Posted on 07/28/2008 12:14:46 PM PDT by GatorGirl
Those fertile Duggars are expecting Baby #18! Wow!
My paternal grandparents were Finnish Lutherans. They migrated to America separately, striving to better themselves. My Grandfather worked as a miner. My Grandmother worked as a domestic servant in New York. After some years she saved up her own dowry and moved west, looking for a good man and met my grandfather. When she was 35 and he was about 33 they got married and moved to a homestead near Ely, Minnesota, 100 miles north of Duluth. This was in the 1890’s.
They had 15 children. the youngest of whom were born when my grandmother was in her 50’s. They older children cared for the younger ones, and most of them got college degrees during the 1930’s, working their way through. My own father's degree was from the University of Chicago. One of his brothers became a millionaire, in the 1960’s and took world cruises in his retirement. My grandparents lived into their 90’s and died in the early 1950’s, living on their homestead.
My uncles and aunts moved all over the country, with a tendency towards California. Many of my 60 or so first cousins lived extraordinary lives. One of the oldest was a WWII aviator shot down over the Romanian oil fields. Another became a University President. Others became well-known professionals in their fields. My uncles and aunts were very close and frequently visited each other, often making transcontinental railroad trips to do so. When my father died in 1985, five or six of his surviving siblings
came from across the country to his funeral.
I have fallen out of contact with my first cousins, and haven't met any of my over 100 grand nieces and grand nephews. Despite this, I consider that my grandparents lived a good life and were a benefit to the country.
funkle!!!
Why? FR is quite pro-life in general.
I think I've wandered into a fundamentalist bible thumping alternative universe - keep 'em barefoot and pregnant.
I assure that Michelle Duggar is an accomplished woman who is also invariably shod. Perhaps I could point out at this juncture that I find it amazing that a poster on FR would echo the expected commentary of Gloria Steinem.
What ever gives people the idea that uncontrolled reproduction is a conservative value.
Is reproduction a disease that needs to be controlled? You definitely come to this issue with a very fervent yet unexamined attitude.
If this were the case then you could call every crack ho with a brood a conservative.
Ah, "brood" - the same contemptuous language that equates people with beasts.
People who have a principled opposition to contraception generally have a principled opposition to fornication as well.
Not surprising, since both are family occasions. But did they worship each week in both a synagogue and a church?
Three consider Judaism to be their religion today. Was that always the case?
They three Jewish converts "switched sides" while still fairly young. Under 20, I know that for certain.
Well, then, I guess we’ll just have to agree that you are unaware.
after just having 4 kids, i know what my stomach looks like, i can’t imagine how much her insides have to be stretched out
i still think that they will have 20
It was Dennis Miller in "The Raw Feed" (2003, Chicago), and he said "For C-----'s sake, lady, it's a vagina, not a clown car!"
My mistake, I meant Clan, not Klan.
Just wondering. I was on their site, and unless I missed it, I didn’t see what denomination they are. I’ve seen many of their specials, and don’t think I’ve ever heard them mention what church they attend. I’m assuming it’s a fundamentalist Christian one because of the dress and the hair styles of the girls.
How about some real practical reality?
“The mother has to recover from birth”
True! And if she has 18 kids, she doesn’t have much time to recover from birth, does she? Maybe that’s why some people think having 18 kids is unhealthy.
“A family with two married parents with the father as breadwinner and mother as caretaker/homemaker has been shown in study after study to produce the best children”
Care to cite some of these studies? I believe that a two-parent married household is the best environment in which to raise children. I have never heard, however, of any scientific study that showed that the wife as homemaker specifically provided a better environment for the kids. And what exactly would you define as the “best” children? There are so many ways to define “best.”
“The vast majority of children who make it to college”
Well, in your 13th-century world, ain’t no need for them daughters to go to college, is there? After all, if you think a woman’s sole worth is the offspring she can produce, what’s the point of educating her? Unlike you, I choose to see all human beings as unique individuals, with character and potential, and not just relegate half of the human race to be no more than reproductive receptacles.
“and maybe forget one in the car to die while you are in the office furthering your career like we saw in the news so much this past year”
So now all women with careers are collectively responsible for irresponsible individuals who leave their kids to die? Also, most mothers who leave their kids in a hot car don’t do it at their jobs. They do it during a traditionally feminine activity - shopping. Maybe if women were more tomboyish and shopped only when we need to, there would be fewer dead kids.
“If we are going back to ‘a fundamentalist bible thumping alternative universe’, then maybe we will get a better generation in the future.”
If we go back to that, we won’t get some mythical Ward and June Cleaver ‘50s paradise. We’ll get Saudi Arabia. Backwardness, misogyny, fanaticism that provides a ripe breeding ground for terrorism, girls burning to death in a building because they’re not allowed to run outside to safety with their ankles showing. A land with enormous potential due to its vast oil wealth, thrown away because its people handicap themselves by treating women as chattel and not allowing them to be everything they could be. Yes, that’s what we’ll get, except it’ll be cloaked in a cross instead of a crescent.
Speaking of the Bible, read the passages on what it considers an ideal woman:
“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.”
“Her husband has full confidence in her.”
“She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.”
“She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.”
“She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night.”
“Strength and honor are her clothing; she shall rejoice in time to come.”
“She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.”
Sounds like the Bible considers an ideal woman to be worthy of confidence, a smart businesswoman, a hard worker, physically strong, intelligent, and not afraid of dispensing advice. From the fundamentalcases’ comments about women, I gather they haven’t been reading their Bibles very well.
Who said the parents even had to pay for college? There are student loans, grants, scholarships, and working for your tuition.
Jim Bob and Michelle conduct their own services in their home. Friends such as the Holts and others also attend. I believe they were raised in the Church of God in Springdale, Arkansas.
I have been numbed to the agressive idiocy of those too narrow-minded to comprehend the joy of children.
I guess that’s a good thing...
You sound just like the asshats that used to ask my wife and I about our six children.
Lucky, you never meet me, because I never put up with that bullcrap.
My answer would always be to the offending asshat:
"You know it never occurred to my wife and I that having six children would be a burden to society even though we never took a thin dime from the taxpayer, home schooled our children and paid property tax too boot. We didn't ask you for a handout for help, our children are well behaved and respectful, never as rude you are being"
"So, you're 100 % right, six children are WAY too many, so you have the privilege to pick the two or three we need to get rid of so your nose is not so bent out of joint worrying about something that is none of your damn business
"Go ahead pick them out, since you are so concerned about my family".
Normally, they are so shocked someone would mock them, they left speechless
Only had the police called once
Dang, dude, you’re my hero. I have 5 kids and I’ve never had the balls to confront someone who asked me if I knew what caused it.
What would you recommend saying to the idiots that ask me if I had my tubes tied after my last baby? “None of your business” just isn’t clever enough.
Thanks DA.
I think it all come to a head (many years) ago when my daughter asked me if God had made a mistake when she was born because she was the youngest child and people thought we had too many kids.
At that point I made a decision to stand up to these jerks and put them in their place.
As for your question about people asking if your tubes get tied after your last baby:
I would ask tell them: "I have no problem answering your question, if you don't mind me asking a question about your reproductive system first"
I wouldn't wait for an answer, just ask them if the penile implant worked as well as he had hoped or did that nasty yeast infection clear up yet?
That will shut them up
Jill, I think you are being unfair to dan and mischaracterizing this situation.
I don't believe dan has suggested, nor does Mrs. Duggar epitomize, the idea of relegating women to the role of breeding stock. dan has suggested that stay-at-home mothers tend to provide the best care for children. He never said that every woman should ONLY focus on raising children. Nor did he suggest that it's wrong for a woman to pursue any other aspirations she might have besides raising a family.
And as far as I know, Mrs. Duggar chose to to be the mother of a very large family. I don't think Mr. Duggar ever held a gun to her head and forced her to participate.
I'm saddened by the negative reactions by some to this story. The people knocking the Duggar family are no better than the blockheads who condemn childless adults as "free-riders", "immature", etc. If the parents are able to support the kids, and both mom and dad are committed to raising them, what business is it of anyone else?
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