Professor Dumbledore and Unrequited Love

"Don't join the book burners. Do not think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed."
Dwight David EISENHOWER
American general and 34th President of the United States (1890–1969)



The J.K. Rowling fictional series regarding a young male wizard and his adventures during his school years while attending a school of magic remains the most challenged books of this century. J.K. announcing at Carnegie Hall that Dumbledore was gay may not help her books remain on the shelves of sectarian libraries everywhere. Nor does it do much in my opinion to further [or detract from] the issues that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed, queer, and questioning deal with in everyday living. With gay bashings and hate crimes flourishing in a nearby county and the continued assault on civil rights for non-heterosexuals in the United States, I find it difficult to care that a fictional character is a homosexual. Nothing in the books themselves-- aimed at a primarily juvenile audience-- addressed Dumbledore's sexual orientation. There were no mentions of a lover and no steamy sex scenes. When I was engrossed in the books and the movies, I spent zero time analyzing which characters might not be straight. I didn't care. Perhaps that makes me less of an activist for the variety of causes for the community of which I am a part. So go ahead, try to rip my radical identification card out of my pagan bisexual hands. It won't work yanno. But don't despair just yet. After all, the hetero-or-die crowd can still rejoice that both hockey and Iran are safe from the likes of us. Bully for them!

An article appearing in the Boston Globe yesterday indicated that a parochial school priest removed the Harry Potter book series from the school library. An article in the Salt Lake Tribune drew a distinction between the ability to rightly decide between reading material that may or may not be appropriate for oneself and one's legal charges [read: children] and the allergies that public institutions [read: public libraries] have to folks challenging reading material for all patrons of the public institution. St. Joseph's School in Massachusetts is not a public institution and so the priest was acting within his office to do as he wished with the Potter books.
If a priest wishes to believe that Hogwarts accurately portrays what witchcraft is about, he obviously is vastly *unfamiliar* with real circle work. Young Harry Potter fans everywhere can sleep at night comfortable in the knowledge that reading a book or watching a movie cannot convert one to either witchcraft or to *falling in love with someone who happens to share the same gender* that they do.
Kinda makes one wonder about the priest though.

Did a chord resonate deep within when young Harry's wand picked him at Ollivander's in Diagon Alley? Or was there a sort of crush on the fictional Dumbledore who for all his cavorting with Harry demonstrated not one molecule of misplaced pedophilic affection? Or a fantasy of the old tottering wizard showing up at the rectory to rectify some misunderstanding regarding the difference between pedophilia and gay love, between fictional and human children [something which those who run Live Journal still show evidence of confusing], between the transfiguration of Professor McGonagall from a feline sitting on a desk and the transubstantiation of blood to wine and body to wafer? Alas, how does one measure accurately the differences between fantasy and reality?

Dumbledore is gay [and dead too], unlike the entire country of Iran and all hockey teams where nary a gay can be found. Hatred is real and has direct and sometimes bloody consequences. J.K. is worth a cool four mil and pedoheads will continue to gather in chat rooms strung out across electronica. In comparison to the news of the day, the announcement of Dumbledore's gayness is hardly worth all the fuss it has been stirring up. I remain a staunch advocate of civil rights for all civils. The vids on YouTube will continue to amuse me at random intervals. No real or imaginary children were harmed in the typing of this blog post.

radical sapphoq

Michael Woodbury

In today's Portland Herald was an article detailing the guilty plea of Michael Woodbury to the senseless murder of
three guys. Woodbury had entered a store in Conway thinking about stealing a car. Instead, he shot the store owner
[Woodbury was wanted in five states and did not wish the store owner to be able to identify him] and then shot down
the two guys blocking his exit from the store. He ran off in the woods, was found walking along some railroad
tracks, and confessed everything to the cops. Against the advice of his attorney, Woodbury did the only decent thing
and pled guilty. He declined to raise the "I am severely mentally ill" defense. Instead he chose to acknowledge
his responsibility and stated that he was not fit to be allowed in society. He was sentenced to life without any
possibility of parole.

Woodbury had begged not to turned loose out of prison on May 4th after his last sentence was done. He had written
a letter to prison officials asking to be sent to the state hospital. So consequently when he got out, he went on
a five state crime spree and ended it in the sixth state by shooting down three men.

So goes it. Seems to me that if a guy is saying, "Hey, I feel like killing people" someone should pay attention to
that and care enough to make arrangements to send him onward to the state hospital.

Or perhaps Michael Woodbury could have found a way to turn himself in [breaking a window in a local emergency room
while screaming, "I am the lamb of god" comes to mind] and garner enough attention to make it stick. It seems these
days that only the NAMI mommies are successful at getting anyone committed for psych treatment.

I'm sorry that he got out of prison to commit more crimes and then to off three people. I rejoice that Michael
Woodbury chose to stop the perpetration of attorney-sponsered fraud and allow himself to be put away for life.

There may not be any winners in this whole state of affairs, but at least there won't be any more losers.

radical sapphoq

KILLING THE KILLERS AND TREATING OUR VETS 3/5/07

Rocky Mountain News reports that a prisoner with a traumatic brain injury [and P.T.S.D. who also hears voices] along with his cousin allegedly killed a third inmate back in 1999. William Sablan-- the prisoner with the t.b.i.-- was taped pulling out guts [from the sliced abdomen] of dead man Joey Estrella and showing them to a guard who was awaiting entry into the prison cell. William Sablan, who had arrived at the prison three days earlier and not given a psych exam at that time, also drank from a bottle which he said contained Estrella's blood and boasted loudly that he had killed Estrella. His clothing was covered with the blood of the murder victim.

Sablan's cousin Rudy Sablan was the third cellmate. He is also accused of the murder of Estrella. Both men face the death penalty if convicted. Estrella was choked with a headphone cord around his neck allegedly by Rudy Sablan. This was followed by the slitting of his throat with a prison-issued razor allegedly by William Sablan. It is the loss of blood from the throat wound that caused Estrella's death. Neuropsych Reuben Gur testified that William Sablan's brain injury limited his ability to plan the murder and to control his behavior.

Another inmate, Arthur Peck, testified that William Sablan and Joey Estrella were drinking and fighting in the cell on the evening of the murder. He also maintained that he saw Rudy Sablan choking Estrella with the headphone cord.

William Sablan's other criminal activities included burglary, assault, and the takeover of a fed pen. He has confessed to the crime, adding that it wasn't any big deal. The defense team is maintaining that "he couldn't help it."

Oh pluuu---ease. Dude did it. Dude said he did it. Dude had enough of a functioning brain to play a significant part in the planned takeover of a fed pen in Saipan. And now what? We are supposed to feel sorry for him. If dude is "unable" to control his behavior, dude is still a huge risk for doing it again. Furthermore, dude was drinking. Folks with t.b.i. are not supposed to drink even a little bit, whether in the penal system or not. radical sapphoq says: guy needs to fry.

Meanwhile, some real heroes are going without adequate treatment for traumatic brain injuries received in the blasted war over in Iran and all the rest of those places. The Veteran's Admin can boast all it wants to about assigning case managers to soldiers. Soldiers are being kicked out of the hospital early, being given inadequate directions to find caseworkers or out-patient clinics, being threatened with cutoff of treatment because their families didn't want them to be sleeping all the time so private treatment was sought and obtained, or being told they were "always slow" and are faking brain injuries for show.

I'd say our priorities are mixed up. Taxpayers are footing the astronomical bill for William Sablan's defense lawyer. Yet our soldiers are going without. Our soldiers deserve the absolute best state-of-the-art treatment for every single medical ailment they have in clean and beautiful surroundings for the rest of their lives, not just for two years after combat as currently allowed. Apparently Walter Reed Hospital has a mold problem. I'd say that is the very least of what is wrong with the system of health care for our returning vets. Let's hope that the new head of the hospital can get the hospital's act together a bit better.

radical sapphoq


http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5388591,00.html

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=10&a=285682

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/11139919/detail.html

http://presszoom.com/story_124920.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/washington/05cnd-medical.html?hp

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5352887,00.html

http://origin.denverpost.com/lacrosse/ci_5213142

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5348167,00.html

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_5164805

http://www.kktv.com/home/headlines/5770311.html

http://www.shortnews.com/shownews.cfm?id=60193

HEY O.J. IT SUCKS TO BE YOU 1/22/07

It doesn't look like Persian King and former football star turned accused then acquitted ex-wife-killer O.J. Simpson will have much to offer in terms of an expensive night on the town to any woman in Miami or anywheres else, at least until a hearing scheduled for February 20th. On Friday, he was ordered by Los Angeles Judge Gerald Rosenberg to restrain his spending to the bare necessities.

O. J. sure has had a string of rotten luck. Although he is not in prison for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman back in 1994, he is supposed to hand over a smooth 33.5 million to their kids and future relatives according to a civil court suit. His book deal got canceled just before it was supposed to hit the bookstores. He has a hearing coming up this Wednesday January 24th regarding allegations that he got a 1.1 million advance on the aborted book deal. {Go, Fred!} And now, in place of the glove that "didn't fit," he has to wear the golden handcuffs of restraint. Furthermore, Fred is refusing to negotiate with O.J. for a percentage of O.J.'s future earnings rather than to enforce the terms of the civil suit. Pity that.

O.J. probably doesn't have m/any women waiting around to date him these days anyways. Then again, Nicole and Ronald are rotting in cemeteries someplace or other.

radical sapphoq