God Does Not "Plan" Octuplets - People Plan Octuplets

I'm sure everyone already knows about the woman in California who gave birth to octuplets the other day. More power to her, I guess. I'm unsure how anyone even raises 8 children of differing ages but they do and I'm sure these parents will find a way to raise eight children of the same age as well.

There is a mom with similar experience, a reality show TV mom named Kate Gosselin who had twins and then gave birth to sextuplets.

I figured that, regardless of what I think about her and her really strange reality show, she was probably the one to give the best advice until I read this little gem of pro-offered wisdom from the old experienced mother to the new inexperienced one:

"Trust God's plan -- He knows best!"

Huh?

Forgive me for pointing out the obvious but God doesn't plan for a woman to give birth to a litter which would exceed even a six-nippled animal's ability to nurture. I'm pretty sure it was never part of God's Plan for eight children to be the result of one pregnancy. The fact that it's never occured without medical intervention pretty much justifies my opinion.

I don't have a problem with in-virto fertilization. I do have a little more of a problem with large multiples of children being born as a result, though. It's dangeous to both mother and children and I don't much see the point of endangering anyone's life or health unnecessarily.

What I do have a problem with is calling it "God's will" or "God's plan" when (face it now) the reason people take fertility treatments or use in-virto fertilization in the first place is because the woman and her husband are unable to conceive naturally which would be the "God's plan" we're talking about here. Seems to me that He decided "no children at all" not "eight children at once" way back before humankind decided we could, and therefore should, make large amounts of newborn babies the new-fashioned way - in test tubes.

Call it science, call it a medical breakthrough, call it in-vitro, call it "fertility treatments," call it "Thank-God-I'm-Alive-In-The-21st-Century-and-I-Have-Money," call it whatever it really is, but don't call it "God's Plan" because it's not.

God's never planned anything as foolishly dangerous as human octupulets.

There's Something About Snow in DC.......

that makes it impossible for even experienced snow-drivers to navigate the streets. I think it's all the rolling hills - and the lack of preparation like salt and snowplows - or maybe it's just the rarity of it all. Or maybe we just move here and immediately forget what it's like to drive in less than stellar conditions. Whatever it is, it sucks.

It snowed this morning - first time this season. It was a rather pretty snow, as snows go, anyhow. Thick, white, fluffy and dry enough that the wipers took it off the windows of the car. No big deal, right? Barely an inch on the ground when I left the house.

An hour later - and a block and a half down the road - I began to feel quite differently about it. It was no longer pretty, it was a disaster waiting to happen. I was going downhill - no big deal - except the cars in front of me, for as far as the eye could see, weren't moving. Probably because they were trying to get UP the next hill. (I live on the top of a series of hills, up and down, up and down, up and down, all the way to work.) I glanced over at the traffic on the other side of the road and realized that there were only 3 or 4 cars headed the opposite way - and none of them were having any success getting there. In a 20 minute block of time I watched at least 4 cars slide right back down the hill and into a car behind them. Up ahead at the corner I watched a garbage truck slide down into the intersection and really make a mess there. I think I moved about 4 car lengths in 40 minutes. I hate that, can't go forward, can't turn around and go back because you're just stuck wherever you are.

I finally made it to the second light ( 2 blocks away) and the car in front of the car in front of me decided he'd had enough and he turned right, got half way up that hill and slid right back down into the passenger side of the the car in front of me.

At that point (an hour after I'd left home and roughly 2 1/2 blocks from home but with 2 miles left to go to work) I called work again and the good Doctor Young told me that everyone had cancelled for the day and I should go back home.

Easier said than done, of course, because now I have to figure out how to turn around and get back up the hill.

I made a left hand turn from the right hand lane (which didn't matter since everyone had already run into someone else already anyhow) and pulled a quick U-Turn and gunned my way up the hill.....don't stop don't stop don't STOP!!!

I had to avoid three stalled vehicles on my way up but somehow, through sheer determination, I managed to keep moving and not hit anyhow. I meant to stop at the light but skidded right through it. Fortunately I was the only one with enough momentum built up to be moving at that point - one more semi-illegal turn and I was in our parking lot.

Dan had given up waiting for the bus already and he was upstairs waiting for me.

And yes, it's supposed to snow again tonight. This time accompanied by freezing rain and sleet.

I think I'll not even try tomorrow.

Papal Revisions and How Infallible Can THIS Be?

A little Wiki background on the dude that The Pope has seen fit to reinstate.

Williamson is viewed as being at the hardline end of the traditionalist spectrum, though he does not go so far as to espouse sedevacantism. He opposes compromise with the Vatican, accusing it of deceit and of being under "the power of Satan" and judges reconciliation between the Society and the Holy See to be impossible, noting that some SSPX members might refuse to follow the Society even if an agreement were reached. Williamson holds that the SSPX is not schismatic but the body of genuine Catholics that keep the "complete faith".

Williamson holds strong views regarding gender roles and dress. He opposes the wearing of trousers or shorts by women and has urged more manliness in men.

Williamson supports conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of President Kennedy and the collapse of the Twin Towers, denying that the latter were terrorist attacks but were instead staged by the U.S. government.

Williamson has expressed controversial views about Jews. He called Jews "enemies of Christ" and urges their conversion to Catholicism. He claims that Jews and Freemasons have contributed to the "changes and corruption" in the Catholic Church. He has also stated that Jews aim at world dominion[3][44] and believes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be authentic. Williamson has denied that he is antisemitic, stating that he goes against "adversaries of Our Lord Jesus Christ", that not all Jews are such, and that he also attacks other groups such as Communists and Freemasons.

Williamson has been charged with Holocaust denial. He has denied the existence of gas chambers and has claimed that not six million but 200,000 to 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps. Williamson has also praised Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel.

Now that you've got some background above and beyond the oft' mentioned Holocaust denying, what's up with this decision on the part of Pope Benedict XVI, anyhow, and does it make anyone besides myself not only extremely irate but more than a little bit nervous as well?

A Most Incredible Picture

Bird Chasing

Just out of camera range, sitting atop the fireplace mantle is, you guessed it, a very loud and very excited bird. Someone wants her.

Just Who's The Underdog?