Light Bulb

That - "light bulb" - is meant in the hackneyed sense of a metaphor for an idea. Perhaps it's not an especiallly good one, but what the heck. Many times I find I don't have much to say here, for some reason, but someone out there in the blogosphere provokes a comment from me. Often I think I write better - perhaps, freer - when not writing here, sad to say. And occasionally I get to "mix it up" out there in a way I don't here.

So, in case you want to read and possibly contribute to some interesting discussion yourself, here are some recent threads that I saw fit to start or join.

At the The Stopped Clock (blog of web pal Aaron Larson), a post keying off of religion and America and the possible character of the two under another Bush term.

At the web lair of the redoubtable Roger, a typically interesting and zany post on a prize-winning novel and its "Sotadic" narrative.

It's good to have tough opponents, and also good to know of some likeminded thinkers. A relatively new blogger who has really impressed me is Steve Kingston at God Save the Queen. I commented on a stimulating post of his concerning troop numbers in Iraq.

Another related and interesting thread is over at Tom Maguire's excellent blog, Just One Minute, concerning planning or lack thereof for the post-war environment in Iraq. Brad DeLong kicks the conversation off with a comment.