Fitz, Yeah!

I’m so slow, I think I must have just lapped myself there.

Colbert!

was EPU’d:

CNN – time mag, has more evidence of another Abramoff visit to the White House – other than the 2 records released by the SS.

!ztiF

Many rumors that Digby is female.

By God, Americablog had better get some good ink. By God!

Read this, for example:

http://americablog.blogspot.co…..ality.html

Knowing that Blair is a whacko luno-Christian is something that I have not seen elsewhere.

And then there’s still Ken Mehlman. Does he have a girlfriend yet?

Please don’t participate in silent gay-bashing by leaving Americablog out, when it’s just as good as anything else.

I must say that this blog has quickly become one of my favorites, an absolute must read. You guys are #2 with a bullet on my blog list.

And fuck Fredo.

Abramoff logs in PDF form

Christy Hardin Smith and Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake!

I thought I saw mnention somewhere that digby a she

I don’t imply that Americablog is female. Anything but. I imply only that in the new glitterati, Americablog better be mentioned.

Thank God for the Internet.

On the other hand, maybe J. Edgar Hoover was straight. And maybe a flock of pigs is flying across the runway at Washington National right now.

don’t forget Christy Hardin Smith of MWAHAHAHAHAHAbloglake.com

Riverbend at Baghdad Burning.

Jane, Is that you in the photo?

…I’d be standing under a banner saying “Mission Accomplished” with my own codpiece.

Since we’ve already manufactured some socko comfy kneepads for the ‘with-it’ NeoCon set, I’m sure that such a custom order could be filled promptly, if the need arose.

;>)

I love women.

Also, Helen Thomas needs (to have) a blog.

As a 43 yr old woman I always read the women first, then go back to read the men. As my ten yr old says Girls Rock!

you obviously left out (at least) two names that oughtta be on that list…the estimable Mlles. Hamsher and Smith.

(and for some reason, this post has had a Sleater-Kinney soundtrack to me…”Words And Guitar”, maybe?)

punaise — Christy is a “given.”

Which really means they’re all pissy b/c there won’t be any more cocktail parties, right? It was never about the “truth,” it was always about them – celebrity for celebrity’s sake.

You know, I used to be pissed that at one point in time the most successful thing to come out of the Internet was E-bay (and I lived the Internet pre and post bubble and it really did piss me off). But if it means the downfall of the punditocracy and the ineffectual political regimes it supports, then I owe the Internet a beer.

Helena Cobban at ‘Just World News’.

But would Digby be on the list of it were established that she was a woman? Is Digby’s inclusion because it isn’t known?

please check out:

http://www.liberalgirlnextdoor.blogspot.com/

I’ve never thought about it before in gender terms, but I’ll say this: there are some pretty heavy hitters on that list. I don’t think there is as much substance in all of the MSM combined as in your off the top o’ the head list…

cool, identity politics. This is such a winning approach.

on the Digby thing, no. Digby is the best political commentator in America.

in my years on this earth, I long ago discovered that heavily-female political entities tended to be much more civilized and congenial to work with … African-American political females tend to be particularly efficient and creative and a delight to produce results with …

Mimikatz — If someone does not wish to have their race or gender known I think it’s inappropriate to “out” them unless you have a very good reason.

Jane and Christy! Top o the list I read daily. I too believe Digby is a woman.

Look who first stood up to the Emperor with No Clothes – Dixie Chicks and Helen Thomas and Cindy Sheehan.

Great Post.

Excellent post, Jane.

Unfortunately I can’t stand the wall-to-wall adverts at Huffington Post so I tend to stay away from there (and can someone tell me what the heck is this “EPU” I keep seeing in the responses?)

The quality of the work.

Sexism is as big a deal as racism in my book. The issue of clitoral mutilation is second only to the war for mine. It’s also a real worry we don’t have more anarcho-feminists writing but they should come.
If we build it they will come.
Remember when the dumb white male brigade thought they had it made? Talk about premature blog ejaculation around the time of Rathergate.
That was a coupla non-dog years ago in a galaxy far far away when there were more computors inside the Great Satan than out.
The netpast is another country – they do things differently there.
Thank you Jane and Chris – hope you can maintain!

Looks like the oil companies are making some enemies in places other than the US.

Oil executive gunned down in Nigeria.

http://english.aljazeera.net/N…..4CC46B.htm

-GSD

Lisa Casey at “All Hat No Cattle” is fun…

http://www.allhatnocattle.net/about_us.htm

Jane @ 20 – of course, as is a certain Ms. Hamsher…it was just a riff on Mahablog. :~)

You guys are some of the best on the internets. I’m surprised MR. Lyons didn’t include you on his list. Re Digby: I’ve been reading that stuff for two or three years and if Digby is female I say 1:)great writing and 2:)great analysis and 3:)who cares what the gender is?

With all due respect to other bloggers – FDL is my #1.

FDL is the one I would want on a desert island if I had only one blog.

The recent coverage of Rove’s possible impending indictment has been sublime.

I have it from a reliable source that that Digby is indeed a woman. Britney Spears to be exact. Go ahead, try to prove otherwise. You can’t.
-J

I have no idea how to go about getting more female writers to blog, nor female readers to read. All I can suggest is summed up as follows: (1) link and promote those whose work you like; if you want to promote women bloggers, great. (2) Don’t allow female bloggers to be pigeonholed into stereotypical “womens’ issues” articles, and call them if they go there. Few things are more guaranteed to turn off a male reader than a paragraph beginning along the lines of “As a woman, I feel X is right, wrong or indifferent….” In blogging issues and politics, one does their thinking – not feeling – with their brains, not their gonads. Moreover, the lede I quote immediately above immediately excludes male readers, because they are not women and cannot stand in the writer’s shoes to approach an issue, when the approach is made along the highway of gender. Cold, hard rational thought and argument – of the sort you’ve put together in deconstructing Scooter’s case and assembling the Rover timeline (for examples) – is what is making the liberal blogs transcendently important and far superior to the wingnut blather.
But, this is just my opinion….

Tennessee Guerilla Women

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/

terrifically helpful list of female bloggers _ I will check the ones I do not know. thx

john I — ewwww. Don’t even wish that rumor on Digby. Blergh. Not only is Britney Spears redneck trash, but she’s a Bush supporter. Okay, and pregnant again with KFed’s baby. (I read that on the internets today…puts my whole fertilty struggle in such clear perspective that those two idiots can reproduce at will. SIGH)

But would Digby be on the list of it were established that she was a woman? Is Digby’s inclusion because it isn’t known?

that Digby is female has been more or less confirmed by Atrios and Gilliard

i suspect being female is but one (clearly not the only) reason that Lyons described Digby as “inimitable”; Digby would be on any list

send that list to our Richie Cohen. Maybe we can get a preemptive head explosion.

Or maybe he’ll even do an O’Reilly. tee hee.

There were some interesting visuals over at DKos yesterday, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/9/135753/5360 that shows how the lefty blogs ahve grown beyond the right wing noise machine. These blogs (included FDL) have surpassed the readership of all the major wingnut blogs. And, look how FDL has rocketed up just over the last few months!

Just shows what intelligence, good writing, and a little (okay, a lot) of snark will get ya. Congrats.

GADem at 45 — Thanks, we aim to tease.

(Every once in a while, even I can pull a punaise out of the hat…)

Tennessee Guerilla Woman is an excellent blog. So is All Hat No Cattle. I’ll check out Liberal Girl Next Door, thanks for the link ;)

Unfortunately I can’t stand the wall-to-wall adverts at Huffington Post so I tend to stay away from there (and can someone tell me what the heck is this “EPU†I keep seeing in the responses?)

Don’t hate me b/c I’m omniscient.

I can live with the ads on Huffpo, I can’t abide the cult of celebrity. I find the media fascinating, but who or what is on the cover of People and its relation to political discourse is beyond me (and I am omniscient afterall).

Just a quick note that the link for Shakespeare’s Sister is incorrect. It points to Sisyphus Shrugged instead of the correct address. It’s correct in the sidebar, but not in the main post.

I concur that Jane and Christy rock my world on a regular basis in a way that none of the others do (at least so far). I assume that Jane left herself and Christy out since people reading the list were already here (and I suspect the two of them also have a sense of humility that wouldn’t allow them such Miller-ian self-congratulations ;) ).

How long do women have to be marginalized? Isn’t two thousand years long enough?

whoops forgot to link to the blogs

Helena Cobban here

http://justworldnews.org/

Go for these women, and the men too. But the heck with getting them into dying corporate TV & print. Let’s get them on TDS (think you have to have written a book for that gig), and especially now The Colbert Report. Both have huge viewerships. I’ll bet the latter would be open to overatures to have more women in the guest slot. I’ve already seen Katrina vanden Heuvel, Arianna Huffington, Maureen Dowd on the show. They especially need women (and men) of color. Only requirement: don’t giggle. Even Frank Rich had a hard time not tittering last night.

When Steve Gilliard mentions Digby on his blog he invariably drops major hints that Digby is female. (cant rule out transgender though).

Riverbend here

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the great list, Jane. There are so many intelligent female bloggers like you, Christie, emptywheel, mimikatz, Jeralyn, the (other) Mary who posts here and the terrific posters at Kos who generously share their professional expertise with us. That’s what so great about liberal blogs. Women are using the internet to bring about political change in a different way than they did in say, the sixties, when women activists tended to get marginalized. Just my two bits, and thanks.

anonymous 53 — They especially need women (and men) of color.

A-fucking-men to that.

Jane said:

I’d be standing under a banner saying “Mission Accomplished” with my own codpiece.

Jane in cod piece? I think I have the vapors…

I also enjoy Bitch Ph.D. – she has one of my all time fave banner pix

compare the stellar list above to the pathetic herd of female bile-spewers on the right….actually, don’t bother; it’s not a fair fight. just as long as no one confuses Sysiphus Shrugged with the execrable Atlas Shrugs (sorry, no link!)

hey, linky disappeared

http://bitchphd.blogspot.com/

Media concentration has brought political commentary under the control of big corporations, hence under the drive for profits and market share that results in making celebrities (with fancy salaries and high living) out of mediocrities who then succumb to promoting the propaganda and economic interests of the power elite.

What is happening now, with the rapid emergence of the blogosphere, is that this new medium has brought back into play the old system of the competitive local newspaper and newsletter, with its tradition of throwing up the maverick muckraker, brilliant satirist and daily columnist with excellent writing skills, but now with the power of a technology with global reach accessible with the click of a mouse.

In this new system, quality must rise to the surface (almost as a kind of Darwinian law). And we should therefore expect to see, and celebrate, that the medium now becomes relatively free of gender and ethnic biases.

sharkbabe — I actually had bitch phd on there at one point. Must’ve disappeared on me, too. Thanks for the link.

Omigod. They are serious.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/US/Bush_Family

You go girl! You’re right. From a regular reader and female.

Well, I’ll out myself- I’m female. I got hooked on FDL bec. of the 2 female voices- both Jane and Christy are great writers, with very complementary expertise and “tone”- and a “certain something” about the way they voice things that I don’t find when I read male bloggers. Hard to articulate, but for me it’s there. Also, it is great that there are so many women who read and comment at FDL.

Hey – don’t get me wrong as the Billmon is a fun read. But your blog is a MUST read – right up there with Josh & Kevin.

Trivia 101.

Who made this statement:

“September Eleven was a horrendous incident. The killing of innocents is deplorable and appalling in any part of the world. Our government immediately declared its disgust with the perpetrators and offered its condolences to the bereaved and expressed its sympathies.”

-GSD

#24 John Rice says:
please check out: liberal girl next door

Second that. Plus, she’s needs help, her Dad is a fundamentalist Odinite hippie wackjob

OT but funny: the madness continuies at the WaPoo Blog … they’ve started a new ‘legal blog’ and the initial (and unanswered comments) are already wicked http://blog.washingtonpost.com…..l#comments
feel free to write the new legal beagle !

In this new system, quality must rise to the surface (almost as a kind of Darwinian law). And we should therefore expect to see, and celebrate, that the medium now becomes relatively free of gender and ethnic biases.

Do you think that is true of the right blogosphere? I think they have pretty much adopted the CM news as “entertainment/pro-wrestling” standard. So it may not necessarily be the medium, but how that medium is used. If the left blogosphere does not have the money that the right does, then Darwinism will have its day, otherwise, you get UID, unintelligent design having nothing to do with quality or fitness or whatever.

Marg– Trent Lott just dissed the heck out of Jeb for the job on Tweety. He said he would not support him for preznit and that Hil would beat him.

Jane, thanks for NOT mentioning Ana Marie takes-it-up-the-old-wazoo Cox, who managed to get on panels as a “librul blogger” but wasn’t really.

I would include Jeanne at
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/blog/
Meteor Blades called her blog a “spiritual spa” and I think that’s very apt.

Firedoglake is a must read for me. I’m glad that you will be at Yearlykos – would love to attend your breakfast.

The level of the writing at FDL is unparalleled. Jane, Christy, your writing is spectacular in usage, style, and most of all, content. I speak as a former freelance editor for Cambridge University Press, Elsevier Press, and Allen Press, among others. Thank you for the long hours, the attention to detail, the honesty. These qualities are much appreciated.

Jeb Bush will never be president. Leave them their delusions, all of them. Poppy = Failure; Junior = Failure; Jeb = Future Failure. You can campaign against that with both hands, both legs and your head tied behind your back.

The Bush legacy will be worse than Hoover following the Great Depression.

GSD 68

was it Ahmadinejad?

You lovely ladies are the first stop on my blog wanderings daily. And eight of the great women bloggers on your list are on mine also.I’m part of the 55% male readers. And I appreciate intelligence, honesty, and humor from any gender. (and a few well placed cuss words) Intelligence and lovley female curves are sure hard to beat. FDL rocks! Fitz! Fitz! Fitz!

ot, but i’m calling bullshit:

Secret Service Logs: Abramoff Visited the White House Twice

By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; 4:33 PM

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff visited the White House twice — once in 2001 and again in 2004 — each time staying for less than an hour, according to U.S. Secret Service logs made public today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01553.html

#78.

Bingo.

Why, oh why hasn’t the “liberal media” reported that quote?

-GSD

GSD – you could say “Why, oh why hasn’t the “liberal media†reported…” about many, many things.

You might want to include DC Media Girl

http://dcmediagirl.com/

Once again, I manage to get in, but only to say “Keep it Up.” I marvel at how you folks who maintain this site, Christy and Jane, are so consistently “Right On.” Every time I mention to friends what I have found here, I emphasize that if women like you (or women) were making the decisions about negotiations on running the world, we all be much safer.

This post hits it, and I am a male who reads you several times a day.

Matt @ 26
Did you forget the scare quotes on “identity politics”? With 22 million unmarried women not voting perhaps its time for some identity politics.

Women’s rights are being stripped away and progressive concerns are ignored because this group of voters does not feel engaged. They have no identity and very little importance within the democratic process if they do not vote.

GSD # 81–Cause they prefer to portray Iran as a terra nation and and carry the neocon kool aid?

Rawstory has already shot down the “2 Abramoff meetings” S.S. release?

The records do not show the date that was noted when a picture of Abramoff and Bush in the same room at a meeting with an Indian tribal leader.

What are they hiding? Why the cover-up? Cover-up…cover-up…cover-up…..

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0510.html

-GSD

Angie, Two,

Because there aint no liberal media.

-GSD

OT and the men who comment here seem to be really good guys- much less inclined to get into “pissing matches” and personal put downs than commenters I’ve seen on other blogs.

EPU, speaking of wimmen, is it true you are one?

Angie #72,

Good for Lott. Guess I shouldn’t be so surprised the family would come out for him when they should be choking on their peas.

I guess this is awfully naive to say, especially for a middle-aged white man, but it never occurred to me that this was a “female” progressive political blog; it’s just a progressive political blog written by females. I always taught my daughter, regarding racism, that “stupid doesn’t come in colors”, and the way I look at it, stupid doesn’t come in sexes either. I’m as perplexed as to why women would support the Republican party as I am gays, or blacks, or poor people — but some do. There are certainly gender specific issues, as there are issues specific to race, or age, or class, but we’re all on the same side. Hope that doesn’t come across as lame or maudlin.

Thanks for the codpiece image, Jane.

They’d never get Billmon out of the basement, though God knows I love him.

“The records do not show the date that was noted when a picture of Abramoff and Bush in the same room at a meeting with an Indian tribal leader.”

Must have been the 3 scorpion bowl lunch…that sentence makes noooooo sense.

But you get my drift.

-GSD

Digby is always an top notch read regardless of whether she has a penis or a patch of scar tissue or hormone replacement therapy to grow an adams apple.

I started really reading digby when this absurd ongoing speculation about his vagina was already in full swing, and to be honest I think it’s a great asset.

Digby is like that great stage actor all the silver screen hotshots name as an inspiration, at once the most influential and underread personality in the left political blog world, and nobody (at least us mere mortals) has any real idea who or what he is hiding under her dress.

Which is of course the ideal. I think everybody comes down to this conclusion eventually: who gives a fuck whether digby is a man or a woman? It would change absolutely nothing about his readership or people’s perception of her. Except maybe she wouldn’t be called a mysoginist for calling a spade a spade.

#7 – you must be kidding with that last remark!

Faiza at A Family in Baghdad. And Azra Raza, Ruth Kikin-Gil, Alta L. Price, Jane Renaud, & Jennifer Ouellette at 3 Quarks Daily.

EPU: Agreed, content does matter. But, on that count, the left blogosphere seems to have the upper hand, judging from the number ratings and rapidly growing influence of sites like DKos.

Money also matters. I think it sets a threshold for survival, but not necessarily for growth. Compare the case of Pajamas Media: all that money poured down the drain.
Maybe, as the old saying goes, “good money drives out bad”.

Re: The Abramoff logs. Um, we know he was there for that Indian thingie in May of 2001, and he was there for the Hannukah party in 2002. If you’re going to try to bullshit us, at least have the courtesy to tell us about the visits we already know about. Good luck with this particular white wash. I think the Secret Service is going to be right back in court next week.

Look at that astonishing list, add our Jane/Christy, and ask yourself: what would the country be like if they were silenced? What would your day be like? Unthinkable. Empty. Tragic.

We of the 55% are in awe!

It’s nitpicking, I know, but…..

In this context, it is “principal political pundits” not “principle”.

Perhaps the Bush famiglia is pushing Jeb so as to keep the lock on the closet door that has all the skeletons in it. Remember that one of Dubya’s first executive orders slammed the access doors on previous administrations’ historical records going back to the Reagan era which, conveniently, kept Poppy’s Iran Contra shenanigans under hat. And it’s fairly certain that slime is one of the few areas in which Dubya has outdone Poppy.

Valley Girl 90 -

We try to be Real Men. Unlike the braying pseudo-macho hordes that infest Yahoo (and increasingly even HuffPo).

I prefer that my vituperation be rendered visually:

http://www.bgladd.com/The_Disgracer_in_Chief.jpg

http://www.bgladd.com/Bush_Mal…..e_Rice.jpg

http://www.bgladd.com/Bush_Mal….._em_on.jpg

http://www.bgladd.com/Bush_Mal….._em_on.jpg

(I got some jpeg plans for Katherine Harris, too, haha)

Jane, you would look much better wearing a Wimple (one of those fluffy neck thingys) than a codpiece.

Steve Gilliard is Black; recently I’ve read that the MediaWhoresOnline person was female.

To be fair, Gene Lyons mentions Josh Marshall and Kevin Drum first — those two were blogging before the word existed.

Hear, hear scarecrow; as well as bleak and hopeless!

I have heard that Digby is a she as well. And if s/he wants to keep that a secret, I still think she should be at the top of the list of women bloggers! Every morning I read Digby and Firedoglake in no particular order!

Do these have to be strictly political blogs? If not, I would include:

http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/
http://blog.iblamethepatriarchy.com/

Great post as per usual. I have been writing Cohen since his “Fitzgerald is an overzealous prosecutor,” piece, (September 2005?). After his latest whine, I’m done with him. IMO Cohen will look back fondly on a column that drew 3,000 plus emails, because it will be from a time when people still thought his opinion mattered.
OT: Never knew that about TBogg’s importance to FDL’s infancy.
OT: EPU, tnh commenters are using, “EPU’d.” Also, nobody asked what it means.

Some enlightened men who appreciate diversity would rather read women, too.

First off, it’s a great honor to be included on that short list.

I’d also like to point out that one of the most well-known blogs with some of the highest traffic in all of blogdom is Dooce. Heather’s blog is considered by many to be a “mommy blog” so it doesn’t show up on the radar in this part of the universe. Though I’d venture to guess that Heather’s influence over a target market of young women is probably much greater than that of Drum, Marshall or Greenwald. And I wonder how progressives could tap into the power of that.

ck – I think you mean a ruff; wimples are the head coverings nuns wear. I don’t get a wimple vibe from Jane!

TGL #62:

Don’t forget that it’s not just quality work that should rise to the prize in a more open competitive environment. It’s the whole package. And the part of the package that quality workers often ignore is marketing. So let’s promote the heck out of our voices. C&P from your favorite blogs & send to members of cogress, MSM, everyone you can think of. Promote, promote, and shamelessly self-promote. If we don’t do it, who will?

Right back atcha, Jane — and Redd, too, natch.

I’d second this list, and recommend Bitch PhD, Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon, and Pam Spaulding of Pandagon and Pam’s House Blend as well

And here is a link to a courageous Saudi woman blogging politics from DC, Aya at Alien Memoirs.

Valley Girl #90,
We’ll have to try harder to live down to your expectations. ;-)

“In 2000, 22 million unmarried eligible women voters didn’t vote.”

What about 2004?

These women need viable Dem alternatives. Starting this fall. The stakes could not be higher.

Watch for falling houses.

WSJ reports on significant softness in housing sales….This will be chasing the Republicans all the way to November too.

http://online.wsj.com/article/…..d=yahoo_hs

-GSD

Redd @ 47 – as long as it’s not an asshat!

FDL is the first site I go to each morning and the last at night. Having two such insightful writers on the same blog three time zones apart is really cool.

john I @39:

Britney Spears couldn’t pour piss out of a boot with instructions printed on the heel.

EPU #71 -
I’ve gotta disagree with both of you. The internet may be more democratic in that anybody can start *out* blogging, but that doesn’t make it a paradise of equal opportunity. If it were, why would all the “major” progressive bloggers today be white men? Why aren’t Jane and Christy *already* on that list, when everybody knows Firedoglake is up there with Atrios, Digby and all the other fantastic major liberal blogs?

It’s been well established in studies that if you put a female name on a given exam, profs will give it a higher grade than if you put a male name on the exact same exam. I think you see the same kind of reader filtering happening in the blogosphere, even among people who mean better…

lurcher #101 principal has been fixed. Both JH and CHS have said many times before that they appreciate corrections to typos and such.

klevenstein @ 108 – I second that sentiment

klevenstein says:

Some enlightened men who appreciate diversity would rather read women, too.

I agree 100%.

I’m of the hated segment that is white, male, and over 40 (barely), except that I’m a proud liberal. :) But hey nothing wrong with being a minority, though I certainly wish that would change.

Reading this piece I realized that in my daily travels almost 100% of my non-student contact is Moms, and I also realized I’ve been (politically) working a couple of them for months.

Thus, the big question should be, how to take what is here on the internet and connect those 22 millon non-voting women to others like Jane and Christy who have so much wisdom to share? I again ask: how do we take this stuff and bring it into the larger world? Most are not even aware of our/your (blogging) existence. Progressive ideas MUST leave the internet and interact with all those folks struggling to get by who continue to vote against their own best interests.

oops, I see Pam’s already on the list – it would help if I could read! Also, how could I leave out Baghdad Burning – not relevant to discussions of US politics, perhaps, but excellent writing, and a good view of what life is like inside Iraq today.

Let’s have a moment of silence for the most potent of the deceased lefty sites – Media Whores Online founded and written by a Jennifer somebody-or-the-other.

As for Digby, what a researcher that one is. It occurs to me that Hullabaloo was a show watched almost entirely by girls. :) I’ve always wondered if that was the genesis for the blog name.

Didn’t Jane refer to Digby as suave?

Jane,
Great point and I love your work. Please include Molli Ivins amongst the great women voices even though she’s been with MSM for years. Before the bloggers emerged, she was one of the few voices that gave me hope.

One of the first blogs I ever followed regularly, years before blogging was “cool”, was groklaw, e-home of the inimitable Pamela Jones. While they focus on a rather narrow range of intellectual freedom issues (things like net neutrality, DRM, open source software, etc.) they are definitely worth checking out.

They are also a good place to point anyone who claims blogs aren’t a reliable source of information. PJ and her team are meticulous in their reality-based reporting, personally attending the court hearing on the cases they follow, digging through (and transcribing) tons of paper, and cross linking everything to the point where the lies melt like snow in the bright sunshine.

She is a paralegal by training, and from what I’ve seen she went to the same school as Fitz–I would wager that everyone who’s mendacity has drawn her ire has eventually regretted it, because rather than waste time on invective she build up a solid structure of damning facts.

–MarkusQ

op99 @ 91 – You know, when J i O first posited that many threads ago I didn’t know how to respond or to even be taken aback (was it something I wrote?). I found it hard to believe that anyone would think I am not a man – given my claims of omniscience, oversized ego, and encyclopedic knowledge of certains aspects of popular culture such as television (particularly Bugs Bunny cartoons) and movies (such as the great trilogy of Stripes, Caddy Shack and Animal House), music and literature I reference, etc.

Perhaps I am too satiric?

No, I am a man.

Just last night the husband said to me, “If Hillary ran for president, that would make all the women happy.” “Why?” says I. He looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. “Well, because she’s a woman!” “Yeah,” I said, “but she has supported the war, supported a ban on burning flags, and has done very little to help either the democratic majority or women in the time she’s been senator. So why should I vote for her?”

More funny looks. Identity politics works both ways. Sigh.

huh. Why the difference between voting trends married vs. unmarried women?

The article mentions:
“Most unmarried women — 54% — have annual household incomes below $30,000, according to the Census; that’s twice the percentage of married women with incomes that low. Most married women — 51% — have household incomes of $50,000 and above; that’s double the number of single women with income that high.”

OK, then we’re looking at old-school thinking, that somehow Republicans will protect the needs of the middle-income families better than Democratic representitives. And of course it’s bullshit. The GOP got this image through (oh here I go again) effective marketing. They tell the tale to all who’ll listen that they are the only party looking out for the family, for the middle-income tax payers, for the children and schools. It’s just so very wrong!

“That makes single women more anxious than their married friends about bread-and-butter issues, less confident of having health coverage and more likely to take an expansive view of what the government can and should do to maintain safety-net programs.”
So it’s the have’s vs. the have-nots, the lower wage-earning classes against the middle and upper-middle class. Garbage!

There’s a bit more worth looking at…

“Having children seems to intensify views on both sides. Married women with children are even more Republican that those who don’t have children; single women who have children are even more Democratic than those who don’t.”

Again, the GOP protects the family and somehow makes them feel more secure. The article even states that married women “are more likely to cite Bush’s leadership against terrorism as a compelling reason to support him.”

We all know what a total load of crap this is. The GOP is deadset against the middle-wage earners of this society. They’ll sell them out in a heartbeat for the chance to make more money by taking jobs offshore or eliminating jobs to cut costs so the CEO can make this quarter’s bonus. And health care? Education commitment? Social Security? Are we more secure against terrorism now than five years ago? I think not, but the GOP is still beating the drum that they are the only party that can protect our families.

(Soapbox) The Democratic party MUST have a consistant, cohesive message that shines a bright light into the dark corners of the GOP agenda. Dems must hammer over and over for the next ten years on the FACT that the only political party that has proven to be dedicated to supporting families and America’s working people—middle or lower or whatever class—is the Democratic party. Basic messages of truth, of fairness, of specific gains brought about by Democratic efforts and specific losses brought to us by the GOP. (A little long, thanks for reading)

oh and re: my thing on 21 i meant a *lower* grade if they see a female name, a *higher* if they see a male one. (which is probably obvious.)

FDL is an early and must-read every day. I will confess I am a white +50 male so I don’t really pay much attention to gender as much as I do to the quality of the writing. Maybe I should. FDL is always worthy of my time.

I didn’t know Emptywheel and Jeralyn were female! Amazing. I don’t really care, I like to read “good stuff”. I actually cannot stomach most of the “females” TV pundits. Equal opportunity dislike right along with the males.

Over at Kos a couple of weeks ago someone was complaining about the lack of females at
The Daily Show – Samatha B had a baby. I have seen her do one quick bit but not regular since the baby. I don’t really care as long as it is funny and biting. Let her stay home with her baby, and come back part time if that is what she wants.

And yes, there are a lot of females at Kos. And a lot of them came over here, if the screen names are the same.

Haven’t read all the comments on this post Jane so excuse me if this has been covered. The 22 million non-voting single women could be a powerful constituency. I see Maslow as a real impediment. Struggling with B & D needs places EVERYTHING ELSE as a low priority. Women, as a rule earn less, and single mothers have a dreadful row to hoe. Misogynism is a real problem (like I have to tell you). How can we reach this untapped constituency and get them to vote?

from Lethe at 121:
“It’s been well established in studies that if you put a female name on a given exam, profs will give it a higher grade than if you put a male name on the exact same exam.”

Firebitchlake wouldn’t help in the ratings, would it?

Great list. Also recommended:

Twisty at I Blame the Patriarchy

The Phantom Professor

Feministing

Pandagon

Melanie at Just a Bump in the Beltway

Gene Lyons said:

““Readers are choosing between the words on a screen offered by Klein and other commentators and the words on a screen offered by bloggers on the basis of one thing alone: The quality of the work.

Well yes, that is true. It is what first attracted me to FDL. Because of the legal backgrounds of our hosts, I was able to get analysis of the Plame/Libby/Fitz issues that simply was not available anywhere else.

But in addition to that point I would add that what attracts me to the blogs vs. the celebrity pundits is that the blogs engage in a conversation with their fans.

Celebrity pundits broadcast and have listeners or readers, but the best bloggers engage in a conversation with participants.

This builds a sense of community that is simply not possible with broadcast media and why Lyons is correct in his assertion that mainstream celebrity pundits will continue to fade.

Well, that’s a bold statement for Mr. Lyons to make. And a welcome one. I kinda forgot just how young the “celebrity pundit” phenomenon is. Very welcome observation, indeed.

I like the new boss. :)

you & Christy top my list — i must confess to being prejudiced in favor of women

also, it’s a delight to read about your wanting to wear your own codpiece

We all start out female in utero. Then, some gestational hormonal/genetic/chromosomal thingy goes horribly awry for some of us, the post-natal effects of which don’t abate until ya get to be, like me, about 60 — at which time a cigar is just a cigar and a car is just a means of getting from point A to point B.

after seeing Lethe’s correction, I guess the name Firedoglake should stay as it is …

OT: Federal Judge (Ludig – sp?) is quitting the Federal Appeals Court – after being passed up for the Supreme Court twice – to go to work at Boing as its general counsel at a salary of $1 mil+. Personal ties with Boing CEO (Chair?) go back to Reagan Admin.

!!!!!!

That’s quite a list, and I certainly can’t add to it.

Lethe – I believe Jane and Christy are “major” bloggers. I haven’t seen the most recent power rankings, but there is a graph on some link on DailyKos concerning blog viewership, and FDL made the top five. Does sexism exist, sure it does. It is also true that the taller someone is the more likely they are to be successful. At the end of the day, on the Internet, neither height nor gender should matter. Is the Internet a perfect world? Probably not, but it is the best one out there.

Green Lantern – Money does matter. But no one has enough money to continue to support bullshit like Pajamas Media forever. Sooner mor likely than later, that money will dry up, or at least move on to the next scam. Again, it is not the lies, it is the failures.

John Casper – Debbie @ 31 asked what EPU meant. Go see for yourself.

My thought process, on deadline, is a lot less complicated than people imagine. I noticed I’d mentioned no women, ran out of time to think about it. I’m not a big Arianna fan, and thought of Firedoglake, which I look at every day, as a lawyer blog. (Not a lawyer joke, just an example of categorical dumbthink on my part.) Anyway, apologies.

And thanks for the helpful list. Something else that’s good about the web is the comparitive lack of office politics, ergo “old boy” networks.

While I’m at it, hats off to one of the great woman-written blogs, the gone-but-not-forgotten Mediawhoresonline.

I have no clue about Digby’s gender. Never thought about it.

I do remember when I was supposed to be Atrios, although it’s written in Philly and I live in Arkansas. I’ve also never taken an economics course of any kind.

I’ve always been the kind of man who never understood any all-male gathering other than, say, a rugby team. Even all-male fishing trips put me off. Lord, what’ll we talk about around the campfire?

Women, of course. Me, I’d rather bring some women along.

Anyway, I stand corrected.

Slightly specialized but I would mention Pamela Jones of Groklaw.net. Also, Maia Cowan is not exactly a blogger but her http://www.failureisimpossible.com is invaluable.

EPU, that’s what I had always assumed, til I saw that very thread. I hope I didn’t give you E.D.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01206.html

Please don’t participate in silent gay-bashing by leaving Americablog out, when it’s just as good as anything else.

Just as good as anything else?!?!?!? I’ll have you know that I was a long time reader at Americablog. In my readership I learned that John over at Americablog would have us all believe that the Dalai Lama is promoting hate because he doesn’t personally endorse homosexuality. He would have us believe that his gay friend being fired from his job at the DNC is the same thing as Valerie Plame being outed. John Aravosis would throw Cynthia Mckinney under the bus for one incident where she acted almost as crazy as he does on a daily basis. John promotes the idea that a Jay Leno monologue with gay jokes included is hate speech. Oh and he ocasionally attacks and silences commenters who disagree even in the most polite terms. He approvingly posted a letter that suggested everyone withhold funding from the Democrats – 7 months before an election. No I would say that Americablog is not just as good as anything else, it’s in a class of shit all it’s own.

Scibe at 40-

“Few things are more guaranteed to turn off a male reader than a paragraph beginning along the lines of “As a woman, I feel X is right, wrong or indifferent….†In blogging issues and politics, one does their thinking – not feeling – with their brains, not their gonads. Moreover, the lede I quote immediately above immediately excludes male readers, because they are not women and cannot stand in the writer’s shoes to approach an issue, when the approach is made along the highway of gender.”

But the thing you have to remember is that everybody is *always* giving an opinion from some perspective. Male bloggers are effectively always saying “as a man, I feel…” they just don’t need to say it because male is “default.”

If male readers can’t “stand in a woman’s shoes,” why are women readers expected to “stand in a man’s shoes”?

Maybe instead male readers should ask themselves why they’re so turned off by listening to something offered from a “woman’s” perspective?

Ah, I see I was too slow in typing up my post. Well, no harm in a little repetition here.

I know she isn`t white or American but she`s got guts & that counts big w/moi

Baghdad Burning !

“…This is not a game.” – Lorie Van Auken (2001.09.11 widow)

All right, crucify me. I thought Digby was a male, and I really don’t know why I thought that. Male chauvinism, I guess. Or a lack of women’s issues on the sight?

All I know is I love Digby’s writing…clean and concise.

I love Pandagon for having opened my eyes.

As a 50+-year-old,white male, who is unemployed, however, I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with these people who keep moving my cheese.

Make it stop. I really am trying to be as good as I can.

On a related theme, the same is true on talk radio. There is no credible female voice on rightwing radio. The only XChromes on the right/Republican radio waves are broadcast cardboard cut-outs of the Rush “don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story” Limbaugh mold.

Contrast that with left-wing/liberal/progressive radio. Stephanie Miller, Rachel Maddow, Randi Rhodes, Laura Flanders, for example, are all terrific, smart, entertaining, original and just plain fun to hear. These are just four examples of fellow-traveling liberal women on the talk radio circuit. Each is an original thinker making valuable contributions to the daily public policy discourse. There is no — none, zero — “talent” (male or female) on the right that can stand toe-to-toe with any of our team’s ladies.

Right wing radio is pretty lousy, that’s a given. When compared to Rhodes/Miller/Flanders/Maddow et al., the Limbaughs & O’Reilly’s of the AM dial really get hung out for the no-talent-panty-wastes that they are.

sláinte,
cl

Someone mentioned Molly Ivins–one of the best. Unfortunately I hear her cancer is back. Let’s all keep her in our thoughts and hope she beats it back again.

Interesting rant over on Alternet:
_____

“…[James Howard] Kunstler’s rage and disdain was righteous and unsparing. He was pissed and he was eloquent: “We’ve turned into this nation of overfed clowns, riding around in clown cars, eating clown food, watching clown shows,” he said. We’re “a nation of cringing, craven fuckups.”

Kunstler singled out one element of the psychological dimension in American life: “The idea that when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true. It’s not a good thing for adults to wish upon a star. Right now, this is a normative belief — that you can wish for things, and you’ll get them.”

He said that the nation’s leading religion has become the “worship of unearned riches, which is based on a very stark idea, the idea that you can get something for nothing.”

If that was the religion, Kunstler said, then the city of Las Vegas is its temple. Why this matters, he argued, is that when we talk about the problems facing our oil-dependent society, the dominant frame of mind is one of pure fantasy — that years of predominance on the international stage has left America smug in the belief that it need only wish to have its problems solved, and that it doesn’t have to face challenges that might require a massive change in all aspects of American life…”
_____

Yo, dude, don’t be crackin’ on my ‘hood.

;)

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/36017/

His point IS well-taken. I gotta laugh; there are about 2 million if us LIVING in the Vegas area now. All because people can’t compute “expected value.” Otherwise this place would be another Barstow, a dessicated truckstop/railstop high desert ghetto of about 30,000 population.

I think Steve Gilliard at THE NEWS BLOG is African-American. He’s at the front of the fray, every day.

One of the best things about Left Blogistan is that one doesn’t know who’s what, and we can evaluate everyone for their thoughts. I had no idea Digby might be female. I enjoy him/her every day. It did surprise me to read it here, and that led me to think if I was bringing my own assumptions to the party, which I was. I’ll still read him/her every day, because he/she writes beautifully.

EPU,

Did you say that “I am a man” in your best Austin Powers voice?

-GSD

Gene Lyons — Thanks so much for showing up here. I’m a great admirer of your work. There was absolutely no slight intended, it was a wonderful article. Just building upon it.

Lethe #121: “A paradise of equal opportunity� Who let that dog out? Not me.

Certainly, old habits die hard and the struggle against them continues.

But consider this. Gilliard keeps reporting how many people spend time at his site and then are surprised to learn that he’s black.

scribe (40) — when I started blogging 4 years ago, the inequity in blogging was real. Now it is far from that; there are more women bloggers than men by volume, but a gross underrepresentation in the top 100 blogs read. It may be weighted by the gender of readers, but that may also speak volumes about which gender has more time to read leisurely and which gender uses the internet as a tool versus reading center.

D.Mason 149, add to that list when you see a picture of him and he looks so studly he makes you drool and then you find out he’s gay and all you have left is a puddle of cold saliva. Sheesh.

There was another great female blogger on Kos and Booman named SusanHu from Port Angeles. She dropped out, and it’s a shame. Same for A Gilas Girl, who had a lot of insightful things to say, and has also disappeared.

I wish Jane Smiley had a blog. I guess she’s too busy writing great novels.

EPU, I am always happy when someone asks, because it is a sign FDL is continuing to attract new readers.
Debbie, 31, EPU refers to the omniscent one, Evil Parallel Universe. “EPU,” means you commented at or near the bottom of the previous thread (and are probably recommenting it on the current thread). The fact that EPU has commented here, and that this thread continues, is a mystery I am not fit to even contemplate.

Jane Smiley rocks and blogs!!

In modesty and a little fear, I add my little blog to the list:

blogolodeon

Ed n Sted (138) — definitely, a quality blog is one that is a community — emphasis on the root word, commune, to communicate — where both the writer and the reader engage to communicate with each other.

But at the very heart of that, and at the heart of quality blogs that don’t have comments and community, is authenticity. Most readers can smell fake and good readers don’t waste their time on it.

Maybe that’s an important issue in the gender bias by numbers…

A woman that no one wants to take credit for.

Ary-Ann Coulter, speak of the Devil, may be tossed off of the voter rolls and could face criminal charges.

Bradblog:

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00002807.htm

-GSD

No offense taken. It’s always been my policy that if you dish it out, you oughta learn to take it. Besides, you were right.

John Casper – If I weren’t so egotistical I would apologize, but you’re gonna have to live with the fact that my misunderestimating your post was YOUR fault. But, what is tnh? I want to go see.

Greetings to Gene as well, from a longtime fan & correspondent.

P.S. Anyone not familiar with Gene’s work should search out a copy of his “Fools for Scandal,” which in 1994(?) laid out most of the same flaws in the elite media (esp. the NY Times and Washington Post) that we gripe about here daily.

Hi Gene Lyons, if it wasn’t for your (and Joe Conason’s) “The Hunting of the President”, I doubt I’d be on this site with you today, that’s what got me passionate on politics. So thanks, I think.

I used to read AmericaBlog regularly, but very recently Aravosis had one of his (by now) patented fits and began deleting and banning any comment that didn’t agree with his post. You didn’t need to include any of those “f” words, either…just a disagreement got you banned.

How very Deborah Howell of him.

I took AmericaBlog off my roll that day. I won’t have much respect that guy again, unless he apologizes sincerely to everyone.

How about women to draft into the blogosphere:

What I wouldn’t give for Camille Paglia to see the light, and abandon her carping about blogging’s potential drag upon the art of letters. Come ’round, Camille! It’s not about art, it’s about direct action! We need your, er, incisiveness.

Gene Lyons- enjoyed your article, which Jane highlighted. Christy is a lawyer, but Jane is…what is Jane? Not a lawyer. Both smart, savvy, political activists, etc. etc.

Nice LindaR!

GSD @ 161. I wish I could do a good Austin Powers and Dr. Evil – I identify with both.

I regularly check AmericaBlog via RSS and read the articles but skip the commentariat…I’m still disgusted at him going off the deep end about Cynthia McKinney…the poisonous weed of racism is hard to eradicate.

D. Mason -
You forgot the kiddie camp of Aravosis getting his photo taken with Katharine Harris also. Yeesh, how many times can you jump the shark? I bailed on him after McKinney and Harris, and I can’t say I missed his commentary at all. He needs to grow up.

178 Wow Jane, I guess VG put you in your place, lol.

okay, okay, okay. Jane Hamsher, too.

On the Digby gender thing – Jane has met Digby and she is saying Digby is a white male. I guess that answers that question.

Someday, will someone PLEASE tell me the story of MediaWhoresonLine? What powerful snark to have simply disappeared! What magnificent anonymity!

ralphinlex wants to know.

186 Didn’t you just love the MediaHorse with that picture?

I wonder if the MediaHorse just resurfaced under a different handle? Or hopefully found gainful employment?

mndead, the harris thing didn’t bother me. I mean, when you’re a washington insider like he is you have to rub elbows with people you claim to be struggling against. It’s part of the insider game.

mndean – sorry for the typo on your name.

Yo dogs! On the internet no one knows if yr a dog yo!

( Jane with a codpiece…quick – lead me to yon fainting couch and prise these pearls from my long stiff fingers! Don’t…stop…don’t stop )

This is fun isn’t it. But what if it all falls flat with Fitz? We could soon all be out of a job. Fuck me – Brother can you spare a blog?

That’s heartening that more blogreaders are male than I thought. Sometimes I feel like there are only *women* in the room and all the bloggers I think are male (w/neutral names) turn out to be female.

I wonder if there are any stats on the bloggers who *post* vs. *read*?

Do male bloggers find blogging as addictive as I do?

op99 #183-

Now you certainly must know that I didn’t mean to slight Jane. I just couldn’t find the right words. I commented bec. Gene said he thought of FDL as a “lawyer blog”. How ’bout this: Jane is… Jane is a phenomenon. Amazingly informed, awesome writer and researcher, and more. As is Christy… etc. ;)

Wikipedia has a page on MWO but even they don’t know who wrote it. Gene does, I believe, and he’s not talking. Seriously, some of the best political writing I’ve ever read. And funny……

Mr. Lyons – it is good to have you here with us. I have THOTP on my desk and in my travels around Cyberia, use it to dispel the thousands of myths that surround Bill Clinton. Thanks for your weekly column as well.

Coolest thing about the interwebs: Gene’s post at 146.

It’s the “inter” part that has TradMed stumped. And always will.

Hooray for the 21st century!

==========
Had enough?
==========

Fantastic writing based on reason, solid information, and moral values that ring true brings me back here day after day….I value the quality of conversation between regular and occasional commenters, regardless of gender. There is a real sense of respect and a level playing field here that gives me a sense of the kind of world I want to live in. And then, to top it off, I see a comment by Gene Lyons, a man whose columns I’ve been tracking, no matter where on the globe I’m at? It makes my morning!
This site reduces any sense of isolation and gives me cause for hope. If it does that for me down in the chilly South, what is it doing for you up North?

LindaR 169 –

Nice blog you have there!!!

And your list of all the good things we had When Democrats Ruled The Earth is way cool!!! You should post it far and wide — cast it to the bloggy winds, and let the seeds fall where they may!!!

http://blogolodeon.blogspot.co…..earth.html

yikes! some people actually came and checked my blog out. What a thrill. Now I’m off to check out the others listed here. What a great post. Long Live the Internets!

Digby

Jane has met Digby and she is saying Digby is a white male. I guess that answers that question.

Has she said this, or you just inferring it because she didn’t list Digby as a female?

In my experience, Jane carefully avoids identifying Digby as anything at all. Save for “brilliant,” of course.

Re: Mediawhores. Some liberal bloggist had a post concerning his work for MediaWhores when he was trailing Hutchins as a reporter to three events and getting up the courage to ask real questions. Trying not to tease you, but it is defintely one of the blogs linked on FDL, a man, not a woman (seems appropriate for this thread). I’ll be up all night trying to remember who it was.

Pretty sure it was for MediaWhores. Does anyone else remember this, or was this just in my universe?

Those of you coming to YearlyKos, check my blog -

http://santafeandthefatcityhorns.blogspot.com/

Non-political.

Glad to see you taking up the banner. I’ve grown tired of feeling like the only one who does so. Only one, in part because, once Amy Sullivan leaves the Washington Monthly toward the end of the month, I will have the peculiar honor of being the only female more than half-time political writer left at any of the liberal magazines in Washington. (Michelle Cottle at TNR being the other one, and part-time.) Sigh.

No women staff writers but me and Michelle in Washington at: TNR, TAP, WaMo, MoJo, The Nation, or Salon.

Plenty of women in middle-management, though.

The problem of women being shut out of opinion media, even progressive opinion media, is related to the one you describe of women not voting. Anna Greenberg has done research into this and discovered that a major reason these women don’t vote is they feel like they’re not well-informed and therefore aren’t qualified to vote. One reason they probably don’t feel well-informed is that they don’t keep up with political media as much as men, and I’d wager that one reason they don’t do that is when they turn to it they don’t see anyone who looks like they do or is talking about their concerns in a way they can relate to.

To her critcs I’d just say that Jane is not addressing a problem of identity politics; she’s addressing a problem of politics, period. Joe Trippi said after the last election that if Kerry had been able to get 3 million more single moms to vote he would have won. But good luck trying to get an 85 percent male progressive punditocracy to recognize the importance of such voters to their favored candidate’s electoral success or failure. Men prefer what they prefer and overlook what does not interest them.

VG 193, keep digging toots, now you damned Christy with faint praise ;)

Taylor definately, and I want some she was having for her blog picture too…

“Feed the blog”…I thought so. Hopefully Jane, we will not become a chore and your enthusiasm and skill will not diminish

The list of rising stars shows an odd view of how blogs are read. Readers bounce around based on a familiarity with each blog’s focus and strengths, and the best ones continually pull in new points of view. It’s like watching J.S. Mill’s idea of discourse testing new ideas. The process is what’s going to drive the pundits to extinction, not the stars. Not even Saint Jane.

Dru (110) — heh. Wimple? Possibly. I picture Sister Mary Leonard when Jane gets her dander up. She was in the Air Force prior to taking the veil, a no-nonsense woman.

#137 “The Daily Show – Samatha B had a baby. I have seen her do one quick bit but not regular since the baby. I don’t really care as long as it is funny and biting. Let her stay home with her baby, and come back part time if that is what she wants.â€

And I guess her husband also is a Daily Show correspondent (sorry—can’t remember his name!!) One of the funniest pieces EVER was of him taking the “baby†everywhere, like diving into the pool & etc..

Random thoughts:

1. Do we have a deathwatch on the head of HUD yet? The minute the victim surfaces, that guy’s a goner.

2. The Abramoff records, or lack thereof, border on contempt of court in my mind. Christy, what’s the legal standard?

3. Until I heard Mary Cheney’s side of the story, I’d given her the benefit of the doubt. Now that that’s gone, I feel sorry for her shrink.

4. Katherine Harris will be unopposed in the Republican primary in Florida. Looks like her face-time with the president convinced the other guy not to run.

LindaR- When Democrats Ruled The Earth- great post (linked by ck #197).

Jane, although you are a relatively new star in the blogger sky, if you are not on that list, it’s not a list, it’s a travesty.

OT but newsworthy,
I just came in the house-CBS evening news is on-story as I walk past-new tax cuts in the works-next story-more 0’s get tagged on the deficit-WTF?!!!
The election year waltz begins.

Link didn’t take. Second try

Digby

Nur al Cubicle is another good one: http://nuralcubicle.blogspot.com/
fwiw, my brother turned me on to FDL…told me about these genuis women bloggers; thanks Bro!

Oscarsmom says:
May 10th, 2006 at 3:37 pm
#137 “The Daily Show – Samatha B had a baby. I have seen her do one quick bit but not regular since the baby. I don’t really care as long as it is funny and biting. Let her stay home with her baby, and come back part time if that is what she wants.â€

And I guess her husband also is a Daily Show correspondent (sorry—can’t remember his name!!) One of the funniest pieces EVER was of him taking the “baby†everywhere, like diving into the pool & etc..
———————————————————-
She was on this past Monday talking about the Porter Goss resignation. She said the reason he resigned was either (a) a simple leadership shuffle or (b) he’d been caught getting heroin injected into his penis by an underage Thai hooker. She said it was 50/50 either way.

Oscarsmom: blog addiction? Oh yeah. I NEED to be working and running this business and being a good dad and husband and get a run in and maybe meditate and by the way sleep a few hours…and I can’t…stop…reading…FDL… I can’t imagine having enough time to actually run a blog. A customer came in the other day talking about retirement. Said he didn’t know what he would do. I just stood there staring at him, stunned. Didn’t know what to do with his time? Ha!

Frank Probst says:
May 10th, 2006 at 3:37 pm…

“4. Katherine Harris will be unopposed in the Republican primary in Florida. Looks like her face-time with the president convinced the other guy not to run”
_____

LOL! Lessee….hmmm…wouldn’t ‘cha loved to have been privy to THAT li’l chat?

Katherine Harris is so plucky! You go, girl! Don’t let those selfish menfolk keep you from running and going down in flames and embarrassment … and if they try to boss you around — tell the media what all you did for the Preznit in 2000 and how ungrateful the Bush family is ! Spill the beans — that’ll show ‘em …

D. Mason-
I guess if you’re inside the Beltway you understand these things, but me, I’m just a regular voter almost as far away from D.C as you can get and be in the contiguous 48, and I despise everything that Beltway insider baseball stands for. We’ll just have to disagree on that end of it, I guess.

Garance Franke-Ruta 203, I wonder if the average man has the self-awareness to realize he is ill-informed. (Kind of like the won’t ask for directions thing.) Or if he knew, would he care? (Kind of like a GWB kind of thing.) Of course I exclude any of FDL’s wonderful 55% male population that have the good sense to come here. They are wayyyyyy above average, quite evolved.

Nur al-Cubicle rocks (and has one of the best-ever handles, too).

If you’re curious what a female Jesus’s General would read like, check out edictsofnancy.blogspot.com.

op99 -

And, I have been addressed as “babe” by no fewer than four FDL women.

Does a ol’ Dawg good.

In the post we are responding to, Jane says that everyone listed in Lyons’ article is a “white male” but then says she hasn’t met them all. However, we do know that she’s met Digby because she written about it.

http://www.firedoglake.com/category/firedoglake/

It was Atrios, who showed up to question Hitchens. I don’t remember him writing about it for MWO but he may have. I don’t think he had Eschanton up yet. I could be wrong.

op99 – Lucky for me I don’t consider myself average, huh? Then again, I also think I have a very good sense of direction.

Georgia10 at dailykos is terrific

1,048 DAYS AND THE KILLING GOES ON AND ON AND…

Jane:

This particular post is one of the reasons that Firedoglake is becoming the “mothership” of the blog fleet. As a father of 2 female college students, I was horrified but, after a moment of ventricular tachycardia, not surprised at the 22 million number. My 33 year old, English-teacher son and I have been trying for some time to understand why young women have not come to dominate progressive politics and the new universe of the blogosphere. While we have not come close to any coherent thesis, we both are convinced that if progressive democracy is to survive and the power of the corporation circumscribed and eventually atomized, women are gunna hafta lead completely new progressive movements in the workplace and in public institutions beginning with public education.

The terrible battle now being waged by the corporation against human freedom and progress is not born out of a natural dialetic and does not present possibilities of new progressive syntheses. We are at the edge of history here and if any kind of world worth living in is to survive, women are gunna hafta save it and then redefine life in it.

KEEP THE FAITH AND DON’T BE AFRAID TA CALL ‘EM OUT AND KICK THEIR ASSES INTA LAST WEEK!!!

Oilfieldguy 206

…Hopefully Jane, we will not become a chore and your enthusiasm and skill will not diminish

I suspect we don’t know the half of what it takes to keep this place running. Good call to bring guest bloggers so you can catch your breath every now and then.

test post

Newbie here. Regular Joe white male, for those who care about these things. FDL and Digby are my two favorite blogs. Whether run by women, men, Martians or the little people who live in my computer and make the darn thing work, this still would be so.

Hey, maybe I’ll get EPU’d on my first ever post at (one of two of) my most favorite blog(s)!

Lorelynn @ 224, the full quote is “to the best that their race and genders are publicly known (and I admit I do not know them all) these are all white men.”

Digby’s race and gender are not publicly known.

Christy Hardin Smith is why I started coming here. I saw her on CSPAN’s Washington Journal and was an instant fan of Christy! That she is that well informed is fantatic!! Christy is my hero! I just had to come and see fierdoglake and once here, I check in 3 or 4 times a day.
Not that Jane Hamsher is any less my hero mind you.

Siasl – When you dream, dream big! *G*

EPU, I worship at your shrine. Did ya catch my 151? I thought it was hilarious, but, as usual, not a peep out of you or anyone else, lol.

marksb 217

…blog addiction? Oh yeah. I NEED to be working and running this business and being a good dad and husband and get a run in and maybe meditate and by the way sleep a few hours…and I can’t…stop…reading…FDL… …Ha!

hey, I was gonna say the same thing (well, except for the meditation part)

It’s identity politics to kvetch about men earning the majority of the attention in blogland through their quality writing. I read most of the blogs on the list given as well as this one on a regular basis. Based on merit. I am not going to waste my time directing hits towards womens’ blogs that don’t make the cut in order to satisfy some retarded calculation that it will draw more women to the polls.

BobbyG #155, excellent catch:

“left America smug in the belief that it need only wish to have its problems solved”, apparently from Kunstler/Jan Frel…

I’ve always thought that Dubya’s Iraq adventure was fueled on hope (and string, and baling wire, etc).

Hope is not policy. He’s been winging it the whole time.

Even Dusty Springfield knew “wishing and hoping” wouldn’t get what she wanted…

PS- I would have guessed the EV on the Iraq adventure was minus a few hundred billion- plus 5 or 10 years occupation hassle- plus a generation of ruined goodwill for the US.

I just know I am going to get EPU’d. Dan Froomkin is so awesome. After Cohen – the whiner/wolf in liberal clothing (check out Atrios), it was like taking a bath.

Latest article
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00879.html

and talk
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01301.html

Siasl 229 welcome to the light.

From Kos’s graphs mentioned upthread:

Although I have no idea what those numbers on the left side of the graph mean, look at that straight little tree growing in the lower right hand corner! Well done!

BobbyG @ 104:

(I got some jpeg plans for Katherine Harris, too, haha)

Gracious!

;>)

Lest we forget…In the spirit of brother- and sisterhood, that there are some things we can do with unquestioned equality.

Such as…

>:)>

Hey, what about K-J Lo?

I love the FDL ladies and I think that as a woman, it was nice to read like-minded women who are brilliant and superb writers. But I am so glad that Digby is being discussed here. What a genius–his/her posts this week have been extraordinary and when I reach the depths of despair with our government, Digby always seems to come up with a pep talk.

For the record, I thought Digby was male but I also though Emptywheel was male until the Kos conference unmasked her. Who knows? Who cares?

OT, sorta- but I remember reading about how men and women are treated differently by salespeople in computer stores. Salespeople were all over the men, but ignored the women. On the other hand, the women overwhelmingly went into the computer store with the intent to purchase computer stuff. The men went there by and large just to play with the gadgets, not to buy anything.

darkblack -

LOL!

Flip that bird onto THIS pic too:

http://www.bgladd.com/War_President/CIC.jpg

darkblack 239 I’m not even gonna ask.

I guess the graph didn’t post. http://traffic.alexa.com/graph…..ground.com

op99 – I did catch it. And it was funny.

new thread

I am SOOOOOO goood. Kazuza BABY.

Valley Girl says:
May 10th, 2006 at 4:00 pm

OT, sorta- but I remember reading about how men and women are treated differently by salespeople in computer stores.
_____

Even worse at the auto repair shops or dealerships.

LindaR –

You should cross post When Democrats Ruled The Earth as a diary at MyDD and DailyKos — I’ll bet it would be front paged in the daily dKos diary rescue, at the very least . . .

Please don’t EPU me !

Redneck Mother

Jane & Christy – - have been wanting to recommend her for awhile, but didn’t want to be one more person on the board making “suggestions”

her Not A Baby Machine will be read by bloggers for a long time to come

plus, she links to lots of women bloggers, including this MFK Fisher of knitting . . .

http://www.redneckmother.blogspot.com

let’s not forget Blue Gal

and am so glad someone included ‘Twisty’ of I Blame The Patriarchy

Phew, finally all the way through the thread…

I’ve written about women in blogging in my own blogs a few times; it gets to be cyclical that the topic comes up, but it’s cyclical among MEN as a topic, emerging once a quarter like a prairie dog poking its head up out of the ground: “Hey! Where da’ wimmen at?” The same dogs of the prairie typically have few women on their blogroll; they are blind to women except for this quarterly phenomenon. Women already know where their counterparts are, read them regularly, look to each other as role models nd resources.

Women have been in the majority of bloggers for two years now (see link to Perseus blog study in link above, dd. 2004). What also hasn’t changed much in the last two years is the scant numbers of women who break through the top 100 blogs, let alone political blogging. DailyKos has been one of the (if not THE) most important facilitators in changing this dynamic for female political bloggers; of the number of female political bloggers Jane cites, how many of them got their launch through diaries and comments at DailyKos?

This suggests to me that women are more likely to launch a political blog successfully if they achieve a comfort level in a community blog, if they develop a following first, then become independent. Perhaps this mirrors women’s sensitivity to risk-aversion, which they also display in running businesses. They are far more likely to play it safe, follow rules and regulations closely, watch the numbers more carefully than their male counterparts when launching small businesses.

Hmm. Maybe I need to re-blog about this again. The dynamic is definitely changing, and we are the ones that are changing it — both bloggers like Jane and Redd, and readers like the 45%+ who frequent this FDL “salon”.

Personally, I read a number of other female bloggers outside politics but in the tech world, like Groklaw (to which Markus pointed above, fantastic stuff). I also read folks like Lisa Williams at Cadence 90 (THE definitive how-to source for Podcasting 101), Julie Leung’s Seedlings and Sprouts (appears to be on short hiatus) and the women of Misbehaving.net (includes Danah Boyd; they had a list of women bloggers too long to support any longer, now on short hiatus, too), and Meg at Mandarin Design (best overall how-to web design), as well as Jessica Crispin at Bookslut.

What sets Lisa, Julie and Danah apart, for me, is that they don’t write about technology alone; they write about their lives, about the intersection between their lives and politics and society and the technology they espouse. Many of the male bloggers, political or otherwise, don’t mention their personal lives much at all, as if they don’t even have a personal life. For me this is clinical, and simply not how I experience either technology or politics. That’s why I greatly enjoy FDL — because it’s real, authentic, it experiences its topic the way I do, as part of my daily life.

thread up

I’ve always chalked up 99% of the world’s ills to male domination (acutally, any form of domination by brute force).

I love the equality of access, the color-blindness, the geographical limitlessness (almost) of the Internet’s power and reach. It is a relatively new cultural frontier. I would not like to see it become dominated by those who are already powerful in most other realms. Is there something inherently different about the Internet that will save it from sharing the fate of these other realms?

Reading discussion earlier today of the democratizing force of the blogsphere, and Cohen’s state of denial (something is happening, but you don’t know what it is, do you mr jones?), I was reminded of James Surowiecki’s ‘The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few’. The essential point of the book is that aggregation of information in groups, often facilitates decisions that are superior to those taken by individuals [even experts] (although Surowiecki warns of the difference between the crowd and the mobs). Maybe its my obsession with aggregate systems, but i see a bit of that here.

Blogs are powerful because they are discursive, subject to an immediate peer review process by a crowd, and develop their reputations in real time and by their connectedness – and through social networks (I read FDL, like it, forward the details onto six of my friends) – and that creates a process of social contagion (Gladwell’s ‘Tipping Point’ if you want even more reading). This is a faster more unstable world than that once inhabited by the NYT or WaPo… it’s no wonder the established columnists are crying foul. But my point is that the medium is not just about empowering new commentators, but about empowering audiences too, and allowing them to confront each other on an even playing field. For people like Cohen, the reader never knows best, the author does. I suspect he didn’t appreciate my e-mail that it was a pity he misunderstood the basic distinction between humour, comedy and satire.

Garance Franke-Ruta, I loved this piece on 4.25.05. Thanks.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.c…..005937.php

I’ll be EPU’d for sure, but check it out, it pertains.

Don’t forget Casey Morris at Democracy Cell Project!

http://www.democracycellproject.net

Swopa:

Here’s Jane’s meeting with Digby. It doesn’t sound like a female at all.

http://firedoglake.blogspot.co…..thout.html

Hey, would it be ok if I pushed my single, well-educated, not-unhandsome friend on this thread?

(Dude, if you were ever to find a soulmate, this is your crowd).

As to the blogs – aren’t they wonderful. Open Source debate and research takes the place of compromised hype. Ideas are considered before anybody accounts for gender, race, location, shoe-size, etc. A true market place of ideas.

Daniel Webster and John C Calhoun would have loved them.

As to why you guys attract more women bloggers – that’s cuz you keep popping up with those Fitz cheesecake poses.

Duh!

D. Mason-
I guess if you’re inside the Beltway you understand these things, but me, I’m just a regular voter almost as far away from D.C as you can get and be in the contiguous 48, and I despise everything that Beltway insider baseball stands for. We’ll just have to disagree on that end of it, I guess.

Well, I’m certainly not inside the beltway, but I’ve never really seen things done any other way so I guess I just recognise it when I see it. I don’t blame you for despising that little game but honestly, if I had to despise something so common I would walk around with a perpetual headache. :p

I want to recommend the wonderful political posts by Jane Smiley (the novelist) over at HuffingtonPost. Her ability to say exactly what I meant to say about the Bush administration and the right wing, and with such eloquence, clarity, succinctness and passion, when I myself only end up sputtering in outrage, has impressed me over several months. Give yourself a treat by reading all her previous posts. (And she’s no slouch as a novelist, either.)

Besides admiring MWO, we kind of owe some chops to Betty Bowers. Who else would have had the nerve?

ralphinlex

The one-time proprietor of mediawhoresonline wishes to retain her anonymity.

Although we’ve not met in person, I keep urging her to return to blogging. She keeps enjoying the un-obsessed life.

I think she won’t mind my revealing, apropos of an earlier post here, that the handsome Media Horse was my quarter horse, Rusty–through the magic of e-mail and photoshop. (He doesn’t actually wear hats.) Rusty wintered well, and is currently fattening up on new green grass. I recently reminded the farrier how much easier he is to shoe than he used to be.

“You, me and him,” Tom said “are all gettin’ old.”

So we are.

All of this brouhaha over Digby’s sex and/or gender identity is so beside the point. Personally, I would love it if Digby “came out” as a (*gasp*) woman (*oh snap!*). Politically, the ambiguity serves a better purpose: it makes us all see clearly that, regardless of sex/gender, Digby is a brilliant writer, thinker, and strategist PERIOD.

Peter Daou has said that Digby is definitely a female, he became friends with her back when he was doing blog outreach for the Kerry campaign.

anonymous 53 — They especially need women (and men) of color.

A-fucking-men to that.

Funny then that you left off a woman of color who is on your blogroll, and who been around the blogosphere way longer than many on your list.

Don’t forget my personal hero Amy Goodman of Democracy Now. Not a blogger, but still a voice of integrity in the wilderness!

Jane, longtime lurker here. I’ve posted comments like twice or thrice on your site.

FWIW, for some reason when the blogads survey came out, I had occasion to name a lot of the so-called top bloggers listed by Lyons, but I decided that those guys had a lot of support and I listed FDL as the site that I accessed the survey.

I am a gay female and the other choice I had even considered was Americablog, but I think at that particular time and place, I just felt that Americablog was too male-centric. Besides, I go to other sides for quick analysis; I come here for in-depth sink-your-teeth-in analysis.

If I am like your other readers, then perchance those other blogs have a MUCH larger percentage of women readers, just that most of them selected your site as the reference site.

#217 mark – Oh good, for some reason I’m relieved blog addiction is not just a “girl†thing! LOL

“to the best that their race and genders are publicly known (and I admit I do not know them all) these are all white men.”

You have a good point and an excellent list. I would only take Adrianne Huffingtonn off (overexposed) and add Helena Cobban of Just World News — one of the best writers on the Middle East around.

Jane:

I want to point out the lastest William Rivers Pitt piece, which is an open letter to Richard Cohen.

It’s at Truthout: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050906R.shtml
and well worth the read.

I haven’t read all the posts above this, so if this has already been posted, my bad.

I nominate Melanie from Just a Bump in the Beltway.

There are a lot of great women bloggers, but Jane is hands down the best writer, of any gender, on the net.

I read & love all the ones on your list (plus all the guys). But I have a couple more:

Leslie in CA mentions Twisty Faster and her blog “I Blame the Patriarchy” – it’s WONDERFUL.

And Natasha and Magpie of Pacific Views have had some really wonderful posts – they may have even beat you guys to using bird/nature photos with some posts.

Really love FireDogLake – you two are an inspiration to me.

So, thanks!!

My list of best bloggers and writers does include Jane, and Christy, and I’m just so amazed from the comments section here at FDL. So much to comment on, my head’s popped. #1 has to be MWO. After 9/11 I surfed obsessively because I discovered (drumroll) news, information, perspectives unavailable anywhere else in TradMed (a new catch phrase I just acquired thanks to FDL comments!) and the incredible Horse…well, it was a lifeline OUT of the weird universe of Stepford journalism. I still love and admire MWO a great deal.

The doctors say I should be ok, once the neocons have been re-inserted under the rock at the bottom of Hell’s latrine from whence they came.

Jane, you are third on my MyYahoo page after Atrios and TPM. People like you! They really do!

I have my browser (Firefox) set to open all my favorite blogs at once. (There’s a neat command called “Bookmark all Tabs” in Firefox that lets you set this up). The blogs are:

http://atrios.blogspot.com
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com
http://americablog.blogspot.com
http://www.billmon.org
http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com
http://www.firedoglake.com
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com
http://www.jameswolcott.com
http://www.dailykos.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com

So you see, FireDogLake is in there — and it’s mainly because of Jane Hamsher, who’s a really brilliant writer and very up on her stuff.

I agree that we need more female “pundits” to keep the discourse relevant for everybody. Hopefully we’ll get there soon as the blogosphere continues.

To include my audio-video-podcast blog at CanOFun. I prefer the A/V way of making my point. (&You may have seen my “Is Bush drunkie” compilation or the clip I got from CNN of the bulge on Bush’s back or the April 142004 compilation of Bush’s wiretapping hypocrisy. Or the audio way of sharing ideas, with audio podcasts or a videocast. I believe that what I do as absolutely as valid as a guy’s but one chief difference is that I don’t spend my money on advertising.

PS — I also recently added Laura Rozen to my bookmark-set — basically because I found out she was one of the best sources for info on Goss and Fornigate.

And thanks for this list of other good female bloggers. Collaborative filtering rocks!

Don’t forget Scout, also at First Draft. Also a wonderful blogger.

I’m a news junkie from way back in the day, and I agree that some blogs can offer a superior product than some columnists, in real time and interactively no less!

I agree that some columnists, like Cohen, do not yet grasp this reality.

The first to stand up to Bush were the Black women in the House of Representatives. Gore shut them down.

Don’t forget hilzoy at Obsidian Wings. I always want to know what she has to say.

Evil (#78):

the bush family crest reads:

We Just Never Get It

EPU’d, but had to answer EPU @201:

That person following Hitchens was one Duncan Black, aka ATRIOS! Somewhere in the blogosphere is a cache of the page he wrote.

Some time ago, Morgaine compiled a list of over 500 progressive women who blog politics.

I second Pacific Views, but it’s a trio over there – don’t forget Mary. (Magpie also has her own blog, aptly named Magpie.)

I miss the late lamented Lauren of feministe, and would love to have her back – I think she’s a great example of a working class mom that other women will relate to easily.

Pandagon is great, of course.

I blame the Patriarchy can be brilliant at times.

To Op99 @ 221 — I was just thinking about “women who don’t vote because they feel ill-informed,” if only more of the Cliff Clavens of the world would take that option.

Also to Caoimhin @ 157 An bhfuil gaeilge agat? Big ups for mentioning the leftie women talkers; nothing tickles me more than watching Rachel Maddow feed little *ucker Carlson his bowtie.

Jeanne at Body and Soul.

I made some lists a couple of months ago, and was roundly criticized for not including certain women. The criticizers didn’t seem to realize that the lists were all that much more damning because those women weren’t on it.
http://makethemaccountable.com…..eMedia.htm

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

The internet may be more democratic in that anybody can start *out* blogging, but that doesn’t make it a paradise of equal opportunity. If it were, why would all the “major†progressive bloggers today be white men?

Last time I checked, I was Latino.

An immigrant Latino, former war refugee from El Salvador.

Thank you for the kind mention. I think you’re right; my statistics also skewed female – 53%. Women bloggers need to keep plugging – and male bloggers need to link to them.

Thank you for the kind mention. I think you’re right; my statistics also skewed female – 53%. Women bloggers need to keep plugging – and male bloggers need to link to them.

BTW, my name is spelled “Madrak.”

Oh! Very kewl, many female bloggers I haven’t heard of. Thank you. :) Of course I have my own, but I’m not that good, I just vent.

I don’t want Kos to be EPU-ed. Let me second the chorus that says “I came for the content, then stayed for the community.” Ethnicity, gender, backstory not on my radar as I sample new blogs: snark and reporting is. My top four must-visits are Kos, Atrios, FDL, and First Draft. And oooh, how I miss The Horse!

http://www.madkane.com/notable.html

A compendium of wonderful political haiku and other quick bits.
as referenced frequetnly on

http://allhatnocattle.net

Best political cartoonist today? Anne Telnaes
http://www.anntelnaes.com/

Props to Jeff at smirkingchimp.com for featuring Liberal Girl Next Door blog posts quite often.

just as long as no one confuses Sysiphus Shrugged with the execrable Atlas Shrugs (sorry, no link!)

Please, no. The very thought of only being at an imaginary remove from fangirling Negroponte is doing bad stuff to my head.

I like your list and I’m pleased to be on it. Two other people you might want to look at: Iocaste (lawyer blog) and Liza of Culture Kitchen and the Daily Gotham

binky rasmussen (287) — damn, you’ve shamed me. I was on that List of 500 at What She Said. I’ve been on hiatus, and now I’d better get back at it. I must admit it’s been so much easier to “coattail” with Jane and Redd, not to have organize a topic and write around an essay every day. Now I guess I’ve heard the call to arms and I’m going to have to quit slacking.

kos (292) – heh. I wondered if they’d ever notice.

Agreed 100%. Did you guys follow

Agreed 100%. Did you all follow Rose Aguilar’s road trip to the red states? Her posts were amazing. She often posted q&as on Kos. She interviewed average joes all over the south. A real journalist (she also blogs):
http://www.storiesinamerica.org

http://www.pacificviews.

Pacific Views

You’ve been had. You’ve been took. You’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amok.

Karen Kwiatkowski

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Kwiatkowski

http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwi…..-arch.html

http://militaryweek.com/kwiatkowski.shtml

Magpie

Proudly afflicting the comfortable [and collecting shiny things] since 2003

http://www.magpieblog.blogspot.com/

Peace Takes Courage is a project by Ava Lowrey. Ava is a 15 year old student and peace activist from Alabama. In Mid-March 2005, she created her first animation. Since then she has made over 70 animations, many of them about the war in Iraq.

http://www.peacetakescourage.com/page-home.htm

Blue Gal

She’s Left. She’s right. and she rocks.

Men who think intelligence is an aphrodisiac find me attractive.

http://bgalrstate.blogspot.com/

De-lurking to say: please, please keep pushing this point. It’s painful to see how skewed the representation of voices is in Congress, in the executive, on the Supreme Court, in corporate board rooms, in newspapers, and even in blogs towards white men, especially rich ones.

Please note: I’m not saying that this has anything to do with race particularly, or even necessarily to do with gender. It has to do with culture and the fact that the bias in our opinion-making from the culture attached to being white and male is so strong that even if its subtle it still skews our ability to make decisions.

And it isn’t subtle.

You are in a fantastic position to expose new voices. Please keep doing so.

A white guy

#40 – Don’t allow female bloggers to be pigeonholed into stereotypical “womens’ issues†articles, and call them if they go there.

I second this and not because women’s issues aren’t important. Rather it’s because they aren’t just “women’s issues” and women’s issues shouldn’t be limited to a small subset. The war and NSA spying should be women’s issues just as much as reproductive rights should be men’s.

As an example I read firedoglake because the analysis and writing are excellent. I am delighted that there are strong female voices out there but I read you — and a few of the others on the list you posted — because of the strong part. If you discuss any women’s issues, including representation in blogs, I will read them as carefully as I read anything you write, but I was drawn here because of the legal coverage of the Fitzgerald probes (like a lot of other people). Casting a wide net draws a larger audience, and diversity of perspective is a very valuable thing.

I’ll go out of my way to give female writers a chance because of the inbalance. But they have to write about issues that interest me and write well to keep me. I think that’s going to be true of most readers.

In 2000, 22 million unmarried eligible women voters didn’t vote. This is a group that favored John Kerry 2-1 over George Bush.

So: It wasn’t Ralph Nader’s fault after all?

Huh, why did I think Digby was male?

Oh, right — that male photo on the left side of the page. :-) Of course, that isn’t even supposed to be a photo of Digby.

Perhaps Digby is actually a composite, written by committee, which would account for some people having met a female Digby and some having met a male Digby. I don’t really care; their work speaks for itself.