Too much court today...missed the whole day of news. Let's hear what you have to say.

For two years, TalkLeft has published using the "editorial we." There have been many reasons for this, not the least of which is the "six degrees of separation" I hoped to keep between the blog and my law practice. Nobody should seek my legal services because they like what I say on TalkLeft. One has nothing to do with the other. In fact, clients should beware any lawyer who interjects his or her political beliefs as to what the law should be in an argument to a court. If you want the law changed, take it to Congress, not the courts.

I also use the "editorial we" because TalkLeft speaks from the viewpoint of many, although certainly not all, criminal defense lawyers, whose top priority is defending the citizen accused. The main reason criminal defense lawyers comment on cable news shows and give interviews to the print media is to enable the public to view laws and court proceedings through the lens of the Constitution. "We" has a lot more impact than "I" in this regard.

Of course I realized that blogging at the DNC in Boston would call more attention to me, Jeralyn, and that while my identity as TalkLeft's creator and principal author is readily available though TalkLeft's "about page," that after the DNC, more people would associate TalkLeft with me. I decided it was worth the risk because the opportunity to go to Boston was such a special one. And now, it seems like that's exactly what has happened. Other bloggers are now referring to TalkLeft as "Jeralyn"--see here and here and here.

Many readers have criticized TalkLeft's use of the "editorial we" in the past and I've always found that the reasons stated above justify disregarding them. Now, I'm not so sure.

So, as an experiment, even though it seems unnatural, self-absorbed and insanely non-private, I'm going to post for a week using "I" instead of "we." It's only an experiment, so don't go ballistic if I change back to the more comfortable "we" next week. Our contributing blogger TChris will continue to post as TChris--unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear his Blakely case, in which case it may be months before he has time to blog again.

Hey, if Atrios can come out of "the closet,", so can I. Feel free to let me know in comments which way you like it better--"we" or "I." Everyone's opinion matters here.

Lots of new folks we've discovered to give a shout-out to today:

Green Pass by Zoe Vandervolk, whose day job is to work as an intern for Gadflyer. She also studies statistics and music at Harvard. We talked to her a lot at the convention, she's great friends with Jesse and Ezra of Pandagon, and she got frustrated having to be careful what she wrote on Gadflyer, so she's created her own blog.

Newsfeed: Submit your blog and help spread the word.

NEWSFEED is for bloggers, news junkies, commentators, drudgereporters, and all who take interest in the wild world of news reporting. 1,000s of news sites, culled every day for the most interesting reading.

Fafblog, also blogging on the convention and related matters.

TalkLeft hit 3 million unique visitors today--with almost 5 million page views. We converted TalkLeft to a weblog on June 15, 2002--just about two years ago. (Here's our pre-blog look.) We never dreamed so many people would read us. Thanks to every one of you. And a big thanks to TChris who has become an invaluable contributor to TalkLeft.

The very funny blogger TBogg is interviewed by Catch.

Kevin Drum of Political Animal weighs in on the scandalous Florida felon voting list and its ties to the states' Republicans about which we expressed our outrage here. More on the effect of the list in 2000 is here. And don't miss Billmon on Jeb Bush's shenanigans.

Jeanne D'Arc of Body and Soul tells us this is the quiz du jour.

Our "cyber-sis" Avedon Carol at Sideshow describes the hypocrisy of the latest conservative attack on liberals as only she can.

Skippy has some rants on Florida's voting system and on reports that Iraq's prime minister shot six detainees in the head, which he found out about from Holden who has been doing a great job filling in for the journeying Atrios.

Tim at Road to Surfdom writes about the air marshals' concerns over the new dress code imposed by Homeland Security--will it make them stick out like sore thumbs?

Julia at Sysyphus Shrugged reports on a blog fight going on over at World 'O Crap.

Gary Farber at Amygdala has a week's worth of good reading up. On the gay-outing plan. And on the craziness of our locking up crazy kids.

We're on Martha/Kobe/Scott Peterson duty again today, and then out to dinner, so unless TChris pops up, we'll see you tomorrow.

Several of our TalkLeft sponsor ads ended today, leaving the space totally free. The "Sponsor" slots on the right side of TalkLeft are the cheapest. We've just lowered the rates for the weekend. If you're interested, go here. (link fixed.)

Also, our second premium ad space is available --on the left side of TL, under the logo. The space is limited to one ad, so act quick. It's now taken for the week of the convention, but it's available now until July 24 and after August 1.

We're sorry to report that Classless Warfare (with Jay and Jane) is no more....but the good news is that Jay Caruso will keep blogging. His new blog is Mr. Blond's Garage. Now, we know Jay is a conservative, and he and TL don't agree on much, but we've always enjoyed reading him and will include the new blog on our "Best of the Other Side" blogroll. Jane, who also is a terrific blogger, can now be found at The Fat Guy.

More akin to our politics, we learn that Judd Leglum, who writes professionally for American Progress Report, has started his own blog, The Winning Argument.

And, there are the new kids in town. Go give them a read. Some are quite good.

One more: Now that the Bush twins have jumped into the campaign fray, here's a blog devoted to them. And Chelsea doesn't skate either.

TalkLeft readers will note that we do have a link section to "Best of the Other Side" -- a short list of blogs that have opposing viewpoints from our own. Say hello to another one, Redstate.Org, a Republican community blog:

RedState.org is focused on politics, and seeks the construction of a Republican majority in the United States. We hope to unite serious, innovative, and accomplished voices from government, politics, activism, civil society, and journalism to participate in this work.

Why are we linking to it? For the same reason we link to Tacitus, one of the blog's founders. He's a good writer and every once in a while, we agree with him.

Happy Second Blogiversary to Skippy--one of our oldest and favoritie web buddies--and a big congrats for hitting the 500,000 visitor mark. We read Skippy every day--he always makes us smile. He's also one of the most generous linkers around.

Say hello to Ghost in the Snow. He's 17, from Texas and pretty savvy. [link via Blah3.com]:

Look! There's Iraq! Tons of oil and we can pretend to be tough on terrorism by bringing down a whole country! It was an obvious choice. And, with the stupidity of the general American public, which dictates that an Arab is an Arab is an Arab, the invasion began. Backed by the Republican-owned media, the idea that it was a war for freedom and all that is right began to permeate the minds of otherwise intelligent people.

So now you have a huge bias against people such as myself, who read between the lines and realize that this war is a political ploy. I'm the one who will get persecuted for choosing jail over the draft.

Our second premium ad space is available --on the left side of TL, under the logo. The space is limited to one ad, so act quick. If you take it for a month, you will save bucks and it will stay up through the Democratic Convention, where we'll be blogging live with our new press credentials and undoubtedly have more visitors to the site.

We're off to court for the afternoon. Have some fun and speak your mind here.