Texas, a famously loopy state, has somehow managed to give us our worst president and some of our best political writers. My two favorites are Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower.

Molly Ivins
Molly Ivins calls it out. Excellent commentary by an incisive writer who has years of experience getting to the point. If you don't read anything else, read her columns.

Jim Hightower
Describes himself, not without reason, as America's #1 Populist. The link takes you to Jim's blog.

Mother Jones - Commentary
One of the best national progressive magazines out there also publishes some of the best commentary.

The Nation
So does the other one.

Working For Change
A lot of good stuff. I read as much as I can.

Bartcop
Unabashedly hostile toward the corporate and fundamentalist types who want to screw you over. Must read.

Michael Moore
Smart, loud, obnoxious, and right. If you want to know what's going on, you have to know what's going on with Michael Moore.

Greg Palast
"He covers a broad spectrum of issues, though he began his career--and is best known for--writing on gay politics and culture."

Michelangelo Signorile
"He covers a broad spectrum of issues, though he began his career--and is best known for--writing on gay politics and culture."

Tom Tomorrow
Yes, children, progressives can be funny.

Evil GOP Bastards
"Since the New Deal, Republicans have been on the wrong side of every issue of concern to ordinary Americans ..."

The Daily Howler
By Bob Somerby.

Ted Rall
Ted's cartoons, columns, and blog exhibit a very limited tolerance for stupidity, bullshit, and evil sons of bitches who want to make a few million destroying the world and trampling on liberty. Must read.

Dan Durica
Dan's The Whitebreads is one of the sharpest comics going; looks at society at large as well as politics and the environment.

Andrew Cohen
He's the CBS News Legal Analyst; does that make him a corporate shill? Nope. Sharp commentary; more interested in the facts than in any particular ideology.

Andrew Greeley
Not my grandfather's priest.

truthout
Hard-hitting commentary along with the news.

Darby Conley
"Get Fuzzy" isn't too overtly political, but it has enough edge to piss off Carol Lee of Mesquite, Texas. It's also quite funny.

Maureen Dowd
I like Maureen, but no links until I find a way to read her columns online without logging in to the website of New York Times.

Blogs
Look, I'm not really a blog kind of person. They're just so disorganized. I even lost interest in my own blog. So there may be a lot of really great blogs out there that I'm not aware of, because I just don't care. But everybody reads Kos. There are a few others I've managed to discover. I like to read LYD, authored by Ernie, the loveable gay nerd, but don't go there expecting political commentary. Sometimes I read Andrew Sullivan, but he gets on my nerves. You're better off reading Gwen's Little Spot. The coolest blog is Zeitzeuge.

Arianna Huffington
Arianna is, as Paula Poundstone said, a genus to herself. A little strange at times, but I for one am grateful for any Republican who opposes the Bushista-Christian Taliban agenda. Worth taking a look.

TownHall.com
If you're a progressive or liberal, or just a reasonably decent person, the columnists of TownHall.com will piss you off. But I don't think we can afford to ignore them, because they do appeal to a broad spectrum of conservatives and help to shape right-wing opinion. TownHall.com is a project of the Heritage Foundation, a truly scary bunch of right-wing ideologues. For more about the Heritage Foundation, click here. For their website, which is rather vague about who they are and what they're up to, click here. (Either link will open a new browser window.) To give you some idea what they're like, on 10 May 200 they were referring to "the Abu Ghraib controversy." Ummm ... controversy? If torture is "controversial," we're in deep shit. And I guess we are. I try to keep up with TownHall.com's Featured Articles. Some of the more noted columnists are:
� Nixon's own Pat Buchanan
� Notable prick Gary Aldrich
� Brahmin William F. Buckley, Jr.
� Saved Nixonista Chuck Colson
� Nut Case Ann Coulter
� Catholic Mom Maggie Gallagher
� Hysterical NeoCon Charles Krauthammer
� The Smartest They've Got: Bill O'Reilly
� Family Values Poseur Joe Scarborough
� Sorry if it's sexist, but Bitch is the only word for Phyllis Schlafly
� Right-Wing Hardass Cal Thomas
� The Best They've Got: George Will

Bad as the right-wingers above are, they're at least capable of writing a coherent column. There are any number of right-wing blowhards who are well known, but whose opinions in my judgment are not worth keeping up with. In my opinion they don't have any significant influence, because they appeal only to morons in need of affirmation. So if you're wondering why I don't pay attention to this or that self-promoting flatulent right-wing rabblerouser, now you know.