No it's not a joke and I love the Harry Potter books and movies, but do you think the extraneous reference to a "president" of a distant country who is a "wretched man" is referring to the president of Indonesia perhaps? Please and on the first page no less.
Considering British attitudes, the "wretched man" would most likely be the President of France.
France woulda been my bet. :-)
It could be Chirac; he's a "wretched man".
Thanks for the caution, Williams. I love Gilmore Girls and must ignore the weekly obligatory bashing of things I hold dear. Seems that the witty, creative types tend to be uneducated although they would disagree.
I haven't read the Potter books, but I have been wondering whether or not a single "muggle" (ordinary human being) in those books wasn't depicted as terribly flawed or deservedly lacking in the "wizardy wiles" so plentiful among the "favored few" elite wizards. What little I did hear about the aunt and uncle and cousin of Harry (who were muggles), they apparently deserved any violence or humiliation Harry wanted to dish out at them with his wizard powers. They were BAD. Were ANY muggles depicted as good? Just curious.