Monthly Archives: June 2007

‘Harry Potter’ and the Gospel of J.K. Rowling

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By Jeff Diamant

Religion News Service
Saturday, June 30, 2007; Page B09

I had never read a “Harry Potter” book until three months ago, when a hopeful editor buttonholed me with a plea: Would I, a religion reporter, write about religious imagery in
the series?

We reporters don’t freely turn down editors’ assignments, so a force-feeding of all six books ensued. After 3,362 pages and 12 weeks of very late nights, I can say I liked the series. I
get the hype.

I even understand the intrigue that’s leading real people to bet real dollars on the ending — specifically, on whether the young wizard Harry lives or dies in the last volume, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which comes out July 21.

It’s true, Agence France-Presse has reported: Gamblers wealthy or odd enough to wager on
fiction have put down money with bookies. The prevailing bet? Potter to die.

His death will be a noble one, it is prophesied in the blogs, a death both sacrificial and necessary to save the world from the satanic Lord Voldemort. I agree with this line. I also expect Harry’s death to show that his character’s path is modeled on the Gospel accounts of Jesus, and, more significantly, that the link between him and wizardry-school headmaster
Albus Dumbledore is patterned on the most essential relationship in the Christian Bible — that between Jesus the Son and God the Father.

>>More

This is going to piss some folks off!  Good.  Might get them thinking…

…naahhhh. 

Beachin’

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People who visit the southeast coast of Florida nowadays see hardly a remnant of what it was like when I first moved here in the early ‘60′s. Starting a few miles north of Palm Beach and extending all the way to the south end of Key Biscayne—with a few breaks for local, county and state parks and National this-and-that—there are now nothing but hotels and condominiums. For a stretch of coast approximately 80 miles long, only government intervention has insured minimal public access to the beaches. Most of the parks are devoid of their native vegetation, having long since been taken over by Australian pines and other exotic flora. Ironically, the only examples of the original coastal jungle are, for the most part, on private estates where they were preserved to provide isolation and privacy.

‘Twer not always thus. Back when I was a young buck Continue reading →

Neat Places — Delta Living in Suwannee, FL

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Suwanee is a town built on a river but, even more, on denial (which, in this case, isn’t a river in Africa). Situated on the north side of the Suwannee River delta, where it meets the Gulf of Mexico, the sleepy village sits directly in the path of tidal surge from any hurricane headed for Florida’s Big Bend. If you want to live there, you need to understand the impermanence of all things, especially structures built on compacted mud. Very Buddhist.

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One of the largest undeveloped delta-estuarine systems in the United States, the area is protected by the 52,935-acre Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established in 1979, and covers both sides of the Suwannee River upriver for almost fifteen miles, along with 26 miles of Gulf Coast habitat. This protects the community’s surroundings from development, and insures that the previously-developed areas will retain their property values.

Most structures in Suwannee are either designed to withstand flooding, built up on stilts, or both. Homes range from some fairly fancy shacks…

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to modest cabins… Continue reading →

Will the Progressive Majority Please Stand Up and Be Counted?

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Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2007, a
massive twenty-year roundup of public opinion from the Pew Research
Center for the People and the Press, tells the story. Is it the
responsibility of government to care for those who can’t take care of
themselves? In 1994, the year conservative Republicans captured
Congress, 57 percent of those polled thought so. Now, says Pew, it’s 69
percent. (Even 58 percent of Republicans agree. Would that some of them
were in Congress.) The proportion of Americans who believe government
should guarantee every citizen enough to eat and a place to sleep is 69
percent, too–the highest since 1991. Even 69 percent of
self-identified Republicans–and 75 percent of small-business
owners!–favor raising the minimum wage by more than $2.

The Pew study was not just asking about do-good, something-for-nothing
abstractions. It asked about trade-offs. A majority, 54 percent, think
“government should help the needy even if it means greater debt” (it
was only 41 percent in 1994). Two-thirds want the government to
guarantee health insurance for all citizens. Even among those who
otherwise say they would prefer a smaller government, it’s 57
percent–the same as the percentage of Americans making more than
$75,000 a year who believe “labor unions are necessary to protect the
working person.”

It’s not just Pew. … MORE>>>


So, if the majority of Americans feel that way, who’s running the country, and how did it happen?

Attack mailer targets Pinellas House Democrat

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“TAXPAYER ALERT for Florida Homeowners: State Representative Bill
Heller just voted NO to the largest tax cut plan in Florida’s history,
” blared a mailer sent to voters in the St. Petersburg Democrat’s
district. “When it comes time to vote for Bill Heller, you should vote
too.”

Heller and every other Democrat opposed that proposal, estimated at
$10-billion to $15-billion, saying it would dramatically cut school
spending. But Democrats did vote to put the amendment proposal on the
ballot so voters could decide in January.

“I don’t think some of
the Florida Republicans got the memo that acting like Karl Rove and Ann
Coulter isn’t necessarily the best way to endear themselves to
Floridians, ” said House Democratic leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach.
“The truth of the matter is, they put a lousy choice on the ballot.”

Democrats,
Gelber noted, supported every tax cut proposal anyone came up with
except one that called for raising sales taxes and the one that called
for cutting school funding by billions of dollars. Republicans insist
they will adequately fund education. … Attack mailer targets Pinellas House Democrat

Medical News from MedPage Today

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ADA: For Diabetes Screening, Simpler and Cheaper Is Just as Good (CME/CE)

CHICAGO
– For diabetes and prediabetes screening, random plasma glucose
testing alone appears to be at least as good as the full gamut of
metabolic syndrome tests, and is easier and cheaper to boot,
researchers found. [more]

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ADAMeeting/dh/6051

ADA: Self Glucose Monitoring Found Unneeded Ritual for Many Type 2 Diabetes (CME/CE)

CHICAGO
– Those daily glucose-monitoring finger sticks may be overkill for
many patients with type 2 diabetes, reported investigators here.
[more]

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ADAMeeting/dh/6056

More Proof of Harm from Second-Hand Smoke in Bars (CME/CE)

PORTLAND,
Ore. — Non-smokers who worked in bars and restaurants where smoking
was allowed had significantly higher levels of a tobacco-specific
carcinogen than those who worked where the air wasn’t tainted. [more]

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/Smoking/dh/6054

County Wetlands Manager Suspended

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County Wetlands Manager Suspended; Blog Posting Cited

Developers have lobbied for years to get rid of the county wetlands program. Their efforts may have paid off June 21 when county commissioners voted to eliminate the department, citing budget concerns. The move, which has not been finalized, caught Kerr, Garrity and several commissioners by surprise.