This Blog Is Full Of Crap

(If you do one of these, feel free to use the Technorati tag of 10blogs to track others chasing the rabbit.)

Sometimes, I ask myself questions. Occasionally, I'll answer them.

As I've asked before, I ask it today once again. Today's question is "If I could only read ten blogs, which blogs would they be?"

This is not easy, since I've got a bloglines list of over two hundred feeds. However, many of them are just click-and-scan. Not really in-depth reading unless it's got a unique perspective on something, excellent cat photos, or a springboard for further discussion.

So I looked through my Bloglines subscriptions and started whittling them down as best as I could. The voices in my head asked me: "Which do I click through to read the entire article instead of just reading the headline and moving on?"

For a little perspective, here's the history of Ten and Only Ten:

10/7/2004 - First Round

1. Blogging Cat by Prince Muddy Paws the Doll-Faced Seal Point Himalayan Persian
2. Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson
3. A Small Victory by Michele C.
4. Scrappleface by Scott Ott
5. Mind of Mog by Mog
6. Cox and Forkum by Cox and Forkum
7. Yourish.com by Meryl Yourish
8. Gut Rumbles by Rob Smith the Acidman.
9. Knowledge is Power by Sondra and Rodger
10. Protein Wisdom by Jeff Goldstein

1/21/2005 - Second Round

1. Blogging Cat by Prince Muddy Paws the Doll-Faced Seal Point Himalayan Persian
2. Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson
3. Cox and Forkum by Cox and Forkum
4. blogHouston by Kevin, Anne, and the gang.
5. Mind of Mog by Mog
6. Yourish.com by Meryl Yourish
7. Knowledge is Power by Sondra, Claire and Rodger
8. IMAO by Frank J.
9. J-Walk by John Walkenbach
10. Protein Wisdom by Jeff Goldstein

4/30/2005 - Third Round

1. Blogging Cat by Prince Muddy Paws the Doll-Faced Seal Point Himalayan Persian
2. Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson
3. IMAO by Frank J.
4. Cox and Forkum by Cox and Forkum
5. Yourish.com by Meryl Yourish
6. blogHouston by Kevin, Anne, and the gang.
7. J-Walk by John Walkenbach
8. Blog Maverick by Mark Cuban
9. Techblog by Dwight Silverman
10. Wizbangblog by Jay Tea

7/31/2005 - Fourth Round

1. Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson
2. IMAO by Frank J. and others
3. blogHouston by Kevin, Anne, and the gang.
4. Google Sightseeing by Alex, James & Olly
5. Cox and Forkum by Cox and Forkum
6. J-Walk by John Walkenbach
7. TechBlog by Dwight Silverman
8. Wizbang by Jay Tea
9. Yourish.com by Meryl Yourish
10. Mind of Mog by Mog

10/28/2005 - First Podcast Round

1. Mostly Trivial - Johnnie Bee.
2. Israellycool - Zionaussie Dave.
3. History According to Bob - Professor Bob.
4. Technology Bytes - "Fighting" Jay Lee, Flicted (sp?), Peter, Dwight.
5. Israelisms - Charly and Carol.
6. The Starkcast - Jim K.
7. The View From Here - Harry and Zeva.
8. Digital Flotsam - D.W. Fenton
9. Slacker Astronomy - Aaron and Pamela.
10. Riding With The Window Down - Chris Doelle

12/10/2005 - Fifth Round

1. Little Green Footballs
2. blogHouston
3. Savage Chickens
4. Google Sightseeing
5. J-Walk
6. Cox and Forkum
7. Gizmodo
8. Yourish.com
9. Mind of Mog
10. TechBlog by Dwight Silverman

You'll notice that IMAO drops off, despite it being a great site. that's because I never add any site that I'm an author on. This means that Meryl Yourish's site leaves the list as well.

Two slots open. Let's fill them, okay?

1. Ted Rall: Because he's just so damn right about everything and his cartoons and columns just aren't enough to keep the bonfire of my fury against capitalism and Christian theocratic neoconservativism going. Before he spoke out, I was just so sure that the World Trade Center was brought down by a team of nineteen terrorists, fifteen of which were from Saudi Arabia. Now, I know it was all Bush's and Cheney's fault for wanting a pipeline through Afghanistan to deliver huge amounts of cheap oil that Halliburton could sell at ludicrous prices before helping supply an endless neoconservative war with Islam. Whew.

2. Wonkette: Who cares about meaningful insight about the issues in the Washington political scene? Tell me who's buttfucking whom while wearing a leather donkey suit and don't spare the details. I want to know who's been left off of the Zimbabwe Embassy Ball's guest list for the sixth year running (HINT: They're white). I want to know which celebrity is testifying in front of a Senate subcommittee about Canadian lumber tariffs and what style shoes they're wearing. But most importantly, I want my eyes to spin like pinwheels from column to column trying to find the content among the ten thousand advertisements per page. Can you give that to me, Wonkette? Wow, you can!

3. Daily Kos: There's many approaches to blogging. One is the "Shotgun in a dark basement" method, where you're bound to hit something. Then there's the "Hurl bullshit at a wall" method, which says you just keep throwing and you'll eventually get something to stick. Kos demonstrates the "Bullshit stuffed into a bunch of shotguns in a dark basement" approach brilliantly. Because that to me is what America is all about.

4. Andrew Sullivan: I'm tired of trying to understand the complexity of every issue. Thank God Andrew is there to boil everything down to simple and straightforward terms of how everything Bush does is evil because he's against gay marriage. I should send him everything in my savings account so Time Magazine can pay their bandwidth bills this week.

5. Oliver Willis: Before Oliver Willis, I never knew that I was a black-hating racist when I was examining the rather heated speeches by African-American civic leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Aaron MacGruder, Jesse Jackson, and Terrel Owens. But thanks to people like Oliver, I know that holding blacks up to a basic standard of truth and tolerance is, in fact, racism. Wow. Boy, was I so wrong, but thank goodness I know better know. And even better, thanks again to Oliver, now I know I'm actually thin. Practically anorexic. Pass the gallon-sized jar of mayo and a bendy-straw - the Redskins are on and I'm ashamed of my white skin!

6. Huffington Post: At first, I thought I could get my daily dose of informed, progressive celebrity opinion from Oscars Night speeches and Oprah Winfrey shows. Then I had to buy a second television to show E! in High Definition to keep up with Alec Baldwin's wisdom. But Huffington Post has done a splending job of bringing all of the well-researched studies chartered by celebrity experts together, whether they want to blog or not. And what's best is that I can read hundreds of like-minded progressive experts in the community at large agreeing with them in the comments without having to bother with annoying dissent from conservative commenters, because that's what Free Speech is all about, right?

7. Gothamist: Screw my town. I want to know what's happening in that toddling town of New York. What's going on with Broadway? How's the shopping? What fashions are spreading across SoHo? I really want to know, because my own community is so painfully inadequate and worthless. Tell me more about New York so I can get over my envy and embrace your city's superiority, Gothamist!

8. Jim Norton: The only thing better than firsthand news of a perverted, no-talent Opie-and-Anthony's bitch stand-up sell-out comedian's life is when it's infrequently updated. Because it's the anticipation of heading that firsthand news that keeps me going, not the news itself. Will he post today? No? Well, then maybe tomorrow. I'm so excited!

9. Wizbang Pop: I was so tired of wading through the rare and annoying "meaningful news" in Wizbang to find the PG-rated cheesecake photos of celebrities I could find in any wire feed with easier navigation and layout. Thank goodness that all that's been re-filtered, re-published, and re-splattered with advertisements so I can get just the best of PG-rated cheesecake photos of celebrity and empty, impersonal copy-pastes of celebrity news. I could read this all day if it weren't for the fatc that I have to eat, sleep, crap, and occasionally shower.

10. Barbara Streisand: Before Barbara, Broadway was just called Way, and now we know why. Sixty years of collected wisdom from her studies in the School Of Hard Knocks, brought to bear on the right-wing theocracy our country has become. So hard-hitting, you'd think she'd kept her stunt-balls from her performance in Yentil to pull this brave stand off. And the best part is, I know that under than scrubbed-and-pampered exterior, deep down in inside her beats a heart just like me because she too has problems with the totalitarian demands for clear grammar, perfect spelling, and the formation of basic conherent thoughts. People need people, and I need Barbara to show me the way.

Once I get to 10, I'll be knocking sites off of the list. Every site on means one comes off. Feel free to campaign for a particular site or remind me that I've forgotten one of my favorites, and I'll have to ask myself "What other site would I stop reading to read this site?"

Here's the clincher: If I decline a site, I'll tell you why with no holds barred. No bullshit, no pulled punches, years of friendship or alliances laid to the bone and beyond to tell it like it is, right here and now. And if I think a site sucks, I'll give it both barrels and beat it with the shotgun's stock even after the coroner's bagged and tagged it.

Also, feel free to accuse me of kissing ass here, but if you get between me and my King Size supply of Chapstick, you're dead meat.

This is not an easy thing to do. You should try it yourself. You're more than welcome to do this meme on your own, but I demand that you properly credit the person who inspired you to do it...