A Great Compliment

I am Coyote at Northwest Republican has nominated me and my humble blog abode as a "Blog That Makes You Think."

This is probably the best compliment I could receive, even though I sometimes question how much value I really bring to this thing we call the Blogosphere.

The Thinking Blogger Award was started in February by The Thinking Blog. So, my duty now is to continue the meme, selecting five blogs that Make Me Think. (I choose to define this as blogs that present me with information I hadn't heard before; or blogs that present a perspective I either had not heard or had dismissed, with such coherence that it causes me to revisit my biases.)

They are (in no particular order):

1. Northwest Republican. No, I'm not doing this just because he nominated me. Coyote and his stable of contributors, because they're so well-connected, provide information I can't find anywhere else. And even when covering information that's readily available elsewhere, NWR provides a unique perspective.

2. Jack Bogdanski. Jack and I rarely agree, but I usually respect his opinion. He approaches politics from a liberal perspective, but he's able to see the idiotic nature of people from across the political spectrum, idiocy that I sometimes ignore when I haven't thought it through or am too willing to give someone of my political persuasion the benefit the doubt.

3. Tony Woodlief. Tony is probably my favorite internet writer. His prose is funny, insightful and -- at times -- gripping. Most of the time, his favored subjects are his children -- the daughter who passed away before her fourth birthday, and the three brothers she never knew -- but he also skewers popular culture and the way that Christians interact with and attempt to influence culture. He makes me think about my role in the world as someone who is politically-minded, but mostly he reminds me of my responsibilities as a husband, a father and a follower of Jesus.

4. Michael Totten. Michael is a Portland-based writer who has made it his life's mission to travel to and help others understand the culture of the Middle East. He makes regular jaunts to Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Iraq (probably among others), and gives a first-hand understanding of the forces struggling to shape that part of the world. His writing and photos provide a unique glimpse into one of the world's hottest hot spots.

5. Stand To Reason. This was a hard one, because there are several evangelical blogs that give my brain fodder for consideration, including Mark D. Roberts and Evangelical Outpost. But Stand to Reason is able to focus on the central tenets of Christianity in a way that emphasizes reasonable discourse instead of the passionate, thoughtless repetition sometimes found in the evangelical community. (Those other guys do that, too, but I only had room for one more!)

So there's my contribution to Blogs That Make Me Think. Thanks, Coyote.