Harry Potter: More Thoughts on Snape

With a little under two hours before people can get their hands on the seventh Harry Potter book (legally), I thought I would go into some more speculation about what might happen to Professor Snape.

* * Warning: I'll be talking about previous HP books * *

Okay, last month I was talking about how I think Snape really didn't want to kill Dumbledore, but did so to spare Draco from doing the deed. Since then I've reread book 6 in anticipation of the release of book 7. And I completely forgot about the Unbreakable Vow that Snape made with Draco's mother. Narcissa. One part of the vow is that Narcissa wants Snape to complete Draco's task if he can't... probably because she's worried that Voldermort would kill Draco if he failed. And we find out that Draco's task is to kill Dumbledore.

So maybe Snape had no choice but to kill Dumbledore, because he was bound to by the Unbreakable Vow? And I'm guessing that Snape told Dumbledore about it, which was why he seemed to be pleading for Snape to kill him. Both of them knew it was the only way to protect Draco.

And I don't think Snape wanted to do this. He hesitated when making that part of the Vow. He also had a look of disgust when he realized what he had to do.

So that's my theory. I've seen other theories out there as well. My SD blogging buddy, PP, takes a more hardline view with murder equalling life in Azkaban. And that's completely reasonable. I can definitely see where he's coming from. Especially since we've learned that Snape is connected to the deaths of all of Harry's parental figures.

1. Told Voldemort the prophecy that led him to killing Harry's parents.
2. Teased Sirius to about being stuck in the Order's headquarters while everone else was fighting, which is one of the reasons Sirius joined the fight at the Ministry.
3. Killed Dumbledore with the Avada Kedavra curse.

But we'll see what twists Rowling throws at us. I'm still holding out hope that Snape will redeem himself.

Haggard Heroes of the Week: Congress!

This week, the House of Representatives voted to start withdrawing troops from Iraq.

It's about time!

Of course President Bush will veto it, because he doesn't seem to care how many troops he sends to their death in this pointless, immoral war. But at least Congressional Democrats care about our troops enough to bring them home to their families.

And our very own Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin voted for this resolution. Good for her! That's why South Dakotans voted for her last year (and it helped that her opponent was worthless).

So thank you, Rep. Herseth, for doing what you were sent to Congress to do.

Death Penalty Supporters Are Rude

Last Thursday, the Argus Leader published an article about Sue Merritt, a woman who has been standing out of 41st Street protesting Elijah Page's upcoming execution. She's just a nice lady who's passionate about this issue. She stands out there for 25 minutes a day and doesn't bother anyone.

So why is she getting such hostility?

She hates the feeling of vulnerability as she stands there with her sign,
only the top of her face visible. She cringed when a passing driver shouted out
a profane remark. She feels enormous relief when her 25-minute protest
ends.

...

One day her thoughts were interrupted by a young woman who shouted "I'd
like to blow your (expletive) head off with a (expletive) gun."

Let's break that down, shall we? That girl likes the death penalty so much that she wants to shoot someone in the head just because they are against the death penalty. Wow.

Now I'm not implying that all death penalty supporters are like that girl. But what she yelled in relation to this issue just confuses me.

As for me, I'm still on the fence about the death penalty. I see good points on both sides of the debate, so right now it's hard for me to come down on one side or the other. We'll see what happens tonight if Page is executed.