I”m a little behind on my thanking so lets cover a few today. I’m thankful for:

Left in Alabama, a group blog with several excellent contributors, but my favorite is Moon Cat (or Sherry) who is a watchdog at her core.  Her recent posts about misuse of discretionary funds, how much the Alabama congressional delegation or a past post about putting grants online shows a commitment to transparency that would benefit everyone in the state.   This blog is a great place to stop by to get what is going on in Alabama through out the state and the federal level

Another favorite Advance Indiana, writes stories about ethics and corruptions ripped from the headlines.  Their posts tend to be a little longer than the average, so they can cover the issue fully and also ask questions or give an opinion.  A great example is this week’s post on local corruption.  One looking into the Tim Durham’s, a local businessman, corruption charges by looking into all his donations to candidates, especially the ones the main stream media forgot to look at.  The other about how a local deputy constable pleading guilty to corruption charges and how they is more to look into.  I like this blog because it gives me a good idea what is happening in Indiana from a different perspective.

Ian Lind of Hawaii’s iLind.net is a former investigative journalist, knows his way around and government information like no other.  His posts are mostly about FOIA documents, meeting minutes, or hearings that he has either requested, combed through, or went to.  This blog is a great source of information about Hawaii and also shows how important having a journalistic eye is.  For example, recently he went digging into the mediation “between trustees representing unions and the public employers, the state and counties” at the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund.  Apparently the powers that be thought that by entering a particular kind of mediation they could do all negotiations in secret, without being susceptible to sunshine laws.  Ian is staying on top of this and other potential stories, providing Hawaii with some much needed sunlight.