2003 Koufax Awards – Best New Blog Nominations
One of the most welcome developments of 2003 was the explosion of good lefty blogs. There was a time when I could read most all of the good lefty bloggers each day. That day is long gone. It is now impossible to keep up with all of the smart and insightful writers even on a weekly basis. One of the joys of hosting the Koufax Awards is that I gain exposure to some of those new voices.
More than fifty blogs have received nominations for Best New Blog. I apologize for the delay in listing those nominations. It would have been relatively straightforward to just post links to each nominee. Instead, I decided to try to include a brief description of the blog, recite its tag line or link to some of the better posts. That was a lot of work. I hope you enjoy it. Make some more room on your blogrolls. The nominees for the 2003 Koufax Award for Best New Blog are:
Alicublog is the work of Roy Edroso. Among his many fine posts you may want to read Dear Diary, These Kids Today, The Mother of All Photo Ops and Tremors.
Back Pages is the blog of Australian writer Christopher Sheil. Sheil is a teacher of economics, law and social policy at The University of New South Wales, the University of Sydney and Boston University. His blog focuses on �current affairs, history and other matters of special or momentary interest.�
Baghdad Burning is a new blog by an Iraqi writing from Baghdad. Riverbend writes about Iraq the war and the occupation from a perspective unique to the blog world.
Berry�s World is the domain of Keith Berry. Among his notable posts are Why Does the Rest of The World Hate America, Flash Forward to Election Night, Hardball Style, I�m Not that Old, I Tell Ya, and My Interview with Kevin McCullouch.
Big, Left, Outside is �Al Giordano�s Countercoup for authentic journalism and a free press.�
The Blogging of the President is a blog designed to �document the role of the blog in the presidential campaign of 2004.� The site is dedicated to Teddy White, author of the Making of the President series.
Brian�s Study Break is the work of Brian Ulrich. Brian is a Ph.D. Candidate in Islamic history at the University of Wisconsin. The main focus of Brian�s Study break is the �Islamic world, defined in its broadest sense.�
Broken Windows is a new blog covering all things New Orleans. It includes �prose and poetry, photos and rants.�
Carpe Datum is the work of Observer, a science teacher.His take on global warming, Stupid Conservative Myth # 5 is not to be missed. Fossil Fuel Alternatives is also excellent.
Cereffusion is the work of Chris Simpson. According to his blog, Chris is �an independent hip-hop loving, Dean voting, hipster with a goatee (okay, so he shaved it off ) & a Triple 5 Soul record bag trying to make his way on the mean streets of New Hampshire.�
Margaret Cho is an actor and comedian. When I emailed asking for a good post to link to, I received a reply from her agent. How many bloggers have agents? I want one too. Her agent informed by that all the posts are �masterpieces.� She is not far from right. I was sent a link to this one.
Chun The Unavoidable has been nominated in this category. A representative post from Chun is The Parmenides.
Colorado Luis provides �political and social commentary with altitude�, the altitude being the Rocky Mountains. Among Luis�s notable posts are Red Meat for the Tancredistas and Gale Norton Under Fire. Luis also is fond of beer blogging.
Corrente is the group effort of Lambert, Leah, Tresy and the Farmer. They did an admirable job willing in for Atrios last summer and have continued the good work at Corrente.
Crooked Timber is a group blog created by Henry Farrell. Henry gathered together twelve very smart people, mostly from the academy, including a number who were already blogging stars in their own right to form Crooked Timber. Politics, philosophy, sociology, economics and other matters are discussed at a high level on a daily basis.
Damfacrats began publishing last August. In a short time, it produced enough quality material to have received nominations for Best Post for three separate entries. Links to those posts may be found here.
The Decembrist is a fine new blog by Mark Schmitt. Mark is Director of Policy and Research at the Open Society Institute and was formerly the policy director for Senator Bill Bradley. One of Mark�s excellent posts is The Grand Bargain.
Dohiyi Mir is where NTodd says his piece. His piece is often hilarious. See, for instance Queer Eye for the Deposed Guy. NTodd also addresses issues in a serious way. See for instance So What Now.
The Dolphin is a Santa Barbara blog that invites contributions of original articles �on issues of local or national importance.� It is run by a Wes Clark supporter but is not affiliated with his campaign. The entries appear to be divided into the categories of the Body Politic, the Arts, Clark Notes, Santa Barbara notes and Apercus.
En Banc is a group law blog. Law students or soon to be law students Chris Geidner, Greg Goelzhauser, Jeremy Blachman, Nick Morgan, PG, and Unlearned Hand provide insight into the legal issues of the day.
Drug War Rant is the work of Pete Guither. Pete �looks at the front lines of the drug war, with news, analysis, and the occasional rant.�
The Early Days of a Better Nation is Ken MacLeod�s blog. Ken is a Scotsman, a novelist, a programmer and has a master�s degree in biomechanics. His writings have won the Prometheus Award and he has been a finalist for both the Arthur C. Clark Award and the Nebula Award.
ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES contains the opinions of a minor Greek Goddess. For instance, I thought the recent post entitled Fighting Fat�The Bush Administration Approach was particularly good.
A Fistful of Euros is a group blog with eleven contributors (plus guest bloggers). The blog focuses on economics and culture from a European perspective.
The Fulcrum is �tilting the world a little more to the left.� Among the posts doing the tilting is The Cause of the Decline of American Morality and Conflicted Shopping.
Steve Gilliard's News Blog hs been nominated in this and a number of other categories. Steve is a Daily Kos alumnus who eschews permanent links. His post I�m A Fighting Liberal from December 3, 2003 has been nominated for Best Post.
Matthew Holt is the man behind the Health Care Blog. Matthew has long experience in the health care sector. Among his more notable posts are QUALITY: Why doesn't evidence-based medicine happen in practice?, POLICY: More on uninsurance, TECHNOLOGY: Dump the stent, have a by-pass, Why Wall Street hates health care services but doesn't know it, and POLICY: Oh Canada.
It�s Still the Economy Stupid is an econoblog started by Mary Beth, Matt Stoller and Angry Bear, but now run by Teddy. A recent excellent post of Teddy�s Ten Rules of Investing in the New New Era.
Jar of Pencils is the work of Claire Ann and Marijka, two women sharing the same office and blog. It is an eclectic mix that works.
Just a Bump in the Beltway by Melanie Mattson provides �politics and culture from the left side of the page.� Among Melanie�s notable posts is Language, Religion and Politics, which was nominated for Best Post.
Patriot Boy holds forth at Jesus� General. One example of his humor is My own deck of Bush [holy] cards.
Luz Paz, Musings From the Heart of Aztlan, by my favorite anonymous Californian labor attorney/Metiza activist. Luz Paz is nominated for best post as well, but there's so much good stuff not often addressed in the white-male dominated blogosphere. Settle in with a marguerita and an Indian taco and open up the archives from the last five months.
Kicking Ass is the blog of the Democratic National Committee. It is manned mostly by Jesse Berney with backup from the DNC Research folks. Kicking Ass represents an opportunity to discuss issues directly with the party. Jesse also makes it a lot of fun.
Killing Goliath is a group blog with five authors.
The Left Coaster is �an outside-the-Beltway perspective on current events, politics, media, and the arts.� It is a group effort by produced by Steve Soto, Mary, Duckman GR, Cal Pol Junkie, Matt Davis, Paradox and Pessimist.
Left I on the News is �a leftwing view of the day�s news and the way it is presented in the media.� It is produced by Eli.
Lotus � Surviving A Dark Time consists of �thoughts, commentary, and a nonviolent, radical left perspective on the news from an ordinary individual struggling to keep hope alive." That individual is Larry. I particularly like the idea of Larry�s quote of the week. This week�s quote is from Joseph Comstock, MD, �Commerce carries, commerce brings, commerce exchanges, but labor produces.�
Chris Mooney is a freelance writer living in New Orleans. He was one of the originators of TAPPED When he worked at The American Prospect. Chris often writes about the intersection of science and politics.
Obsidian Wings is a group effort that spans the ideological spectrum. From right to left, you may want to read one of Moe�s posts, I have No Idea, one of Von�s posts, So I Sit in Snuffy�s Diner and Katherine�s superb post, The Disappeared.
Open Source Politics is a group effort that was the brain child of the Cowboy, Kevin Hayden. OSP�s mission statement says that it �was founded to promote active discourse among progressives. We firmly believe that the strength of every democratic nation comes from government of, by, and for its people.� In order to do that, Kevin has brought together more than forty excellent writers who bring insight, skill and perspective to the dialogue. It is presented in a daily magazine format.
Passenger Pachyderms is the work of Nichole. Her tag line is �What I see, when I feel like telling you about it. Observations from a sometimes writer and usual lefter.�
Rodger Payne is an Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Louisville. Among his notable posts is Howard Dean and the progressives.
A Perfectly Cromulent Blog is produced by Pete Vonder Haar. It focuses on �pop culture related smart-assery.� An example is his post entitled Soon, �Gay Divorcee� May Take On a Whole New Meaning.
Poison Kitchen is Patrick Taylor�s blog. The name �Poison Kitchen� refers to "the nickname Adolf Hitler gave to the muckraking journalists of the Munich Post. Sadly they have been almost forgotten.� A few of Patrick�s notable posts may be found here,
here and here.
Political Aims is the blog of Amy Sullivan. Amy is a writer based in Princeton, NJ and Washington, DC. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Divinity School, and she is currently pursuing a doctorate in sociology at Princeton University. Among her notable posts are A Liberal Call to Arms, Can Public Policy Save Teenage Girls?, and The Liberal Reaction.
Procrastinating Since 1970 is the work of T.J. Griffin and Dagwood Reeves (who has been procrastinating since 1971). An example of TJ�s writing is I Am An Idiot� Let me Prove it to You. An example from Dagwood is The difference between calling for action and actual action.
Random Thoughts is Susan Nunes�s blog. Susan provides short posts linking to lots of very good stuff. I must say, however, that her thoughts do not appear to be random at all. Susan also has an excellent set of newspaper links (including some smaller papers) that I often use for surfing.
The Right Christians is the work of reverend Allen Brill. He writes on a number of topics many which seem to be at the intersection of religion, politics and law. Among his notable posts are his discussions of the Lochner era jurisprudence, the Bible and estate taxes, The Progressive�s Theory of Everything, Religion in America and his Survivor post.
The Rude Pundit is �proudly lowering the level ofpolitical discourse.� Among the posts generating the Rude One�s pride are here and here.
Sadly, No is a satirical examination of daily events. A couple examples of Sadly, No�s writing are Apparently, Ronald Isn�t The Only One Experiencing Memory Loss and The Trouble with Paul Johnson.
The Talent Show is an eye-pleasing new blog run. The talent may be appreciated by reading Biased Against Bullshit, Agricultural Technophobia, A slippery slope toward tyranny and Reason Triumphs Over Superstition.
ThinkingPeace �is the creation of writer, editor, and peace activist Michael Sky.� Here is one example of his writing.
Tikun Olam is Richard Silverstein�s blog. Richard is interested in the Middle east with a particular interest in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Some of his more notable posts include The War in Iraq: Why It's Going Badly, After the Fall: Sadaam's Capture and Where We Go from Here and the more lighthearted Tom DeLay: from Termite Terminator to Middle East Expert.
Today In Iraq is quite aptly named. It provides daily coverage of what is happening in Iraq with lots of very good links, many of which are to sources I would not otherwise find.
Trogwatch brings you critical thinking �from our cave to yours.� An example is the post Fox vs. Satire.
Trish Wilson�s Blog is another example of the new crop of excellent sites. Her posts entitled Mass. Court Strikes Down Gay Marriage Ban and That AWOL "Mom" In The News Is The STEP-Mom are particularly noteworthy. Also see the Trish's nomination for Best expert blog.
The View From the Basement provides �independent news commentary from the US and Israel.� It is the work of Tamar Ron a �25-year-old native Israeli who grew up mostly on the east and west coasts of the US and currently resides in New York City.� She is currently a master's degree candidate in Medieval Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Whiskey Bar is where Billmon serves the drinks. Billmon is a Daily Kos alum who needs no introduction from me. For some of his better posts see the nominations for Best Post where eight(!) of his posts are listed.
World O�Crap has been nominated in a number of categories. One example of WOC�s work is Rock- Worshipping Cults Support Roy Moore.
[Note: I, MB, added a few which had come into my mailbox, with my own comments, just in case you notice a different voice introducing some new blogs.]
[Note: I corrected a bunch of html errors. DAM]