I just love unintended consequences. The only thing the wackos have
accomplished by labeling Harry Potter to be "evil witch craft" is to make
the book a curiosity for some and brought in more readers that would have
never looked twice at a "children's" book. Given how good the books are and
how much they deal with doing the "right" thing, where the "bad" guys are
hateful bigots (why does Falwell come to mind immediately) it also makes
those who are claiming this to be a bad book to fall in the Harry Potter
"bad guy" category. Ending up making these fools who claim to speak for
Christians about as bad a representative of Christians is you could get.

Zealots are bad for a society and I wish we were free of them all. The best
thing would be if we could just laugh them away... Unfortunately I think
they will always be with us.

DK

"Mary Alice Kropp" wrote in message
et...
Well, of course, that begs the question of where the Bible actually comes
from and why it was written as it was- a debate that is not likely to be
solved, academically or religiously, anytime soon.

Also, most of the fundamentalists have a tendency to ignore the long and
ancient tradition in Judaic and early Christian religious practice that
embraces mysticism and some of what could easily fall under the category
of
"magic."

All that aside, my take on the whole HP thing is that they are just plain
good stories- enjoy 'em as such!

-Mak
http://www.thirtytwopaws.com/mak
Updates 6/22/03

Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.

It's more fun to color outside the lines.

hateful bigots (why does Falwell come to mind immediately) it also makes

I saw him once at a restaurant, my skin crawled!

Zealots are bad for a society and I wish we were free of them all. The best
thing would be if we could just laugh them away... Unfortunately I think
they will always be with us.

But we need zealots! How else to see the point in things? :-)

Lori

Exactly!! As a matter of fact, magic is the hook that drags you into
the books, but it isn't even essential to the fun.

The books are the age-old 'Orphan child goes out into the world to
discover lost birthright' theme. Homer used it, Lucas used it, and
countless writers in between used it. JK Rowling uses it so well that
millions of kids raised on TV and video games are picking up a book
this summer.

PlainBill

On Sat, 28 Jun 2003 16:22:37 GMT, "Mary Alice Kropp"
wrote:

SNIP


All that aside, my take on the whole HP thing is that they are just plain
good stories- enjoy 'em as such!

-Mak
http://www.thirtytwopaws.com/mak
Updates 6/22/03

Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious.

It's more fun to color outside the lines.

hey Bill,

My son loves my pond ( was always a help for our former residence pond) he
even 'had' to add to our waterfall yesterday, while up here on a quick
visit( gee, if he had lived closer ,,before,, I might have had a
masterpiece)
soooooooooooooo he can't be all that bad..........: )

....btw, there are several books out that DO pick apart the HP books , in
comparison to bible stuff... but we won't go there......... I don't wanna
know,,,,,,, don't care.

If a 30 year old believes the books are anti-religious, and a bad
influence on children, he has either not read them (the usual cause),
or is so rigidly locked into his religion that he feels anything that
does not pay homage to God is bad. In either case, he fits MY
definition of 'BAD'.

PlainBill

It does give you a reality check doesn't it. I get stuck in my perfect
world (internal image of what the world is), get pulled out for some odd
reason, hear the nonsense that is currently being passed off as "G~d's"
word, have to recalibrate/ think (I just hate working hard), test my own
belief system, find it is for the most part just fine... thank you very
much, then go back out to my pond, garden, reading HP, programming, or to
just scratching the cats/dogs neck. Life is sweet. We should never let
hate mongers poison it. DK 8~)


"Lori" wrote in message
...

hateful bigots (why does Falwell come to mind immediately) it also makes

I saw him once at a restaurant, my skin crawled!

Zealots are bad for a society and I wish we were free of them all. The
best
thing would be if we could just laugh them away... Unfortunately I think
they will always be with us.

But we need zealots! How else to see the point in things? :-)

Lori

Denise has summed up the philosophy of the Harry Potter books, IMnotso-HO!

I finished HP5 yesterday, can't wait to start my re-read!

FWIW -- I bought my first Harry Potter book just to see what all the
hoopla was about! It took me maybe a page or two to see that the hyperbole
was, in fact, merely justifiable praise!

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC

Anne Lurie
Raleigh, NC






"Denise" wrote in message
...
I can't understand the people who claim Harry Potter will turn our
children into Satan followers and black magic users and all that other
crap they insist on. What the hell are they scared of LMAO!

Here's my take on what Harry Potter is about, from the very first page
of the very first book...Harry Potter shows us the respect and support
that make up true friendships, the perseverance of a young boy against
outrageous obstacles and the strong protective love between parents and
child, the kind of love that all families should know (but don't too
often).

Denise
Up to page 104 :-)

Visit my gardens:

http://web1.in4web.com/mtcdrc

Hey Anne,

My second read will be the english edition.
(Though I noticed the american editors left in a lot more british-isms this
time.)
I thought I'd want to reread it right away but I find myself in a funny place
with how it ended. Going to have to give it some time. Dear Daughter, on the
other hand, waited a week and now she is rereading it.


k30a

the second read is great. Ingrid

"Anne Lurie" wrote:
I finished HP5 yesterday, can't wait to start my re-read!
FWIW -- I bought my first Harry Potter book just to see what all the
hoopla was about! It took me maybe a page or two to see that the hyperbole
was, in fact, merely justifiable praise!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

anyone remember the jack and jill magazine for kids? during the 50s and
early 60s we subbed to that. one of my favorite stories was called "the
money cat". it was a condensed book, reprinted in serial form, about some
kids who explored a boarded up house and found a cabinet behind the
wallpaper. the cabinet held a china cat with something that rattled in it.
turns out that the 'something that rattled' was a key item to help a woman
regain her inheritance. i have no clue as to how to find the author of that.

the 2nd favorite from that mag was about a girl and her younger sibling who
found a coin that looked kind of like a nickle, but while the kids were
holding the coin, one of them wished something and they got half of what
they wished for. as the story rolls along the power of the coin diminishes
and ultimately, they have to throw it away for someone else to find. don't
know the title or author of that.

i'd like to read both stories again.

any suggestions?
mad

--
Blessed is he who can laugh at himself for he shall never
cease to be amused.

From: zookeeper
Organization: Oregon Public Networking
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 00:10:13 -0700
Subject: OT Harry Potter OT

sandra wrote:
When I was a child in the 60's we used to have a newspaper sort of item
called "weekly reader" ... Also had an opportunity to
pre-order short story type cheap paper backs in school.

They still have Weekly Reader (my boys had them in grades 3-5), and
Scholastic Books (and another two or three companies) still have the
inexpensive books that can be ordered and purchased in group by
classroom. And as someone mentioned, Scholastic Books also has a web
site and books can be ordered there (and credited to a school -- the
school then receives free books based on the number of books ordered).

My favorite childhood book: The Secret Garden -- checked it out so many
times in 3rd grade, the librarian finally made me check out 8-10 other
books before she'd let me read it again. :-) Wise lady, although I did
plenty of grumbling then. Every time we visit a local book reseller I
look for that particular edition and will pay whatever it costs when I
find it.
--
zookeeper




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You might try and find a listserv for librarians.
There seem to be all sorts of them out there. I subscribe to one for mystery
writers and fans.

Start here
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...erv+librarians

good luck, hope you find them!


k30a

"mad" wrote in message
| the 2nd favorite from that mag was about a girl and her younger sibling
| who found a coin that looked kind of like a nickle, but while the kids were
| holding the coin, one of them wished something and they got half of what
| they wished for. as the story rolls along the power of the coin diminishes
| and ultimately, they have to throw it away for someone else to find. don't
| know the title or author of that.
|
| i'd like to read both stories again.
|
| any suggestions?

This sounds familiar and was serialised on UK children's
TV recently. It was probably the BBC, as I would tune in
to see the news and view the last few minutes of the
preceding children's programmes.

A young girl had to rub the Queen's nose on the portrait
on the 50 pence coin to make a wish come true.

The Queen's Nose? (perhaps alternatively called The
President's Nose?)

see:

http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000074162

HTH,
Pauline

thanks. i'll look.
mad
--
There are two rules for ultimate success in life:
(1) Never tell everything you know.

From: "P+C"
Reply-To: "P+C"
Newsgroups: rec.ponds
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2003 13:36:31 +0100
Subject: OT Harry Potter OT

"mad" wrote in message
| the 2nd favorite from that mag was about a girl and her younger sibling
| who found a coin that looked kind of like a nickle, but while the kids were
| holding the coin, one of them wished something and they got half of what
| they wished for. as the story rolls along the power of the coin diminishes
| and ultimately, they have to throw it away for someone else to find. don't
| know the title or author of that.
|
| i'd like to read both stories again.
|
| any suggestions?

This sounds familiar and was serialised on UK children's
TV recently. It was probably the BBC, as I would tune in
to see the news and view the last few minutes of the
preceding children's programmes.

A young girl had to rub the Queen's nose on the portrait
on the 50 pence coin to make a wish come true.

The Queen's Nose? (perhaps alternatively called The
President's Nose?)

see:

http://www.blackstar.co.uk/video/item/7000000074162

HTH,
Pauline







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http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
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