Sarah Palin’s daughter gives birth to son

[DeadPoolX 9]

I was being ironic DP...

Carry on with the lecture, please.

To quote the Dread Pirate Roberts: "As you wish!"

[Chica Yeyé 41]

Oh, and sorry about your mom. I mean that.

Now I shall go have a smoke with my pro-choice buddies and reflect on how teenagers who get pregnant in this day and age are more than stupid and deserve all the bad ####### they get.

[Empress of Groovy 373]

Yes, you'd mentioned your mom's death before (I'm sorry). I too lost a parent (dad) to a type of cancer strongly linked to an unhealthy lifestyle. So what? Passing judgment about that sort of thing is pointless.

[Danno 1,228]

I'm not so sure it is "passing judgment" as it is recognizing that we often times, (if not usually)

bring things on our own head.

My Mother used to say "There but by the grace of God go I".

And there is a lot of truth to that because very few of us have never done stupid, irresponsible or just plain crazy reckless stuff.

Sometimes when you -roll that dice- you get away clean and other times you don't.

When you don't get away clean, often others pay along with you, usually innocent people.

Of course life is not Black and White and there are all degrees of culpability but generally speaking, I reserve the most sympathy for the truly innocent VICTIMS of lifes lottery.

Edited December 31, 2008 by Danno

[rebeccajo 14]

I'm not so sure it is "passing judgment" as it is recognizing that we often times, (if not usually)

bring things on our own head.

My Mother used to say "There but by the grace of God go I".

And there is a lot of truth to that because very few of us have never done stupid, irresponsible or just plain crazy reckless stuff.

Sometimes when you -roll that dice- you get away clean and other times you don't.

When you don't get away clean, often others pay along with you, usually innocent people.

Of course life is not Black and White and there are all degrees of culpability but generally speaking, I reserve the most sympathy for the truly innocent VICTIMS of lifes lottery.

You need to back up and really think about what your Mother used to say.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Oh, and sorry about your mom. I mean that.

Now I shall go have a smoke with my pro-choice buddies and reflect on how teenagers who get pregnant in this day and age are more than stupid and deserve all the bad ####### they get.

Thanks.

Yes, you'd mentioned your mom's death before (I'm sorry). I too lost a parent (dad) to a type of cancer strongly linked to an unhealthy lifestyle. So what? Passing judgment about that sort of thing is pointless.

Thanks (for my mom).

Just so we're clear, I'm not passing judgment so much as I'm questioning the logic of those who do stupid things when knowing the consequences beforehand.

[웃 910]

Someone is off to a good year:

MSNBC is reporting that bidding among magazines for the first photos of Sarah Palin's new grandson may have reached $300,000. People magazine emerged the winner. What is it with celebrity baby photos? Newborns are precious, but I don't think of them as especially photogenic. They don't pose, smile or look soulfully into the camera. Most of the time they're either sleeping or crying. The price for a photo of little Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, son of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston, reportedly inflated after Levi's mother was busted recently on drug-related charges. Whatever it takes, I suppose. Couples sometimes give the money they receive for baby pictures to charity, says MSNBC. No word on what the Palin-Johnston clan plans to do.

Edited December 31, 2008 by Confucian

[jundp 191]

Well, good for Bristol. She chose life.

LOL. Yeah, and it was such a difficult choice. Her parents are millionaires, she has access to the best private health care that money can buy, she and her partner are both white, and she has an extended family that will support her while she finishes school. She must have agonized over that decision for, like, minutes.

Yes, mox, I agree with you on that.

However, for all my liberal-tree-hugginess, I am very pro-life. So I do actually mean it when I say "good for her, she chose life." Because she could have chosen to have an abortion and her family has the money and the connections to cover it up.

[Danno 1,228]

Someone is off to a good year:

MSNBC is reporting that bidding among magazines for the first photos of Sarah Palin's new grandson may have reached $300,000. People magazine emerged the winner. What is it with celebrity baby photos? Newborns are precious, but I don't think of them as especially photogenic. They don't pose, smile or look soulfully into the camera. Most of the time they're either sleeping or crying. The price for a photo of little Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, son of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston, reportedly inflated after Levi's mother was busted recently on drug-related charges. Whatever it takes, I suppose. Couples sometimes give the money they receive for baby pictures to charity, says MSNBC. No word on what the Palin-Johnston clan plans to do.

I see every aspect of this story as evidence of the "rise and fall" of the American Empire.

[HannahP 119]

Thank god none of you all-knowing men ever had to have a D&C because of a miscarriage. God forbid it ruin your tiny little picture of how you think life should be.

[웃 910]

Thank god none of you all-knowing men ever had to have a D&C because of a miscarriage. God forbid it ruin your tiny little picture of how you think life should be.

Someone is off to a bad year

[HannahP 119]

Thank god none of you all-knowing men ever had to have a D&C because of a miscarriage. God forbid it ruin your tiny little picture of how you think life should be.

Someone is off to a bad year

I agree. You had a miscarriage recently?

[rebeccajo 14]

Well, good for Bristol. She chose life.

LOL. Yeah, and it was such a difficult choice. Her parents are millionaires, she has access to the best private health care that money can buy, she and her partner are both white, and she has an extended family that will support her while she finishes school. She must have agonized over that decision for, like, minutes.

Yes, mox, I agree with you on that.

However, for all my liberal-tree-hugginess, I am very pro-life. So I do actually mean it when I say "good for her, she chose life." Because she could have chosen to have an abortion and her family has the money and the connections to cover it up.

Sorry.

I understand you want to find the positives in Bristol's decision. But applauding her for not aborting her child doesn't change the fact that her original decision to have unprotected sex was a really stupid one. She put her health and her future on the line in one moment of teenage hormonal overload.

That's giving such a profoundly incongruous message to teenagers. Really, really bad.

[Caladan 19]

Deadpool, one of the things with AIDS, or any sexually transmitted disease, is that it only takes one partner being unfaithful or stupid for you to contract it. There are plenty of women who were infected because their husbands were unfaithful.

But leave that aside. With AIDS, it's not curable and is a pretty nasty way to go. Even if it is someone's fault for being irresponsible, it's not a proportional punishment. It's not like you have to engage in unusually risky behavior to contract AIDS. It's a very strange view of disease to think of it as the justifiable result of a moral failing.

I don't really care all that much about Bristol Palin. I feel bad that what was already a stressful time was made more stressful by the selection of her mom to the vice presidential nomination and the inevitable scrutiny. I don't think she's a saint for choosing not to abort; good for her not being a hypocrite, but I really don't think it's something to be praised particularly. Not being a hypocrite is a fairly low bar. (And if you're pro-life, that goes double if you believe it's murder. We don't usually go around saying 'yay, you didn't murder anyone today! good job!')

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just so we're clear, I'm not passing judgment so much as I'm questioning the logic of those who do stupid things when knowing the consequences beforehand.

I think the problem here is that you seem to be suggesting that people behave in a purely logical manner when it comes to risky behaviours. Friends of mine who smoke are not unaware that smoking significantly raises the risk of cancer, heart disease etc - the problem is that hey don't associate their own risky behaviour with those outcomes. If it were simply a case of looking at a picture of a blackened lung and saying "Jesus Christ! That's not for me!" I don't think anyone would have a problem giving up the habit. As it is though - its a chemical addiction which changes people's behaviour to satisfy a daily fix, rather than looking at the possible big picture 10, 20 or 30 years down the line.

As far as unsafe sex goes its also not unheard of for women to find themselves pressured into unprotected sex by pushy boyfriends - and this is certainly a risk during the teenage years when self-esteem takes a beating. Again what you're ignoring here is the emotional dimension - and that a girl who goes through with unprotected sex because it will make her b/f love her more, probably isn't thinking about the possibility of pregnancy or STD as an outcome.

It doesn't justify people making unsafe choices - but wagging a judgemental finger at people after the fact is worse than useless IMO.

We all make mistakes of one kind or another.

Edited January 1, 2009 by Paul Daniels