things were slow TV wise and news wise. Grabbing the opportunity, they focused on a new show airing on Saturdays and they don't just document what's wrong, they explain how to fix it.

The attacks on Senator Roland Burris -- This article explores the racism against Burris, the sense of entitlement of Caroline Kennedy and a host of other issues. Burris is the Senator. He needs to be seated.

Boy, Did He Get A Wrong Number -- Dona said she wished there was one more short feature . . . We were finishing the typing and editing and gearing up to post. Dallas heard her. He found this and Dona, C.I., Ava, Jess, Ty and I quickly wrote around the photo.

Roundtable -- This is a roundtable revolving solely around e-mails. Ty and I picked some of the questions that were popping up and did so to try to address the increasing volume of e-mails. If you're issue wasn't raised, hopefully one that you found interesting was.

This week's Bronze Boobies -- Is this going to be a weekly? We're not sure. We actually have the Bronze Boobies and the Katrinas. Katrinas are for idiots. Bronze Boobies are for those caught acting foolish. Reader Jordan e-mailed to bring Scott Horton's nonsense to our attention, by the way. Thank you, Jordan.

Complaint Dept. -- This was another effort to address the e-mails and also to work in a book feature. And the book truly is hilarious.

Ty's Corner -- Jess asked Ty if he was planning to write a Ty's Corner? Ava and C.I. were off doing their TV commentary and we weren't sure what we had that was useable. Jess mentioned that it had been some since Ty did a corner. There were enough e-mails asking topics on one aspect that Ty was able to pull together a theme.

Idiot of the week -- Barack really has to work overtime to appear American? Is that what's going on? If it's not that, we've got a more jingoistic White House occupant than the shrimp from Texas (by way of Maine).

Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Rebecca, Betty, Kat, Ruth, Cedric, Wally, Marica and Stan wrote this and selected the highlights unless otherwise mentioned.

Third Estate 2008 archives by week -- 2008 archives disappeared as a weekly listing on the right side of our blog (not "left" -- Dona says we referred to the left in something, we'll try to find it and correct it, she thinks it was Ty's Corner which she typed up) as soon as the first week of 2009 items went up. Refer to this (and it's on the blogroll also) when you're wanting to go throough the 2008 archives.

Third Estate 2006 archives by week -- And, thanks to C.I., we finally have the same for 2006.

Third Estate 2005 achive by week -- And for 2005. Prior to today, we only had our 2007 archives (and our 2008 which were displaying on the right side of the site).

And that's what we got. Hopefully, something to make you laugh, make you angry or get active. See you next week.

And happy new year.


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