Wellfleet

Yep, I can easily see this happening. This kind of story probably happens in many places in the US. People see what they want to see, and ignore what they don't want to see - all the time. And many people who do notice things say nothing - often for years - because they rightly believe it's none of their business. But tricky business is still going on. Wasn't there a story a few years back about how many people in Springdale, Tonitown etc knew all kinds of details about the Duggars - especially about how they scored lots of freebies from well-meaning and sympathetic church folks - while all the time Boob had $250K to blow on his utterly-hopeless and ill-advised Senate campaign? Lots of folk living near Duggarland knew what a complete scam the whole family was - and still said nothing?

I'll say it again. I don't think Counting On has ANY chance of going on much past a very weak season or two. The few episodes they've shown so far have been incredibly flimsy, and show no signs of growing stronger either. Let's face it - the Duggars have never had a production team known for their creativity, innovation etc. I don't think anyone wants to see Josh again either - not even die-hard leg-humpers. Even if TLC is misguided enough to put him in front of the cameras again. Would ANYONE actually be able to watch him and NOT be continually-reminded of how he molested his sisters and cheated on his wife - multiple times? I just don't think so. Throw in the towel, TLC - it's over. Time to shake the trees and find something - or someone - else to hang the network's fortune on. The Duggars are yesterday's story. Wrap the fish with them and move on.

How do celebrities manage to adopt so much faster and with less difficulty? In most cases it's called cash - lots of it. I'm sure the leg-humper effect is also a factor in many cases as well. So I agree - I can easily see some fan with an IQ like Forrest Gump providing the Seewalds with a baby too.

The fact that mainstream media shines a light on the Duggars - instead of calling them out on their weirdness of the whole Gothard cult, is exactly what other media SHOULD BE investigating. Right now that's the most notable thing about this family. And the outlet brave enough to take on this issue should first be asking: "If this family had 19 kids and a SAHM and was African-American, or Mexican, or Muslim, or anything except waspy white, what would the public be hearing about them - and what would the public be saying about them?" The next question to be tackled - who exactly are the leg-humpers? Because I think it's important to point out that the Duggar "fans" - the people leaving all the sweet "We love and support your wonderful family, praise, praise, Jesus, Jesus...." comments are, for the most part, tween and teen girls like the Duggar girls themselves - as well as 20-something fundie SAHM and grandmoms. Or basically females who see a lot of their own stories in that of the Duggar girls and Me-chelle.

All part of the Boob's plan. You don't tend to see this with other fundie families for the most part, right? To me, Pa & Ma Duggar have a MUCH tighter hold and control on their kids than the run-of-the-mill fundie parents do. This is what I find most toxic - that Boob believes he's entitled - simply by being their father - to rule over their lives for the rest of his life, regardless of how old the child is or what he/she may really want to do with HIS OWN LIFE! Insert a Charlie Brown-like "ARRRRGGGHHH" here.

I think Jill probably said that to have something to say - and to try and sound normal. Otherwise she always has so very little so say that doesn't include "awesome" "blessing" "precious" "totally" "walking through" etc etc. I'm sure like all of us, she's heard many women say "Oh we have tons of cabinet and storage space in the new house - it's great..." Yadda-yadda.

Agree, agree. agree. I especially cannot imagine how the 18-and-overs fill their days. They don't really work, and what they do is largely "free form" [unscheduled] and part-time, since it's directed by Boob or Me-chelle. They don't have to get up and out the door most mornings. They don't go to school. They don't read and they're not really allowed to go to much on their own - movies, libraries, museums, amusement parks, theaters, sports etc. I guess there is some sewing going on [Jana] but I'll bet it's entirely at Me-chelle's direction - not something fun Jana picked out to do for herself, like a quilt. Jinger has her photography but I wonder how much time she really gets for it, and how free she is to explore it. Jill obviously did nothing hobbyish; the only non-domestic thing she was ever shown doing was her midwifery "studies." Jessa also had nothing beyond being the family packer; hardly a fun hobby. And JoyAnna? Too soon to call but there should be an inkling of something by now, if anything was there. Very very sad. So much potential being washed down the gutter. I'd like to ask Boob and Me-chelle a question. How do you know that God hasn't planned for one of YOUR children to be the person who discovers a cure for cancer - or Alzheimer's - or AIDS? Or to solve the centuries-old problems in the Middle East? Or the world hunger problem? Or whose life will serve as an example to the entire world on how to live and let live, like Gandhi or Martin Luther King? They are most definitely holding them back by trying to control every single move they make, especially when they continue to insist on control far beyond the time when every other parent on earth - reluctantly or not - learns to let go. Do you honestly think, Boob - that all those other millions of parents are wrong, and you are right? Really? If so you are truly beyond delusional.

I'd be hiring a housekeeper too, but we all know Boob won't spend DIme One on something he knows he can get his kids to do for free. Somehow I'm sure that lesson has been completely absorbed by Jessa. It means $100 more every week that stays in her pocket, and if she can't connive some sib into doing the work for her, what does it really matter? Having a clean, healthy, well-ordered home has never been a Duggar priority - it's just not within their frame of reference. They really aren't thinking along those lines at all. I think they'd need that pastor who came to dinner once - Dr Stanley, was it? - to walk in, long around and say "My goodness, what a filthy disgusting home! Dust everywhere. Dirty floors. Unmade beds. Clutter. Barefooted children climbing and sitting on countertops etc. Who - and where - is the women who manages this household? This is just shameful..." Yadda yadda yadda. That's the only scenario that MIGHT wake up Me-chelle to her loathesome housekeeping habits. Someone she really respects expressing real disgust about her home.

Oh yuck - she hasn't any more business being holier-than-thou than the Duggars do. And I must have something somewhere - what are the strawberries? Or am I in the dark because I'm only learning about what's going on on Counting On from posters here who are taking one for the team and watching it? Thanks...

While I wouldn't want to see a Sierra show anymore than I want the Duggars on the air [she's far too much of a ding-dong spazz for me], I definitely do agree that the holier-than-thou characteristic seems to apply solely to the Duggars. None of the other fundie families we've been exposed to via this show seem to display this smugness - and I think Boob is the reason why. He's clearly so very impressed with himself that he gives off this vibe - constantly - and of course the kids have picked this up.

She talks about adopting constantly precisely BECAUSE she knows it will never happen. For many reasons. But talking about it provides a modicum of "interest" and "plot line" for this unmitigated dreck of a television program. At least it does for the leghumpers. For those of us who haven't drunk the Koolaid, it just looks stupefyingly-ridiculous. I have the feeling if she and Ben actually WERE serious about adopting, she wouldn't be saying a word about it right now. I could totally see Sierra doing that - the way that creature bounces off the walls. And yep, that would be a hoot of a scandal!

Yuck.. Just - yuck. I tuned in to TLC at 8 pm tonight, expecting to see The Little Couple - completely forgetting that their season finale was last week - and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the Duggars! Yuck. What a monumental letdown. PS - quickly changed channel.

I'm guessing that Boob was deliberately not naming McAuliffe. It's a time-honored political tradition and practice - you continually refer to the opponent as The Opponent. They do somersaults to avoid naming the enemy, lest they be providing free publicity and name recognition. Although for this to be true, we must first assume that first Boob knows this trick, and he is a few fries short of a Happy Meal, so he may not.

Oh, no problem. With their backgrounds they're ready for ANYTHING. As long as Boob will be cutting the paychecks, that is...

I do agree that Bill and Jen probably held back on discipline while the kids were adjusting to their new situations. And I'm no adoption expert - maybe this is what the professionals advise to ALL adoptive parents of pre-schoolers - so that's fine. But come on, Bill. it's been 3 years. Will especially adjusted very well and very quickly - IMO - and still you pretty much chuckle at both kids all the time. Or worse, rationalize reasons to withhold discipline. Don't you realize that discipline NOW is the easiest it will ever be? Man up and start being the truly-strong male figure you're always trying to put across. One that is not afraid to have his kids mad at him for a while after they've been disciplined. For one thing, at their age, any anger over being disciplined evaporates SO quickly. The kids will NOT sulk and avoid you for days. And in the big picture, no child ever really respects parents who did not set limits for them, did not have the courage to be disliked for a while while doing it. The opposite is what nearly always turns out to be true. Permissive parents are rarely respected by their adult children.

Absolutely. Nothing could be easier to prepare than fresh potatoes, even for a first-timer. And good grief, have you ever met anyone who doesn't like them? I honestly don't think I've ever met a potato recipe I didn't want to try. Especially the ones where you do your prep and then park them in the oven for an hour and go on your merry way. Perfect for the Duggar girls.

Me too, Tabby. I read something decades ago about most of the vitamins - and fiber - being in the potato's skin and since then have never peeled them. Although I often buy new or "baby" potatoes - they have such tender skins. All they need is a quick wash and you're ready to go. Mashed or roasted potatoes with skins are dee-lish-iss. Try adding half a dozen medium-sized chunked-up shallots before you steam, boil or nuke the taters too - the resulting mild onion flavor is awesome in the potato mix.

My guess is that a vast majority of the people who consider processed foods as Just Fine are ones who grew up with it themselves. It's certainly true in the Duggars' case. They honestly don't know any better because they've been fed over-sugared, over-salted, over-processed foods since they could eat solid food.

An absolutely-excellent rant, aja. LOVED the part about being confounded by potato flakes - that says it all, IMO - LOL. Thank you!

So the cupboard is usually bare at Casa Seewald? If this is true, then Me-chelle certainly did a bang-up job in instructing her daughters in the womanly arts, didn't she? Good grief, she neglected their secular educations to a criminal degree, and now she's also failed in training them to be the one thing they were born for - being wives and mothers? I honestly don't think I've ever encountered such a colossally-lazy mother. She either ignores her parental responsibilities - or pawns them off on others. Constantly - and for years now.

Yep, this is exactly what I think too. I think Jessa is experiencing buyer's remorse every bit as much as Ben as well. There just doesn't seem to be any fun, light-heartedness or plain old joy between the two of them. And there never really has...

100% agree. The Duggars do not cook food. They thaw and heat, but they do not cook. There's no need really, because everything they buy is processed already, to the Nth degree.

My story too. I watched for a couple of minutes when MSNBC went to break, and in less than 2 minutes of Jessa fumbling around with those 2 cold naked birds, I was done. Yuck. PS - her enthusiasm for married life and motherhood is seriously underwhelming too. Episode idea for TLC - administer sodium pentothal to both Jessa and Ben on camera, then do a TH - either together or separately. Among other things, have the interviewer ask whether either or both of them have had any regrets yet. I'd loved to hear some honest answers.

Although I agree that Will & Zoey seem to be well-bonded with Bill & Jen - like most former orphans, they don't fear most unfamiliar adults [santa Claus excepted] because they were institutionalized, and have been accustomed from a very early age to having many different adults in and out of their daily lives. Whereas a lot of young never-orphaned kids who are also bonded with their parents still tend to scream bloody murder, especially at certain developmental stages, when strange adults come near them.

Personally I had no clue that this was a no-politics site, so a sincere thanks for the heads-up...