A Note to Our Readers

Hey --

The never ending edition. Dona got sick this morning and we all took a breather. She's better now and thinks it was a virus. (Thanks for asking.)

Here's who worked on this edition:



The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Jess, Ty, Ava and Jim,

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,

and Wally of The Daily Jot

And of course Dallas. Also, Betty's oldest son worked with us on some illustrations we'll be using in the future. We're noting that now in case it comes up at his school (as it did last time).

Here's what we've got:

Truest statement of the week -- Kat and C.I. came to the edition with Juan Gonzalez selected as their choice and nothing else measured up so he was the hands down winner.


Editorial: Stupid is the head that wears the crown... -- The title says it all.

TV: What does it take to cancel this show? -- I (Jim) asked for this when Dona started feeling sick. Ava and C.I. had notes for another commentary. This turned out really strong and builds to a point (and finish) as it moves along.

Book: Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine -- Never again. This is half the book discussion. Dona wasn't feeling well enough to edit. She really edits better than any of the rest of us. We halfed this for two reasons: easier to read and spell check. Spell check didn't work even when halved. "Rush transcript." Enjoy typos. Be smart and get Naomi Klein's new book on Tuesday (unless you get it on Monday because you're attending the NYC event).

Green Party calls for real leadership on Iraq War -- This almost didn't get done. When Dona was finally feeling better, she looked over what we had and noted that we didn't do the Green Party piece (last week, one ran in the print edition, we couldn't get it together to make it worth posting online).

The Peace Resister pretends to be about peace -- This was suggested by people at The Nation. Again, they aren't all vanden Heuvels. Some actually care about the illegal war. Those who do were laughing their asses off as vanden Heuvel attempted to pass herself off as someone who strives for peace.

United for Peace and Some Justice? -- She wasn't the only one playing, now was she? UFPJ and authors Phyliss Bennis and Eric Leaver held a useless party with door prizes awarded to themselves. Ava and C.I. did not work on this feature. They took a pass and used the time to get the book discussion edited.

On Univision Dodd & Edwards play War Hawks -- We'd planned a longer piece on the Univision forum. We may do that next week. The planned one. We're actually waiting on several things there. It will be interesting to see whether they arrive or not and will determine the scope of the feature next week. Look for it.

Does Katrina vanden Heuvel thinks she has testicles? -- Again, suggested by friends at The Nation. How did we miss this? That was the question in a phone call. We really no longer read The Nation. But we agreed it was worth noting here.

Who gets the hate mails? -- This piece on Elaine and Mike shouldn't be up. Dona started throwing up during the writing of this and we dropped the piece. There was no time to pick it back up and finish it. There was no time for a polish. Ty and Ava worked on a quick conclusion. Those who wonder what goes in the print edition, it's like this. Without the quick conclusion.

Highlights -- Mike, Kat, Cedric, Betty, Wally, Rebecca and Elaine worked on this, we thank them.

Note -- When Dona stopped throwing up, C.I. said she needs to get in bed and we need to post a note about a delay. Everyone was supposed to rest for two hours. Reality ended up being C.I. and I were up and taking care of Dona. (We did that gladly. But we're both tired, exhausted and snappy. So this note is quick and the morning or 'morning' entry at The Common Ills will be quick. This did end up being the longest time up for an edition with close to forty hours and counting.)

That's it. If you found something you liked, great. If not, oh well. See you next week.


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