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.

Joel Dykstra Doesn't Support Education

I meant to post this back in April. The time feels right to bring it up again.

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704090310

The most important issue state government had to deal with was education funding. The Senate brought into conference an education funding bill in SB157 that was worked on by the Democratic and Republican leadership, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, teachers and administrators.

These odd bedfellows crafted legislation that would make the momentous change of increasing the annual state aid to education from a 3 percent to a 4.3 percent index. Democrats tried to keep our schools open by demanding a stop to forced school consolidation, saving and broadening the small school factor and keeping teachers in this state with a respectable wage.

Yet every one of these provisions died because Rep. Rhoden and Rep. Dykstra did not feel that we should touch the $80 million in unused, unspent interest accrued in trust funds. Sen. Dave Knudson caved to the House Republicans in conference, gaining only one concession from Rhoden and Dykstra - HB1171's $5 million toward education, or a one-time .8 percent increase in funding.

Update: Well, that serves me right. It's been so long that the Argus doesn't have that article up anymore. I remember that a legislator wrote that for one of the Argus' "My Voice" things. But which legislator? I'll have to dig through Argus issues from back in April to find out. Then I might try this again.

Responses to Dykstra's Announcement

Now that my state representative, Joel Dykstra, has decided to run for Tim Johnson's Senate seat, I've been browsing the internet to see the reactions to that announcement. I imagined it would've gotten a "who cares?" from most non-South Dakotans, except something interesting happened. The same day he announced, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a quote that Dykstra said last year during the abortion ban debate.

Here's the quote:

"I think 'rape and incest' is a buzzword. It's a bit of a throwaway line and not
everybody who says that really understands what that means. How are you going to
define that?”

I mentioned his quote last year. At the time, only a few bloggers picked up on it. But now that Dykstra is trying for a U.S. Senate seat, it's drawing a lot more attention. Here are some of the blog posts I've seen on this topic:

1.) how's this for "buzzwords": joel dykstra is a [expletive deleted] - The title was funny, if a bit naughty. This blogger points out that you CAN define rape and incest. You'll see that a lot in these blogs.

2.) Where do they find these guys?

3.) Bottom of the Barrel - This is just a copy and paste of the Crooks and Liars blog, but I like that its title tried to answer C&L's question.

4.) Just when you thought it was safe to be from South Dakota! - Another C&L copy and paste, but I like how they added "As if we need another reason for Tim Johnson to marshal his way back to full health."

5.) Senate 2008 Guru's Week in the Senate Races - "How are you going to define "rape" or "incest"? Seriously? I don't know many people from South Dakota, but I would imagine that many South Dakotan women, however socially conservative, would be a bit offended by somebody who suggests that "rape" is simply an indefinable buzzword. Surely, that statement will re-emerge in the South Dakota press. We'll see if Dykstra has found definitions for "rape" and "incest" in the last year-and-a-half."

6.) Republican Senate Candidate Trivializes Rape and Incest

7.) Rape and incest: just undefinable buzz words - "Something tells me he's an extremist who shouldn't even be in state or local government, let alone Congress."

8.) [Expletive Deleted] Roundup - "Meet state representative Joel D. Dykstra. He is a complete religious nut job, but that is what the Republicans love these days. Dyksta received a degree in business from Oral Roberts University in 1980. He then had a delightful 19-year career in the oil and gas exploration industry. He is like a Republican wet dream."

9.) Rape and Incest are Buzzwords? Your kidding right? - "We must work to stop men like this from holding elected office. Ignorance has many faces, but none so disgusting as Joel Dykstra."

10.) Ha! Rape. There’s no such thing. - "Yeah. He really said that. It’s like when Dan Quayle tried to spell “potato,” only scarier."