Sarah Scrafford has produced a very useful list: The Top 100 Libertarian Blogs. I’m happy to report that my blog, The Voice For Liberty in Wichita, made the cut.
This list is divided into categories, which should make it easier to find just the right blog for your interests.
Thank you to Sarah Scrafford and Kelly Sonora for this useful service.
My page of coverage of the general election for Wichita and the surrounding area is available. Click here to view it.
I don’t think I have all the candidate websites listed yet, so if I’m missing any, please send it to me though the contact page. I’d prefer an email message rather than a comment.
I think I say this almost every week, but I’m amazed at some of the blogs that people create just to showcase and report on their own personal interests. This week it’s Dave Knadler, who is a professional writer. His blog Dave’s Fiction Warehouse deals with books and writing and movies, and also his assorted adventures, which sound like fun.
And while I’m repeating myself, Douglas and Main by Bobby Rozzell remains a great spot to catch up on the good posts in Wichita-area blogs, and to learn of new blogs, too.
At Americans For Prosperity, Kansas chapter head Alan Cobb asks “What if Kansas threw a billion dollar party and nobody showed?” Yes, but it’s only $1.3 billion.
The Kansas Progress reports on a speech by Kansas Governor kathleen Sebelius in The accidental governor at her best. The KRA blog also comments on this in Sebelius: Republicans are racists.
The Flint Hills Center for Public Policy announces a showing in Wichita of Flunked, the movie–A story of failure. A formula for hope. Make your reservation at their site for the free showing. I’ve seen this movie, and it’s very good.
Kansas Liberty has these posts of note: Problems with gangs are explained in Across Kansas, in communities large and small, youth gangs a fact of life. Robert Redford weighs in on Kansas energy policy in The Sunflower Kid versus the coal plant.
The Kansas Trunkline reports on some earmark requests Governor Sebelius has made through second district congressperson Nancy Boyda. See Kathleen Sebelius Spinning on Earmark Requests. The governor’s campaign schedule is an issue in Apparently we are still on a weekend. Also of note: Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda: Betraying Their Constituents on Energy Reform.
Stay Red Kansas also has complaints about governor Sebelius in Kathy: Give Your Paycheck Back! and What is KATHY DOING?
The Kansas Republican has concerns about her too, as expressed in the question Obama, Do You REALLY Want Sebelius Attacking Palin?
The Kansas Meadowlark is a little light this week but contributes Flying into a double rainbow. I had the pleasure of hanging out with the Meadowlark last week in Scottsdale, Arizona, catching up on news and learning more about blogging.
On Wichitopekington , Brent Wistrom reports on a new budget simulation game in Can you improve the federal budget? Here’s a game to test you.
What is the “triangle tax?” Find out in Questions about the Forever Triangle Tax.
No recent posts from The Joyful Cynic. Too bad, as I enjoy them.
There’s nothing new since August 25th at Boyda Bloc. What could be wrong? This was one of Kansas’ most active blogs with multiple authors and a lot of comments. I sent an email inquiring why.
Kansas Watch recalls some Kansas political history in When Debates Go Very, Very Bad: The 1984 KTWU-TV Kassebaum v. Maher (and Davey Crockett) Debate. There’s video coverage of contemporary news, too: Video: And Now for Something Completely Different–Good Evening from Kansas Watch for 9/17/08. I think I knew this, and this confirms: Amway Study Says Kansans a Little Less Stressed Than Average.
At Voice For Liberty in Wichita, the (sometimes) home of the Kansas Blog Roundup, there was no Roundup last week as I was attending the conference of the State Policy Network.
Wichita school issues are again a topic. The post Wichita School District: TIF Action Tests Accountability and Ethics sets the stage, and the result is that the district failed in a big way. (Reporting to come later.)
Wichita School Safe Rooms: At No Cost? The school district’s architect seems to think so.
The Wichita Eagle is pushing hard for the bond issue to pass. Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Bias explains how the columnist won’t even consider any alternatives. Then, Is Richard Crowson Cartooning For or Against the Wichita School Bond Issue? This post might give you a hint as to how to answer that question: Wichita Eagle’s Richard Crowson: Cartoonist for the Teachers Union.
My friend Helen Cochran of Citizens for Better Education is doing a great job educating Wichita on the merits of opposing the Wichita school bond issue. The post Wichita School Bond Presentation by Helen Cochran comments on a speech she gave to a civic group. And, now that I have video production capability, you can see her speech here: Helen Cochran Speech on Wichita School Bond Issue. Helen used a little visual joke at the start, which I thought was hilarious, but wasn’t received all that well by the stodgy group she spoke to.
Also, Helen has commissioned some political cartoons. View them here: Wichita School Bond Issue Cartoons are Funny
Finally, fundamental reform seems beyond the grasp of Wichita schools: Will Wichita Schools Consider Merit Pay?
Last night I bought a new desktop computer. I’d been needing to for a while, as my current computer was about five years old. Everything was becoming slower. I run a lot of software, such as Google desktop indexing (and even another desktop indexing program, if you can figure that out), and my old computer was just overwhelmed.
Plus, last week at the State Policy Network conference I became convinced of the power of video to report and tell a story. So I bought a video camera. My old computer was way underpowered for video, so that’s part of the reason for the new PC.
So last night I started the process. You know — transferring several hundred gigabytes of data, installing programs, setting up things just the way you want. It seems like every little task I perform for the first time requires a download or some sort of configuration. Also, a few programs I rely on, like Ditto clipboard extender and PDFCreator are apparently not working with the Microsoft Vista operating system.
Plus, I just can’t get used to the new keyboard.
So blogging and other activity might be a little light today as I get things going again.
There won’t be a Kansas blog roundup today. I’m in Scottsdale, Arizona attending the State Policy Network conference. We’ve been busy from dawn to way late at night, and there just hasn’t been time.
This weekend I’m helping out at the Kansas Taxpayer Network booth at the Kansas State Fair. The booth is in the Meadowlark building, north aisle.
I’ll be there from 4:00 to 10:00 today, 9:00 to 4:00 tomorrow (Saturday), and 3:00 to 9:00 Sunday. Stop by and say hello.
I created a Flickr photo set that holds all the header images that I use on the Voice For Liberty in Wichita. To see the images in full size, click on any image, then along its top, click on “All sizes.”
To view a slide show of these images, click here.
I took all these photos myself.
In Kansas this week, blog coverage of local issues is a little light, partly due to the holiday, but also the Republican convention.
A local blog I’ve just become aware of (but has been around for a few years) is Book Nut. It covers, naturally, books. It’s always amazing to me to see the effort that people put into their blogs, especially ones like this that are hobbies. Douglas and Main remains the leading place to learn about Wichita-area blogs and their posts.
Kansas Liberty features KansasLiberty.com RNC journal report, a series of posts by Kansas Republican national delegate Maria Holiday. Other reporting from this site includes Education PACs gearing up for November, Western Kansas residents take energy price hikes in stride, and 200 judges evaluated – but not a single one recommended for ouster.
The Kansas Meadowlark contributes two posts covering Kansas politics and ethics. New ethics commissioner in Kansas. Updated political profile of Ethics Commission. provides useful political background on members of the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission. Then Do we need Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s ethics reforms in Kansas? reports on how a few things Sarah Palin has done in Alaska could be helpful here in Kansas. Next week I will be attending a conference along with the Meadowlark, and I hope to learn more about conducting investigations like his.
Americans for Prosperity-Kansas reports on the Topeka Sales Tax Increase Proposal and why it is bad.
Kansas Progress reports on their progress in appearing well in Google searches in the post A thanks to readers. This blog now has a Facebook group.
At The Kansas Trunkline (The Official Blog of the Kansas Republican Party), blogger Christian Morgan posts from the Republican National Convention. KS GOP Political Director Corrie Kangas also contributes.
Stay Red Kansas reports on a new television advertisement by third district congressional candidate Nick Jordan. You can view the commercial. Also, news that Brownback Confirms Gov. Candidacy.
Over at The Kansas Republican, Custer contributes Convention Talk of New KS GOP Chair. Wild Bill posts Convention Day 1, but then nothing more.
The Wichita NAACP blog contributed the mini-debate post What YOU need to know about the Proposed School Bond Issue, in which I was pleased to be invited to participate.
Boyda Bloc has no new posts this week, which is unusual for this prolific and anonymous blogger (or group of bloggers).
At the Voice For Liberty in Wichita (home of the Kansas Blog Roundup) a few posts cover environmental issues: The Problem of Environmental Calculation, Wind Power: Why Special Tax Treatment?, Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet: Not an Example of Sarah Palin’s Transparent Government, and Kansas Electric Rates Increase Because of Wind Power Generation.
Education issues are covered in Carol Rupe, Kansas School Board Member, Speaks for the Wichita School Bond Issue and Kansas State SAT Scores Continue a Gradual Decline. Kansas National Education Association Candidate Questions starts a series of articles exposing the bias and misinformation present in the Kansas teachers union candidate questionnaire. George Fahnestock’s Wichita School Bond Issue Invitation!!! reports on a possible tell by a school bond spokesman. I interviewed Wichita school bond issue activist Helen Cochran in Mark McCormick’s Wichita School Bond Challenge: The Inside Story.
Local Wichita politics are covered in Wichita Smoking Ban Starts. Sharon Fearey is Excited. Also a useful Wichita resource is discovered in Web Map of Wichita.
An interesting site someone just showed to me is Web Map of Wichita, a useful collection of Wichita-oriented web sites presented in an unusual way. This comes from 2Wichita, a new site (at least to me) that appears to be a useful resource for learning about all sorts of websites in and around Wichita.
Also useful is from this same site wichitized googling — popular sites version, a Google custom search engine that returns results only from sites popular in Wichita. Related is wichitized googling — media scope, which searches Wichita media sites only.
I have a Google custom search engine too: Liberty Search, which searches sites friendly to liberty, capitalism, and free markets.