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.
We thank them all. What did we come up with?
Susan may have had a truest when her site was Random Thoughts but this is her first since it became On the Edge.
Amy Davidson of The New Yorker gets her first truest.
Betty, C.I., Elaine, Rebecca and Trina started this discussion last week. When we started this piece, it was a feature. A third of the way in, Dona and Rebecca were both of the opinion that it was an editorial. We had no Iraq feature. Our plan was to make Iraq the editorial. C.I. said she could work Iraq in briefly in this editorial and that we could include two State Department releases on Iraq. (C.I. also said working Tim Arango into this editorial would guarantee some new eyeballs read about Barack sending more troops into Iraq last fall.) So we went with this. I think it's a very powerful editorial.
Ava and C.I. survey the media landscape. We promised them an easy week. We were supposed to have a comic and film feature this edition. We said, "Just cover an entertainment TV show." Then that fell by the wayside and we asked them if they could cover news and public affairs? They did this at the last minute and it's incredible.
Ty moderated the discussion of Heidi Boghosian's new book. He brought up a senator's sexuality (C.I. helped out on that), while Ava brought up Randi Rhodes. Ty's strategy, he told those participating before they started, was to bring up anything that might raise interest in the book and get the word out on it.
I (Jim) moderated this discussion. I didn't think like Ty -- and didn't have to. There's much more built in interest in this book due to the fact that, as a society, we're more interested in entertainment than news. That's not a slam on this book. Every one participating in this edition loved it. Looking at Ty's discussion, I think he did a better job than I did but I do think we covered this book and got the word out on it.
Short features, the cry of Dona always. This edition, this was our short feature.
As Ava and C.I. point out in their commentary, Norah O'Donnell actually had the journalistic spine to provide some facts after the NSA spin was included. Most outlets, by contrast, were too cowardly to question the spin.
The NSA cares about your rights? A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Release from Senator Murray's office.
State Department release -- video is from State Department's YouTube channel? Why? Sometimes the video on the State Department's website has closed captioning, sometimes it does not. On the YouTube channel it always does.
State Department background briefing.
Workers World repost.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.
So that's what we came up with this go round.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.