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San Francisco, 1:55 AM
Tue Nov 10
25 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #whitehouse more →

    Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft

    Rumors of Life on Mars are Greatly Exaggerated
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of ReiRei0 ReiRei0
    09/30/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    So the White House, for distinctly silly reasons, refused to give an undeserved award to a below average author.

    Right thing, wrong reasons?
     Reply
    Supernatural_Canary promoted this comment Edited by Supernatural_Canary at 09/30/09 2:34 AM ReiRei0 was starred ReiRei0 was unstarred
    Image of Supernatural_Canary Supernatural_Canary
    09/30/09

    @ReiRei0: You've captured my sentiments on this subject perfectly. Thank you.
     Reply
    Supernatural_Canary was starred Supernatural_Canary was unstarred
    Image of Hannah Dusty Froemming Hannah Dusty Froemming
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    And Bush handed those things out like candy!
     Reply
    Brisco_County_Jr promoted this comment Hannah Dusty Froemming was starred Hannah Dusty Froemming was unstarred
    Image of dandank dandank
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Frank Sinatra got one, and he sang all about witchcraft.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment dandank was starred dandank was unstarred
    Image of tuckerch tuckerch
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    "That's "The War Between the States" to you. And "The South" is always capitalized. "

    You misspelled "The War of Southern Douchebaggery" Up there.

    HTH!

    HAND!
     Reply
    Golem100 promoted this comment tuckerch was starred tuckerch was unstarred
    Image of Golem100 Golem100
    09/29/09

    @tuckerch: *yawn*
     Reply
    Golem100 was starred Golem100 was unstarred
    Image of smithereen smithereen
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Ok, yes, it is a work of fiction. BRITISH fiction. It promoted people to read, but did it really promote American interests? I think not.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment smithereen was starred smithereen was unstarred
    Image of omgwtflolbbqbye omgwtflolbbqbye
    09/29/09

    @smithereen: Cause if there's one thing that America doesn't need it's little kids in the streets running around and reading the shit outta stuff! Right?
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred
    Image of diverguy diverguy
    09/29/09

    @smithereen:

    Actually the American printings are not really Brirish Fiction. For the American printings they changed words and put in a bunch of spelling mistakes to make them more American.
     Reply
    MISS MERCY STREET promoted this comment diverguy was starred diverguy was unstarred
    Image of Daumier Daumier
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    J.K. Rowling got my younger brother to actually voluntarily read. Seeing him with a book in his hands was like seeing a flamingo in the backyard, and I felt like I had to literally tiptoe around him when I stumbled upon him reading as if the book might turn pink, sprout wings and fly away if it saw me.
    For that alone she deserves a medal.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment Daumier was starred Daumier was unstarred
    Image of Ghede Ghede
    09/29/09

    @Daumier: That is exactly what Bush was afraid of too. Dang them Pollymorfin' witchbooks.
     Reply
    Edited by Ghede at 09/29/09 4:16 PM Ghede was starred Ghede was unstarred
    Image of Starlionblue Starlionblue
    09/29/09

    @Ghede:

    Indeed. Your brother was obviously possessed by the devil.
     Reply
    Starlionblue was starred Starlionblue was unstarred
    Image of Daumier Daumier
    09/29/09

    @Starlionblue: I can't disagree with that. Younger brothers generally are.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Daumier was starred Daumier was unstarred
    Image of jcous jcous
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    do it, b-rock! give this lady a medal. clearly the bush administration have never heard of the concept of "fiction."
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment jcous was starred jcous was unstarred
    Image of omgwtflolbbqbye omgwtflolbbqbye
    09/29/09

    @jcous: Then what do you call the premise for the Iraq war?

    [instantrimshot.com]
     Reply
    Edited by omgwtflolbbqbye at 09/29/09 3:08 PM omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred
    Image of tazm0n tazm0n
    09/29/09

    @omgwtflolbbqbye: well played
     Reply
    Brisco_County_Jr promoted this comment tazm0n was starred tazm0n was unstarred
    Image of DurwinMachaon DurwinMachaon
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Of course, someone in the WH staff "May" have objected, but the Bush's were outspoken fans of Harry Potter, with Laura Bush actually calling them her favorite book series. I'm finding this premise hard to accept.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment DurwinMachaon was starred DurwinMachaon was unstarred
    Image of omgwtflolbbqbye omgwtflolbbqbye
    09/29/09

    @DurwinMachaon: Actually it pretty clearly states that the Bushes weren't even part of the discussion.

    It was just some of his aids/staffers.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred
    Image of gorehound gorehound
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    ypu the ass bush is gone and now we hear from one of his homeboys..
    you believe everything you read.....i don't
     Reply
    gorehound was starred gorehound was unstarred
    Image of schrodingers-katana schrodingers-katana
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Though misguided in their perception of witchcraft, it's understandable to think why they wouldn't give her the award. Why would they want to share the limelight with any competition when it came to destroying Christian values in America?
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment schrodingers-katana was starred schrodingers-katana was unstarred
    Image of rebrad rebrad
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    BS political drivel and waste of bandwidth. What's the point, Bush is gone.
     Reply
    rebrad was starred rebrad was unstarred
    Image of Stueymon Stueymon
    09/29/09

    @rebrad: Why do we still take the piss out of hitler? it's fun!

    Ok thats not fair to compare bush to hitler...

    (hitler could create working healthcare *runs away from the flames*)
     Reply
    Golem100 promoted this comment Stueymon was starred Stueymon was unstarred
    Image of Golem100 Golem100
    09/29/09

    @Stueymon:
    "Ok thats not fair to compare bush to hitler..."

    True. Hitler was a much better public speaker.

    Thanks for giving me an opportunity to use that line one more time.
     Reply
    Golem100 was starred Golem100 was unstarred
    Image of AtomikB AtomikB
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    The Harry Potter books are a relatively fun read, but hardly a "cultural achievement". Unless just making buttloads of money is a "cultural achievement" these days, thus qualifying Rowling for a medal?
     Reply
    AtomikB was starred AtomikB was unstarred
    Image of diverguy diverguy
    09/29/09

    @AtomikB: These books had more young people voluntarily reading than any other book in history. Given the current 'culture' of video games and TV, that's an extraordinary achievement.
     Reply
    tetracycloide promoted this comment Edited by diverguy at 09/29/09 1:42 PM diverguy was starred diverguy was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    09/29/09

    @diverguy: two things. all reading is not equal and the only reason it got more young people voluntarily reading in the nominal sense is because of the times we live in. the increasingly ubiquitous nature of books and the larger pool of potential consumers than ever before means her achivement was not exceptional but inevitable.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of diverguy diverguy
    09/29/09

    @tetracycloide:

    Then why hasn't any other book even come close. Not even Twilight is getting near those numbers (thankfully). 8.3 million copies in 24 hours for just the US market. Those numbers are driven by far more than just 'books being ubiquitous'...
     Reply
    diverguy was starred diverguy was unstarred
    Image of Dr Emilio Lizardo Dr Emilio Lizardo
    09/29/09

    @AtomikB: Well, this is America. Making buttloads of money is the ideal.
     Reply
    Dr Emilio Lizardo was starred Dr Emilio Lizardo was unstarred
    Image of croush1211 croush1211
    09/29/09

    @tetracycloide: Nothing is ever good enough for you people, is it? I assume that, instead of Harry Potter, you'd have liked to see your 8 year olds reading War and Peace or a manual on astrophysics?
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye promoted this comment croush1211 was starred croush1211 was unstarred
    Image of tetracycloide tetracycloide
    09/30/09

    @diverguy: no other book has come close because her books did. by definition there can only be one 'most popular' of anything and harry potter is it for YA novels. if it was then something else would be but it's not like anyone could point at something else and say 'that would be it' because it's all hypothetical at that point.

    the point i'm really making is that 40 years from now when the earth's population is ~9 billion or so and more people than ever enjoy a quality of life that allows them the time and money to read books it won't really be fair to compare the most popular YA author's sales figures then to rowling’s without some kind of adjustment for the changes in both population and quality of life in the intervening period. it's like adjusting for inflation only more complicated.

    @croush1211: while it is true that not all reading is equal i didn't mean to belittle harry potter as literature. it's certainly no war and peace but for YA fare it's better than most.
     Reply
    tetracycloide was starred tetracycloide was unstarred
    Image of Alchemistmerlin Alchemistmerlin
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    "Witchcraft"
    *Sigh*
    America.

    I love my country but...just sometimes I wonder if I should give those other countries I spent time with in my youth a call, just to see how they're doing.
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Alchemistmerlin was starred Alchemistmerlin was unstarred
    Image of Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
    09/29/09

    @Alchemistmerlin: Is that cute Canada on Facebook?
     Reply
    Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was starred Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H. was unstarred
    Image of omgwtflolbbqbye omgwtflolbbqbye
    09/29/09

    @Alchemistmerlin: Crazy exists everywhere.
     Reply
    omgwtflolbbqbye was starred omgwtflolbbqbye was unstarred
    Image of Alchemistmerlin Alchemistmerlin
    09/29/09

    @omgwtflolbbqbye: Yes, I know.
    But I kind of prefer someplace with less of the Religious Institutionalized crazy.
     Reply
    Edited by Alchemistmerlin at 09/29/09 3:39 PM Alchemistmerlin was starred Alchemistmerlin was unstarred
    Image of Klebert L. Hall Klebert L. Hall
    09/30/09

    @Alchemistmerlin:
    The Brits convicted a woman of witchcraft during WW2.

    Ireland just strengthened it's laws against blasphemy.

    People sure like to make fun of the US, but the rest of the world is at least as stupid.
    -Kle.
     Reply
    Klebert L. Hall was starred Klebert L. Hall was unstarred
    Image of kasviel kasviel
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Yeah, but did you know that the Bush administration was also responsible for "Twilight"? Now who's the terrorist?

    Seriously, though, enough with the reports on Bush being the root of all evil. So old, so old....
     Reply
    Brisco_County_Jr promoted this comment kasviel was starred kasviel was unstarred
    Image of Lightice Lightice
    09/29/09

    In reply to Rowling Snubbed by White House for Promoting Witchcraft
    Well, I don't think that Rowling is that awesome, but I don't know what kind of people usually get that award, so I'm not one to judge.

    Still, if she was snubbed on that reason alone, then someone really needs to assert their priorities. If the President of the United States was concerned about witchcraft, I must say I fear to think what basis of judgement he was using about serious problems.
     Reply
    ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H. promoted this comment Lightice was starred Lightice was unstarred
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