A note to our readers

Hey --

Another Sunday and 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),
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.

And how the edition got away from us!

Seriously. Reading this, you'll probably see it as one of our stronger ones this year and it is. But it's in no way what we planned. For example, next week we'll work on a parody feature. That was planned for this week. What happened?

A number of things. Mainly losing Ava, C.I. and Ann for a good chunk of the writing edition.

So let's talk about what we have:

• Truest statement of the week I

This is Cindy Sheehan and we generally all vote on them; however, Ava, C.I. and Ann were working hard on another feature so we did both truests without them to move things along.

• Truest statement of the week II

Same as above and this is Hillary Is 44.

• Editorial: It matters

Dona wanted a short editorial on Iraq. "It matters"? Editorial device Ava and C.I. proposed when Dona said one section (on minorities in Iraq) was taking the editorial in another direction and needed to go. They also came up with our new ending -- the excerpt from a song made famous by Linda Ronstadt.

• TV: Moyers even lies when quoting the classics

Ava and C.I. had me worried. They were tired at the start of the writing edition and worked forever and a day with Ann on another feature. I was sure that they wouldn't have it in them to do a TV piece. They were planning to do Happy Town (is that the name? they aren't even answering me), a new ABC drama. But they told me upfront that if they were tired, they'd grab a PBS public affairs program. "And you'll love what we have to say," Ava promised. They were tired. I didn't expect much. Then I read this and it's incredible. While so many rush to insist that the program was groundbreaking, Ava and C.I. tell you how fake it really was.

• Terry Gross Hates Women (Ava, C.I. and Ann)

This was planned and it wasn't planned. Some time ago, Ava and C.I. said they needed to do a one-month piece on Fresh Air with Ann. They just didn't realize the end of the month was here. Ann tried to beg off because she thought Ava and C.I. could work faster without her. Ava and C.I. said it's her terrain (Ann covers the show at her site) and they weren't doing it without her. So they had to cover 22 episodes and that required research and then writing. A lot of time.

• Coca Cola's latest consumer attack

Mike brought this to the mix. He pitched it Thursday morning and took his photo Thursday night. I loved this because I (Jim) love any and all consumer reporting.

• In The Spirit now available at Amazon

I have no idea how often we have written about or mentioned the film In The Spirit. But it's been many, many times. And we always hear from people who love the film. Ann and Stan wrote about it at their sites, about it being available as a download, and we heard from readers insisting we had to write about it again, insisting that there was very little information on the film online and that "even Wikipedia" has very little on the film.

• On boycotts and tea

We wanted to do something on Peace Tea and we wanted to cover the oil spill and immigration rights. (Ava and C.I. flew to Dallas Saturday to take part in the immigration rally there. That's part of why they were so tired during this writing edition.) (Photos in El Spirito which has already gone out this morning.) Somehow, organically, they all came together for this piece.

• Ty's Corner

We were editing all but Ava, C.I. and Ann's feature, Ava and C.I.'s TV article and the editorial. Editing and typing and discussion illustrations. Ty went off and did a Ty's corner and the gang went off and did Highlights.

• Rebuttal to a Butthead

And then we got together and wrote this (we is all but Ava, C.I. and Ann).

• Highlights

Mike and Elaine, Ann and Cedric, Rebecca, Ruth, Betty, Kat, Marcia, Stan and Wally wrote this. We thank them for it. And we thank Mike for the photo he took of the Coke bottles and Isaiah for allowing us to use his illustration.

And we thank everyone who worked on this edition.



Peace.

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