A note to our readers

Hey --
One more Sunday. We can't believe we're finally through it. We had six articles that hit the kill pile, they just weren't in any position to be posted online.

We plan to discuss David Solnit and Rebecca Solnit's new book next Sunday, by the way. We had special ordered it at a local book store and it did not come in yet.

In the meantime, we had 'help' from The Nation in selecting a theme this week. As Ava and C.I. would say, "We'll get to it."

First let's talk who helped with 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),
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And Dallas and we thank everyone.

What did we end up with?

Truest statement of the week -- A typical citizen and we're glad to highlight them. It doesn't have to be the press or a politican or an activist. These are some very true words.

Truest statement of the week II -- And we couldn't note the first woman without noting the second woman whose remarks were also spot on.

Truest statement of the week III -- Lastly, Betty brought this in and was looking during the week for truests. We agreed this one was strong enough to be one even though it meant we had three truests in one week. It's happened before, but not very often.

Editorial: It's a power grab -- We have no idea what the Parliament's doing right now. We just want to eat lasanga (C.I. whipped up some), watch a movie and go to sleep. We're starving and we're tired. It was a long, long edition.

TV: The excellent and the nutty -- Elsewhere in the edition, C.I. mentions that she and Ava have to do two TV pieces. I (Jim) had asked for that. C.I. really did have an awful headache and when I realized how bad it was, I told them to forget the other piece, that we could all live without -- which we can. This one is the long awaited Melrose Place piece. Heather Locklear is back as Amanda. If you checked it out earlier and hated the show, you might want to give it another chance. If you avoided it because you weren't thrilled with old fans being 'honored' by having Sydney dead and floating in a pool, the show did bring back Amanda.

Birth questions are wrong! Sometimes! -- But sometimes. Only sometimes. That's from Carly Simon's "Just Not True." Dona just pointed out that she and C.I. had put that in this piece and, at some point, it got pulled. (Carly Simon's new album is Never Been Gone, be sure to check it out.) This is about how one side feels questions are wrong . . . about Barack . . . but okay . . . about Palin. Reality for the confused, the only known is generally who your mother is.

Hypocrisy at T-Mobile -- This was a fun one to write but, at the end of the research, I did complain that C.I. grabbing the phone had resulted in the problem being solved when, in fact, that's not what we were attempting with this feature. But it spun it into another direction -- one Jess called "more consumer friendly." This was written by Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, C.I. and myself, by the way.

The hypocritical Congressional subcommittee -- this was largely written by Ava, C.I., Kat and Wally who were at the hearing and Mike who read all of C.I.'s notes on the hearing.

Roundtable -- If we'd done this at the end, people would have spoken more because they'd known the six pieces got killed. They'd have brought those hypocrisy topics to the roundtable. I'm sorry that they weren't aware of it (I wasn't either). But I do think this is an interesting roundtable though I agree with Kat that it really is more of a roll call than a roundtable.

Hypocrite of the Decade: Andrew Sullivan -- We had hypocrite of the year and of the week (two of the six killed pieces). Only Andy Sully worked. Because he is the hypocrite supreme.

Hypocrisy here at Third (Dona) -- This is how The Nation helped us come up with a theme. We say, "Thank you." Dona wrote this.

Barack's a bastard (Ava and C.I.) -- Ava and C.I. wrote this at my request. I asked them what they've held back on, what would they have tackled and maybe should have tackled but had refused to do? They offered Barack's status at birth. I loved it and asked them to write it up. They did a wonderful job.

Highlights -- Mike, Elaine, Ruth, Marcia, Stan, Rebecca, Betty, Kat, Wally, Cedric and Ann wrote this and we thank them for it.

And that's what we got. Hope you found something that made you laugh, made you angry or made you think. If we managed to run all three bases -- clear the way, we're sliding into home! See you next week.

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