Albanyguy

I'm sure they can. They believe they have a guaranteed reservation in Heaven, so none of the fire and brimstone applies to them. And I'm sure that the thought of all the Catholics and gays and feminists burning in eternal torment gives them an added measure of satisfaction.

I think it's Amy and her husband and the situation isn't that they don't WANT to participate, it's that they haven't been ASKED to participate. My guess is that Amy has been pointedly excluded from the specials and now she's trying to save face (and get back at the Duggars) by attempting to claim the moral high ground.

"I'm STILL big! It's reality TV that's gotten small!"

From the Raising Servants of Christ blog linked above: "...and a few of the Duggar daughter’s made the bridesmaid dresses." Is there a Fundie on Earth who knows how to use an apostrophe correctly? This woman really should have learned the difference between the possessive and the plural before she started homeschooling.

Which means "He will keep you where your parents want you" or "He will keep you where your husband wants you"

But the important question is, how did Spurgeon feel about "Talk Like a Pirate Day"? Because if it comes down to the rantings of a 19th century zealot versus free doughnuts, I know who's gonna win. When the Duggars say "leave and cleave" what they really mean is "Anyone who marries a Duggar has to leave his or her own family and cleave to us". Ben is a Duggar now. The threads connecting him to the Seewalds will be snipped one by one. Just like Anna and the Bateses and Derick and the Dillards, there will always be some formal connection and some lip service paid to the importance of FAMILY (and in-laws can always be used for free services), but catering to the wants and needs of Jim Bob and Michelle will always come first.

And the comments in People are brutal (with the exception of one lone leghumper). What the hell is wrong with this guy? That's a rhetorical question; we all know what's wrong with him. He's arrogant, stupid and completely tone-deaf when it comes to gauging how he sounds to other people. After all that's happened, how could he have possibly thought it would be a good move to re-publish an open letter lecturing other fathers on how to raise their children? And that's what it was, a pompous, self-righteous lecture. If he had revised the letter to display even a trace of humility, admitting that he screwed up and cautioning other fathers to avoid his mistakes, this might have helped to restore his tarnished image in some small way. But no, he still thinks he's the world's best father and that dads everywhere are panting to receive his godly wisdom. According to him, the only mistake he and Michelle ever made was using birth control, which caused her to have a miscarriage. Oh, yes, he trotted that one out again.

And this is why I think that Josh is still there, with no intention of leaving before his scheduled release date. In their world, Josh and his parents are VIPs and I'm sure he's been handled with kid gloves right from the start. He's probably getting all kinds of special privileges: a private room, exemption from work detail, all the potato chips and ice cream he wants, etc. He has a nice, cushy place to hide from a world that has become very cold and hostile towards him. He's probably quite comfortable there and is dreading the day when he'll have to return to the bosom of his family. Oops, I said "bosom". NIKE!

And bored. Bored out of their minds.

Wow, those Spanish lessons are really paying off!

The only person who was ever able to insert a random "y" in her name and pull it off with style was Edith Gormezano, better known as the late, great Eydie Gormé.

Jana, of course. Who else?

They're getting exactly what they wanted with this stupid name...attention. If they named the baby "Bill" or "Charlie", the world would have shrugged and moved on. With "Spurgeon", there'll be days of media hits. Doesn't matter if it's haters like us saying "WTF?!?!" or leghumpers cooing "What a neat, precious, awesome, Godly name!". It's still attention and they need it like oxygen.

If she didn't boycott Starbucks over their enthusiastic corporate support for gay marriage, why would she boycott them over a red paper cup? The Duggars' principles are never allowed to trump their pleasure and convenience.

I can't believe Jill missed Jessa's delivery!

I'm afraid that a decade from now, we'll be calling Michael, Marcus, Izzy and Gabriel "The Howlers - The Next Generation".

Because it gets you free doughnuts, of course! If Krispy Kreme announced that they would be giving away free doughnuts on Halloween to everyone who shows up dressed as a witch or a devil, Jim Bob would find a way to rationalize doing it.

Followed by chanting "I survived Roe vs. Wade!!!" I know they don't give a crap about the health and safety of the Howlers and the Lost Girls, but wouldn't you think they'd be more careful to safeguard Precious Miracle Baby Josie? She's the centerpiece of their whole pro-life act. Anything happens to her and the Duggar Dog and Pony Show loses one of it's major supporting players.

I would have to see some real solid evidence before I believe that Jill and Derick are actually sitting in a class studying Spanish for 20 hours per week, not including homework. I smell another of their big, fat lies.

I wonder how many of them have sent in audition tapes to MTV, hoping to be picked for the next season of Teen Mom?

Even though it's splitting hairs, that may be true. Her last appearance was the Fox News interview and that aired before TLC announced that it was officially cancelling 19K&C. So even though the show had been pulled off the air, they hadn't technically "lost" it. Wow, Jill looks as demented and bug-eyed as her mother in that picture. She's on her way to becoming Michelle 2.0. And Jessa better lay off the black eyeliner, she's starting to look like a raccoon.

The Duggar-Seewald-Dillard clan is typical of a certain type of Fundamentalist; they may accept Jesus as their personal Savior, but they don't really like Him very much. Notice that they don't actually invoke the name of Jesus all that often (they're much more likely to use the more generic terms "God" or "The Lord") and they almost never quote Him. That's because when Jesus speaks in the New Testament, it's just a lot of boring, namby-pamby stuff about loving your neighbor and not judging others and not casting the first stone. That's not at all what the Duggars want from their Supreme Being. They greatly prefer the Old Testament God, who is always raining fire and brimstone down on cities and turning women into pillars of salt and drowning millions of people in a flood. They want their God to be as mean and petty as they are.

I'm a big TCM fan, too. The only thing I really miss about TWOP was the forum dedicated to TCM, where we all chimed in about the movies that were on each day (as well as our love for Robert Osborne!). Wish they'd start a similar forum here.

I remember from my days working in marketing that whenever you did a promotion involving free food, you knew that there would always be some cheapskates who would try to take advantage. You just gritted your teeth, smiled and focused on the nice ones. Oh, well, at least the kids got to taste a Krispy Kreme. I'm sure that Jim Bob has never once stuck a crowbar in his wallet and actually bought a dozen. I strongly suspect that now that she's back in the bosom of her family, Jill is flatly refusing to return to El Salvador, encouraged by Jim Bob and Michelle who probably feel that the poor darling has done enough for the dirty heathens down there (especially since there's no camera crew filming her in action). We may see Derick return on his own, with a lot of spin about how Jill and the baby will be joining him "soon". She may use the midwife certification as her excuse, or she just might announce another pregnancy.

He married Anna off to the son of a famous and very prosperous family and Priscilla to a Bill Gothard protégé. Sounds like a bit of Fundy social climbing.