Hey --
A very long Sunday. We have rough draft pieces that we hope to smooth over next week but, most likely, the inspiration will be gone when the weekend rolls around.
Participating in the writing of 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,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
We thank them all. It was a long, long session. We took time out to march for immigrant rights today. But even allowing for that, it was a long, long writing session.
This was Carl Levin and Marcia was the biggest champion for this but far from alone in wanting this as a truest.
Lt. Dan Choi was another one we had to recognize. We have five other worthy truests and for awhile joked about just making the edition a "truest" (seven truests) plus Ava and C.I.'s TV commentary.
Editorial: Barack is killing the left
Elaine's "They are the problem" should have been included in this. We forgot. But her Friday entry charts how left periodicals avoided the protests against the wars. They are the enablers. Everything can be killed in their non-stop efforts to pimp Barack.
A major piece. This was finished Early, early Sunday morning and Ava and C.I. put the rest of us to shame. Yes, we were tired from the protest and march and fun. But Ava and C.I. had been on planes repeatedly. They wanted to be at the San Francisco protests for a number of reasons so they flew out, they then flew to LA, they then flew back to DC. And despite that, they still had it in them to write this epic. Amazing. Ian Wilder was one of the five others we considered seriously for a truest. The fact that he is quoted in Ava and C.I.'s piece allowed us to go with others.
Our LGBT feature that the rest of us mainly smoothed over. Ava, C.I., Kat and Wally attended the Senate hearing that's being reported on.
To round out the edition, Ava and C.I. wrote this. It ups the arts coverage and the Iraq coverage for the edition.
Who would have thought David Sirota would become a stand up voice of reason? But in a world of liars, he emerged as a truth teller. Good for him.
We were looking for a short feature and C.I. was speaking to a friend with The Nation on the phone when it was suggested we check out the artwork for The Nation's cruise. High-larious.
Mike, Elaine, Wally, Cedric, Betty, Kat, Rebecca, Ruth, Marcia, Stan and Ann wrote this and we thank them for it.
That's what we managed to come up with. See you next week.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.