Yesterday I found a clip of Dennis Miller going off on Obama. I went to YouTube and have been happily watching tons of Dennis Miller clips, including his appearance on Politically Incorrect. I then stumbled upon Penn Jillette's appearance on the same show. That one just twisted my gut into knots. I wanted to jump through the space-time continuum to argue against the moronic things that Nia Long was saying. They're talking about selling donor eggs from models, which apparently people wanted to buy so they could have beautiful children. (My thoughts: It's a waste of your money, but you have a right to waste your money.) It then became a debate on whether we should interfere at all in the reproductive process or if it's all part of God's plan. And Bill Maher says:
Here's a question then: Why does everyone have to spawn? Why can't the people who can't do that just take a hint?
To which Nia Long nods her head and says, "Right." Thankfully, my buddy Penn Jillette counters, saying that if science can help people, it should.
Do I even have to tell you what it does to my heart to hear someone say that if I can't reproduce, I should "take a hint"?
The debate later turns to making a law that people should not be allowed to get married until they're 26. A law. Seriously. The rationale is that people aren't mature enough to be married before that.
To quote AWTM, "Can I just tell you..."
I met my husband when he had just turned 19, and we got married a few months shy of his 22 birthday. By the time he was 24, he was already leading a platoon of men in combat in Iraq. Not mature enough? Please. He's got more maturity now at 27 than some 40 year olds I know.
The whole show was just a train wreck. I imagine Penn Jillette was just shaking his head after it was over, wondering how he ended up in a room of people who want to regulate who can donate eggs, what factors you can use to determine which eggs you want, how much science you can have in your life, and at what age you can get married. I can't believe he stayed as calm as he did.
Dang, that'll teach me to look for funny clips on YouTube. I'm a bundle of horrified nerves after that show!
Posted by Sarah at June 29, 2008 01:12 PM | TrackBackI watch Dennis all of the time on O'Reilly. I love him. He has such a way with words!
Posted by: Nicole at June 29, 2008 05:43 PMOf course, all the people on that show are promoting their own lifestyle - which they believe everyone should want to emulate.
The day I want to live like Bill Maher is the day God should have a giant gorilla toss me from the top of the Empire State Building. I mean, Maher doesn't even look like he showers.
And your husband was more mature at 19 than Maher is now at however many years past male menopause he is now.
Posted by: airforcewife at June 29, 2008 05:58 PMPersonal opinion only. I think people of that ilk are better off if THEY never reproduce. Good people should have all the help they need. Have you ever heard that the USofA (maybe the world) is getting more conservative because the people who think more of the liberal dogma believe they should not cause anymore overpopulation? Fine with me!
Posted by: Ruth H at June 29, 2008 07:14 PMI fully agree, as a father of seven, one of them a Marine, and a retired soldier, our young grow up not because of appearance, but because of the family they came from. It is about foundation. I also wanted to tell you that Dennis Miller is as nice a man as you would hope is his. I had the pleasure of meeting him twice so far, and each time, he was absoultely a "regular guy".
Roger
Posted by: Roger at June 29, 2008 11:01 PM
I have to say, I do think a lot more people should think before they get married. But I think it would be more of a test-based than age-based thing.
And as for "taking the hint," I agree that science should help people. But I think that you need to be very clear what you sign on for. Every year, when Bobbi McCaughey gets on TV, asking for more "help," and says God wanted her to have 7 babies I'm a little floored. If you are going to take that particular tack, God only wanted her to have her first daughter. She interfered to have the second pregnancy and did not listen to her doctors, ending up with several disabled children.
People can get all the help they want. But they need to be educated. They need to have the resources to care for the outcome without having to go beg on Oprah every year. And I better shut up now before I go on a tangent.
Posted by: Non-Essential Equipment at June 30, 2008 10:51 AMNEE: I see where you're coming from on that one, but there was no mention whatsoever during the clip about being able to financially care for the childen you're having. I mean, this was people who could afford $150,000 donor eggs from models. It was more of a "natural selection" type of argument, that people who can't get pregnant naturally are defective and should take the hint.
Posted by: Sarah at June 30, 2008 03:57 PM