Don't stop reading.

It seems that my occasional dives into the political blogosphere are among my lesser read columns, and that's just unfortunate. There's some really good stuff out there.

I don't know if that's Fives readers aren't that much interested in the South Dakota blogosphere or if they have already read everything I'm pointing to. Regardless, I should be thankful that there are still some folks who read news Web sites and generally steer clear of the blogging community. And, no, I don't expect that to last.

But blogs are to Internet news what columns are to newspapers. There and good ones and bad ones, and often they are authored by the same people, but they do add to the news in a way that can provide additional context to the news of the day.

Here's a quick look around the South Dakota blogosphere this morning.

Who's not running for governor in 2010?

Well, Gov. Mike Rounds is a shoo-in for that answer, as term limits will prevent him from doing that.

But it's interesting that the sides are already being picked, and Pat Powers at South Dakota War College is keeping a close eye on the already growing field of GOP hopefuls.

Pointing to a KCCR report that Matt Michels is one of the possibles that won't be seeking office, Powers seems to believe that he could prove to be a strong contender as a Lieutenant Governor pick for current Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

What's perhaps most interesting is the absence of Stephanie Herseth Sandlin from the discussion by the bloggers logging on to the War College. Then again, I should almost welcome the exclusion, knowing full well how much we're likely to hear about her possible political plans over the next two years.

Is this the end of quality journalism?

Blogger David Newquist offers up his vision of the death spiral of traditional newspaperdom in his post "Requiem of the Fourth Estate."

Leading with the forced retirement of ace political reporter Terry Woster from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Newquist aptly points out the pitfalls of corporate journalism, the failure of news operations to uphold its role as the Fourth Estate and the lackluster record of blogs as replacements for the more traditional forms of media such as the good ole newspaper.

Nobody in our shoes is arguing too strong that the newspaper business is in an extreme state of flux and as we head toward even leaner economic times. Even those with crystal balls are having a tough time predicting what form mass media may take in the not so far future. Heck, our jobs (that we are darn glad to have, mind you) change on almost a daily basis.

The fact is, though, is that it's hard to be a hometown journalist in a corporate environment. Not that the job is all that bad, but for double the pay, half the hours and significantly more job security, you can hire yourself out to be what we call a "civilian" and leave the press corps to go work at another corporation as a media representative.

In the past year, many of the most talented and dedicated journalists I have ever worked with have moved on to such greener pastures or, unwilling to let go of the ideals around which their careers had been gilded, chose to simply retire

Bernie Hunhoff, who is referenced in the piece by Newquist, compares it aptly to family farming and corporate farming. What he doesn't note is that there are plenty of old school farmers working under the corporate umbrella. It's just not easy.

In the end, the one place where Newquist seems to be almost unjustifiably optimistic over the state of the media is his assessment that the election of Barack Obama will somehow lead to an age of enlightenment that will stop the current trends in mass media. And what was that part about blogs not being reliable because they are less about the news and more about twisting some piece of information to trump up a point they want to make?

Bad moon on the rise over the South Dakota Capitol

Normally, I leave our own blogs off this list, but after reading about the death of the Fourth Estate and the lack of actual news in blogs, I had a hankering to head for the Mount.

Mount Blogmore, that is. Kevin Woster - another highly talented member of the Woster journalist team in South Dakota - gives a bare bones preview of what will likely be one of the gravest budget speeches delivered by a governor here in some time.

Perhaps most interesting is that the state will have to spend liberally from the property tax relief fund just to make ends meet through the current budget year. If you didn't think the recession was reaching us here in the far reaches of the Dakotas, you might want to reassess.

A picture is worth a thousand laughs

One of the most original South Dakota blogs is South DaCola. It's description as South Dakota's snarkiest political blog is oh so appropriate, but there's some really good stuff here.

The great thing about the Scott Ehrisman's images is that they are direct and even when simple, such as this comment on the news that the legislature is questioning Lawrence & Schiller's no-bid contracts, they certainly get the point across effectively.

Of course, my favorite graphic of Ehrisman's on no-bid contracts is this one featuring Smiling Mike and a hypothetical budget analysis.

Mad blogger carries gun, enlists in NRA

Todd Epp takes blogging where blogging goes best. A frequent critic of the media (the Journal most certainly included), Epp didn't take kindly to a story noting the increase in gun sales since the election of (and even a little before the election of) Barack Obama.

Not one to take such nonsense lightly, the gun toting Epp headed down to the gun ship for a sign-up-a-thon by the National Rifle Association. His give and take with the organizers there is pure South Dakota and oh so fun to read.