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.
And what did we come up with?
Chris Hedges. Not only did we all agree but because we all thought so, he was the only one we brought to the table. So we only offer one truest this week.
The Drone War. The video alone made it appropriate for today's editorial (it's Easter). This ended up being easier to write than expected.
This did not. I (Jim) gave the topic to Ava and C.I. Sunday morning (around two) and my point was that we had a lot of e-mails asking why, since they've done great pieces on the genres of sitcoms and variety shows over the years, they've never tackled the TV movie genre. Ava and C.I. looked at me like I was crazy. And I well may be. They said (a) that topic is too huge to drop on them, (b) that topic is too huge for one article, (c) the only reason they might do it is there is nothing at all "trendy" or "Water Cooler" about it, (d) let them make some calls to any friends who might be up and they'll get back to me. They still weren't sold on it when they finished their phone calls but figured they could give it a try since we were hoping to be done before seven a.m. They roughed out a draft that they hated. But did so to make the deadline. Then we didn't make the deadline. And since some have young kids, that meant regrouping later in the night. Which we did. At that time, Ava and C.I. took a second pass on the piece. I thought it was a solid piece with the first attempt. I realize now why they didn't. With minor tweeking and removing a sentence here, adding a few words there, they turned into an Ava and C.I. piece -- as opposed to staid academia.
This has been brewing as a topic for some time. The decision to ignore listeners and axe Talk of the Nation made it a must do piece this week.
A friend of C.I.'s asked us if we could work in a link to this group. My response was, "I'm sure Ava and C.I. can if we can't" -- meaning they could do a link in their TV article. Then, days later, when we're doing the edition, Ava and C.I. are singing along to this amazing song. What is that song? It's Chic Gamine's "Closer." Oh. Oh! We quickly made this video of the week. They are amazing in this video.
Our Iraq piece.
We didn't set out to call out Black Agenda Report. We honestly only visited today looking for a second truest but instead we found a problem.
This piece has a lengthy intro from me so I'll let that stand. C.I. did some great writing in this piece be sure to read it.
Repost from England's Socialist Worker.
Repost on Cindy Sheehan's Tour de Peace action.
Workers World repost.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.