10 of 11: Meta... & Long Overdue Shoutouts!

So here we are. This is the very last diary of 2011. A new year is about to begin.

So what better way to send away the old year and ring in the new than reflect on all the changes to Nevada's progressive blogosphere in the last year?! Ah, where should I begin?

For one, The Nevada View is now here to stay. Congrats to the TNV team for offering more news and views reflecting the real concerns of the 99%.

I also must give big props to @LauraKMM for her online @ss kicking at The Sausage Factory. There's a reason why (despite her not posting as often as we'd like) she's now officially one of our state's best.

And where, oh where, would any of us be without Desert Beacon? She moved her platform to Wordpress earlier this year, and it only seems to have made her blog even better. And in a time and place where it can be awfully difficult to find real, fact-based insight and analysis, Desert Beacon is always THE reliable source for Nevadans "in the know".

Another valuable resource deserving more attention is Nevada State Employee Focus. At a time when public servants are all too often falsely and unjustly villainized, Jim Pierce has been doing an amazing job fighting back and calling out the radical right's malicious and lie-fueled attacks on the working class for exactly what they are. And seriously, I can't thank him enough for exposing the weird anti-worker "Mary Kate" troll... As my current Republican Assembly Member who recently announced he won't be running for reelection (because my new district is too Democratic for him, ha)!

And before I go, I must give a big shout-out to the #nvp2 tweeters who make political blogging in this state that much more fun:

- @LauraKMM, as mentioned above

- @iamderekw, for some of the most entertaining Twitter wars with "journalists" who like to play fast and loose with the facts

- @RepAmodei, for setting up perhaps the best Twitter (PARODY!) page for any of our Congresscritters (hehe) ;-)

- @JimRogersNevada, for telling it like it is... And having a big enough platform for media pundits to actually pay attention (it helps that he owns one of them)

- Oh yes, and @KenKraftNV always has great facts and figures and data and analysis. And of course, "numbers nerds" always excite me.

And of course, there are many more that I just can't list now. But hey, there's always hope you'll be on our 2012 list!

Happy New Year, everyone! :-D