Bumming around the blogosphere

Light posting today and in the near term while I catch up on work, but I wanted to refer readers to other great sources around the blogosphere I've been reading lately:

State Rep. Carter Casteel has been named the blogosphere's Texan of the Year, Pink Dome reports. I didn't have time to participate in this process, but I'm glad PD and the rest took up the banner: I often disagree with Casteel on policy stuff but I respect her independence -- she's a good choice.

I've enjoyed Larry James' Urban Daily a lot recently, so for now I've bumped him up to Grits' Daily Checks list. Larry works on poverty issues as CEO of Central Dallas Ministries. He's a solutions-oriented guy, the kind of religious thinker who earnestly wants to help others and seek justice. Good stuff.

I'm glad to see Freedom is Slavery posting regularly after Scott's extended hiatus. Along with the UK's Spy Blog, FIS is a good way to track what's up in the new surveillance society. Of course, Bruce Schneier's blog still provides the blogospheric gold standard on high-tech security matters. Where else would you find tips on how to crack safes using thermal imaging, or on methods for hacking government wiretappers?

Lots of great drug war blogging recently. Pete at Drug War Rant continues to produce high quality fare just about daily -- I especially liked his recent item about encountering a faux drug roadblock at a rest stop, to which Radley Balko added great background. The Dare Generation Diary so far promises to be a great new blogging source on the drug war, today bringing the news of a lawsuit Students for Sensible Drug Policy and ACLU are filing that challenges the law banning financial aid to people with drug convictions. Thehim's Drug War Roundup at Blog Reload keeps getting better and better. And as always, Libby at Last One Speaks provides a great one-stop shopping source on the drug war, plus she's developing a case of Austin-envy.

Folks who care about criminal justice matters should read Doc Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy all the time -- today he reports on a New Jersey commission that will propose new drug sentencing reforms, plus he's a first-rate source of capital punishment news and views.

I've also been reading the good folks at Concurring Opinions more often, recently, and particularly enjoyed this piece on The Ontology of Blogging.

I wonder what the blog 1,000 executions will do after tomorrow? That's when the 1,000th is likely to occur. I don't really like the focus on what Doc Berman called the "magic of round numbers." The 1,000th execution is no better or worse than the 654th or the 1,087th. The real question, to me, is do you trust the state to always get it right?

I neglected a couple of weeks ago to point to some fine posts by OSAPian, a parole officer blogging at Patriotic Rants, who criticized California prison rules that undermine drug treatment programs and take offenders out of programs because they're succeeding! OSAPian's a staunch conservative, but never think criminal justice professionals don't know exactly how the system is screwed up.

Back in Texas, Rep. Aaron Pena's A Capitol Blog improves every week -- I think the good rep has hit a writing groove, because many of his posts have been first rate. Pena even made his re-election announcement on his blog!

Check out these folks and other bloggers linked at the right while I try to churn through the stack awaiting me on my desk to clear the way for more Grits' posts, soon.