I’m continually surprised to hear and read people say words to the effect that, “Wow, I’m surprised there are so many women bloggers. And you know what? Some of them are pretty good, too.”

Huh? What? Where have you losers been?

Long-time readers of The Rittenhouse Review know of my great respect and admiration for the ever increasing number of liberal and left-wing women writers who have changed the face of blogging forever -- and for the better.

Yes, I have my favorites: Jeanne d’Arc of Body and Soul, Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft, Avedon Carol of The Sideshow, Madeleine Begun Kane of Mad Kane’s Notables and her other sites (be sure to visit ALL of them), Julia of Sisyphus Shrugged, Jane Finch of the Daily Rant, Susan Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla, Ann Salisbury of Two Tears in a Bucket, Devra of Blue Streak, Janet Petrik of Beyond Corporate, Susan of Easy Bake Coven, Kim Osterwalder of Free Pie, Teresa Nielsen Hayden of Making Light, Vanessa Gatsch of Plucky Punk’s Happy Land, Amy Carlton of RubberNun, the anonymous female writer of Doxagora, Elayne Riggs of Pen-Elayne, and Maru Suze of WTF Is It Now?, among others.

Sure, most readers know that, all things considered, I’m really not “into” women in "that way." Yes, some of my best friends are women, that being the standard disclaimer required at times like this. All in all, though, maybe this is a good thing, because I can appreciate these women for their intellects, their minds, their learned prose, their often brilliant insights, all without thinking about their bra sizes.

With all those thoughts in mind it was a pleasure to spend a few hours on the phone tonight and last night with two women bloggers not included in the previous list, Lisa English (of Ruminate This) and Mary Beth Williams (of Wampum), left out earlier not because they don’t warrant inclusion in such esteemed company but because these two women are particularly special to me. Intelligent, strong, fascinating, and thoroughly honorable women, both. My admiration for them knows no bounds.

I have learned much from both Lisa and M.B., not only from reading their incomparable weblogs, but from my personal interaction with them, that which has afforded me the opportunity to experience their generosity, warmth, sincerity, and genuine friendship, traits so sadly lacking among the dregs of the liberal-left’s most pathetic and self-aggrandizing blogs.

To Lisa and M.B., I have only one thing to say: I love you.

Okay, two things: I love you and keep up the good work.

[Post-publication addendum (June 13): Mad Kane, included above, today posted some interesting comments about this list and the making of such a list. Her remarks bring to mind, once again, a post I've been writing in my head for months now about men and women and blogging. Ah, some day.]

[Post-publication addendum (June 14): Gee whiz, how could I have forgotten Anne Zook of Peevish? My only, and lame, excuse is that Zook is new to my radar screen and as I once posted here that I thought she was blogging anonymously, and maybe I thought androgynously (I'd have to look that up). My apologies, to her, and to any other women bloggers on the ever-growing and probably in-need-of-tending blogroll on the right-hand sidebar, all of whom are included in the catch-all clause, "among others," used in the original post above.]

[Post-publication addendum (June 15): Edited to correct the misspelling of Avedon Carol's name, an error for which I apologize and which she noted at her site, The Sideshow, in a post in which, I feel compelled to note, though in the kindest spirit, that she has misspelled the name of Sen. Arlen Specter (R-D.C.), not that anyone should care.]