First, an announcement. My blogfather has helped put together a wonderful new co-op gun blog! The first thing I did was link to it with their logo over on the left. And it is great! Where else can you learn how to build an AR-15 from parts? Or something too many gun owners forget: the essentials of gun maintenance. Go there now!

On a less serious note, my blogfather keeps calling himself a "link whore." I guess that means it's OK to be a link whore. Which is cool, because I have so many links that never link back to me that I am probably more on the level of a "link slut."

What would the "blogmadam" say? Am I being too loose with my links? I don't know, but considering my live-and-let-live philosophy, I think I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. If I see a blog I like, I place a link to it. Sometimes I'll even link to a blog I really disagree with. Others might analogize to rape; I consider it a sort of tithe to the God of Free Speech.

What is the opposite of being a link whore or link slut? A link virgin? Is there virtue in having no links? A link-free blog?

I love my links, especially those who are kind enough to link back to me, and now that I have gone and described myself as a common slut I think it's time for me to defend my "honor." Not one of the following links was a one night stand (because I always come back for more) and not one has paid me anything. (I don't ask; I don't tell....)

And all joking aside, as I have said before, when I see a link which grabs and holds my attention, and makes me want to return for more, I try to link to it immediately. Once I link to a blog, I'll visit it as often as I can. The blogs below have all linked to me, which means a great deal to me, and makes them the best of the best. (After all, not only did I decide I like their blogs, but apparently they see something they like in mine!) By all means check each one of these blogs -- and please link to them. My number one complaint about the blogosphere is the growing stinginess about linking. If this new media is to grow, it must grow dynamically -- and in my view, this means that there should be more and more bloggers, more and more hits, and more and more links, all the time. We are supposed to be offering a new alternative to traditional media, folks. And you don't do that by holding back, and acting stingy towards newcomers. Jeff can call it whoring, and I'll call it that too, but if you leave the moral satire aside, I honestly think generosity in linking should be every blogger's civic duty.

As to ranking links, I see no way to do it fairly, and thus there is no particular order in my link list. If the list's lack of any hierarchy or structure bothers anyone, feel free to offer me your ideas, because I am still relatively new to this. (And if any of you have a link button you want me to use, please email it to me, and I will definitely use it!) The list here is taken in any order I could find them by combing through technorati and TTLB. I simply refuse to list links according to how much I might like them or agree with them or how they rank "officially." (Not only would that be next to impossible, but it would change constantly.) Please understand that I love you all for linking to me, and I will visit you as often as I can.

And in case you readers haven't done so already, now is the time for all good men (and women) to come to the aid of their country by making sure to read all the above blogs, link to them, and help grow the blogosphere.

The blogosphere is America's most articulate answer to September 11.

Mainstream media may be silent, but not we -- so go make some noise.

Thank you one and all!