In praise of the blogoshpere and commentors

Earlier this month over at PrawfsBlawg, in this post I pondered the prospects of blogs as a scholarly medium (which generated an interesting blog dialogue that I summarized in this follow-up post).  I am returning to this theme because I have been truly awed by the scholarly discussion taking place in the comments to my recent reefer madness post about the Eighth Circuit's decision upholding a sentence of 100 months for a defendant convicted of possessing with intent to distribute less than two ounces of marijuana.  Considered along with these fascinating comments about the Chauncey case over at TalkLeft, and I am even more certain that the blogosphere (pushed along by smart commentors) can be a scholarly medium like no other.