Lots to read and see.

[sarea]

Weekly drabble: Draco Malfoy, Disciplinarian *snigger*

clanmalfoy has posted the second part to "What Hols Are For," found here. And related to Clan, her story Better Than Chocolate inspired lyrakristine to draw this amazing piece of art. Look at Ginny's hair!! I love her hair.

And last night, mynuet treated me to the start of a truly fabulous fic. Even though I know exactly what's going to happen, I'm on tenterhooks for more. That's how great it is. So you'll have that to look forward to in the near future (I hope).

Now, in more political-minded news, I've read a couple of things lately that, as a generally moderate thinker, actually appeals to me. I like hearing discussion on both sides, but most of what I've seen lately has been vitriol and snippiness and ranting and wailing, and I can't tell you how much that turns me off and makes me turn a deaf ear. (As my handwriting analysis showed, I don't like extremists of any kind. <g>) But here are some viewpoints where cooler heads are prevailing, and I'm finding it refreshing and much more conducive to actual, thoughtful discussion. First, some thoughts from kstanley. Second, some thoughts from dlgood. I'd post some conservative-leaning rhetoric too, except LJ (and my friends list in particular) is notoriously lacking in non-liberal thinking -- or those who would offer it prefer to stay quiet, either out of a sense of self-preservation or to keep the peace, which I certainly can't fault them for. It's something that's always bothered me about LJ -- that due to the general tide, some people don't/aren't able to feel as free as others to speak their minds.

Edit: Yay! I've found a reasonable dissertation for the conservative camp. Whether you agree or not isn't really the point; it's about working to understand one another, rather than perpetuating the divisiveness I've been seeing (moving out of the country, forming "the new Canada," and what have you -- instead, why don't the people in the blue states move to the red states and affect change there? As Jade points out to me, obviously Ohio just needed about 150,000 more blue peeps).

Comments

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

Just wanted say your and Jade's journals have been like little islands of grace and calm in the past week, and this reader appreciates it.

(I could-should tell Jade this in her journal, but I suspect she will see it here, so laziness is gonna prevail. :)

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

Thanks, MC. *hugs* It's obviously an emotional time for many people, but the more people freak out and react emotionally, the more I'm reminded of why we have safeguards in place for a legislative process.

I'm sure Jade will appreciate your note as well.

FYI I'm verrrry tempted to participate in dearsanta this year. <g> But I'd be afraid of not making my commitment, or disappointing the poor person who I'm supposed to write fic for. :-S

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

Well, we'd love to have you over at dearsanta (and hey, several peoples have expressed a fondess for Draco and D/G in their applications. . .) but I do understand! The holiday season can certainly be busy enough as it is.

[areasontorun.livejournal.com]

Is mine the only family that gets together to watch public television? We think that PBS is pretty good about having liberal and conservative points of view. But, you know, we are all geeks. :)

[sumdumgai.livejournal.com]

LOL, I personally love the talk of exodus to Canada. Indeed there are several politically vocal celebrities who promised to do exactly that. Of course, they won't actually leave even if we were to pay them. The Canadian immigration office even released a press statement saying that Americans would be subject to the normal immigration laws and can't just move up there. Apparently, they don't want our liberals either.

As for people moving from blue states to red states -- that wouldn't actually help, as then the blue states would simply turn red. The Democrats could have won Ohio if they had 150,000 more people there, but at the same time, the Republicans needed only 11,000 votes to take Wisconsin and had they done so, Ohio would have been irrelevant. Besides, Bush won the popular vote (and by that I mean >50%, a feat even Clinton was unable to pull off) so unless you enginner a population map specifically to take 270 electoral votes for the Democrats, he most likely would have come out ahead regardless.

But if the Democrats want to try this strategy, they certainly have their work cut out for them. Indeed, with the exception of New England, they barely have a geographic presence even in their own states.

Yes, LJ is notoriously liberal, so if you really want to balance your political exposure on the internets, just read conservatism once in a while. It's what Jesus would do.

[ropo.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD.

So I was about 2/3 done with a huge political reply and thought "oh damn, I'd better paste this into MS Word in case something happens" and of course THAT is when I lost it all. It's probably for the best.

[kstanley.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec! I'm actually pretty upset. I loathe the Bush Adminstration and think they are exceedingly dangerous, but I am ever practical. People should get it out of their system and then turn to the job at hand which focusing on getting the issues that are important to the Democratic Party on the discussion table.

I have never felt comfortable demonizing all Republicans, because I know and love so many of them. That's why all of my slags have been focused directly at Bush and his Adminstration rather than "Republicans" or "Christians." I think is an important distinction. After all, what sort of liberal would I be if I was prejudiced against a group of people just because their values and religious beliefs were different than mine?