• Mark Steyn All the quality and clarity of Hanson combined with the hilarious no-holds-barred brutal honesty of Coulter.
  
  
• Ann Coulter Why? Because she owns you.
  
  
• Newt Gingrich Did more to save the world from totalitarianism than any man alive. If only he could master his sexual morality to match his political mastery. National tragedy, that.
  
  
• William F. Buckley Megapoints points deducted for being a Bonesman who greased the skids for the neocon introduction to respectable republican society and for his similar role in excommunicating many conservatives. Megapoints added however for being so damn smart. The one man you would bring with you to a debate if you could bring only one.
  
  
• Victor Davis Hanson Bulletproof powers of reasoning and clear writing. One point deducted for his connection to a publication that would fire Ann Coulter. No make that two points.
  
  
• Rush Limbaugh Effective but needs to share the spotlight and worry less about his critics. Just a tad afraid to go out on a limb believe it or not.
  
  
• Mark Levin If only he would quit the day job and become a fulltime pundit. Mind so sharp he cuts like a knife.
  
  
• Peggy Noonan If you can't have Reagan giving speeches you can still hear his voice.
  
  
• D'Nesh D'Souza So brilliant he can be rigorous and profound and yet always express the deepest wisdom with simple words. A much underappreciated art that. Only a true master can.
  
  
• Thomas Sowell National treasure who will be fully appreciated when it is no longer tolerable to be racist against conservatives.
  
  
• Walter Williams Ditto
  
  
• David Horowitz Massive points added for having smuggled out the weak spots in the liberal death star. Massive points deducted for possibly still being a closet Trotskyite.
  
  
• Thomas, Scalia, Renquist
  
  
• John Kasich Could have been Ronald Reagan's successor if the bonesmen didn't run everything.
  
  
• Tony Snow You'll be hearing more from him...big future.
  
  
• Larry Elder Not sure he could write as well as he can do radio.
  
  
• Sean Hannity Not in the same league mentally with the others on this list but he sure is getting a lot done with what he has.
  

I shouldn't be doing this. I'll be going up for tenure soon."

It was with those words of self admonishment that an assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago, Daniel Drezner, inaugurated his Web log in September 2002.
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In a more subtle way, bloggers also risk drawing negative attention to their work by joining academic debates in such a casual and shallow manner, without the benefit of an editor and frequently without backing up their ideas as thoroughly as they would in a scholarly journal. Online academic disagreements could very well "translate into an evaluation of a scholar's abilities or talents," Mr. Volokh said.

The debate over academic blogging has raged in the pages of the Chronicle of Higher Education, sparked by an article in July by a humanities professor at a small liberal-arts college in the Midwest who, writing under the pseudonym Ivan Tribble, said he's seen job-seekers destroy their job chances by irritating people through a blog.

"The pertinent question for bloggers is simply, Why?" the scholar wrote. "What is the purpose of broadcasting one's unfiltered thoughts to the whole wired world? It's not hard to imagine legitimate, constructive applications for such a forum. But it's also not hard to find examples of the worst kinds of uses."

The article elicited an angry response from an assistant professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, Henry Farrell, who contributes to the blog Crooked Timber.

"To dismiss blogging as a bad idea altogether is to make an enormous mistake," he wrote. "For these academics, blogging isn't a hobby; it's an integral part of their scholarly identity. They may very well be the wave of the future."

[Wait a minute, you can�t leave it at that. What happened? What the hell happened? Why didn�t you get tenure? Was it your failure to anchor yourself within a clearly established theoretical paradigm? A lack of respect from peers in your IPE subfield? Too much output? A declining respect of your subfield by your tenured colleagues? The departmental turn away from mainstream political science scholarship? Your political orientation? Jealousy of your public intellectual status? WAS IT THE FRIGGIN� BLOG??!!--ed.] My answers in order: I dunno, perhaps, probably not, maybe, I guess so, a little, could be, I seriously doubt it, and who the hell knows? Any decent social scientist must allow for multiple causes, so it�s not necessarily an either/or question. At the moment, I simply lack the data to confirm or deny any explanation. I may garner more information in the days and weeks that follow, but the fact that I was genuinely surprised at the outcome suggests that my ex ante intelligence gathering was piss-poor.

The Road Goes Ever On
Today brings exciting news and an end to a time in my life that has proven far more successful than I ever dreamed. Beginning on March 1, I will begin working for Michelle Malkin, a friend, mentor, and writer I have long admired. She has offered me a position as writer at Hot Air, and my blogging will appear exclusively there.

That means that I will close out Captain’s Quarters sometime in March. This saddens me, as it has become my ever-ready home and because of the terrific community it has generated. I hope that the CapQ community comes with me to Hot Air, and Hot Air will have open registration today for 12 hours in order to allow CapQ commenters to join me at my new digs.

Michelle and I have different voices, and sometimes different points of view. Rest assured that Michelle respects these differences and wants them as part of Hot Air. My writing and my viewpoints will continue, and find even more encouragement than before. In fact, we look forward to debating on some of these points between her personal blog and Hot Air, much as we have between her personal blog and CapQ – with respect, affection, and the absolute belief that we have it right!

In short, nothing really changes except location. I’ll still write as I have always done, perhaps with even more frequency, as I join Allahpundit at Hot Air. I’ll continue my daily show as a key piece in building the Hot Air brand and increasing our visibility. The show may take new directions before long, but we’ll talk more about that when the time comes.

At some point, we’ll redirect the CapQ domain to Hot Air. My archives will remain on line, though, and I intend to keep them available permanently at this link. Comments will close on all posts after March 1, even though I may cross-post for another few weeks to make for a smooth transition.

I want to thank everyone who has helped make Captain’s Quarters such a great success. I hope you will all join me on the next part of the great adventure.