I hate to start out with bad news, but something pretty terrible happened yesterday. The grocery store raised the price of my current favorite beer (Hop Devil, by Victory Brewing, just outside Philly) from $8.49 to $9.99 a six pack. They were already pushing it at $8.49, frankly, and I’m afraid they’ve priced me out. I mean, I can get Saranac Imperial IPA for $8.99, and, while I prefer the taste of the Hop Devil, the IIPA comes in at 8.5% ABV (to Hop Devil’s 6.7%). That extra 1.8% definitely gives it a nice kick. So, I decided to go with a 12-pack of Saranac IPA for $12.99 (not Imperial; it’s only 5.8%), which I used to like but haven’t had in a while. Now it tastes like swill to me. Oh well. Where’s the bailout for small breweries?
For those of you paying attention, half of the Elite Eight is set, with the Big East going 3 for 3 in last night’s action, and, in a battle of the tigers, the Missouri Tigers took down the Memphis (wah! We deserved a #1 seed) Tigers in a defensive struggle, 102-91. Tonight, of course, two more Big East teams are in action, including #3 Syracuse against #2 Oklahoma. It promises to be a tough game. I reckon I might have to spring for some Imperial IPA.
Speaking of tigers, scheduled guests on Real Time tonight are former Princeton Tiger Bill Bradley (I think he was also a Senator or something), Mr. Humble, Christopher Hitchens, Mos Def, and Salman Rushdie.
With the SU game being at 7:30 (EDT), no matter what the outcome, I probably won’t be in much shape to make it to Bill Maher at 10:00 (if I get some IIPAs, I may not even make it to the end of the game).
Well, unemployment in my fair city is up to a new record of 8.9% (breaking the old record of 8.7%, set in February 1992), so I reckon I’d better get my game face on, and get ready to head in to work. At least tomorrow’s Saturday. If SU wins, I’ll be happily hung over, and if they lose, I’ll be sadly sulking. Either way, at least it’s a day off.
Having 9 (or 11) kids with 9 (or 10) women and then not accepting responsibility (both financial and moral) for them (and for what you’ve put the mothers through) isn’t being foolish or potent (or a victim). It’s being an asshole, and I don’t know of anybody (other than other assholes, I suppose) who would would think differently.
The real shame is in a society that has promoted a good old boy environment that allows men to get away with abandoning their kids (and the mothers) with a wink and a nod, while expressing fake outrage at women for their participation in the act, and denying them the right to contraception and abortion.
But, while there is certainly a mental defect involved with Deca-Dad, it isn’t really the equivalent of the Suleman thing. A more apt comparison would be if I lived with my parents and got one or more women to volunteer to be surrogate mothers for me (and, presumably, I was paying for the IVF) over and over again, and, after having six of them at home with me and mom and dad, paying for a fresh batch of eight more.
I don’t know of anybody who wouldn’t consider that insane.
But then, perhaps “people I know” isn’t a good measure, since I don’t really know many people.
As much as I’ve tried to ignore this story, I believe I read that Suleman has said she’d never reveal the identity of the father (at least until the price is right), though she has provided some details about him.
Just a pal, I guess. And, really, who wouldn’t donate a little sperm when a friend asks?
The Europeans say they have no need for further stimulus right now because their social safety nets, derided in good times by free market disciples as sclerotic impediments to growth, are automatically providing the spending programs that the United States Congress has to legislate.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/europe/27germany.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
Someone, please explain to me why we are such a dogmatically stupid country.
Is it an education system that doesn’t value thinking?
Is it an economic system that produces such startling wealth that we peons abandon self interest in pursuit of it?
Is it genetic, we who are the descendants of those who couldn’t make it in the “old” country?
:fustrate:
I guess we need some Commander Pike response emoticons. How else to respond other than *bip*
“My sperm did WHAT?”
Talk about education *bip*
Bumper sticker:
Pocket ur Rocket unless you
know how to Sock it
Sperm has a mind of its own
For anybody looking for a deal out there, looks like single-cycle IVF goes for about $10,000. Doesn’t include medications, but it does include:
* Ovarian stimulation monitoring
* Anesthesia for egg retrieval
* Egg retrieval procedure
* Fertilization and culture of the eggs
* Embryo transfer procedure
* All physician, IVF lab, and facility fees associated with in vitro fertilization
Can’t beat that. Seems like it’d be cheaper to just invite Deca-Dad over for a nice home-cooked meal, though.
Irving R. Levine died. Hard to believe he was only 86. He seemed old when I was a kid. But I guess that’s just ‘cuz I was a kid, and my internal definition of what’s old keeps getting pushed back every year.
PJ,
I can tell you from experience that even with insurance coverage, IVF is pricey. Daily blood work requires copays, the drugs have a huge cost, and there are fees for items that insurance doesn’t cover. Not to get TMI, but it’s ridiculous for a woman in her 20’s to go through all of it when she could have easily gotten laid.
Overall, the whole Octo-mom situation pisses me off. I hate to sound like a welfare-bashing conservative, but I wonder why I worked hard to get to a point where I could afford to have kids when I could have just “hurt” my back, gone on disability, gotten fertility treatments and plastic surgery. Maybe I’ll start a blog and have readers pay for my manicures, too?
Things look pretty bleak at this point, so I reckon I’ll be off sulking for a day or two.
#8 – Ana — Since this story broke I have wondered how Octomom was able to afford the IVF with or without insurance coverage. Insurance “coverage” is an illusion. I can’t tell you how many times in the past 3 yrs I have been forced to tell doctors they have to change their treatment plans because the patient’s insurance company didn’t cover them or the patient didn’t have insurance otherwise the patient would have to stay in the hospital (which would be forced to eat the cost of treatment) to complete the prescribed treatment. Now, I do not agree with most of what goes on in medical practice because it is so predominantly driven by Big Pharma and is totally reactive rather than pro-active, but messing around with Mother Nature as far as IVF when you’ve already GOT 6 kids is something I totally cannot wrap my mind around.
I’m an only child. I didn’t have a great childhood. It never ocurred to me that having a litter of kids would fix that and I never had a dream of having a big family when I was a young woman.
I ended up with 4 children, conceived the regular way after their father, who was quite damaged in Vietnam in two separate incidents, went through 18 months of pig pituitary hormone injections to make his sperm viable. They thought he was having hormonal problems because of 1. the head injury (minus right eye, sinuses open, pituitary gland exposed) and 2. Agent Orange. Back then (in the ancient 1970s) artificial insemination or adoption were the only other options and #1 was too icky for me and #2 was something neither of us could deal with, so we were resigned to being childless thanks to Uncle Sam. (flag waving emo here)
The hormone intervention took a long time to work and it was a very unpleasant experience to have to go through and we had given up on it being effective. If IVF was around then, I don’t think I would have chosen that option because of the stress & expense involved — my ex was pretty cheap, so I don’t think he would have wanted to pay for it either. We were resigned to not having a family if that’s what karma had in store for us, but karma blessed us with 4 beautiful babies which we were very thankful for.
So, I just wonder how Suleman paid for the IVF procedure and why the doctor implanted so many embryos. She’s nuts, his ethics are highly questionable, where’d the money come from? ❓
And I gotta wonder about those poor kids — Holy :crap: —
My 4 are all about 2 yrs apart in age — all 4 of them had the chicken pox at the same time :omg: — the youngest was about 6 months old & the oldest about 6 yrs old. All 4 of them were COVERED with pox inside & out & were feverish & puking & pooping and we had a couple of horrible, horrible nights where we ran out of clean linens & had the washer dryer going while just cleaning the kids up & trying to keep them comfortable. I don’t know how we survived that — the stress helped break the marriage apart.
I cannot imagine this kind of situation with 8 infants & 6 young children, a single parent and 2 grandparents stretched to the max 😮 😮
And these poor kids will probably never know their father or have a father because their mother is a total Nutcase :billcat:
The insanity of this situation is such a reflection of how out of control our “health” care system is on so very many levels and how totally freaking nuts the U.S. of A. has become 🙄
PJ, your loss is mr fk’s gain. Since he’s here at the moment, I’m thankful ou won. My weekend will be better. (sorry Granny)
**
Ms. Suleman is clearly mentally ill. The doctors should have caught that. We put our values and point of view on her and I think that’s futile. She is ill. Besides the health care issue with IVF, I think it says heaps about how we Americans treat and react to mental illness. I understand anastasi’s outrage at the state having to pay for someone’s total irresponsibility. It IS wrong. Welfare is a safety net – not a way to finance irresponsible behavior. But I believe Ms. Suleman is ill and it’s the health care system that let her down. Granny is right – insanity.
I suspect those children will be put in the system by protective services sooner or later. Especially as stories emerge.
But that takes me back to my original beef and one that PJ eloquently discussed above – the other half of the equation. At what point should men be required to take fiscal responsibility for the product of their sperm? Why should the state pay when there is a father? If dad doesn’t want a relationship with their child, so be it. But to only chastise Ms. Suleman while ignoring the irresponsible Marcos Gutierrez, the father, tugs hard at my sense of justice.
Gutierrez has sired 16 children! Can he afford it? If every man knew they were going to be hunt down and forced to pay for their children, the world would change. And maybe octomom wouldn’t exist – even with a failed health care system.
Just an aside but am I seeing a trend with the Gravitars?
You can get sake at anywhere from 14% to 18% . :40: