2008 Okie Blog Awards

Since 2005, Mike at Okiedoke.com of Little Axe, Oklahoma, fame, has undertaken the arduous task of receiving nominations in 12 categories for "Okie Blog Awards." Only active Oklahoma bloggers can nominate, and only active Oklahoma bloggers get to vote in this peer-to-peer annual Oklahoma blogger event. Voting for the 2008 awards ends on February 7, 2009. Up to 10 nominees in each of the following categories are possible:

1. Best Overall Blog
2. Best Political Blog
3. Best Family Blog
4. Best Humor Blog
5. Best Audio Blog
6. Best Looking Blog
7. Best Unusual Blog
8. Best Writing Blog
9. Best Culture Blog
10. Best Commentary Blog
11. Best Inspirational Blog
12. Best Commercial Blog

Just as in prior years, the list of nominees presents at a glance some of the very best Oklahoma blogs, and, even if you can't vote, the list of nominees gives a great starting point for discovering what you may have been missing in the Oklahoma blogosphere.

Doug Dawg is pleased to have been nominated again (his 2006 and 2007 nominations flopped at the polls ... I want to see those darned exit polls and I want to see the f***ing chads!) for Best Culture Blog. I'm not sure that what I actualy do here is culture, but of the categories that exist it may be the closest description that fits this place in the list. In any event, I'm proud to have been nominated three years straight, an honor by itself, even if the "love" for an Okie Blogger award remains unrequited. Romeo, oh Romeo, where are thou Romeo ..." or something like that. Gawd, I'm listening to what I've written and it is hopelessly lost in some other world. Oh, well ... life goes on.

A blogger cannot vote for his/her own blog. So, not being able to vote for myself, how did I cast my vote for Best Culture Blog? I ain't tellin' (the 1st letters are Ok and the phrase is feminine) but I did vote for someone other than me, below! Check out the list for Best Culture Blog and and vote as you think best (Okie bloggers only):

Doug Dawgz Blog (this blog) From the Far & Away ... My Life As Told By Food Oklahoma Women's Network Incurable Insonmniac

Oklahoma Booklady Oklahoma Rock Red Dirt Kings Tasha Does Tulsa Yogi's Den

Some of my personal favorites have been nominated, too ... but I won't mention any names since I don't need to be making any more enemies ... I take that back: I will mention two: Steve Lackmeyer's OKC Central as the Best Commercial Blog (commercial since it is sponsored by the Oklahoman); and I favored Michael Bates' Batesline for the Best Overall Blog.

Batesline.com. As to the Best Overall Blog, even though 9 other great blogs were nominated, I favored Batesline, not only because it's a great blog (even though we differ when it comes down to some of the details ... I'm a reasonable liberal, he's a hopeless conservative) (just kinda kidding) but also because Michael has to put up with a shitload of crap (including pending litigation) from the successors to the once fine newspaper earlier owned by Jenkin Lloyd Jones, Sr., the Tulsa Tribune which came to be owned by the Tulsa World. (I may have this wrong ... I'm certainly not a Tulsa expert ... I'll fix the text as I learn better). Whether a person's viewpoint be "liberal" or "conservative," free speech should prevail against all comers in the United States of America. Newspapers, the Oklahoman and the Tulsa World are having hard times these days. The surviving remnant of that once noble Tulsa newspaper seems to think that lawsuits against ombudsmen like Michael will help it survive. That's ridiculous.

As far as I'm aware, Micheal stands alone in Oklahoma by (a) straightforwardly identifying himself, (b) saying exactly what he thinks, (c) even if doing so results in costly litigation, and (d) he does this all on his own without a protective umbrella of some kind.

Truth is, we have no ombudsmen in Oklahoma City that are completely independent and comparable to Micheal Bates. Steve Lackmeyer comes close but he is tied to the Oklahoman, and, hence, is not as free-to-speak as Michael is. Yes, anonymous voices at OkcTalk.com pop up but, in the main, they don't shed their anonymity, preferring, for whatever reason, to remain obscure, hidden, and protected, and, as result, nonthreatening to the status quo. I mean, who could give a squat about what "MoonJune94 says: whatever," when it gets down to the real world of putting up or shutting up. At city hall, who gives a flying fish about what some anonymous poster has to say. It's meaningless. But, when Micheal posts, it's not. Does what he say matter in Tulsa from a practical perspective? I don't know.

All I know is that when Michael Bates posts something in his blog, you know who he is and where he's coming from. He and his blog are not anonymous. Straightforward speech is found there, like it or not, and he is not shy about taking captives. You know who he is.

Can you say (with a straight face),

Lawsuits against free-thinking ombudsmen will help the Tulsa World survive.

I didn't think so ... the words will catch in your throat. Even if you can say "ombudsmen" without torquing it out of shape like GW did with the with the word "nuclear" -- a fleeting last pass for GW: it is noo-clee-ur and not noo-cu-ler. Those times, gladly, are now gone by. We may not ever have to cringe ever again when a President of the United States emaciates the word the "nuclear!" Michael may not agree.

Steve's Blog. As for Steve's blog, in less than a year since it began, Steve's blog has arguably established itself as the best place to go to find out what's going on in the "Oklahoma City history unfolding" department and if you don't go there regularly, you should!

If you want to check out the seriousness with which the Okie Blog Awards are taken (and want a good laugh), check out how Today In Idabel Oklahoma viewed its chances against its Best Commentary competition. It's a hoot!

To vote or simply peruse through the list of nominees, go here, and have a nice day.