"But Bristol Palin isn't a policy poster child, or a celebrity, she's a real live 17-year-old trying to cover her growing bump with a baggy sweatshirt or by holding her 4 month-old baby brother as a shield."

Said baby brother has Downs because of her mother's irresponsible choice to have a baby at age 44, which is past that age when the risk for giving birth to a Downs baby goes way up. Of course, Governor Palin is being made into some kind of a heroine by the religious right for doing this. Highly irresponsible is more like it. Just as the pregnancy of her daughter is being used as a political football, so to is the pregnancy and birth of Governor Palin's new born baby. What both pregnancies highlight is the need for the Palin family to take a deep breath, take a step into the 21st century and get themselves real sex educations. No woman is going to an imaginary place called hell for controlling her fertility. This is just embarrassing and pathetic to witness a modern American family with the beliefs of Medieval peasants.

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Sarah Palin is an extremely ambitious woman. Maybe the beauty pageant thing gave her that nip of fame that proved irresistible. She became engaged in civic life, not necessarily a bad thing. Yesterday the NYTimes ran a story about how Ms. Palin introduced wedge politics to this tiny burg of Wasilla, causing much civic discord. She did some net positive things for her town but in a really negative manner, forcing instead of persuading.

But really, Palin is from Podunk, er, Wasilla where the population was only 5,000 people when she became mayor. She got her first passport 18 months ago and I'm curious as to how much time she may have even spent in the lower 48 states. Alaska is a very isolated place and her superiors and mentors have been getting away with millions for years. Bad example to a small town girl.

Suddenly she gets a call from some slick operative offering her the biggest brass ring she'll ever see in her so far minor life. She'd played by their book so she may have felt she knew the rules and she's a fundie so she may also have had that preternatural confidence that comes from blind faith.

Could it be that she simply did not realize the potential intensity of the situation "down here"? Not that she's stupid but just so small-town naive that she couldn't possibly be prepared for the scrutiny and the take-no-prisoners attack that is the toll of modern celebrity? Reassured by people who were playing the game just like she was except on a much larger scale so what had she to fear? Surely they too must have ways to make inconvenient problems "go away".

Maybe this is simplistic but is the woman just way over her head, out of her depth? A casualty?

I wonder.

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If Palin succeeds in "normalizing" her daughter's pregnancy, will other teen girls look at this and say what is the problem with having a baby?

This almost sounds reminiscent of the conservative position of twenty years ago, a la the Dan Quayle / Murphy Brown brouhaha. Yes, Murphy's age was quite different. But even in conservative communities the high schools have "clubs" and support groups for the single moms. Look in a current yearbook if you don't believe me; they're right there with their smiling, proud photos right next to the 4H'ers and FFA.

In other words, I think it's too late: teens having kids has already been "normalized" for some time.

Seventeen year-old girls are not yet adults, they are highly emotional human beings who are still trying to find their own identities and to establish self-confidence. They are easily embarrassed, they care tremendously what their friends think, and their relationships with guys are always on a dramatic rollercoaster. They are not ready to get married, raise babies or to deal with public embarrassment and humiliation.

Wow... Again, this sounds like the basis for an argument to limit their choices, keep them tightly constrained, and otherwise force them to do what presumably wiser adults think is best for them. Which begs the question of which adults, and at what age do these helpless incompetent emotional basket-cases suddenly deserve the right to be taken seriously, be allowed to make important and binding decisions for themselves, etc., etc.? I only ask as charging females of any age with hyper-emotionalism seems a bit neanderthal, and a rather slippery slope to get on.

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""If Palin succeeds in "normalizing" her daughter's pregnancy, will other teen girls look at this and say what is the problem with having a baby?""

this is probably the dumbest comment I have ever seen written anywhere and is fundamentally what is wrong with liberal thought.

Is this the party of killers?

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Putting aside her politics for a moment, should Mom have to turn down this huge career opportunity just because her daughter screwed-up? There ought to be a balance between sacrificing things for your kids, and doing things for yourself. Making our kids the center of our universe is what helped breed a generation of little narcissists.

Dick Cheney's daughter probably didn't want to be "Dick Cheney's Lesbian Daughter" either. But that's how it is sometimes. He may be the root of all evil, but I don't think he's a lousy dad for getting on with his life.

If Palin is exploiting her daughter, that's another matter, and a gray area, if the daughter is pressured to marry a loser, etc. But a lot of that falls on Uptight America for their unreasonable expectations, and obsession with everybody's personal life.

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She could be a virgin and it wouldn't change the real issue -- that her beauty queen mother is totally unqualified to be a "one heartbeat away" commander-in-chief.

Obama Fan
Reasons for voting against Insane McCain

Dear Hillary fans. If, after clicking on the link above and reading the presented material, you still won't support Barack Obama, for the sake of America and your loved ones, vote for all Democratic, independent and/or Green Party candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives on your ballot. A veto-proof Congress of freedom-loving Americans may be the only thing that saves us from four more years of Republican insanity -- or worse should Palin, God forbid, became president.

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Haven't endless teen movies and TV shows from "Sixteen Candles" to "Gossip Girl" all dealt with these issues of lack of confidence, fear of embarrassment and befuddlement with dealing with the opposite sex?

Thank you for bringing a little levity to a sad day. Just thinking of "The Donger" in conjunction with Bristol Palin has given me the best laugh I've had in ages.

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Sarah Palin eloped with her high-school boyfriend, Todd Palin, in 1988. Their first son, Track, was born eight months after their wedding.

Bristol is simply maintaining the family tradition...

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(who has already demonstrated her inability to make a rational decision under stress) could be a heart beat from the presidency, and liberals hate America.

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The MSM yesterday reported that the Palin kids boarded the plane to Dayton last week thinking that it was a family vacation to celebrate their parent's anniversary.

Evidently, Palin did not discuss her decision to take this job or any of the possible implications with her children. The explanation was that secrecy was so important to the McCain camp - either that, or the upheaval in their lives just didn't matter.

I can't imagine what the impact of all of this must be on a pregnant 17 year old.

This tells me a lot about who Sarah Palin is - it's not good.

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The Repugnicans have attempted to discredit Obama with various mocking tactics. Let's fight fire with fire. The Sarah Palin Admiration Society (www.SarahPalinAdmirationSociety.com) is a cool Social Network for people who want to offer up their own taunts and satirical twists about Sarah Palin. It's got great stuff from Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, The Red State Update, Andy Borowitz and others. Join us and pile on...

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If he's Native Alaskan as the press reports say, then he must be no more than one-fourth native.

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I have one question: What happened to her so-called "purity?" I guess she lost it as her ego appears to have gotten the best of her so-called "purity." She'll bust lobbyists? Yeah right...

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I for one am not going to slip quietly into that good night if these nitwits stick McCain into office.... this man is anathema to the Constitution of the united states, just as the man who precedes him out of office.

If you are blind to this you may deserve what will issue forth from the pit, but the children you have brought into this world do not! It will be no rich man’s son who will fight this monsters war. You may lie to yoursselves about this but, you cannot lie to me.

I survived the Viet Nam Era because of sheer stupid luck. I knew eight men who didn't and that should have been a statistical impossibility. One perhaps I might be expected to know but, I knew EIGHT who died and their names are on that wall. That number out of 210 million Americans at the time. The math of statistical probability is not functioning here.

More poor people’s sons will die, more children will be laid in the ground or have their ashes on mantle pieces. In my own case there will be no ashes of my son I am the last, my son was adopted. The line of my family ends with me.

How many more families must pay this price before we unburden ourselves of these new slave masters? You think we are not slaves? Try saying that when your son is drafted to fight this corporate greed based war! When he comes to you and says: "I don't believe in this war!", will you too say: "Get your ass over to the enlistment office and shut the hell up!",? If you do damn you to the perdition you so richly deserve! At least you won't get to send my son into that hell!

End this! Support your children, support your own souls, before the Corporation addicted Christians sell you to the devil to save their pocketbooks.

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I don't understand why the mainstream media is all over this like it matters. It's not like anything else has mattered in the last 8 years.

At least if Sarah Palin is not the nominee and this falls through, we can look forward to seeing "Bristol Knows Best" or "Living Palin" on A&E next season

**blankstare**

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Let me get this right. Palin's 17 year old daughter is going to marry a 16 year old named Levi.Levi does not go to school and is a self confessed "red neck".So the governor's daughter weil go from her mansion to his trailer park to live.Most of all this is ok with the values GOP kool aid drinkers.

Just for the sake of arguement, supposed this was Obama's daughter?. It dosen't take a lot of imagnation to see what she'd be called. Oh what a joke on us.

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WHY does Alternet feature this gossipy small-minded opinion piece?

And why are all these commenters falling into the gossip trap with Ms. Fuller?

Kathleen

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When will people ever learn? Can't we just bridge the divide? Mrs. Palin had no business accepting the VP slot knowing full well that she would put her daughter's life in harm's way. And now look at the 17 yr old's boyfriend Levi Johnston. He's a HICK alright and I wouldn't be surprised if McFUCKER were to name him to a cabinet post.

And by the way, I got quite a few questions from teenage guys in my area about the double standards on normality. This question I think deserves to be fully answered:

Why does society find it so easy to "normalize" teenage pregnancy yet they can't do the same for male teenagers who want to dress like women not due to being gay or a purvert? A teenage guy who says pink is his favorite color is twice as likely to be ridiculed at compared to a teenage gal who admits that she's pregnant even today.

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If she is 5 months PG, why haven't they gotten married before now?
Is it that he doesn't want to or that her mother is a VP canidate?

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family, then recoiled in mock horror when they were discussed.

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From: Obama:The Man Behind The Mask, by Andy Martin

"If Obama had simply told the truth, the matter would probably be forgiven. But he repeatedly lies and pretends he 'doesn't know.' The cover-up is always worse than the crime. Jesse knows the truth. That is why Jackson has contempt for Obama.

"I criticized Obama for running a bogus campaign ad saying he grew up with a 'strong family and strong values.' The whole commercial was a lie. His father was a rake who never married his mother, and his mother showed abysmally poor judgment in being impregnated by a married man. Hardly a 'strong family' and certainly not 'strong values.' Quite the contrary. Shameful values is more like it.

"His mother was promiscuous and had a child out of wedlock, in 1961, when that was still scandalous behavior. Is this Obama's idea of 'family values?' Obviously, he has been deceiving the American people and hoping his advertising lies could overcome the truth. He has failed. My book is only the first step in our organized effort to deconstruct the mirage Obama created for the Democratic Party, and is now trying to re-create for the American people. Ironically, we're running a better and more focused campaign against Obama than John McCain is.

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At least Ms. Palin is getting a chance at high office. You're exploiting her daughter's situation just for a petty, stupid and mean article that will mean nothing in about ten minutes. What's more, you attempt to imply how wonderfully an abortion(and some silence) would have tied up all the loose ends. Never a word about what a great person this new child may become. The incompetence of McCain or Ms. Palin does not justify your mean spirit.

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On the local right-wing radio, the evangelical hypocrite Graham talked ad nauseam about the so-called Pregnancy Pact among teenagers in Gloucester; how it was the result of liberal education of teaching sex ed in schools;

For the record, there was no such pact. This of course did not deter Graham, Severin, and other wingnuts.

Well, today this same moron Graham says it is great that Bristal Palin is pregnant and this is a net positive for the Republicans.

Why is Brital Palin relevant? It shows the utter moral bankruptcy and hyprocrisy of the conservatives.

They can't have it both ways: if it is ok to ridicule teenagers from a poor working class bankground as white trash for getting pregnants and their hard-working, struggling parents as bad parents, then it is ok to ridicule the white-trash Sarah Palin for being a bad mother.

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Politics, 2008 - the new version of the Old Ladies' Knitting Circle gossip. The scum-sucking has reached a level people like myself can no longer stomach.

What's next people - station reporters in the bed and bathrooms?

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Nothing says "Redneck America" than having a knocked-up teen-aged daughter while preaching the joys of abstinence-only and the evils of abortion.

And that, my friends, describes Sarah Palin to a T.

USA, meet you first female trailer-trash candidate for the second highest office in the land.

Sarah Palin, her United Steelworkers old man, Todd, and her brood, Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow and Piper Indy( wha'da f*ck!?), are something right out a column by ersatz-redneck and phony populist journalist Joe Bageant (I hear him on the BBC yesterday and, putting it in redneck parlance, so he can understand, I thought he was so full of shit, his eyes were brown.) And let me back track for a second, why is it that we can't make fun of the asinine first names the Palins have hung on their kids? ("Track?" What the f*ck kind of name is that? I don't care if he's in the army and getting his young ass shipped off to Iraq, it's a stupid f*cking name to hang on a kid.)

Sarah and her old man are pretty typical of the last generations of Baby Boomers, the little bastards born in the Sixties and Seventies, who were too young to either get drafted into or protest against the Vietnam War. They're the little bastards who first came of age and voted during Reagan's sick administration. If they have any military service it was in the All Volunteer Forced and the most action these ever j'mokes saw was in Grenada. But they're patriots to a man, just ask'em.

This cadre of end-of-the-line Boomers, who're now in their forties and late thirties, are the most self-centered, greedy, materialistic pack of Americans ever to crawl out of their mothers' wombs. They know that they're right with God because they know He rides a Harley-Davidson, just like them, and smites His enemies with a 357 Magnum, just like them. Hell, God's a member in good standing of the NRA and loves the dulcet musical-stylings of Ted Nugent, just like them. And, oh, God, how God loves Rush Limbaugh, just like them! But most of all they know God's a badass, just like they imagine they are.

Well, Mr. and Mrs. Alternet.org it's time we kick these Ayn-Rand-cultists in the nuts and start telling them the truth: There are two kinds of people who vote Republican, millionaires and suckers, and you, Mr. and Mrs. Red State America, are definitely the latter.

And should we ignore Sarah Palin's little slut of a daughter as an issue as the above columnist for the Huffington Post and Barak Obama would have us do?

I say Hell no!

Sarah and Todd Palin are personally responsible for not teaching poor, little Bristol to keep her legs together until after she marries the boy! That's was abstinence-only sex-ed's about. In that respect Mr. and Mrs. Palin have failed and failed miserably.

As far as I'm concerned Sarah Palin's whole hillbilly outfit of a family is fair game.

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You folks who are judging Palin for having a baby in her forties are clearly ageists who are bigoted toward people with disabilities.

Let me turn the light on for you: millions of women have babies in their forties - naturally, with no additional help necessary. The average age of menopause is 52. Yes, the risks increase after 40, but most of those are risks to the mother, not the baby. Unfortunately, Down's Syndrome is one of thise risks. But here's the thing - women in their 20s have babies with down's syndrome all the time - and most women in their 40s deliver healthy babies. And some women have babies with spina bifada, cleft lip, heart defects, PKU, dwarfism, cerebral palsy, etc. The fact is, no pregnancy is guaranteed a perfect, healthy outcome.

While termination is an option for some parents who discover their child has Down's, it is not a choice everyone makes. (I would never presume to make that choice (or judge it) either way for anyone.) It's not irresponsible for women to choose to give any child with any condition a chance at life. To suggest otherwise is hateful and bigoted against people who aren't perfect - unlike you, obviously.

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First, Liberals accuse Palin of pretending to be pregnant. Then they accuse her of hiding her daughter's pregnancy (Only all of Alaska knew about it). Now she's exploiting it?

C'mon guys make up your minds.

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The McCain's political strategists picked a VP with all the elements to get voters. Is she exploiting her daughter? It is one of the reason I believe she was chosen. Pro-choice voters looking at the issues of the economic,etc. may get catch up in the drama of Palin's daughter. It is fortunate Bristol has a stable family and a boyfriend able to marry her. Unfortunately, the real teenager pregnant don't have the fringes of her life.

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A group of bloggers decide to take a made up
story with no facts to discredit Sarah Palin.
They accuse her of pretending her daughter's baby is really hers. They put the candidate in
a position where she has to reveal family information that is really no one's business.
Now you accuse her of using her daughter for political gain. What a disgusting group you all are. Sarah Palin never glamorized this pregnancy. She talked about how it was pushing
her daughter to soon into adulthood but she would have the love and support of her family.
Over 3 million unwed teens became pregnant last year. It happens in all families and the nastiness and unfairness of these attacks will resonant with many voters and their extended families. If the blogosphere
continues these attacks on the Palin family, there will be a backlash that will
propel this ticket of McCain-Palin to the finish line. You will then all need to look in the mirror and say to yourself, we caused this when we decided to become the lowest common denominator to win.

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But! But! But!

Talking about her underage child getting pregnant is off limits! It's like, all disrespectful and stuff!

waaaah!

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The announcement of Bristol Palin's pregnancy by the Palins and the McCain campaign was explicitly made to stop bloggers from speculating on the parentage of the Palin's young infant. All they had to do to accomplish this, of course, was release Sarah Palin's medical records--which she should do anyway, as a part of running for the second highest office in the land. That they chose instead to subject their daughter to this attention and embarrassment is beyond me. What is it about these parents that strikes many of us as so WAY, WAY off?

The weird story of the infant Trig's birth (and it is still not convincing--especially in light of their failure to release medical records, or more simply, a birth certificate, and preference for humiliating their daughter instead. Hinky.); Sarah Palin's eagerness to jump into a demanding race she has no qualifications for--even though she has willingly taken on the challenges of this little special needs life; the continuing flood of readily available details on the reality series family life of this bunch--ugly divorce and custody battles, abuse of power by this minor league pol as she fires and threatens ex-family members and those she thinks don't adequately support her; freaky religious leanings and a minister who makes Wright look like Gandhi. Add onto this the fact that these parents are, it appears, encouraging their young daughter to marry a fool kid who thinks he's tough and doesn't want kids of his own. Children are rightfully off the table for criticism; parents are not. All this speaks to this candidate's lack of judgment and credibility, hypocrisy and instability, and, I believe, is entirely pertinent.

Most of all, though, it speaks to the rash, impulsive recklessness of John McCain who, in nominating this person has shown himself to be a soulmate to, actually, the immature, profane kid who is said to be father to Bristol Palin's baby. We had better be scared. This bunch make W look reasonably thoughtful, and that is something.

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as it is on the right. Because a liar on the Daily Kos fabricated a story about Sarah Palin and her daughter and Kos refuses to apologize for allowing the hoax to be published, you guys have the nerve SHE is the one exploiting her daughter.

Of course Obama has exploited his "race" for political gain, but that's okay; in fact, it is "racist" even to point out the obvious.

Sexism is perfectly okay when the target is a Republican.

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I haven't got time this morning to weigh in on all the ins and outs of the discussion here, in fact I haven't even read the entire article, but I feel compelled to add this one comment:

Look for Governor Palin tonight to deliver an updated version of Nixon's infamous "Checkers" speech, in which he exploited his wife, his daughters, and yes even his dog to save his political career after allegations surfaced that he had benefited from a secret Republican slush fund. Eisenhower was on the verge of dropping him from the ticket, but Nixon used the occasion of a live network TV speech to turn the tables on his attackers by portraying them as heartless cynics out to destroy a man of the people, and himself as the victim of a pitiless media-liberal conspiracy. Though viewing the speech today (and I suspect even then) is a painful experience -- it is so maudlin, so melodramatic, and in the light of history so obscenely ironic -- the ploy worked, and Nixon went on to do incalculable damage to American politics.

It seems to me Palin has little choice but to resurrect this tactic, and it may well work, at least in the short term. The race may well go down to the wire.

One thing is certain: if Palin comes out of this with any political viability, and McCain wins the White House, progressives will be faced with perhaps the worst threat to all we hold dear to emerge in our lifetimes. While Bush II/Rove/Cheney may have cynically exploited the religious far right, Palin is one of their own, a true believer. The thought of a Palin presidency should send shivers down the spine of anyone with even the slightest regard for science, the environment, women's right to choose, the makeup of the Supreme Court, US foreign policy, etc. etc. etc.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm very much worried that I'm not.

This is going to take some very sharp thinking on the part of Obama/Biden, and progressives in general. Let's hope we're all up to it.

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I am truly shocked at all the sexism, ageism, and overt hypocrisy I'm seeing in the Sarah Palin coverage, and in many of the comments right here. It does not make Sarah Palin a "bad" mother to choose to have a child after 40, and it is a ridiculous notion to think that any one of us could be the judging authority on anyone else's parenting--especially one that we are only exposed to thru the distance and sensationalism of our oh-so-reliable media.
Second, the question that arises about her decision to become VP when she has 5 children, one of which with Down's is utterly dispicable. John McCain has 7 kids. Sure, they are not all young, but they once were, and was it ever a question whether he could "do his job" and be a proper parent? Of course not.
Sarah Palin is trapped in the most typical female political fishbowl and I shouldn't be shocked but I honestly gave the American public more credit. She is damned if she does, damned if she doesn't. Judged as a bad mother AND a bad politician because she didn't choose one or the other. And if she had chosen one--cold, wombless politician, OR another mother who let go of her ambition to be a "measly housewife."
There you go, Sarah! There are your choices, take your pick. Sound like fun, don't they??

HOWEVER, the hilarity of having an abstinence-only education advocate with a pregnant teen is so laughably unsurprising that I would actually indulge in the perfect embodiment of the problem with abs.-only ed. if the consequences of such irresponsible coverage from the media wasn't so serious.
Abstinence only ed. DOESN'T WORK. Wake up, people! How is nobody pointing out the connection?

She is not pregnant DESPITE her upbringing, she is pregnant BECAUSE of it.

And luckily enough for her, her family is very well off and she shouldn't have a problem raising the baby--even if the father does end being a deadbeat, they will not be getting primary financial or emotional support from and 18 yr. old boy anyway. However, add this irresponsible coverage and outpouring of support with no acknowledgement of a true problem onto most teen girls' abstinence only education and wham-bam-thank you ma'am. Here comes more teen pregnancy, of women who DON'T have the resources.

And I'll guarantee you one thing: the teen girls that get pregnant will CERTAINLY not have the support of the REPUBLICAN PARTY like the Palin's do.

And one more note of hypocrisy--if this same situation were happening on the DEMOCRATIC ticket, the good ol' family values party--and the media--would be RIPPING THEM TO SHREDS.

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Be it president or vice-president, if that person is SINGLE, they're automatically "disqualified" by the corporate media and it apathetic puppet public just as was the case in Adlai Stevenson's attempts to run for president in 1952 and 1956. There are more people who need jobs and marriage is declining these days. Can't we the people get a FUCKING clue and help SINGLES out for a change? If Palin, Obama, Mccain, and Biden were SINGLE like Ralph Nader, we would be looking at both parties actually addressing the issues at large and not exploiting candidates' families.

When we can talk about constitutional amendments outlawing abortions and gay marriages, we can sure as hell bring up the idea of possible Constitutional amendments such as giving leadership roles to SINGLES only so that a leader's job is not compromised by family issues. Bachelors and single women are growing faster than married couples and it's time we the people quit saddening their lives ! They're trying to make the best of their lives in this INTOLERANT and BIGOTTED society just like us injured/maimed vets of Vietnam and Iraq who were lucky not to die.

GIVE SINGLES A CHANCE !!!

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"....if she succeeds in "normalizing" her daughter's pregnancy, making it almost seem sort of glamorous, will other teen girls look at this and say what is the problem with having a baby?" This is what happens when you don't believe in sex ed. being taught in school,and yet you don't want to talk to your children about sex until they turn 21, and you don't believe in abortion. You now have a shot-gun wedding - which is right up there with guns, and God! Talk about family values.

It's as though once you become an adult you forget all that happened to you in high school - the taunts, the struggles, the uncertainty, etc., Mr. & Mrs. Palin are poster children for ostriches, you know put your head in the sand and convince yourself that all is right with your world! I feel for the daughter, because she will be forced into a marriage that she may feel she can't get out of, only to have serious regrets the older she gets!

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Candidates families shouldn't be subjected to the intusive liberal media. It's a private, very personal matter. That's why they're flying the kid who knocked up their daughter to the GOP convention to appear on national TV...wait, what are they doing? Oh, never mind.

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Why is it that when Barack Obama speaks to the responsibilities men have to their children it is applauded, and when anyone dares to address the same topic about women, it is automatically deemed sexism?

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIxeFcveiBM

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Palin's daughter isn't the issue, it's all about hypocrisy and double standards. 100% of the polygamists in Colorado City, Arizona vote republican because polygamists practice hypocrisy and double standards, too.

Vote for Barack Obama!

http://www.bankingonheaven.com

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Abstinance works, every time. Abstinance education works. The fact that some kids still fall to temptation does not mean it doesn't work. It is simply a fact of life. So far, my daughter is still waiting until she gets married. That's plan A. But what if she came home and told me she was pregnant? That is when we implement Plan B.

Plan B: I become the greatest Grandpa ever and I would be thrilled about it.

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Palin deserves every ounce of excoriation she gets, granted not the sexist motivated crap (I mean the academically verifiable sexist shit, not the misperceptions-posing-as-sexism-outers claims).

But frankly, her Draconian, authoritarian decision to marry off her kid to another kid who clearly doesn't want to, after exploiting her kid to begin with is the direct result of her ideology, an ideology she has tried to and would impose on every other person in the nation if allowed to, and THAT absolutely needs to be thrown in her face with as much vitriol as she has doled out to anyone outside her ideological cult.

Fair is fair, for fuck's sake. There's a time for taking the moral high road but when faced with a proto-fascist of this peculiar bent, this is not that time AT ALL. OTOH it could well be argued that the moral high road here is PRECISELY to point out in clear, unequivocal fashion, that Palin's ideology is the proximate cause of her family life and thus an example to the rest of us.

To try to "normalize" an abusive parenting choice (forcing a child to bear offspring before they're ready, forcing them to marry before they're ready) is utterly reprehensible. Especially when the result of that "normalization" of the abusive pattern derives from a stated agenda for national policy that would legally obligate every other parent to do the same abusive thing.

"Laying off" Palin and her family is not only moral cowardice, but it's reckless politics... oh wait, we're talking about Dems' M.O.; taking accountability and justice off the table and all that shit.

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..might be glad she's living in today's "permissive" society, where having a child out of wedlock is no longer the source of shame it once was: no extended trips to an aunt, secret birth and adoption. Perhaps the occasional shotgun marriage does still occur, however.

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Sarah Palin is a prostitute. She admits to masturbating while Alasca Governator !!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Admits to Masturbating.

http://www.unconfirmedsources.com/index.php?itemid=3522

Note the hypocricy of Republican evangelicals, they preach moralism, but are corrupted. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Admits to Masturbating. 44-year-old former beauty queen, Alaska Governor and newly announced vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin admitted in an unusually candid interview this afternoon that she has frequently masturbated during her term as governor.

“My husband is frequently out of town on business”, Ms Palin stated in reference to her husband, BP oil executive Todd Palin. “During those times I have found ample opportunity to explore the pleasures of my own body”.
Ms Palin stated that she sometimes feels conflicted between her insatiable desire to achieve orgasm and her Evangelical Christian beliefs. “I think God will forgive me for this one guilty pleasure”, she hoped.

Palin’s husband Todd claimed that he had no idea of his wife’s masturbatory habit. “She never told me she did that!” he exclaimed. “Had I known by the will of Jesus I would have forced her to stop!”

Ms`Palin claimed that she sometimes fantasizes about men of power such as Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Israeli President Shimon Peres, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and female German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“I don’t consider myself a lesbian or bisexual but that Merkel is HOT”, Palin declared.

Some sources believe that Palin came “out of the closet” with her masturbation habits to simply attract masturbating female voters.

“I just think we should be honest with the American People”, she said later.

Arizona Senator John McCain fully supports his running mates self-exploratory pleasures. “I did that myself once when I was in college”, McCain stated.

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Let me just throw something out and see what you guys think about it--

Maybe I'm overestimating Karl Rove's evil genius here, but I've heard an interesting theory that goes something like this:

Sarah Palin is quite simply a trojan horse. She was meant all along to take a beating from the "liberal media" so that she can drop out of the race in a week or two and gain sympathy for the Republicans. Can you imagine the public's disappointment that a small town "hockey mom" who eats "moose burgers" and has 5 kids including a pregnant daughter was so "mistreated" by the media (and therefore the democrats)? This opens the door for McCain/Rove to usher in their real pick, and the name I've been hearing is Condoleeza Rice.

I just want to get this theory out into the open so that should it go down, we had all heard the possibility raised.

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Gov. Sarah Palin is already facing ethical questions over her firing of the Alaska public safety commissioner, and now she faces questions over the firing of a longtime local police chief.

New reports raise questions about the firing of a local police chief.
After taking over as Mayor of the small town of Wasilla, Palin fired the longtime local police chief. The former police chief, Irl Stambaugh says he was fired because he stepped on the toes of Palin's campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.


Stambaugh's lawyer, William Jermain, says the chief tried to move up the closing hours of local bars from 5 a.m. to two a.m. after a spurt of drunk driving accidents and arrests.


"His crackdown on that practice by the bars was not appreciated by her and that was one reason she terminated Irl," said Jermain.


In his 1997 lawsuit, Stambaugh also alleged that his stand on restricting concealed weapons upset the NRA.

"Mayor Palin has stated on several occasions that the National Rifle Association encouraged her to fire Chief Stambaugh because of his stance against the concealed weapons legislation," the lawsuit claimed.


Palin says she was up against entrenched insiders when she was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996.


"We had a lot of people that were kind of dead wood," said Colleen Sullivan Leonard, a staff member in Palin's office. "We needed people with new energy and a new vision."



A federal judge later ruled the mayor, under city law, had the right to fire the police chief for any reason she wanted.


Palin is now facing similar allegations in the state capitol, that politics played a role in her firing of the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan.


"It has every possibility of giving the Governor an ethical black eye in an area where she's touted herself as being particularly strong," said Alaskan State Senator Hollis French, a Democrat.


At issue is whether Palin fired the public safety commissioner because he refused to fire a state trooper who was the Governor's brother-in-law and going through an ugly divorce with the Governor's sister.

The Governor has denied any wrongdoing or involvement in the matter, but Senator French, who is leading the investigation has his doubts.


"The Governor first issued a blanket denial," said Sen. French, "and now she's had to back down and that's a problem."



Monday, Palin called for the Alaskan Personnel Board to conduct a formal investigation into Monegan's dismissal "to put these matters to rest".


"The idea that there had been no contact and no pressure doesn't stand up," said Sen. French. "Her credibility I think was damaged in that blanket denial."


The McCain campaign says it's clear that some insiders don't like the fact that Palin has been bucking the status quo to implement change.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=5713866

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Maybe the daughter is not pregnant?

Palin needed to 'prove' she was the mother when the rumors started flying and the stakes grew larger. The story was put out about the daughter being pregnant to do that -- but it may not be real *would a Republican lie?). If that's the case, we may hear of a miscarriage in the future, maybe just after the election.

I have no evidence of any of this -- it's just speculation -- but it would not be out of character for the right wing.

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Sarah Palin may have some real political liabilities, but being prolife isn't one of them.

By you Dems dropping all of your professed concern about stopping the war in favor of screaming for your beloved right to kill the babies, you have exposed yourself for what you are -- champions of the death culture.

In the past the Repugs have been all talk and no action, just hidden behind the skirts of the prolifers during the elections to give them credibility with the voters, and then once they got in power gave the babies nothing but more of the same, and the bodies keep piling up.

Now we have a real prolife activist, a beautiful woman who loves her husband, her family, and is full of LIFE. She exudes LIFE. And America is sick to death of DEATH.

McCain pulled a fast one on his puppet masters. We must pray that Sarah Palin is not murdered, or corrupted by the utterly wicked politicians she will be surrounded by.

Perhaps this is God's reprieve that so many of us have been praying for. Perhaps her candidacy for VP will inspire terrorized and bullied Americans to rise up and reclaim our country and our Constitution, to kick the criminals out of our government, and pull together to help each other go through what will be terrible times ahead, no matter who is running the ship. Our economy is dead, and we have made enemies of everyone in the world.

But the Death Culture has shot itself in the foot. Thirty five years the Death Culture has ruled the roost by lies and manipulation and now perhaps the tide will turn. A little light can put out a whole lot of darkness, and could be that now that the genie has been let out of the bottle there will be no way to put it back.

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Hurricane Gustav has caused massive flooding and landslides, which will further devastate this already impoverished country. More than fifty people have perished in the storm and others are missing. The people of Haiti desperately need our help in this dire time.

Donate Here

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The Palin Pick is forcing all of us, no matter our politics or our gender, to examine every facet of the Patriarchal model. Palin has unwittingly become the icon to shed light upon those areas where a male-dominant culture has led us away from loving and nurturing not only our families, but ourselves and our planet.

Every post on this blog, and the countless others that have us talking incessantly about the Palin soap opera, give us a chance to examine our own hypocrisy. Maybe that's a good thing.

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Sarah Palin is not only exploiting her daughter for the Republican party, but her entire family. Her ambition knows no bounds. Joe Biden took major tragedy and stepped up to the needs of his young family. Palin's heel prints are all over hers.

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If she is such a sucessful mother why is her 17 years old unwed daughter is pregnant; to my way of thinking is that she failed and What she tried to do with this last child by taking a flight without checking for medical assistant locally was an attempt at late term abortion that did'nt work and you women know this; if she is such a good caring mother why would she jeopardize the life of that unborn; so cut the bullshit and condemn her for what she is and the is word bitch.

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A boy knocks-up a girl whose mother packs an AK-47. How do you spell shotgun weddking? No "prochoice" for this boy!

It is OK if the right wing repugnacans do it. Can you imagine the holy flap if Chelsea Clinton had done the same thing? Oh, the MORAL TURPITUDE!!!

By the way, for NON-RICH--single motherhood is a one-way ticket to poverty. The major social problem in American today. Poverty children having poverty babies, raised by Grandmas, no fathers, no guidance, future track?--PRISON.
OK if you are rich, however.

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Stop the presses! A teenaged girl got pregnant. What difference does it make WHO'S girl it is? This happens to girls every day only because teenaged boys DON'T get pregnant, so how is this newsworthy? Only a backward, abmysmally ignorant nation like the USA would even consider it noteworthy, regardless of who's daughter it is.

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You've managed to allow the Republicans to define the issues that will determine the outcome of this election. You've allowed them to frame the debate on their terms . . . and in astoundingly short order. Many of us wondered what in the hell McCain was thinking when making his seemingly questionable VP selection. I guess we now know what he was thinking. Classic Rovian tactics, and we fell for it hook, line and sinker.

The Republicans have already begun spinning a masterpiece of misdirection. The nightly news is abuzz with talk of double standards, sexism, teen pregnancy, working mothers and abortion. The Neocons are just waiting for you to fall into their cunning little trap.

The trap is baiting you into making statements that could be misconstrued and redirected back at you in the form of an accusation of sexism, misogyny, etc. At the same time they take the spotlight off the most important issues like:

1. she's a fucking white trash lunatic - haven't we had enough of that with the Bush clan? *cue banjo music*

2. She's a goddamn environmental luddite who, ironically, thinks Polar Bears should be taken off the endangered species list. It's ironic because global warming is precisely what's killing them. She probably thinks they make a nice throw rug. Fucking evil bitch!

3. In another ironic twist, she'll actually set the fortunes of women back 200 years. *cue Little House on the Prairie theme song*

4. She'll continue the messianic traditions of the Judeo-Christian sociopaths who hold sway over this country.

5. Every student will have a bag lunch, a copy of Ted Haggard's "Abstinence or Meth-Fueled Gay Orgies - Which Is Right For You?" and a fucking Glock in their knapsacks.

The best thing we can do is ignore this shit and stick to the issues. Stop giving them an opening - a national stage upon which to promote the canard that she is being treated unfairly, subjected to a double standard by the big, bad men.

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First off, who cares if her daughter is pregnant. How many pregnant women without husbands are there? This is 2008, not 800 B.C.

Second off, Obama did cocaine...I guess if you are Black, it is ok to be immoral or do things that society proclaims as wrong...but God help you if you are White. Hang the pregnant woman, right?

So, if her daughter did cocaine, that would be ok...right?

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Just explain how you sell the unintended pregnancy of a 17-yr old as "family values" in the same breath that you admit your opposition to sex education (except for abstinence only -- do you see the irony here?) and birth control. Despite the fact that the young father's MySpace page proclaims "no kids in my future," they will be getting married. No pressure there. So, this makes it a wholesome, family values moment because the premarital, pre-adult parents are going to make the baby "legal." All we need now is the expose on the pot-smoking, alcohol drinking, and coke snorting (I'm making that up ... or am I?).

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Therefore, I am for mixing abstinence with sex education for the safety of us all. People, let's unite and bypass the public/private school system of abstinence/only sex-ed and teach it all the way. This so-called abstinence-only BULLSHIT is only sending a message that America wants to emulate the Jihadist form of over-punishing the young. Do we have to settle for sucking up to religious fundies (be they Christiahs, Muslims, Hindus, etc ...) who PERSECUTE society with authoritarianism or are we ready to FIGHT BACK and TEAR DOWN THIS WALL and TAKE BACK OUR SAFETY NET on the economy, national security, jobs, education including that of sex, etc ...? Let's start out by going local and/or private and steadily passing around the real sex education that goes beyond abstinence only. Europe isn't doing so bad as a result of sex education that puts safety first over blaming victims. UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL !

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Dearest Bonnie Fuller . . .

I thank you sooooo very much for this glorious reflection. I too believe children are not props for parents. As you express, I fear for Bristol. I wonder what occurs within the family. As an educator, I have heard too many sad tales. Children are conflicted. Hence, some look for love through physical intimacy.

Single and Married Parents Spend More Time With Children. Much is Lost

When a mother or father stresses abstinence, not only in the home, but also in the city or State she or he governs, there are greater concerns. Children are not safe without information. Knowledge empowers.
Sex Education; Abstinence or Advancing Knowledge?

Any anxiety is heightened when a Mom or Dad consciously chooses to place progeny in a precarious position. There is much to ponder in the Palin narrative. To possibly put pressure on an individual child, who now finds him or her self in the center of a world stage, is cause for concern. We cannot know if Bristol chooses to marry for she thinks it right or if her reasons are a reflection of what she thinks her parents desire.

I have so may thoughts I wish to express. I offer but a few. Please share your reflection on my own. I am beyond curious.
To Vet or Not to Vet; That is the Sarah Palin Question

I offer this political cartoon for further pondering.
Northern overexposure

Betsy L. Angert
BeThink.org

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There is an 18 year old African American spending 10 years in prison for child molestation, in Georgia. The charge is the first made under the law because the prosecutor could not get convictions on rape when in fact it was consensual sex. Dixon was acquitted of rape charges.

Yet, in Alaska, the Governors' 16 year old daughter and her lover are treated by a different standard that does not punish but instead glorifies the 18 year old's behavior. Was the girl a minor and a virgin? Was the sex consensual? How long have they been having sex, and in whose house?

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so lets continue with the anti-intellectual troglodytes and elect Palin and McPain.

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Anybody know if this is real?

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My kid f*cked until her eyes crossed; I want to exploit my kids condition.

As a Kristian Konservative, I want to fly her all over the United States and appear on as many television events as possible, to let other kids with her condition know that crossed-eyedness caused by f*cking is not a shameful thing.

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Don't try it. It's already been researched and shot down.

Nice try, wingy (wingnut).

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I am a 50-year old woman with three young sons -- and I find it disgusting that Palin was picked by McCain - and that she accepted.

Palin just has a 5-month old son with Downs Syndrome (how did she know in advance, by the way?) and 4 other children who are in dire need of both of their parents to deal with this -- plus a 17 year old daughter who was not following her mother's advice of abstinence and is now 5-months pregnant with her boyfriend -- whom she's being forced to marry.

That's a family in crisis -- who should be in counseling to deal with these issues --

But McCAin -- and Palin -- are nothing but ruses for the GOP. The only change we'll see from McCAin/Palin is to go back 50-years -- nothing new here -- but rhetoric. No ideas. No policies. Nothing but attacking Obama.

From one mother to another, go home Sarah and take care of your family -- because there is no way that you're prepared to take care of America.

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Back in the old days, when I was a girl and Nixon was president, all this was called gossip. My grandmother used to say about gossip, "Never believe anything you hear and only half of what you see!" And my mother added, "and for pete's sake don't continue it." I listened to my mother and grandmother and now see their wisdom, I won't be blindsided like other democrats, into playing into the hand of the republicans, "if we can just get them talking about her, they won't be talking about the real issues." " We don't stand a chance if they stick to the issues." Besides that dear ones, don't lose hope Desperate Housewives will be back soon and we can all talk the dirt about them. They aren't real so it's not gossip!

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Any young girl past pubescent adolescence would be completely igonorant from the human fuck scene in every movie that that is how pregnancy occurs. Since the corporate brain washing policies of the media that program the social philosophy that humans are barnyard animals, maybe they might clue us into the fact that cow family planning pills cause cancerous dairy products, and calfs with downs syndrome.

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Good luck. Right now, the wagons are being circled, and if anyone can find anything substantial to back up the assertion that Trig was the daughter's baby, it would be an act of God.

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Not sure if I can post my blog address here or not...www.peachneitherherenorthere.blogspot.com

I have too much to say about this article to post it all here, but here is a snippet...

This article attempts to perpetuate the same attitude of secrecy, shame, compromise, & loss which permeated society during the "Baby Scoop Era" of the adoption-happy 50's & 60's. Bristol Palin will thankfully NOT be counted as one of "The Girls Who Went Away" as biographed in the book of the same title, written by adoptee, Ann Fessler. And I am glad. Bristol, I am so happy for you
and your precious baby...instead of being one who "went away", you were brought in!

It seems to me the Palin's are demonstrating a shameless (thank God) outpouring of love & support, showing that Bristol and her entire family can & will hold their heads up high, not compromise success, and proudly show the world what it is like to resist societal shame...back in 1968 when my unwed, young Mother became pregnant, she was 'hidden' and 'sent away' in shame and despair ~ I felt that rejection as an infant...but not Bristol & her child ~ they will not have to endure the same experience...wouldn't it have been wonderful if the "Baby Scoop Era" Mom's & babies had been embraced and supported by society, government, and their families? Without shame & head held high ~ true family values indeed.)

I don't think Sarah Palin is hurting ANYONE by standing up tall by her daughter's side, instead of shrinking away in shame, like so many families did in years past. It was refreshing to see Bristol sitting in the convention audience right beside her grandmother & grandfather. Her baby will be welcomed into her family with love ~ not relinquished due to societal pressure. The Palin family won't have to grieve the loss of their first grandchild, like my family did, and so many like us. Instead, my Mother was shamed, sent away, hidden ~ and gave birth alone, with no choice but to relinquish her God-given right to be my parent, my Mother. She was lied to & told that she had given birth to a son, subsequently searching for me unsuccessfully before her death ~ dying without knowing the truth, that she had a daughter, who was also searching for her.

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Her daughter is 17. 17 means she's still under the authority of her parents. Her parents should and do have the final say with her health issues. Sorry for some of you but not the child, the parents have authority. How many times have you railed against parents who make their underage daughters have abortions???? It happens... a lot.

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Either they will "live with mom & dad"...either side... or "Be Supported" by One or Both Sets of Parents... at least... in Part or Whole Financial / Emotional Stability.
There are Already Thousands of "Adult-Children, returning to Live With Parents & "they don't know how / Refuse to Support Themselves".
Wonder what the Government is gonna do to "Resolve This Issue". It will take millions of Dollars to Sponsor a Program that "Will Truly, Remedy the Problem of Teen Pregnancies".
Some parents in America, even "allow their Early Teen to Consume Drugs...sometimes, illegal drugs...so the Emotional Side of the
Sexual Encounters... can be Numbed / Unfelt... by the Teen... Alter the Mind... long enough, on each Encounter.... & soon the Teen, has Intense Desires for Intimacy... & then... the Babies come their way... & THEY CAN GET WELFARE MONIES / FOOD STAMPS & ...KEEP THE CIRCLE OF POVERTY... ONGOING, AS IT HAS BEEN FOR MANY YEARS NOW...
I state these as the Reality of Teens & their
lives, & in my own families... Children & Youth
"thought they knew More Than the Parents"... &
wanted to Experience... Chose Their Own Way of Life... Make Their Own Mistakes... Of Course, then the Parents, "picked up the Pieces"... IT'S A WAY OF LIFE, & HAS BEEN IN AMERICA, FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW... Adult Children.... Returning Home to their Parents...so they can be "Raised Again...Raising the Grandchildren & Their Parents"....At the Same Time.
One American Lady

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You don't go far enough by suggesting merely that Gov. Failin' is exploiting her pregnant daughter; what about exploitation of children with Down's Syndrome? Like McShame making a mockery of his internment as a Vietnamese POW, Failin' takes these babies on stage to reduce them to the status of a product -- they might as well be soap or cereal. If I were a mother with a child with Down's Syndrome who champions Roe v. Wade and supports a woman's right to determine the fate of her own body, I would be livid and incensed by this dim-witted theocratic crypto-fascist from Alaska, a hockey mom who should have remained one.

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