Very sure-footed piece from THE NATION on Octomom:

[saltpoint]

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/anotherthing/408570/this_week_s_woman_we_love_to_hate?rel=hpbox

Excerpt:

- - -

Basically she's a one-off, a mentally disturbed individual with excellent manipulation skills. She's the maternal equivalent of a cat collector.

- - -

[Sydnie]

1. I said that when I first heard about her

she is a child hoarder.

[saltpoint]

2. Yes. A case could be made.

[BlooInBloo]

3. A very good article....

Money 'graf:

I've received a number of e mails urging me to defend Suleman on feminist grounds. But really, there is nothing feminist about borrowing all this trouble. We're supposed to be reasonable creatures, remember? Talk about giving single mothers by choice a bad name! Suleman seems to have combined an extraordinary degree of planning for conception with no realistic planning for childraising. If the Suleman house was a daycare center it would be illegal. Even if all the octuplets are healthy, a big assumption, the fact that three of her six older kids are receiving disability payments from the state of California -- one is autistic, the others have undisclosed problems -- underscores how hard it will be to give all these kids the attention they need. Just helping an autistic child to thrive is a huge amount of work all by itself.

[rvablue]

14. FYI to the author of the piece but the conditions of the other two have been disclosed

by the mother herself.

One is ADHD and the other has a speech delay.

[BlooInBloo]

16. huh?

[rvablue]

21. I was commenting on and adding to this:

" the fact that three of her six older kids are receiving disability payments from the state of California -- one is autistic, the others have undisclosed problems "

Not taking issue, just tacking on some information the author missed.

[MADem]

4. Sure footed!! It's a series of BRUTAL one-liners...all of them TRUE! nt

[saltpoint]

5. LOL. Yes. I didn't mention that the foot in question was Godzilla's.

The author is one of my all-time favs.

[MADem]

6. Well, she had me with "sense of a goldfish!" nt

[saltpoint]

8. Yep. Very likely the editor's office will be flooded with angry

goldfish calls on Monday morning.

[NC_Nurse]

7. America loves a circus.

This week:

Octomom
13 year-old dad
Caylee Anthony's memorial
Jessica Simpson's weight
Another white kid abducted in Florida...they never obsess over kids of color do they? I bet a few of them disappear too.

Has Nancy "Flaming Nostrils of Justice" Grace had a special on Octomom yet? You know it's coming...


:eyes:

[saltpoint]

11. Yes. If She of the Flaming Nostrils does not dedicate a 2-hour special Panel

to the Octomom scenario in California, this observer will be spiritually the less for it.

[LisaL]

18. Nancy Grace is not going to get involved unless

somebody goes missing.

[saltpoint]

19. I think she might begin with the death threats reportedly

made against Octomom and her publicists.

That's Nancy Grace territory, isn't it? -- sensational, unsubstantiated, and lurid?

[TahitiNut]

9. She's a child-abuser, imho.

The objectification of human beings doesn't stop with cheap labor conservatives. Octomom has objectified children to the point of commoditization - a greed for self-centered egoism beyond the bounds of ANY definition of sanity.

[saltpoint]

10. Strongly agree. Many posters here have posted their concern for the

young people in that household.

Not just the new 8 but the prior 6.

There is a profoundly sad set of narratives potentially working its way into their futures.

I hope they can be rescued.

[Bobbieo]

12. This is an American Tragedy!!!

[saltpoint]

13. For the babies, it certainly is. It is also the fruit of Nadya Suleman's

life, which may well have been extemely difficult for her to mangle her face to replicate a famous film stars and to copycat that film star's impulse to have a household full of many children.

The film star, however, likely earns a higher salary than an unemployed master's student.

The tragedy count is not yet complete in this story, sorry to say.

[rvablue]

15. Don't know if you watched the Curry interview, but they talked to the oldest daughter

who already seemed so sad and depressed.

Asked about the babies coming home, she replied, "My mom is going to be really stressed out."

And it wasn't with a tone of sympathy but one of dread.

[saltpoint]

17. I caught excerpts only but didn't hear that part.

That is incredibly sad.

This is not a tale destined to end happily, I'm afraid.

[frogcycle]

20. I had not heard the suggestion before

that we "feed her freeloading self to the woodchipper"

but I guess it is worth considering ...

:)