What about saying NO? No to children, no to ourselves. No, you cannot have McDonalds for dinner, no, you cannot dress like a slut, no, you cannot sit on the couch for 5 hours playing video games or watching Flavor of Love (or whatever). Then when the kid throws a temper tantrum, you say "sucks to be you, so sorry, when you're old enough and not living in my house and I'm not paying for all your food and clothing, you can do whatever you want. Childhood doesn't last forever. But while you're here, you play by my rules." (This, BTW, is also an excellent way to give the kid the kick in the butt s/he needs to get a decent education and a good job and get the heck out of your house so s/he can start running wild.)

I mean, jeez, people--you're the parents. PARENT!

"Hidden costs"? What's hidden about them?

Property taxes? Those should have been included in your mortgage as part of the escrow.

Insurance? Same thing.

And where have you rented where all your utilities were paid? Because I rented for many years, and (with the exception of water) ALWAYS paid my utilities. So I knew about the cost of heating, electric, and so forth.

OK, so you put a crater in your "flimsy" wall. How hard is it to patch drywall? (hint--not very). You let your lawn die? Yeah, I did that last year because I refuse to water. Planted new grass this year, have a very nice lawn right now where I used to have mud. This took me maybe 3 hours total.

My mortgage is about the same cost as rent. Yeah, someone else would take care of the maintenance, but OTOH, I don't have to WAIT for someone to do it (or not do it). I get a decent-sized tax refund (about 2 months worth of mortgage). My house is old and has plenty of little things wrong with it, but the beauty part is...

Nobody can tell me how many dogs I can have.

Nobody can tell me who can live with me.

Nobody can raise my rent more-or-less arbitrarily.

I can get up and let the dogs out without having to get dressed.

I don't have to listen to the woman upstairs have extremely noisy sex.

I don't have to listen to the guy downstairs' surround sound.

ETc., etc...

There are certainly plenty of disadvantages to home ownership, but there are plenty of ADVANTAGES too, and I'd rather be paying off a mortgage than paying a landlord. You have to live somewhere, after all. INVESTMENT is the wrong way to look at it. The way to look at it is as HOME.

Seriously. That sounds like grandma talk.

Oh, BTW--who wears hose anymore either?

Then don't support PETA. Their stated position is the extinction of all companion animals.

I asked a friend with pets who supported PETA if she was OK with that, and she said that if it would prevent any animal suffering, she'd never have another pet. I ALMOST said "well, would you never have children if it would prevent any child from suffering?" but she had fertility problems, so I couldn't do that.

I support breed rescue groups and LOCAL shelters. PETA, HSUS do NOTHING to alleviate the suffering of any individual animal. They don't support/help local shelters either.

It. Why not use it?

IT. It is a gender-neutral pronoun. If you read old novels, "it" is quite often used to refer to children or babies, gender indeterminate.

That we consider it distancing or dehumanizing now doesn't mean it can't be reclaimed.

And the thing is, this was the best possible couple to perform "bollywood" style, as they've consistently excelled with everything thrown at them.

(Though not currently) I have to put in a good word for Harold Lloyd. I used to LOVE to watch his movies when I was 8 or 9. Also all the old Universal horror movies, the cheesier the better as far as I was concerned (and I'm a girl, Andrew--I watched those pre-Star Wars too).

TV shows, for some insane reason I used to get up really early in the morning when I was a kid and watch old Dick Van Dyke show reruns, though I think that had to do with my affection for him from Mary Poppins. Also we as kids LOVED the Carol Burnett Show, and it's a short stretch from that to Your Show of Shows.

Mostly commissioned? Do people want to re-create their dead babies (or what their adult children were like when small)? or are they simply out of the creator's imagination?

I don't think they're creepy, exactly--and they may provide some comfort to some, or just enjoyment to doll collectors. Personally, I'm interested in other types of hobbies, but I spend enough on my hobby (dog sports) that I can't really fault anyone for spending money on theirs.

Agree with everything you say. It is SO easy to NOT screw around, especially if you have your eyes on a bigger prize--and if you really MUST screw around, maybe it would make sense to, oh, seek out a discreet pro who will keep her mouth shut and not get pregnant?

BTW, I'm not so sure that the American public is anywhere near as prudish as the "liberal elites" make them out to be (or the "conservative elites" for that matter). They'd already rejected Edwards a couple of times before any of this came out, and I'll bet you money that many will say it humanizes Edwards. The thing is, I think much of the public is pretty pragmatic. If they thought Edwards had done or could do anything for them personally, they'd be a lot more forgiving (think of how Bill Clinton was forgiven).