Iced Borscht

I’d like to steal from Conor Friedersdorf and present my own “Best Journalism of 2009” awards. I’ll even use some of the same categories Conor does throughout his list.

My list isn’t as worldly and scholarly as Conor’s, and mine incorporates a great deal of short-to-medium length blog posts along with the “traditional” news pieces. My list also blatantly telegraphs my personality, my politics and my regular reading habits.

Here it is.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

• “The Dark Knight: Year One,” by Matt Peterson, Big Hollywood

BEST ENGLISH-AS-A-SECOND-LANGUAGE NEWS PIECE

• “53-Year-Old Siberian Woman Beats 200 kg Bear Barehanded,”by uncredited, Mosnews.com

BUSINESS & ECONOMICS

• “Defending Jim Cramer,” by Michael C. Moynihan, Reason

• “Whole Foods,” by Radley Balko (Part 1 and 2) the Agitator

• “Will We Be Stimulated: Economists sound off on Obama’s stimulus package,” by Nick Gillespie, Reason

DEATH

• “Farewell to the Godfather: Irving Kristol, 1920 – 2009,” by Christopher Hitchens, Slate

• “Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

• “How Is America Going To End? The world’s leading futurologists have four theories,” by Josh Levin, Slate

ENVIRONMENT

• “Stop Trying to Save the Planet,” Erle Ellis, Wired

FOOD

• “Sorry Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live Too,” by Natalie Angier, New York Times

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

• “How Hugo Chavez’s Revolution Crumbled,” by Jackson Diehl, Washington Post

• “It’s Time Lily-Livered Europe Stood Up to Muslim Bigots,” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

HEALTH & MEDICINE

• “An Open Letter to Bill Maher on Vaccinations,” by Michael Shermer, Huffington Post

• Bill Maher vs. Science, by Orac (Parts I, II, III and IV), Respectful Insolence

• “ ‘Oh, come on, Superman!’: Bill Maher versus ‘Western medicine’,” by David Gorski, Science-Based Medicine

• “Oprah Drinks the Antivax Kool-Aid,” by Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy

• “Oprah, Shame on You,” by Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy

• “Positively Misguided: the Myths and Mistakes of the Positive Thinking Movement,” by Steve Salerno, Skeptic

• “The Arrogance of Health-Care Reform: Why do politicians with no business experience think they can run 15 percent of the economy?” by John Stossel, Reason

• “The Huffington Post’s War on Medical Science: A Brief History,” by David Gorski, Science-Based Medicine

LAW & ORDER

• “A Man’s Home Is His Constitutional Castle: Henry Louis Gates Jr. should have taken his stand on the Bill of Rights, not on his epidermis or that of the arresting officer,” by Christopher Hitchens, Slate

LOCAL

• “Golden Girls: A bygone era of beauty and community lives on at Dee’s Golden Door,” by Nancy Rommelmann, Portland Monthly

• “Oregon Woman Obsessed With Rabbits Arrested Again,” by Joseph B. Frazier, Associated Press

• “White City,” by Aaron M. Renn, New Geography

MEDIA CRITICISM

• “‘Cash for Clunkers’ is a Glorious Success! (Pause for Laughs), or Why the Daily  Show Just Isn’t Funny Anymore,” by Radley Balko, the Agitator

• “CNN’s Susan Roesgen: Taking Hackery to New Heights,” by Mark Hemingway, National Review

• “Cramer vs. Stewart,” by Mark Hemingway, National Review

• “Obama’s Court Jesters: As Wanda Sykes showed, comedians aren’t funny when they try to flatter the president,” by Christopher Hitchens, Slate

• “Will Marcus Brauchli Please Grow a Spine? The Washington Post executive editor grovels before the paper’s critics in the Mad Bitch controversy,” by Jack Shafer, Slate

POLITICS

• “A History of Violence: The long, sordid tale of anti-black brutality on the American left,” by Damon W. Root, Reason

• “The Artist Formerly Known as Dissident: Artists have a duty to dissent— even against Obama,” by Patrick Courrielche, Reason

• “Glenn Beck and Left-Right Confusion,” by Glenn Greenwald, Salon

• “How I Became a Libertarian,” by Michael Shermer, SkeptiBlog

• “Nazis, Commies, and Death Panels: The Year in Hyperbole!” by Michael C. Moynihan, Reason

• “Obama Loses His Cool: With his glib dismissal of pot legalization, the president looks less like the man, and more like The Man,” by Matt Welch, Reason

• “She’s Back! Ayn Rand is bigger than ever. But are her new fans radical enough for capitalism?” by Brian Doherty, Reason

• “The Other ‘L’ Word: Why I Am a Libertarian,” by Michael Shermer, SkeptibBlog

• “The Paranoid Center: How the panic over right-wing violence is being used to marginalize peaceful dissent,” by Jesse Walker, Reason

• “The Problem of Progressive Arrogance,” by Jacob Grier, Liquidity Preference

• “What Would Jesus Do? Ask Obama,” by David Harsanyi, Real Clear Politics

• “Word to the Blogosphere: On Not Preaching to the Choir,” by Ron Rosenbaum, RonRosenbaum.com

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• “Kinkiness Beyond Kinky,” Carl Zimmer, Discover
  

• “Microbes Within Microbes Within Microbes,” by Carl Zimmer, Science

SPORTS & LEISURE

• “Bored With Football Stats? Introducing Fantasy Geopolitics,” by Samuel Arbesman, Boston Globe

• “Ego Trip to Absurd Circus,” by Michael Hunt, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

TRAVEL

• “Peru: Hell and Back — Deep in the Amazon jungle, writer Kira Salak tests ayahuasca, a shamanistic medicinal ritual, and finds a terrifying—but enlightening—world within,” by Kira Salak, National Geographic Traveler