Hey --
Another Sunday.
First up, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
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),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
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.
This wasn't our planned edition. We'd actually planned to do a humor edition for this week. But then the week progressed and it was ignore Iraq at the majority of outlets. Obviously, we don't have that luxury nor would our readers forgive us if we tried to ignore the illegal war.
So we tried to think of what we could do about Iraq and one reader had a suggestion (thank you, Joe Barnes) and we also wanted to include a few non-Iraq pieces to have a mix.
Here's what we came up with:
Bruce A. Dixon on the Cult of St. Barack.
It's not often we let a politician get a truest. We felt this one was more than important enough. Dona may talk to C.I., Ava, Kat and Wally about Congress next weekend. This weekend, there wasn't time.
Iraq just fell right off, dropped off the fact of the earth, if you believe most media outlets. This is a long editorial and we didn't plan it but, Janie, we'll pretend we did it just for you. (Janie e-mailed last week saying she missed long editorials she could "sink my teeth into.")
Jess is bored with the illustration for Ava and C.I.'s TV pieces and is toying with this for the latest. Let him know what you think. Ava and C.I. cover the failure of TV news yet again. This wasn't their planned piece. They were going to do an entertainment show but when we wanted to beef up Iraq coverage for this edition, one of the most obvious suggestions, and it came from them (Ava and C.I.) was to grade the networks' coverage of the 9th anniversary.
High up in the mix because it's a popular feature, yes, but also because it's not a weighty piece and we're trying to have a mix.
This was planned for next week. Ava and C.I. rushed it ("totally unprepared," says Ava) when we decided to toss aside our planned humor edition and instead emphasize Iraq with other stories for a mix. Thank you to TCI community members Billie, Heather, Michael, Ryan and Stephanie who read this piece -- they were among the readers who first brought the gender imbalance on this radio station to our problem and they were kind enough to read it Sunday morning after Ava and C.I. were convinced the piece failed in every way. (They always hate their own writing.) At which point, Jess and Dona suggested we get feedback on it from some of the people who brought the problem to our attention.
What can we do on Iraq? Ty brought up two e-mails and he and I suggested we find some pre-war coverage. Jess and C.I. suggested this program. Dona said, "I don't think we've given Eleanor Clift any credit in years."
Thank you to reader Joe Barnes who e-mailed asking if, to note the 9th anniversary, we could repost this quiz we wrote in 2007.
I (Jim) asked Ava and C.I. to cover this as a TV piece the morning after it aired. They agreed to consider it. And they wrote it! Best of all.
Lisa was among those writing recently who asked if we could post videos more often. I remembered that e-mail when we were talking about how to provide more Iraq coverage for this edition. And I asked, "Was there any Iraq video report worth highlighting?"
Ann wants this up at all community sites. Last week, we wrote "PBS, we don't want to see it in 2012" and Ann reposted it at her site. This edition, she suggested we note this again. Betty immediately agreed and they (and Dona) think we should note this a few more times just to get the point across.
Workers World repost.
Senator Patty Murray chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and wants answers about the Madigan Army Medical Center and PTSD.
Salem-News.com repost.
Human Rights Watch repost.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
And that's what we came up with. See you next week.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.