They are still earning the money at least. If they are comfortable with making money that way, let them have at it. Though, I was under the impression that they had straightened out their affairs before they began to have children, and continued to be responsible as they did. He is a Senator after all.
No. I was saying Catholics have been against any form of birth control forever. Not because of any moral complications, but because it increases their numbers. A reproductive race if you will. Same concept here. If we can’t beat you, we will out-breed you.
Cite?
Cite?
And it’s not ‘the rhythm method’. It’s Natural Family Planning, of Fertility Awareness Method, which is a pretty reliable way of preventing pregnancy. Calling WhyNot. WhyNot, please pick up.
I’m sure they’ll get tired after a while, and the attempt to indoctrinate them will peter out. No one person can take care of 12 children, it’s a team effort. The older they get, the more they’ll resent having to take care of the younger ones instead of having free time to themselves.
Back when I was selling RVs I had one of these guys come in to look at a used van we had sitting on the lot, one of those huge buggers that can lug around 14 people. When we went for a test drive, the radio was on, which he promptly turned off, muttering something about ‘godless’ music. I thought ‘oookay, I really need to dust off my resume’. In the course of making polite conversation, the information was offered that he needed to trade in his 12-passenger van for a larger one because he had 10 kids and his wife was now pregnant with twins, praisethelord. I practically herniated myself in the effort to hold back at least five retorts that would have lost me the sale and possibly my job.
Cite?
Besides, “rhythm method” sounds cooler and has more possibilities!
ACTRESS 1: I was trained in The Method.
ACTRESS 2: That’s nice, but I were you I’d still take the pill.
The statistics usually cited say that NFP has a 1-9% failure rate. It’s highly dependent on willingness to pay stringent attention to ovulation “symptoms.”
But the rhythm method and NFP are two completely different things. The rhythm method is nowhere near as effective, and was used in the days before people understood fertility well.
How so? The Wikipedia article on NFP describes what I’ve always understood “rhythm method” to mean – i.e., “have sex only during those days of the month when the woman is least fertile.” (“Sex” meaning vag-pen coitus only, other forms of “sex” being right out if you’re Catholic and take it seriously, and I only wish I were making that up. For that matter, I wish I were making up the whole thing. :rolleyes: )
The idea of both is that you only have sex on the days you are fertile. The difference is how those days are determined. What is typically referred to as the “rhythm method” is counting days from the first day of your period, and that’s all. VERY unreliable…wouldn’t recommend it. You also have to abstain a lot longer, because it’s too imprecise.
NFP involves a much more scientific method of taking temperature, observing cervical mucus viscosity changes, etc. Works a lot better, although it does take a little more involvement than the old method.
I wish you were making up how disdainful you are of other peoples’ religious beliefs. :rolleyes:
I don’t really consider whoring your kids out for television specials to be a very good form of support, but you’re right, they are still earning money that way. However, TLC/Discovery has pretty much paid for their house outright to be finished by contractors. They didn’t earn the money from TLC and then sink it back into the house, TLC outright paid for it.
E.
I know that this is the Pit, but it is also still the Straight Dope and this assertion is just dumb.
Catholic opposition to birth control (or non-procreative sex) is very definitely a moral stance–even if perceived as utterly odd. It originated hundreds of years ago, long before “family planning” was an option even for the rich, much less the whole of humanity.
Take all the shots at the Catholic position being wrong (based on whatever criteria you enjoy), but don’t make silly claims that it has anything to do with “a reproductive race.”
So what if TLC paid for the house? They didn’t steal the money…they didn’t ask the public to pay for it…they found a way to basically barter for it. Good for them.
Because they’ve gone on and on about how they’ve made good financial decisions and refuse to be in debt to anyone, and were building the house on their own with their own labor and materials - it was a big part of one of their ‘specials’. I find it hypocritical.
E.
I don’t understand why. They may have made good financial decisions…I have no idea. They did build the house on their own, from what I understand…they did a lot of the work, and got TLC to pay for the materials, by starring in these shows. They did what they could themselves, and earned what they couldn’t. Sounds like they DIDN’T go into debt to build this house. Explain the hypocracy?
I don’t see it as hypocrisy, or even as anything particularly bad, but you must admit there’s something odd about going on TV and talking about the excellent financial decisions you made to get what you have when if you weren’t on TV you wouldn’t have those things. It gives the impression that the show is there to just report on them; when in fact it’s a vital contribution to their lives.
But, like I said, nothing wrong with that. Going on TV is clearly a good choice, since they’ve been paid for it. It just smells a bit, to me… gives off the wrong impression.
I see your point, but it’s not like they decided to build this big house, couldn’t pay for it, and went on the show to do so. They made a couple of these shows, and decided to use it as a way to get a bigger house. If TLC hadn’t come around, they’d still be living in their old house. I don’t see a bad financial decision here. Just because you couldn’t afford to build a huge house, it doesn’t mean you made bad financial decisions.
True, and I agree it’s a good financial decision.
And it just kinda… smells a bit. It gives off the idea of “Hey, look at us, look how good we have it; believe what we believe, and you too can have it this good!”. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t any intent to try and suggest to others that they should follow the same path. Problem is, other’s can’t have it as good as them; there’s a limit to the amount of family-with-a-lot-of-kid TV shows that’ll be produced.
You’re saying that the Catholic Church made a point of being against birth control before it was an option? I may be able to see what you mean, but before I start, could you expand on that point so I know I’m not attacking a strawman?
I suppose “quiverfull” comes from the idea of having a quiver full of arrows? And I suppose the analogy is that you are creating a quiver full of arrows to use to fight the good fight. So you are manufacturing humans (your children) as a weapon to pursue your personal agenda. That’s, errr, nice. I guess.