My public stance on the Weblog Awards is clear:
Phzzzzt? (Snore) Hooozat wha? Snerrrk. (Sneeze) Blibbertry-zzzzzzz....
In other words, Weblog Awards, Schmeblog Schamorbs. I only posted about the WAs at FDL because of the crazy shit going on in the Humor category -- a story that in its opening stages looked like just another case of wacky wingnuttery, but as it turns out has at its core maybe the most despicable human being ever to roam about online I've ever heard of. (I'd recommend you vote for Sadly No over there, or Jon Swift, both of whom deserve it -- but anyway, that DU-funnies guy is a horrible creep and losing would make him sad, so go vote against him.)
Anyhow. In an ironic twist of fate, it turns out that Whiskey Fire was actually nominated for one of these ridiculous Prizes. (I would genuinely like to thank whoever nominated WF -- no joke -- it's humbling to think anyone would do something like that. My allergy to contests is a personal thing, and I am sincerely thankful to anyone who expressed support in this way for my stuff, and Molly's, and indeed the pinch hitters who've stopped by here, all of whom write as well as anyone else online or off.)
And in an even more ironic-er fate-twist, Whiskey Fire, mortifyingly, right now seems to be winning.
As a maniacally self-centered individual this is satisfying on some primitive level, and again, if you voted for Whiskey Fire, I'm humbled. But perhaps owing to the Irish heritage, positive feedback makes me deeply suspicious: glorious failure is where the fun and the poetry are, you know. Also, there's an ethical issue: it's come to my attention that WF really shouldn't be in the category it's in, according to various ranking systems -- none of which I give a shit about personally, but you know, if I didn't care before, I especially don't care now it seems I may have an unfair advantage. (If I really wanted to be a bastard I'd plug for votes in an Eschaton guest post, and I admit for a moment I was tempted to do this -- but then I realized I felt like frickin' Frodo tempted by The Ring, and who wants to feel like that, especially if right then I looked as silly-assed as Elijah Wood did when he got all bug-eyed outside Minas Morgul... what was I talking about again? Oh yeah.)
I myself have gone and voted for the competition. Do the same. Stop frickin' voting for me, already. Simply Left Behind is a damn solid liberal blog and is just behind WF in the voting. Go give them a click. The third place guy is a conservative and thus enamored of the Politics of the Jackboot and the Truncheon, but who otherwise seems pleasant enough on a personal level. Trolls? Give him a look! See also these people, who seem cool & Texan & progressive (always good to see -- gotta love Texas progressives), and this guy, whose blog I like, and this person, who is OK on many issues but whose aggressive moderate-ness is annoying [NOTE: I'm unfair, see comments], and this guy, who, uh, seems to be abandoning his blog (which is festooned with pictures of semi-nekkid gym-going dudes, FYI). The others seem to be garden variety wingnut bottom feeders, meh.
I also admit to queasiness that the swine from WizBang are running this. I am opposed in principle to attempts to bring peace to the left & right blogs: I'll make nice with people who are revolted by torture and who refuse to make apologies for it, for openers. This strikes me as a reasonable bright line when it comes to drawing the boundaries of acceptable civilized discourse. The claims of "civility" are small beer next to, say, the reality of waterboarding.
Anyway, my ethics are what they are. These ethics are annoying, I admit it, but then, as I understand it, ethics are not meant to be convenient. Vote for someone else, mes amis.
BONUS JUMBLE! The video below has special thematic resonance to the topic of this post. The first one to guess what what this common theme is gets a Valuable Prize.