The New Republic, one of America's most distinguished political magazines, if a little left of this blog, has launched a very exciting groupblog titled Open University. According to the blurb:

It's dedicated to thinking about not just the news of the day but also the news from the academy: Controversies in campus politics that warrant thoughtful discussion. Scholarship from our various disciplines that we think deserves a broader hearing. Ideas we had in doing our research that seem eerily relevant to something we read in The New York Times today.

Sounds like good reading, and efforts to date have been first-class blogging.