Reading the Northwest Blogs

The Mainstream Media have made a muddle of the national political narrative, and the local newspaper editorials are as predictable as the last Chamber meeting. Local political news on television is so useless as to deserve not even derision. The bloggers make it fun and keep the conversation lively. Here's whats going on today in the local blogosphere.

The brash newbie Fayetteville Flyer takes a look at the Renaissance Mudhole and reports on canned cheeseburgers. A once great one that had almost died from inattention, The Five-Forty, appears to be back with wit and some regularity and a great riff on the state of the union. Another of my local favorites for wry commentary on national affairs and cultural contradictions is On the Virg.

I'm glad to see that Richard Drake's Street Jazz is on a roll again. He's back with a grit and gusto after a fallow period of reposting old columns. One of Aubrey Shepard's blogs, Northwest Arkansas Environment Central, has a good post about the approval of yet another auto parts store on South School Street. And Valerie Biendara's Bien disses education at Fayetteville High School, admits her failure as a member of the Parks and Recreation Board to do anything for Red Oak Park, and touts a Republican candidate for the state legislature.

Congressman John Boozman's blog, which usually devotes repostings to attacking Democrats in Congress, has fallen silent for the last two weeks. Maybe his communication staffers have volunteered for combat duty in Iraq. Mayor Dan Coody has also gone lazy after a flurry of three postings on his city-sponsored blog since last September, and it has been vacant for two weeks. Just as well, since alone among all of these blogs, he doesn't allow citizens to reply to his opinions and pictures. Likewise, the NWA Crime Report has been asleep at the wheel for two weeks.

If you know of other good local blogs that deal with politics and public affairs, please let me know in the comments section. If there are none that suit your fancy or reflect your point of view, start one.