Ten And Only Ten
KTRK-13's Mike McGuff put me on the spot with one question for his excellent article on weblogs, and that was when he asked me to name my five favorite blogs.
One any given day, that Top Five would look quite a bit different depending on my mood. So I tried to be "diverse" and include a mix of the political (Brothers Judd, Powerline), media (Press Think), Gloriously, Sensibly Texas (The Fat Guy), and Thoughtful Local (Houston's Clear Thinkers).
Laurence's Ten and Only Ten exercise would have made things a little easier. Here's how that Top Ten list would look as of today (no rankings are implied, other than Brothers Judd, which is tops):
UPDATE (07-01-2005): Oh hell, there are eleven, not ten. Well, I'm not changing it at this point.
Brothers Judd
If I could only read one blog, this would be the one. It's a daily civics lesson from a learned conservative perspective. It comments on American politics, international politics, foreign policy, books, culture -- and it does so while heavily emphasizing primary news sources.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Tom Kirkendall's a lawyer, a gentleman, and a fellow Student of Lence. I don't always hit the local business and legal news as hard as I should, because I know Tom's going to keep me up to speed on things. He also brings an analytical, economic perspective to bear on other interesting topics (such as sports).
Powerline
These guys are smart lawyers, they write really well, and they put out a thoughtful conservative perspective on American politics, international politics, and media.
Press Think
Jay Rosen puts up these long, smart posts on media that contain all sorts of links. Since he's so link heavy and Jarvis shows up so frequently in his links, I tend to hit Rosen's place more often.
Is Full Of Crap
Laurence's blog is just a grab bag of fun stuff. There's still the occasional tale of past hijinks at KTRK. There are dead Palestinian posts. There's the recurring Kofi/Yassir thing. And every once in a while, there's a new-media post that just blows me away.
The Fat Guy
Scott Chaffin is just Scott Chaffin. If you can't have a beer with that guy and like him -- even if he tells you you're full of crap -- then you are probably an a-hole. His blog is sort of like that.
Safety For Dummies
Chris has transformed his blog into THE source for informed conservative commentary on Fort Bend County politics, and he posts good stuff on Texas and American politics. I like the fact that when he skewers our friends on the Left, it's almost always humorous, and never mean-spirited.
Brazosport News
I really like Banjo Jones' writing. So much so that I'd probably read anything the guy churns out. Even if he wrote about soccer. Or smokestack emissions (wait, he does that already, and it's good stuff). Thankfully, he has a knack for picking topics that are interesting.
No Left Turns
Goodness knows, I'm a big fan of the scholars at the Claremont Institute. I don't mean this badly, but sometimes their blog reads like ... writing from Straussian scholars/teachers of political philosophy and American political thought who are affiliated with a think tank. Then there's the crew at No Left Turns, many of whom are associated with the Claremonsters, but who manage to sound less like academics and more like people writing about real politics (generally from the same intelligent, Claremonster, Lincolnian perspective). They're usually kind enough to point to good stuff on the Claremont site.
Pegasus News: The Daily Peg
These guys are blogging about their experience of trying to create a new, hyperlocal, technology-savvy news form. Talk about your modest alt-media project! I'm not sure where they're going, but riding along is most informative for new-media/alt-media enthusiasts like yours truly.
Off the Kuff
Kuffner comments on all sorts of local stuff, so that makes it an obvious read. Beyond that, I sort of regard Kuffner like I do David Broder. As Broder is the temperate voice of liberal media conventional wisdom, so Kuffner is the temperate voice of liberal blogger conventional wisdom. His tone and rhetoric are measured, and that can't always be said about political bloggers, so his is a useful blog for keeping up with our friends on the Left.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 06/30/05 23:22 | Other | Technorati
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Comments
Ditto on el hombre gordo. Quiero mas!
I don't even like poker but it's still interesting.
Posted by Rob Booth (Slightly Rough) @ 06:04 on 07/01/05
Thanks.
Posted by Laurence Simon @ 07:43 on 07/01/05
What do I have to do to get on this list, Kevin?
Back to poliblogging??
Anything but that. ;-)
Posted by TP @ 11:32 on 07/01/05
Thanks for putting us on your top 10 list, Kevin. Made me as happy as a puppy with two peters.
Posted by banjo jones @ 19:07 on 07/01/05
Aw, I'm blushing. Does this mean I have to put something up besides a dancing pig?
Posted by Scott Chaffin @ 08:44 on 07/02/05
I'm blushing too. Imagine if I actually had the time to blog lately. My wife might get jealous. =)
Posted by Chris Elam @ 13:05 on 07/02/05
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