In January, 2009, voting was open for the 2008 Weblog Awards for Best Blog in a number of categories. Over 54,000 votes were cast in the contest for Best Conservative Blog of 2008. Following is a review of the winner and a few of the finalists.

Winner - Weblog Awards - Best Conservative Blog 2008 with 26.4% of the vote, or around 14,250 votes.

This is the second straight year Small Dead Animals has been voted Best Conservative Blog. It does have a nice ring to it. It almost makes "Best Conservative Blog" not sound like an oxymoron.

Canadian conservative blog run by Catherine McMillan in Delisle, Saskatchewan.

Lots of cheers for Bill O'Reilly. To me, Bill O'Reilly is just another rich guy. Why should I listen to him?

Occasional use of the word, "libtard." Whenever someone resorts to name calling, I automatically think they have nothing to say. I mean, if you had some intelligent means of maligning someone, why would you say, "libtard"? That's just stupid.

This blog is characterized by short entries that are basically one-liners that contain a link to a news or other item on the web that makes someone that the patrons of the blog do not like look bad. Or there is a video that bashes someone, surrounded by one-liners. Or there is a block quote of a news item surrounded by one-liners. There is much about Obama, and much about Muslims. Sometimes one might get a little chuckle out of the one-liners, most of the time they're just kind of empty and mean. It seems as though the blog is against a lot of things, but its not really for anything.

Weblog Awards - Best Conservative Blog Finalist with 26.3% of the vote, or about 14,200 votes. Ace, otherwise known as King Moron, must be livid over there that they did not get best blog. Maybe not, as Ace of Spades gets plenty of other attention from the likes of the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal website.

Ace of Spades has a lot more going on than Small Dead Animals. This blog covers a lot of subjects, from politics to entertainment. Like Small Dead Animals, a favorite target is, of course, Obama, and the familiar defining of the whole of Islam by the actions of a few. Can't fault them for that - they're a conservative blog.

All in all Ace of Spades is a much easier read than Small Dead Animals, provides access to a lot more news, some of which is actually balanced, and if you get tired of Muslim bashing and Obama poking, you can read about Battlestar Gallactica.

A big plus for me: very little name calling. Thumbs up for indicting their enemies using only the facts and a little humor.

Weblog Awards Finalist for Best Conservative Blog with 11% of the vote, or about 5900 votes. This blog is run by web designer Charles Johnson.

For a conservative blog, the moment's lead story (2-13-2009, 10pm ET) is decidedly anti-Christian right, and decidedly anti-Fox News.

Little Green Footballs reports that side of the news that best supports its position. For example, President Obama said that he would not rule out the use of force against Iran, and he said that Iran is a tiny country, and not much of a threat to the United States. Little Green Footballs only reports the "not much of a threat" side. But I don't really hold that against the blog. That's just how blogs are done. You use things that prove your point and leave out those things that don't prove your point.

The focus of this blog has been on terrorists who come from Muslim countries and profess to be Muslim.

Again, very little name calling.

Weblog Awards - Best Conservative Blog Finalist with 0.3% of the vote - that would be approximately 162 votes altogether, counting owner, Phil Weingart, his wife, their kids, their grand kids, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends, etc.

What is this small time, penny ante blogger doing in this article with the big fellas? Well, he was kind enough to comment on one of my articles - followed by a rather overly colorful exchange by email - so I thought I would return the favor. That, and, of course, Weblog Awards thought he was worth mentioning as a "finalist" with three tenths of one percent of the vote, so why not me?

Unlike his competition, this blogger has the ability to compose an article of very healthy length that does a creditable job at holding reader interest. His article decrying Darwin Day ("Newton Day in America" 2-12-2009) as a ploy of what he calls the Humanist religion to legitimize itself as the authority on matters of reason is a case in point. However, like his competition, he tends to go a little too far to further his argument, for example, when he blames Darwinism for the rise of eugenics under Hitler. One might as well blame Christianity for the burning of the witches and the torture of Jews in medieval Europe.

The writer is also a little too in love with his own prose: "...issues would become clearer if these folks would drop their disingenuous obfuscations" ... puhleeze. If you're going to write something like that, it had better be funny.

If you want basically unbiased news, do not go to a blog. A blog is a form of entertainment. For me, conservative blogs are like a trip to the zoo. In the beginning it seems like fun, but then when I see the animals in their cages the fun evaporates and I am left feeling slightly soiled.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go take a shower.