A note to our readers

Hey --
Can you believe how early we are for a change?

Thank you to all who worked on this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona 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.

We thank them all. The previous two weeks were impossible. Last Sunday, C.I. and Ava made it very clear that they were not going to spent 24 hours plus working on an edition. We got the point. Please refer to C.I.'s "E-mails and talking post" for more on one reason for the delays. I (Jim) cop to it and my apologies for not getting it until I read C.I.'s piece Thursday (my apologies to Cedric).

So with that cleared out of the way for all of us, we set out to work and finished at a decent hour. How amazing.

• Truest statement of the week

Michael Ratner. We could have probably thought of two but, going into the edition, this was our choice and we felt it was strong enough that we didn't need to rack our brains to think of another one.

• Editorial: A teachable moment

An editorial. This is our Iraq piece. No, it's not heavy on Iraq but Dona was in charge of moving things along. She called time and said, "The editorial has Iraq in it, we're done."

• TV: The difference between 'special' and 'filler'

Ava and C.I. wrote this and it's a great piece. They aren't thrilled with it -- they never are. But it has become tradition now that every Thanksgiving they review what the networks call "specials." Have they hated them all except for the Faith Hill one they mention in this article? No. They liked the Paul McCartney concert. They liked aspects of a Tony Bennett special. But the only one that was truly special was the Faith Hill one (and go back and read that piece, they confess up front in it that they thought her special would be a disaster). They've covered Madonna, Beyonce last year, Rosie O'Donnell, etc. This stands with their strongest pieces and continues to ask why the networks and the artists think they can pass these non-specials off as specials?

• Netflix plan that works for you

We've been wanting to do a Netflix piece for some time and Stan's been pitching one forever. This pulls in a lot of that and, hopefully, gives you a little more information than the bad reporting by major outlets did last week.

• Radio moment

As noted at the top of the piece, we planned for this to be a regular feature. Instead, this is only the second installment with the first being last September.

• Jim's World

At some point, I asked Ava and C.I. if they'd cover the Barbara Walters interview with Barack and Michelle Obama and their response was largely unprintable but did include the suggestion that after I go do one thing to myself I consider writing a piece all by myself on all the candy I was eating while working on the edition.

• A minor classic that could have been major

We like Able Danger. We wish we could love it.

• Highlights

Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.

And that's what we ended up with and, for a change, we're not posting at 8:00 p.m. or later.


Peace.

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