Swift Reads

Perhaps it's because of the Christmas season, but I'm feeling unusually generous these days and I have decided to give something back to the blogosphere by inaugurating a new semi-regular feature, "Swift Reads," in which I link to some worthy and interesting blog posts. Of course, a link here does not imply any endorsement of the ideas expressed in these posts and, in fact, there is a good chance I may not have actually read them at all.

I would also like to announce that sometime around the first of the new year I will be doing a round-up of what bloggers think are their best posts of 2007. The only requirement is that your blog be on my blogroll, which is not quite so onerous as it sounds since per my policy I will blogroll anyone who blogrolls me, "with the exception of spam or porn blogs or anything else your mother would be embarrassed to read." So if you are on my blogroll, or would like to be, or you have a note from a medical doctor explaining why you cannot blogroll me but would like to participate anyway, please email me at modestjonswift@gmail.com with a link and perhaps a brief description of what you think is your best post of 2007, and I will post them in the year-end round-up. And if any of my non-blogging commenters have a favorite post on someone else's blog they think is worthy of mention you can email me, too.

And now without further ado, here is the inaugural edition of Swift Reads:

Jill at Brilliant for Breakfast is just a little annoyed at all the whiny brats who blame the Baby Boomers for their pathetic little lives. Personally, I think Russell Coffey, Harry Richard Landis, John Babcock and Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving American World War I veterans, have a lot to answer for.

skippy the bush kangaroo has been writing about the writer's strike and getting paid exactly the same rate the studios are hoping to pay the writers.

Zenyenta wonders if illegal immigrants are making us fat.

M. LeBlanc at Bitch PhD asks, "Do these genes make me look fat and gay?" I think the correct answer is, "Of course not."

Jason Chervokas at Newcritics reviews the film I'm Not There and makes the startling claim that it's actually about Bob Dylan, which is a very interesting theory and changes the whole movie if you think about it that way. Here is a video of the real Bob Dylan, who, as you can see, looks nothing like Cate Blanchett.

Keith at Lighthouse Patriot Journal reveals that the endangered Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, which I first learned about from Conservapedia, is actually a hoax! He also includes links to a number of sites he claims are also hoaxes, such as the Bonsai Kitten site, which might explain why my order hasn't arrived yet.

Lisa Simeone is trying to be team player at the new group blog Cogitamus, but she has issues with the way some people utilize English and she's decided to be pro-active about it. Is this a very real situation or is she being judgmental?

Robert Stein at Connecting.the.Dots subjects Nancy Pelosi to a 30-year-old psychology experiment.

T. Rex at his new digs at I Am TRex shows how Oprah's mobilization of millions of her fans to register and vote for Barack Obama will only hurt Obama's chances for the presidency.

Progressive on the Prairie has the results of a National Book Critics Circle survey. Among its findings: A shocking 76.5% of critics say you actually have to read the whole book to review it. The other 23.5% have better things to do.

Scott Eric Kaufman of Acephalous narrates the soon-to-be-classic Christmas tale "It's a Wonderful, Horrible Life."

Tom at Automatic Preference points out that Jerome Armstrong at MyDD has instituted a "zero tolerance for accusations of racism" policy. This policy has been in effect on many conservative blogs for years. Update: Tom says in the comments that Francis L. Holland has more.

Pierre Tristam at Candide's Notebooks answers the question "Are you a phony liberal?"

Attaturk at Rising Hegemon predicts Jim Glassman, who has made some remarkable predictions of his own, will do a heckuva job promoting the U.S. image abroad.

Streak's Blog discusses the "Liberal Dilemma."

Paul Levinson's avatar will be reading from his new novel, the sequel to The Plot To Save Socrates in Second Life this Sunday, December 16, 2007, at 12 p.m. Pacific Time. Maybe I'll have my avatar write a book someday.

This week I added some new sites to my esteemed blogroll, including, Billy Jack, Chez Boyer Cogitamus, Blue Girl, Red State, I Am TRex, The Impolitic, The Issue - The Blog Newspaper, Jim Swift (no relation), Last One Speaks, Lost on Twin Earth, LOLState - The O-Fishal Meme, Political Humor at About.com, Rainy Day Dreams, Rightwingsnarkle, Unsportsmanlike Comment, and Wil's Page. Please go check them out.

Finally, since it is the Christmas season I hope you will consider helping out some needy bloggers, such as Gary Farber at Amygdala, who is having health problems, and Leonard Pierce at Sadly, No!, who desperately wants to go to CPAC next year, which I hope will be an eye-opening experience for him. And thanks to those who have made generous gifts to this modest blogger. Because of your efforts Mrs. Swift may be able to take a day off from her three jobs and make us Christmas dinner this year. I may even pitch in and do the dishes.