Churchhoney

I think that might do for two days. See ya back in class on Monday, kids!

Sounds good. We'll hope for a White Knight then!

I agree that this would be great. But then I think about a kind-of-normal guy, and I wonder. How would you find one of those who would a) be okay with having Michelle and Jim Bob as his incredibly intrusive in-laws -- and incredibly grifting in-laws who might well have their hands in his pocket if he had any money -- when he b) couldn't possibly be sure, given their histories and the way they present themselves, that Jana or JInger would willingly flee with him to a distance of several thousand miles -- permanently? Seriously. How many anywhere-near-normal guys would sign up for that? I mean, Jana so often seems to be such a wilted flower, and Jinger has literally told us that she's believed since about age seven or something that she's a hideous damaged sinner. While it's possible that, somewhere in there, they have those backbones of steel that you need to escape one of these control-freak families. But as a regular-person suitor, you'd really have to take that on faith. I know I'm personally biased on this point. But it's largely because I've seen people refuse to leave and I've also seen people -- including one who reminds me a lot of Jana -- promise a new spouse that they would leave the influence and then go back on that promise. And when would the prospective spouses even get a chance to have the very private conversations needed to learn that the Duggarling would indeed be willing to stand up to JB and M? ... Because Jana or Jinger would never get away with this if they didn't at least pretend to go through the required Duggar courtship ritual, seems to me. Makes me sick, but I just don't see this being much of a possibility.

This is certainly what I hope is true. Who knows what any of them are really like inside or what's gone on they we haven't been privy to? But this is definitely my best-case scenario. And it may well be the case. Well stated.

This is the whole Duggar one-size-fits-all philosophy, isn't? Only one specific form of Christianity is acceptable. The only suitable place to live is ruralish Arkansas -- no cities please! All girls must be SAHDs and SAHMs. All boys work in construction (or something) for Jim Bob. Everyone should say that their secret desire is to be a missionary. It's good to choose your own "modesty" rules for courting, except that the only ones you actually should choose are: no handholding until engagement and no kissing till wedding day. The KJV is the only acceptable Bible, and no music except a narrow set of hymns and classical tunes is approved. Rather than buying modest clothing off the rack, you should buy something with a lower neck and a higher hem and force it into modesty by sewing a diaper into the neckline and the remains of a slip from the 1960s around the hemline. Schooling consists of memorizing flash cards and parroting a set of picky -- albeit ridiculously confusing -- rules for conduct penned by Gothard and buddies. Etc. This family has been raised to believe that there's a very clear and limited set of rules and requirements for literally everything in life and that even looking at any alternatives makes you hellbound, pretty much. I guess it's no surprise that this is the way they view everything they do.

http://visionserve.org/ Here ya go. I find their smiles pretty scary. And this is a Gothard-affiliated but kinda-pretending not to be "ministry" they're involved in. Spread those Gothard principles!: http://inthesetimes.com/article/2450/cult_of_character http://www.characterfirst.com/

To each his own!

Gravity helps you deliver the child, though. And when you're in bed gravity doesn't work for you at all. I'm surprised that they don't have birthing chairs or practice squatting or standing labor or something (of course those options work best with the father helping the woman hold herself up, with his presumably strong arms and back -- so they're lacking something there too since Josh naps). It doesn't make any sense to me that people who want to do non-hospital births would have the only two available options be toilet or lying down, especially when having kids is pretty much your constant activity. Once again, they just seem stupid and thoughtless. (but I guess "seem" isn't the right word there)

Unfortunately, I don't think the media that mostly covers the Duggars cares about reason any more than the Duggars do. They'll "report" the Josh swill for basically the same reason as FRC hired him -- He represents hits on their ad-bearing pages by a demographic they otherwise find hard to reach. It's disgusting. Of course I have a feeling that if Josh did wait some years to came back and came back supposedly remorseful, it'd all be a lie anyway. I think he's pretty dyed in the wool, despite these every-few-years mad repentances he's engaged in.

I expect he's too boring for that. These people are so ignorant and idiotic that they don't even make interesting villains. They're too one-dimensional even to be twisted. They're just jerks and assholes who are arrogant with no basis. Josh, in particular, I'd peg as just an entitled dumbass who likes to pick on women because he's too limited to see their humanity and because he sees picking on them as his birthright and it makes him feel like a big man. Ditto his "politician"-leading-the-charge-against-teh-gays persona.

We don't have to worry about getting those from the helmet-free crowd.

Seems pretty clear to me that he hasn't even thought about this yet.

Very scary to see those kids growing up in that mental desert. Seems to me the vast size of the family makes it worse. Plenty of kids are stuck in mental deserts, but at the Duggars' it's so damn all-encompassing. Anybody with non-Duggarish stirrings must feel incredibly trapped. Smothering.

Yeah, we keep wanting them to be logical. Don't know what we're thinking with that.

Kinda suggests aggression. just sayin.

Well, they need one for Ben and one for Jessa, right? Right? Don't they? It actually wouldn't surprise me if this is how the thought process went. More likely, though, I suppose it may be because they figure on following up child one with child two, biological or adopted, sometime next year. So then they'll need two jogging strollers. So it's a just-in-case, should the new Ben/Jessa show not get the greenlight beyond a "special" or two.

I kind of expect they'll be disappointed with this approach. I'd expect most people with crushes on strangers would much prefer giving a tangible gift to their crush rather than impersonal money. They can imagine the person unwrapping the gift, being pleased with it, using it. It's an individual thing that, no matter how tenuously, will always be linked to the individual giver, in the giver's memory at least and, if they're really lucky, maybe even in the recipient's. The cash that you fork over for somebody to put on their pile has no such potential for romantic associations. You can't imagine it adorning the baby's bedroom or even being drunk as a late-night refreshment for the weary new parents, like Jill and Derick's sodas.

Ah, but when you're one of Jesus's Super Specialest Snowflakes, your temptation are flung at you by Satan himself. They're far more severe than the temptations that plague us ordinary folk because the devil is extra-super-determined to bring you down. He needs to prevent you from quickly helping Jesus to bring about the End of Days and the end of him, doncha know. Thanks to the Duggars and their doubled and redoubled efforts to arm themselves against those temptations, I'm sure Satan's days at this point are really numbered. I mean, look how well it's worked with Josh.

How about no registry at all? If you're so rich that you don't really need to pursue education or jobs (ever, in Jessa's case), why do you need (or think it appropriate) to ask passersby to fund the first of the 20 infants you're planning? Surely the gifts from your family and dear friends (ha) should be enough for the independently wealthy?

I agree. That's why I hope that they can continue to embrace their fantasy that the difficulty of their relationship has deeper meaning. Otherwise they'll have nothing and no refuge at all. Because they just don't seem to be people who will escape.

Whereas the Duggars recommend that the entire world be changed to assist them with their personal self-control deficiencies. Good point about yet another aspect of their self-centeredness.

Yeah, that's it. The actual, you know, Duggar Duggars are boring as hell. But there are 19 of them. And their parents (supposedly) not only were raising them but actually schooling them right there in the house. And what kind of a house would hold such a mob for home and for school? And they didn't even go out one or a few at a time because they weren't really allowed friends and definitely weren't allowed to date. Etc. That was the hook. It raised questions in people's heads. Look at what happens when you have umpty-ump kids in the same house and just keep them there all the ding-danged time... So now, if they ever actually did consider giving Amy money, they would appear to have completely forgotten about the need for any hook, seems to me. Amy, still boring, but also a non-Duggar Duggar who was an only child, went to a school like everybody else, wasn't an extreme fundie living under bans on friendship and dating, and, also like everybody else, was a hopeful but clearly hopeless aspiring country singer. Truly nothing to see here except a boring person doing boring stuff..... Of course, they didn't offer her money. So maybe they still do want a hook? (Of course, if Jessa and Jill get shows that pretty much kills the "still need a hook" idea, since I don't think they have one either in their present configurations.) I expect you're exactly right about this. But I still think they'd lost the plot if they pinned hopes of an interesting show on that. The hook on the Duggars per se was the 19-kids-with-extreme-sheltering-all-jammed-into-the-same-house-or-bus-for-everything-including-school. .... Just having a few of the uber-boring Duggars wander into another boring person's house doesn't have a hook at all, as far as I can see. It'd just be a boring-Amy show with a few more boring people passing through. No concept whatsoever.

Actually, in this case it doesn't seem odd to me at all. Whatever may be true of gods in general, this god was clearly created in man's own image. And not just in the image of men but in the image of men who were/are the "winners" in their isolated little social groups and are scared shitless that they may not be able to hold onto that position or that they'd be crushed if they stepped one inch away from their little isolated conclaves. In other words, this is god built on the model of guys who are petty, tyrannical, vindictive, judgy, naggy, fearful, insecure, cursed with an insatiable craving for fawning adulation and not too bright....... The Gothard, Doug Phillips, Geoff Botkin, Jim Bob Duggar (etc.) god. And not healthy for children or other living things. Hence, David Waller and the rest.

It all boils down to a simple principle. Goes not just for music and dance but for everything, so it's a handy rule: Anything that can make Jim Bob or Michelle the center of attention, however briefly, is not only acceptable but great, although for that instance only. (And by "anything" I do mean "anything," such as feigned backdoor humping in venues intended for children's entertainment.) Anything else is completely unacceptable, at all times.

Yes. And conservative lawmakers won those Christian sharing groups an exemption from the individual mandate to purchase qualified coverage, under the Affordable Care Act, so the Duggs may well still have that if a group will have them. .... They may or may not, depending on how much stuff they pay out of pocket to avoid going through the co-op, I would think. They're really big expenses were Josie, and those got government payment.... so .... Here are a couple of takes on whether those programs are a good idea or not, in case you're interested; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/d-brad-wright/an-exemption-to-the-insur_b_5759956.html http://christianpf.com/christian-health-insurance-alternative/