Blog review

For the most part, this is not a political blog. Not because I'm not interested, but because there are a lot of people who write those sort of blogs already, and I'm not sure what I would have to add to the discussion. I also read a couple of religious-oriented blogs, as well as some more personal blogs.

So what am I reading?

General political blogs:

Atrios: Atrios is one of the major leftie blogs, gets talked about in Newsweek articles, that sort of thing. The language can be coarse, and the comments are usually not worth bothering with, but it's a good resource for links to other blogs.

Hullabaloo: Smaller than Atrios, Hullabaloo has better writing, especially the pieces written by Digby.

Sisyphus Shrugged: snarky commentary on current events. Good coverage of New York political scene.


Political blogs with a particular (although not exclusive) focus:

Respectful of Otters: My favorite political/policy blog. Rivka tends to write a lot about health issues and feminism, and she knows her stuff. She does her homework, is scrupulously fair, and is willing to call out idiocy regardless of where it comes from. She also as writes well as any blogger out there.

Orcinus: Dave Niewert's blog focuses on following the extreme right wing, racism and immigration issues, as well as environmental issues occasionally. Niewert is a freelance journalist, and it shows: the writing is clear and persuasive. Fascinating, if frightening, reading.


Religion blogs:

Adventus: Religion and politics. The blog can sometimes be very heavy going -- it doesn't hurt to understand formal theology -- but other times is simply very profound and moving.

Slacktivist: Religion and politics. (Those often go hand-in-hand, even for non-fundamentalist Christians.) Fred is a liberal, non-fundamentalist Evangelical. His series deconstructing the first of the "Left Behind" books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins gives both an amusing and informative look inside the mind of fundamentalists.

Of Course, I Could Be Wrong: by The Mad Monk. Anglicism, as seen from a liberal priest in England. Recently, there's been a lot about the insanity in the Anglican Communion.


Indescribable:

Making Light: Making Light is the popular blog by Teresa and Patrick Nielsen-Hayden, two science-fiction editors at Tor. While the posts are interesting, the real gold in Making Light is in the comments. Unlike many another blog, the comments are almost always intelligent, thoughtful, and use proper grammar. A recent post had comment threads that diverged into discussions of feminism, the morality of SUVs, and knitting. Teresa Nielsen-Hayden also invented the blogger convention of disemvoweling, whereby abusive or profane comments have their vowels removed, so they can still be read by those willing to puzzle them out, but are marked as being beyond the pale. (I have a great deal of trouble reading disemvoweled text, but I know from online interactions that I am in the minority.)


Personal blogs:

These are blogs I read because I know the people involved, although I think they are interesting enough to link to.

Ink Smudges: Cristopher Robinson, a priest in San Antonio, Texas, posts his sermons and other pieces on religion and faith. He doesn't post all that often, but every post is a gem. His post on ashram cats should be required reading for all Episcopal church-goers.

Julie's News From New York: I've already linked to this blog. The journey of a young woman through the wilds of seminary.

Going Jesus: Going Jesus is... something else. As is Sara, the blogger. I have had several people in conversation mention Going Jesus to me as something I needed to check out, not knowing that I knew Sara personally. I went to a wedding recently where the person who made the wedding cakes said she was inspired by the pictures of Sara's wedding cake posted on the blog. Be sure and check out Sara's amazing collection of religious kitsch -- especially the "Cavalcade of Bad Nativities." Oh, and for you knitters -- Sara knits intarsia. She oftens posts pictures of her projects. I am soooo jealous.


So, those are the blogs I read -- how about you?