The excitement here is palpable outside the showing of the sequel. A titter just ran through the crowd; didn’t you hear that nipple ring?

Well, the early reviews are in, and frankly, I find them heartening.

From eRobin:

You’re sitting at your computer, ignoring your family, figuring out the perfect explanation of the BushCo plan to destroy Social Security, when doubt starts to creep into your thoughts. What if you’re the only one who cares about this stuff? Let’s face it, you are and your family will never forgive you for the lost hours. But now, thanks to States Writes, a comprehensive map of Blogistan, you can convince yourself that you are not alone. (offer void in Wyoming)

So tell your spouse, boss, kids, mom, whoever, to give you one more minute on the computer and ask yourself the following question: The corporofascist wingnuts running the country aren’t smarter than we are. Their ideas aren’t better or even as good. And we know that the Baby Jesus doesn’t pick sides. So what have they got that we haven’t got? Well, a rigorous devotion to the message of the hive for starters, but on a less creepy scale, they’re also better organized. No more! Read States Writes and discover over a thousand progressive blogs across the country offering resistance to Borg BushCo. They’re ready to be your new family. Your better, more politically aware family. Join us.

That’s right, after 4 months of dithering, the updated final version of the States-Writes link page is ready, and I think you’ll find it useful. It now features:

• From over 600 blogs listed in the states, there’s over 1100 now. Sadly, more than 50 who requested in let their blogs expire before the update was done, so they were left out. And due to the great review help Ayn Clouter provided, another 100+ defunct old listings were weeded out from the final mix. (If you posted in December, or if you announced a hiatus, don’t worry, your blog’s still in.)
• The public Topics List now includes what only the former private version held. Which means it’s 3 to 4 times larger than what we had online before. So now, you not only have a way to network regionally, but you have multiple sources to review if you’re seeking info on a specific topic area.
• You say you’re tired of the ParrotSphere quoting just three raw news sources (NYT, WaPo, LAT)? Check out the red column on the left. There’s dozens you should visit at least once or twice, before creating your own shortlist of useful and credible sources. Whether you’re a veteran blogger or newbie, or a reader in pursuit of your own daily reads, we’re certain you’ll find gems in this column.
• We also included a multitude of non-blog and blog reference sources - in the yellow boxes - to provide you avenues to deeper research. They also include tools for searching, for blogging, for reading aggregation, for writing, and even for shopping progressively. There’s even a few more reference sites scattered around within topic sections, where we felt you might find them most useful.
• To make navigation of this large page handy, we included a navigation box near the top of the page. This should keep scrolling to a minimum, and alleviate that carpal tunnel stress.
• There’s also a 2004 Swing State summary to match the old 2000 one. There’s a FAQs section. There’s a more sensible and readable color scheme. There’s instructions about copying our source code so you can bold the links you find best suited to your needs, allowing you full customization. We even included a handful of other progressive indexes. If you find them more useful, that’s great!

The bottom line? The majority of Americans - and the world, for that matter - depend on progress. Much of the political class, motivated more by the maintenance of their own power, considers progress to be too risky to try. We hope this resource will prove useful to the majority - the entrepreuners, the achievers and the dreamers - ready to pioneer the next advances.

But don’t just take my word for it. Click on the ‘States’ tab at the top of the blog and see for yourself what gems you can find. Here’s what a few other early reviewers said.

Flamingo Jones:

“The new and improved American Street Links page can get you a free iPod, a larger penis, guaranteed credit approval, and can help you build a million dollar empire, all while you watch your wrinkles disappear INSTANTLY!

Wait….no. That’s my spam folder. Oh well…the Street’s Links page is
pretty kick-ass too, I’m sure.”

And from the celebrity world:

“I would wrap both of my Sta-Puft marshmallow lips around it and suction every drop of Life Juice out of it, just to watch it die.” - Lara Croft, Blog Raider

“It has the perfect amount of cowbell.” - Christopher Walken

“I feel pretty.” - Senator Rick Santorum, in his cubic zirconium encrusted flea collar, humping your leg.

So take an hour and surf around it a bit. We’ll leave the comments open so you can add your own testimonials.