St. Louis Blog Posts From the Past Week

St. Louis has a variety of great blogs from progressive viewpoints, but unfortunately many of those blogs are isolated in their own little corner of cyberspace, and we don't do a great job interacting with each other (with the definite exception of the urban planning blogs who have an amazing online community). To a large extent, I think this serves as a disincentive for progressives and activists to start blogging in St. Louis, since it can take a long time to build up enough of a following to feel like you're having a conversation rather than talking to the wind. So, in order to do my small part, I'm posting some interesting blog posts from the past week to try to get people more familiar with the St. Louis blogging community. I'm sure I missed some great posts, so please feel free to post your own favorite blog posts from the St. Louis area in the past week.

Blog Posts from the Past Week:

(in no particular order)

• Former Post-Dispatch columnist Sylvester Brown offered his perspective on the Obama administration one year later.
• Jim Zavist discussed the crime-prevention vs energy conservation considerations that arise from streetlights on the Urban Review Blog.
• Eric Vieth at Dangerous Intersection is critical of the new Highway 40/I-64 design for failing to leave room for bicycle paths or future metrolink expansions. He also reviewed the recent movie Food, Inc.
• Ryan Witt at the Examiner does a great job with frequently updated news and analysis from a progressive perspective.
• Patricia at Write2BeHeard updated people on the Gaza March.
• Mike Baldwin at Viaticum discusses how you can help the homeless in the cold.
• Devilstower at DailyKos (a St. Louis area resident) explained how "the naughts" were a trial of conservative ideology, and the results clearly showed that the ideology is flawed. Later in the week, he wrote about the destructive consequences of mountaintop coal removal in "It's only Appalachia."
• Next Stop STL discussed the opening of the Vandenter Bridge and also discussed how Metro responds to heavy snowstorms.
• Michael Allen at Ecology of Absence wrote about Accomplishments an Opportunities in St. Louis Place. He also advocated for slowing down the process in Paul McKee's bid to massively redevelop Northside.
• Dave at the Arch City Chronicle broke news that Don Calloway was considering jumping into the State Senate 14 primary .
• Shark Fu questioned whether reports that there is "nothing wrong" with Rush Limbaugh's heart could possibly be correct. She also was not-so-patiently waiting for the "defenders of the sacred institution of marraige" to start getting upset about recent developments around divorce rates.
• Lois at The Curios Kitchen laments the superficial state of the modern mall.
• Hotflash at Show Me Progress gave an example of the often overlooked value of having competent technocrats in the Obama administration, as opposed to the Heckuva Job Brownies we were stuck with in previous years. She also examined Mountain Top Removal of Coal.
• And WillyK, also at Show Me Progress, discusses the fiscal irresponsibility of Republicans.
• Finally, Byron DeLear at SMP wrote a diary with a very positive assessment of the recent movie Avatar.
• Crazy Drum Guy had some fun with Steele's announcement that the GOP "might not be ready to lead" and weak attempts by Republicans to criticize Obama over use of the word "terrorism."
• Alex at the Saint Louis Urban Workshop wrote about how Walmart, TIF, and Musical Chair Development may devastate St. Ann.
• The St. Louis Social Media Report wrote up a post about the death of a St. Louis blogger thought to have invented the term "blogosphere."
• Paul at Vanishing STL examines the space reuse experiment known at Crestwood Court.
• Colin Murphy at Vital Voice kicks off a new series honoring local LGBT icons.
• The Vegan Thyme blog offers a steady stream of delicious vegan recipes.
• Rick at STL Rising discusses the idea of opening up parts of the city so that they are more connected to the river.
• Chris at St. Louis Patina offers beautiful pictures of the urban landscape in St. Louis (and the places he visits).
• Finally, Nicholas Phillips at the RFT describes the recent legal threats by coal companies against local activist Brian DeSmet who created a satirical website mocking the PR term "clean coal."

There were also some interesting opinions by the St. Louis editorial board on the subjects of coal-fired power plants, the death penalty, and some of the proposed taxes in the health care bills.