Last night, I played a fun game: starting from one blogger.com site, I clicked the “Next Blog” link in the top right corner repeatedly, hoping to find some random pearls in the blogosphere.

I came across Spanish blogs (”Esto es mi blog”), crunchy blogs (”I am basking in a granola moment with hot black tea stirred with organic half & half, plain Kefir sprinkled with Grape Nuts, and ribbons of frankincense floating in the air”), bible-study blogs (”I feel so much love flowing out of my heart and am totally conencted to God”), and spam blogs (”Credit Reports Online Instantly”).

Finally, I ended up at the All-Spin Zone. I quickly noticed that this blog emanates from Philly, as so many of the top blogs do these days.

The post that caught my eye was Progressive Call to Action: Boycott NPR Pledge Drives. In that piece, Richard Cranium writes that NPR is moving from a center-left perspective to a center-right one, and he argues that progressives should boycott NPR pledge drives as a result.

I noticed the post not only because Cranium and I both listen to the same NPR station, WHYY, but also because two days ago, in my car, I heard WHYY do a pledge drive off of a Lynne Cheney interview on Fresh Air. An hour later, I heard Michelle Norris conduct a Barbara Walters-esque interview with Laura Bush on All Things Considered.

Both times, I simply turned the dial to WIP, Philly’s sports talk station. I’d rather listen to “Harry on the Cellphone” complain about Donovan McNabb than Laura Bush bloviate about saving our children while her husband’s budget proposal takes food out of the mouths of babes and feeds it to billionaires.

So, yes, I’m going to join Mr. Cranium in withholding my NPR pledge, and I’m going to tell WHYY why I’m doing it. I’d rather send my money to progressive bloggers, since they’ve been doing the real reporting lately.

That mug is kinda ugly, anyway.

UPDATE: Just a Bump in the Beltway has added to the call for PBS pledge abstinence. (2/17/05)

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