The Partisan Pissant Provocateur Award.

The Impolitic has been tagged to receive a blogger award. Well, I guess it could be considered an award, it's called The Pissy, the full name being The Partisan Pissant Provocateur Award. Let me see if I can get the exact description for you:

1. The award recipients are pissants – i.e., they're not the biggest bloggers in the 'sphere, they're not Kos or Hewitt or Sullivan, but they make up in attitude what they lack in size/readership.

2. They are provocateurs – i.e., they provoke other people into thinking about and responding to subjects they might not otherwise think about and respond to.

3. By virtue of the first two traits, they advance the intrinsic value of a government that is closely, evenly divided between partisans, so no one party has outright control of the outcomes, recognizing that (a) divided government honors the check-and-balance intent of the founding fathers; and (b) divided government tends to work better; reference the Reagan and Clinton years versus the Carter and Bush #43 years."

This was all started by a snarky MW at Divided We Stand, etc., etc. Follow the link to learn the rules and guidelines. He tagged Pete Abel at Central Sanity, who tagged us and away we go.

Now, that being said, I've never been called a pissant. If you wanted to name an award that would be appropriate for me, you could give me the "Smart-Ass Award" or maybe just "Asshole".

Here is where my other problem with this thing comes in:

This award should make you reflect on five bloggers who have motivated you to unleash fire breathing partisan posts of your own. Carefully crafted logical arguments and good writing are a bonus but don't overlook particularly sharp satire, biting snark, or a high octane flamer. Try to keep the quality high, but in a pinch, feel free to substitute your basic journeyman partisan hack.

I really don't read any other blogs. Hell, I emailed Libby this morning and I admitted that I rarely read her posts. I usually go to Memeorandum and see what people are blogging and then try to find something different. I'm supposed to pick five of my own for this award. Here goes.

I do like Donald Douglas at Burkean Reflections. He's smart, writes like a college professor, go figure, and just loves to argue. He has seriously gotten after Libby a few times, refusing to concede any point.

I also like Charles Butcher at Chuck For...., he was, until recently, at Central Sanity and also posts at Middle Earth Journal. Chuck comes from the left and is a consistent liberal.
Central Sanity is striving for and writes about political moderation and moderates. Chuck must have offended some of the regular reader's sensibilities. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term "moderate" it is a fictional construct not unlike unicorns and just about as hard to find. (Pete, that was from one "Pissant" to the other. Love ya.)

There is one that I usually agree with, but he makes me think and alter my preconceptions. Michael Linn Jones writes beautifully and ponders deeply. A site to visit daily, I don't, but it's on my list.

I think I'll tag Human Voices written by capt fogg. A bomb thrower extraordinaire with a humorous twist. He tends to blog about subjects I wouldn't, but he makes them interesting and I am usually forced to comment. He also co-blogs at The Reaction.

I'll finish up with State of the Day. Pretty darned liberal, but then, so am I. I told you, I don't read many blogs, but I do read this, on occasion. Good, short, concise entries. Well written and well reasoned.

Well, there it is, but I don't consider any of these blogs pissants except within the framework of this great award and honor(snark-snark). I have now spent a large amount of my workday on this. It's a good thing I'm the IT guy here or I might be in trouble.

Jim Martin