Wellfleet

Totally agree. It does seem like other Gothardites adhere to "leave and cleave." Basically at least. The married Bates children all seem independent, even the Wallers and Kellers. Unless TFDW's mom spoke up for him in the midst of the Pecan Chronicles - and I missed it. No, I think Boob is unique in his overarching need to rule his kids and their lives.

And what about the oft-repeated yammering of "Leave and cleave?" They may talk about it, but they certainly don't seem to practice it. I honestly don't know if Boob understands what he wants. On one hand, they do everything Doodlebug outlined here. On the other, they are still minutely-involved with their children's lives, and not just the 18 and unders. That Boob & Me-chelle chose to speak up about Joshgate I happened speaks volumes, IMO. Can you imagine President Clinton's mother speaking to the press in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal? Or President Nixon's during Watergate? But Boob & Me-chelle are so far removed from the national mindset that they just do not get it.

The fact that Derick encouraged Jill to get her CPM - and that Ben supports Jessa on the "lecture" circuit doesn't exactly bode well for either one of them, IMO. It does, however, show that they clearly have no trouble with their women working, or being in the position to work, to pay the bills. Neither of these two apparently-healthy young males has gainful employment at present. And one has a child in addition to a wife. And no, scrubbing toilets and cutting grass for your FIL doesn't count.

Good question - I wonder. Though IMO, Josh has always been paying lip service to their views. Long before now.

They have to be skilled at many things, because they don't want to pay for the services and expertise of qualified, trained, competent individuals. I pity the kid who pulls the "undertaker" card out of the hat. Assuming they'll go that route of course. Maybe they'll just go with a refrigerator box and be done with it...

Wow. The Duggars doing this? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I've said it before so forgive the repetition, but I don't believe the leg-humpers are bright enough to question the Duggars and their claims of "faith." They never look at the other side of the issue, and in general they don't question what they've been told. I strongly believe this is due to a combination of average or low-average intelligence, and to a great extent also, the way they were raised, with parents in very traditional roles. Pa brings home the canned goods and paper plates. Mom has a baby every year.

Yes indeed. I remember a lot of us having a great deal of optimism when Jill & Derick became engaged, of being very hopeful that Derick would be "freeing" Jill from her parents & previous life - introducing her to new things and broadening her views. Up to now, however, it seems as though exactly the opposite has happened. IMO, Derick has been well-and-truly Duggar-ized. He's turned out to be nearly JUST what Boob hoped he'd be - a lump of soggy, malleable clay. And not for nothing, but I'm guessing Boob is getting a whole bunch of free accounting help and advice from his female cat son-in-law. Also, I'm not at all sure how good an education Derick received. Education is supposed to introduce people to NEW concepts, theories and attitudes. And ALL sides of a past issue. Only when you have the broadest-possible exposure to virtually anything can you even BEGIN to understand it. This means it's vital to take classes in a wide range of subjects and some in which you have little or no previous experience. Without having seen a copy of Pistol Pete's transcript, I have to wonder... Did he ever take any history classes of ANY kind? And 'History of Christianity' doesn't count here, D. How about sociology, psychology, anthropology, philosophy? Art or music history? How about a survey course in world religions? Haven't you ever been curious, Derick, as to why SO many other people on the planet have different religious beliefs from you? Haven't you ever wondered why there are MILLIONS of people who think YOU are on the wrong path? Do you really think that you are so very special to have been gifted with Christianity, and the right kind of Christianity to boot? And billions of other people down through Time were simply not good enough for that? I think this is the single biggest fact that has frustrated me about fundies and evangelicals. I've never seen people who are SO VERY CERTAIN they are right, and so certain everyone else is wrong.

Probably because things seems FAR scarier in the dark, quiet nighttime than they do during the bright, noisy, busy daytime. It can't be that bad if it's happening during the day. But at nighttime, you can feel your heart thumping, your blood running through your veins, and every little cell twitching...

Boob would be thinking ahead - I bet he'd list 19 Generacs. After all, they're pricey. Let the fans pay for those. He'll handle the can openers.

Quite possible - she is certainly a control freak, IMO. She has learned well at Boob's knee.

All I can say is I think I'm generally far more impressed with people in our military than I am with entertainment folk. I'd basically be, however, a blithering goof if I ever met, say, Meryl Streep, George Clooney, Steven Spielberg. Staggering talent knocks me flat... Wow, that does sound amazing... ChiCricket - hope this is helpful. Camp LeJeune's website has a blurb about hurricane preparations etc on its homepage, or what looks like the homepage to me. See http://www.lejeune.marines.mil Hope this is helpful.

I read somewhere that Jan Smithers, who played Bailey, was married James Brolin for about 10 years and has actually retired from the biz. She lived in Nova Scotia for a while and has now returned to California where she grew up.

The Duggar kids just sound so completely rehearsed when they start in on how godly and perfect Boob and Me-chelle are. It's BEYOND normal for tweens, teens etc to rebel against their parents. Not all kids run off to join the circus or Isis - many rebellions are somewhat mild - but we ALL pushed back in some way. The fact that the Duggar kids haven't - or at least haven't in any way we've been shown - is just one more entry in the "These People May Be Aliens" column.

Thanks, love2dance. What a nice thing to say. They were remarkable. I wish I had appreciated it more at the time, but I guess that's human nature. Kids never appreciate anything. You don't think about it until your parents are gone. And I know they would never think of themselves as anything but ordinary. My mother especially wished we could have done more fun things - trips, vacations etc - but there was never any extra $$ at all. We were lucky though, in that we lived along the southern shore of Lake Ontario, literally 12 feet from the beach - so there was lots of ready-made fun right in the neighborhood.

Oh, I saw that story about him saving someone's life in a burning car - it was on CBS Sunday Morning - the news program - a while back. Maybe a year or more? Plus Mark and Pam Dawber have been married forever too. Nice to see some Hollywood types who can actually hold it together. And she's a doll too.

Love Mark Harmon. I had the same crush years back. PS - he is the complete package too. As fine a person as he is good-looking. How often does THAT happen? He's being rewarded for something. I bet that in his last life, he was a French farmer who hid Jews in his barn during WWII.

Note - bolding in above quote is mine. No wonder she wrote about sex then. She probably couldn't write anything else interesting enough that would make others want to read it. But I'll bet she's convinced herself that everyone is absolutely green with jealousy.

What the hell? Baby registries are for BABY needs - they're not intended for things the parents want. Why not list a tanning bed? A hot tub? An all-terrain vehicle? OMG, I'm constantly floored by the level of entitlement the Duggars have. Is this what happens when you have a tough childhood financially? When your parents had WAY too many kids than they could afford to have? Do those years of deprivation turn everyone into greedy, sneaky, let's-get-it-while-the-getting's-good people? I don't think so. My parents were strict Catholics when they married in the 50s and proceeded to have 6 kids from 1956 to 1962. Dad had a job and Mom stayed home with us, like probably 90% of mothers did at that time. Needless to say, we never had new bikes, lots of [new] clothes, sleep-away summer camp, dance classes, music lessons or birthday parties with our school friends. Our food was homemade from scratch, every single day. And my parents were both foodies before the concept was known, although certainly not gourmet foodies. Just good healthy food, minimal sweets and no sodas or junk. My mom learned to become what I consider to be a world-class seamstress. She didn't make our clothes but she could patch or fix just about anything, including turning the collars on my Dad's flannel and denim workshirts to squeeze more wear out of them. Except for a tricycle I - the oldest - received from my godfather at age 3, my Dad found every one of our childhood bicycles along roadsides, where they'd been tossed out. And because he was very handy, very mechanical and very thrifty, he repaired whatever was needed, painted and waxed them for us. And we were delighted to have them. Dad also found swing sets, sandboxes, a trampoline, roller skates and scooters - you name it. Just about anything fun kids liked playing with in those days. He even found a kiddie roller coaster that he reassembled in our front yard. For days there were neighbor kids 12 and under lined up along the fence in front of our house waiting for rides. Even kids we didn't usually play with. Forgive my rant but I'm so proud of my parents and how much they did for us, and I'm positive it never once entered their minds, either one of them, to ask for a handout. Of any kind.

OMG - I laughed for a half hour - no kidding - just imagining Ben standing there in mouth breather stance. Funniest post of the month here, and there have been some other very funny posts this month. Thank you, oldernowiser, for the giant chuckle!

As long as no brains are being donated...

So cute! I don't have kids, but if I ever had, I would have done the nursery in a Beatrix Potter/Peter Rabbit theme. I can remember poring over the wonderful illustrations in those little books when I was 3 years old and thinking that I just couldn't wait !!! - until I could read the words on the pages like my Mom.

Yes, but Boob needs all that crap for the next big flea market sale. Then he'll donate the proceeds somewhere and he & Me-chelle will get another tax write-off - without donating one red cent of their own money.

Huge WKRP in Cincinnati fan here, Catlyn. I'd love to see Netflix or some cable channel bring that back to syndication. Some of the best comedy writing on TV at that time - and sharp, subtle performances. I was always surprised more of that cast didn't go on to bigger and better things. Maybe they just weren't into the fame thing...

What a great idea! A little like Candid Camera - real people - without the setups and jokes of course. I've always thought that "reality television" should really be called "amateur television" - because it's not produced without a script, it's produced without professionals. And as is the case with TLC, on both sides of the camera.