God, she is such a putz.

I went to the Weblog Awards a few days ago, voted for Majikthise and Aqoul, then looked through the other categories and hardly recognized any of the blogs.

This is Unfoggedian for "I'm so in love."

Why do they make the rule "you may vote once every 24 hours"? That seems like a weird rule that could not possibly be justified.

Strange rules are sufficient to reduce me to incoherence.

I wouldn't care who wins the goddamned meaningless award if only she didn't care so much about winning the goddamned meaningless award.

Could there not be a category for "most unseemly," "most churlish," "most self-congratulatory"?

"Oldest Crone".

Althouse is the new SDB.

I felt kinda bad for her when I read this post; it just seems like she's falling apart.

I can't wait to see what kind of categories Kotsko rolls out for the The Weblog Awards.

10: Jesus, that kind of obsession over site statistics and readership would, you think, extend to content.

Based on the link in 10, I kinda like Althouse's rambling, s-o-c style. Charming … if only it were used in the service of good, instead of evil.

It probably starts grating pretty quickly.

I'm sensing little enthusiasm for a ballot-box-stuffing effort.

Actually, you're quite wrong. Passive aggression is not admirable. If he had confronted me, I would have explained things and defended myself. He's afraid of that. That's not at all admirable. You think it's easier to sit there and growl and throw stink bombs from a distance or to engage with me and have to defend your arguments?

This is the kind of stupidity that is so complete, and so deep, that one is sort of paralyzed when presented with it.

Is Althouse married? I imagine her husband waking early every morning, sitting alone at the kitchen table, silently weeping into his Corn Flakes.

Seriously, the part I quoted would sound right if written by a freshman sorority girl. It sould require that kind of sheltered, experience-impoverished life to actually hold an opinion like that.

Ms Althouse and I have been married since 2002.

You think it's easier to sit there and growl and throw stink bombs from a distance or to engage with me and have to defend your arguments?

It's easier to eat a steak than to eat cat turds, but that doesn't make the latter a worthwhile endeavor.

18. Do y'all have sex, or does she just lay her eggs and you come by and fertalize them later?

"Yes, dear--I am listening to you."

"No, dear--what did Glenn Greenwald say about you?"

"No, dear--I haven't seen your Project Runway DVDs."

I imagine her husband

Hunching his shoulders ever higher and slouching ever lower into the couch, just trying to watch his TV, as she maintains a constrant play-by-play from the next room of all the things she might write about or to which she might respond.

Dammit, Paul.

Ah, pwnage sweeter than an Althousian hit-count.

19: it's worth keeping in mind that TRex's irritation stemmed from the infamous "How dare you not remove your breasts before the President" fiasco; it's not like Althouse has much of an argument to defend, there.

I'm still boggling at the idea that you read this stuff regularly enough to react to it. I spend enough time not working to read blogs that have a shot at being informative -- I can't picture what would lead me to Althouse other than some spat.

I bet you never picked scabs, either, LB.

Labs doesn't work as hard as you, LB.

Probably a result of your pro-union upbringing.

Or, needs less informing to be fully informed.

Ogged also wonders about why I subject myself to the irritation. I have no answer. Puzzling, I admit.

Also, in one of those possible worlds more terrible than our own, Ann Althouse and James Lileks are married and their child is the Franklin Richards of banality.

Not so puzzling if you'll recall that FL is the gimp atm. He hearts pain, physicl and mental.

Also: I spend enough time not working to read blogs that have a shot at being informative

Me too. But I include unfogged in that camp, which I think means I'm deluding myself.

You don't think Unfogged is camp?

man--the only connection here is pathetic right-wingers, but:

another Colorado pastor of a mega-church has just admitted to having sex with men.

(Oh--and the pastor is a man, too--since for some people that makes a difference to the import of the previous sentence.)

http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20061211/NEWS/61211002

Barnes admits his actions to congregation with video

Wow!

He showed video? To the whole congregation? Bold.

Bet they got enlightened fast.

Or maybe he just singled out the video-having members of his congregation, and told only them.

I cannot believe the gay mafia have brought down another pastor! They must be stopped. They and their demonic, satan-enhanced buns of steel.

prospective bumpersticker: "Homosexuality! It's not just for Catholics anymore!'

See, this is exactly what's wrong with today's homosexuals. I have no problem with gays, but when they try to convert regular people, their lifestyle is no longer an issue of privacy. And pastors no less!

36: It seems to me that "pastor of a mega-church" and "female" are mutually exclusive categorize.

Should I be mad at Paul Barnes for being an awful hypocrite, or for being a cliche?

why choose?

44: What? Joyce Meyer is a household name, and Anne Graham Lotz is very influential. There are other female evangelical superstars, although the list is admittedly dominated by men. (But aren't most such lists?)

Anne Graham Lotz?
anagram lots?
a nags mortal.

From the article linked in 36:

Palmer told The Denver Post that the church got an anonymous call last week from a person who overheard a conversation in which someone mentioned "blowing the whistle" on evangelical preachers engaged in homosexuality, including Barnes.

49 is right - the copyeditor presumably mangled this sentence:

Palmer told The Denver Post that the church got an anonymous call last week from a person who overheard a conversation in which someone mentioned "blowing the evangelical preachers engaged in homosexuality", including Barnes.

I don't know "blowing the evangelical preachers engaged in homosexuality" but if you whistle a few bars, I'll hum along.

16: Prof. A used to be married to this guy (no not this guy, a different one...)

Why do I know this? Sad to say, when I first discovered blogs, I frequented her site - in my defense, I knew no better, and after her, I dunno, 30th "I love me, all you who disagree suck" post, I realized that she was not, in fact, very smart. Despite her law professorship. Because I then remembered that I too had a few stupid professors in law school...

47 -- I think this demonstrates a difference between our households, as I had never heard of Joyce Meyer til you mentioned her name just now.

I'm very happy to stuff the ballot box against Althouse. But I think it would be one of those things that proves to her how everyone but her is partisan and awful.

I think its worth noting that Bitch PhD is in the liberal category.

53- well, your household is obviously not big into faith-healings, then, because she's a big name in that business.

But seriously, you should know who she is. Had anyone else here never heard of her? Look again at the list -- she's (#7) considered more influential than George W. Bush (#8).

Had anyone else here never heard of her?

Me. I'd hardly heard of Ted Haggard though -- only from the big Atlantic article on Colorado Springs. Evangelical superstars don't have a lot of direct impact on my life.

Yes, but Haggard is 33. Mere peanuts.

Hadn't looked at the list, but I've heard of very few people on it. (Bush, the Pope, Billy Graham, Sean Hannity, Dobson... that's about it.)

You people are dangerously out of touch with middle america.

I was only familiar with 21 of the 50, and had never heard of the woman in Raleigh.

What was your first clue, Sherlock?

Do I have to read Evangelical Today or whatever the relevant magazine is, so as not to be responsible for Middle America's rightful repudiation of the godlessly contempt-ridden Democrat party? Because I don't mean to be hostile, famous evangelicals just don't come up much in my life. I also know very little about hip-hop artists or other pop stars.

Didn't recognize most of the list. In fairness, I'm pretty sure most of my middle America hometown wouldn't recognize them either, and I'm gonna bet that the list is a bit padded, or 'influential evangelical' means 'some other n00b who founded his own megachurch because he didn't like his old megachurch.'

This is like me putting together the fifty most influential Catholics and berating you for not knowing who the hell they are.

LB, it's Christianity Today, and yes, should should subscribe. Heathen.

I'd heard of nine of the top ten, and about seven of ten below that. I don't know how to account for my receptivity to this kind of knowledge.

I knew eight of the top ten; the two out were Osteen and Hybels.

'influential evangelical' means 'some other n00b who founded his own megachurch because he didn't like his old megachurch.'

I think this is exactly right.

But I'm not berating anyone, at least not seriously. I'm actually suprised Apo recognized 21 -- that's a lot. Although I really thought these names were mentioned in the media enough that most people were familiar with them, even if they thought them loons. Rick Warren and his "Purpose-Driven Life"? How could you escape hearing of this hundreds of times over the past few years? Do you people not even read the Reader's Digest??

You've put your finger on it, Brock. Exposure to these organs of popular taste, and also cable/satellite, is where unbelievers like us hear about them. DirecTV has about ten religious channels. That's not counting BYU and the Catholic channels.

I'm a bad example, because names are a weak point -- a name won't stick until I really know something significant about the person. "Purpose Driven Life" does ring a bell.

Sometimes I watch JesusTV late at night because it amuses me, so that gets you the Crouches, Schuller, Stanley, Parsley, Hinn, Hagee, and Kennedy. Colson from Watergate, of course, and Sekulow shows up enough in the news that I know who he is. I should have been familiar with Jim Towey, but I think that's the first time I've read his name.

Also, I counted wrong. 22.