Blogging blabbing and a couple great links

Sometimes I don't feel like writing but want to. It's on days like this I get the desire to provide some links to some excellent posts I've read and thought were brilliant, A+, thought provoking material.

Stuff I'd like to steel and claim to have written myself.

Some times I read things and think that there is no possible way of wording it better. I see a lot of bloggers think the same way, as their blogs are often filled with quotes, and sometimes the entire columns of others.

Personally, my favorite blogs are analysis and opinion orientated. Yet, I understand the need for some bloggers to want to aim their readers in a certain direction, or share brilliant words of others. We have all been there done that on occasion.

Quotes are needed in a blog, but some bloggers quote way too much. I can say this as a former journalist.

Quotes are needed in order to add some credibility to your writing. If you say something is true, and then you quote an expert saying the same thing, you will be viewed as a more credible author.

And the opposite holds true too. Sometimes we might put a quote on our site, and then analyze it. I believe I did this yesterday with a comment that Obama made. (click here to read that post).

Personally, I like to keep the writings of others to a minimal on my site. However, on occasion, someone writes something so awesome, or so thought provoking, that I'd like to steal that writing verbatim and claim it as my own.

Usually, in that case, I link to it. Like I'm going to do now.

This, right here, is a link to a great post about why you should vote for John McCain. This was written so perfectly, I could easily steel the idea -- but I won't.

Well, actually it's okay to use an idea of someone else because there are no patents on plot. But you cannot use someone else's words word per word. That is called plagiarism.

I'm no saint, but I try not to do that. However, we all borrow the words of others from time to time.

When I made a trial of writing fiction last summer, I learned that if the same thing is said by four or more sources, then it is no longer covered by any copy write laws. It is then termed under the category of common knowledge.

Such as this phrase, "If you do not support the war, you are not patriotic." There's some truth to that, and I've alluded to this in one way or another time to time on my blog, and in my comments on other blogs.

Or this: "Polls are just a way of getting your opinion on the front page." I didn't make that up, but it's been said so many times I'm not plagiarizing when I use it.

Anyway, it seems there was a run on excellent posts today in the blogosphere. Another one I read was very thought provoking, and you can link to it right here. It's "12 things I'm tired of hearing about the election."

Have a little fun agreeing or "dissenting." I did.