Virtually Speaking

"what digby said" is a term of art in the liberal blogosphere. Avedon Carol's Sideshow has been snarking, and providing ripping good political analysis for as long as there has been a blogosphere.

Mockery and thoughtful analysis will be featured.

Our three generations of feminists return to Virtually Speaking to discuss decisions and developments during the first 18 months of the Obama administration. Shelby, from Lubbock TX, is the award-winning producer, director and star of The Education of Shelby Knox. Lynn is an author, essayist and recovering comedian. Gloria, also from Lubbock TX, formerly chief executive for Planned Parenthood of America is an author and speaker.

Marcy is the archetype of the blogger journalist, breaking and developing a variety of stories ranging from the Scooter Libby trial, the use of torture by US forces in the Middle East and the Toyota product scandal. She blogs as as part of the FireDogLake community.

We will talk about Abu Zabadaya, organizing our discussion around Marcy's timeline of his capture, detention and interrogation.

University of Michigan Professor of Middle Eastern Studies Juan Cole will join us to discuss Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Juan is a highly regarded expert on the region, author of several books. He blogs at Informed Comment.

Olivier is Congressional Correspondent for Agence France-Presse, the French wire service. He twitters, wittily, as OKnox.

We will talk about the latest kerfluffle on the Hill (to be determined by what is happening at the time). And we will talk about the craft of writing wire copy about America for non-Americans.

Marcy blogs at emptywheel.firedoglake.com. Joan McCarter is a front page blogger at DailyKos. The gusher in the Gulf and SCOTUS nominee Kagan are likely to be topics, although Tapper's This Week Roundtable, which has some voices from the left appearing, may also come up.

Jon is an innovative member of the Republican party, who is looking to the future of the party and the nation. He is a founder of The Next Right where he also blogs.

Cliff Schecter is an outspoken liberal, a campaign consultant from Ohio, who has made many television appearances,some of them on Fox.

Cliff and Jon make a unique pairing of sharp intellects ready to engage in an honest and civil discussion from the viewpoints of the left and the right.

Clammyc and CS Kendrick review the political and practical news of the week.

Jeffrey Feldman is the author of Framing the Debate (Ig Publishing, 2007), Outright Barbarous (Ig Publishing, 2008), and Founder of the influential blog on politics and language called Frameshop (frameshopisopen.com), which launched as an independent website Jan. 1, 2005.

Dr. Feldman holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology which he applies broadly to the analysis of politics and communication, ranging from election speeches, to issue campaigns, and media analysis.

digby has been setting the blogging standard for as long as there has been a blogosphere. Stuart has been a scintillating commenter in the blogspace.

They'll discuss the developments of the week.

Our media, not theirs.