Hey --
Early for us. Amazingly so.
Thank you to all who worked 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,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
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 what did we come up with?
Bob Somerby.
This one won with many votes but primarily due to non-Thirders. That's not intended as an insult. But it is noting that Lambert's comments especially resonated with those who blog nightly in the community. Marcia, Mike and Stan were the ones nominating it and, after it was read, Betty and Ruth were among the most vocal in agreement with it.
Is this a good editorial? We don't know. C.I. didn't want to do it. She felt she'd already said her peace at TCI. However, that ("The Kirkuk question") resulted in an onslaught of e-mails and became the most requested highlight of readers of this site. So clearly there was an audience for it. If it's good or bad, I (Jim) really don't know at this point. Give me a few days to think on it. (C.I., Mike, Ava and Betty felt the editorial should be on Iraq. You'll note Iraq gets a mention in one sentence. That made the editorial 'liveable' for the four of them.) Oh, illustration is by Betty's kids and we thank them.
When Ava and C.I. told me they'd decided on Community to be the focus this week, I was disappointed. I couldn't think of a show less worth writing about. Then I read their piece and noticed yet again how they manage to zoom in on the problems and call out what no one else wants to. I also noticed how they have their own little Community parody going on in the article if you read closely.
This piece took forever. How long? Easily an hour and a half. Why? Looking up the dead and wounded on each day. Providing the links. Adding the dead and wounded on each day. Then adding the full total of wounded for the month. Then the full total for the dead. Then repeatedly checking those numbers. It's why we hate to do a monthly toll.
A postponed feature. But Dona uploaded the photo from Ava and C.I.'s cameras. And we figured we could do a short piece with it. (Ava and C.I. noted Seth's SNL comment.)
Barack truly is the starlet in chief.
And Nancy Pelois is a step-below as the Brain Dead.
These usually go much higher up in the mix but we weren't that jazzed on this. We think it will be remembered for two things: the section on Black Republicans and C.I.'s pick for whom to sleep with. Dona wasn't present for that and after we finished the roundtable and told her C.I.'s pick, she said, "That's what people are going to e-mail on, wait and see."
ETAN.
Mike, Elaine, Ann, Cedric, Wally, Kat, Betty, Stan, Marcia, Ruth, and Rebecca wrote this and we thank them for it.
So that's what we managed. Our e-mail address is thirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.