Bailouts. Islands. Octomom. Teenagers. Random Thoughts.

I am thoroughly disgusted by the announcement that the government now owns 60 percent of GM following the company's Monday filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

Instead of getting a car, however, the stockholders (a.k.a. taxpayers) are getting only the car payment - as another 20 Billion dollars in bailout funds is being tossed into the deal.

I'm not a doomsday kind of gal, but never have so much believed that America is headed for an economic crash like none before.

This free printing of nonexistent cash only creates inflation.

My husband has said for years now that he wants to buy an island and set up camp there. I've always laughed; but I'm more ready than ever to stop laughing and start searching with him.

And if the GM bankruptcy wasn't big enough news, many of the internet forums are abuzz with the news that Octomom Nadya Suleman has closed a deal with British Company Eyeworks to begin filming a television reality show based on her life of raising 14 children as a single, unemployed mother.

Leave it to the Brits to snag Octomom. I think American broadcasters knew the risk they could be taking by airing such a show.

On the other hand, though, with all the Jon and Kate drama - and most likely the end of that reality series - Octomom's show just might be hit.

It's like a train wreck. You know it's not going to be good. You know it's going to make you sick to your stomach. But you just can't stop yourself from looking.

One of the biggest complaints as relates to Octomom has been that she will be raising her children on public assistance. Now that she's getting her own reality show, that shouldn't be the case. So all those screaming and stomping their feet on that issue can breathe easier now.

I gotta be honest...I feel sorry for Nadya Suleman. She's apparently not all together. After all, who wants to have 8 sixteen-year-olds in the house at once.

I have one 17 year old and there are days that I'd like to put him out.

The other day my 17 year old son announced that he's considering moving out at 18 - three months before he graduates high school. Not because he doesn't like living here, he just wants freedom.

Okay, I understand that.

So I did the motherly thing and started asking questions.

How are you going to pay rent? He says, "I work." (Uh, yeah, that 10 hours per week job that pays minimum wage?)

Lights, water, electricity? He says, "Mom, I work." (Repeat same thought)

Enough asked. If (and that's a BIG if) he moves out, I give him less than 24 hours.

Oh, and to add the icing on the cake, he's planning on moving out with a friend; a friend who has never been employed and doesn't plan on being any time soon. (That should work out real well.)

Seriously tell me I wasn't that dumb niave at 17. I know I did some silly, immature things - made some bad choices - but I'm pretty sure I was not that clueless.

Sadly my child isn't alone in his naivete. But misery loves company, so in a way I'm happy about that part.

One more reason to move to an island. These ding-a-lings are going to be running this country when I'm an old lady.

And I'm afraid.

Very, very afraid.

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Octomom Nadya Suleman Being Sued

According to The Daily News, child advocate and attorney Gloria Allred has filed a petition in an Orange County, California Court against Octomom Nadya Suleman. Allred claims that Suleman has opted to commercially exploit her children and is asking that the children be appointed a Guardian to make sure the children get their due.

Allred, in collaboration with ex-child star Paul Peterson, also contacted the California Division of Labor Standards and Enforcement asking that they investigate whether any child labor laws have been violated by Suleman.

What's my take on this?

GLORIA ALLRED NEEDS TO LEARN TO MIND HER OWN BUSINESS!!

If a parent, or parents, of multiples exploiting their children is such an important issue to Allred, why hasn't she gone after Jon and Kate Gosselin of hit reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8.

Or how about going after the Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar? They've had 18 children and exploit them weekly on TLC with their show 18 and Counting. AND they force their religious views on their children; making them abide by strict rules. Doesn't that alone just scream ACLU?? (*rolling eyes*)

Why is Gloria Allred so hot to trot for Nadya Suleman? Is it because Suleman had the audacity to turn away Allred's offer of "help"; an offer that required Suleman to do things the way Allred wanted them done?

On that, I say GOOD for Suleman. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has the right to tell anyone how they should raise their children (short of a child being physically abused - and spanking properly does not count, whether you agree with it or not).

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again....I don't agree with what Suleman did. I don't think it was responsible to bring 8 babies into this world at once - single or married. I think you've got to have some kind of mental issue to add even one more to a brood of six that you are already raising, for all intents and purposes, alone. (Yes, I remember Grandma.) And, yes, I do think it's wrong to intentionally bring children into this world that you cannot support financially and expect others to pitch in (read: state and federal aid).

But...I will never agree that it is okay for some holier-than-thou individual such as Allred or Peterson to take it upon themselves to dish out punishment for what they perceive as sins of another individual by suing them over something that too many are doing these days.

If Allred is successful in her plight, get ready because she'll really be changing the face of government as it comes to parents - especially single parents - rights to raise their children; at least those in California. And, of course, it'll spread right out of the land of fruits and flakes to the rest of the country. So watch out Jon and Kate fans - those high-spirited ankle biters won't be able to be exploited any more and TLC will have to find a new show.

One of these days Allred gets going to get her due. I hope it comes in the form of the Octupulets beating the highfalutin crap out of her.

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Pretentiousness About OctoMom Is A Buzz Kill

Don't you just love those who live in glass houses that are brave enough to throw stones? I figure that must take a pretty good sized set of cojones to that - a set that would put most men to shame.

We're seeing a lot of this super sized pretentiousness these days with the story of Nadya Suleman, a.k.a. Octomom.

Suleman made headlines around the world when she gave birth to eight living babies via Cesarean section on January 26, 2009. And along with the headlines came a strong villanization of this single, unemployed, mentally unstable mother of six turned fourteen.

It's not difficult for anyone to understand how the public can look at her and ponder exactly what she was thinking. After all, the woman already had six children and was living with her parents in a 1500 square foot home. Not to mention (again) that she is unemployed and her sole source of income is disability payments on three of her older children (and, according to her, student loans she was receiving while pursuing a degree with hopes to become a family counselor someday).

Then when we heard that she had underwent IVF treatments to have "just one more" to add to her large brood because of her desire to fill a void of being an only child, it's no wonder that folks started questioning her mental stability - which, of course, we learned from numerous sources, including her mother, was somewhat questionable.

Yeah, Yeah, I get all that. So does most everyone else.

But what I don't get is this: why the need for public outcry demanding that her children be removed from her care and placed into foster homes or up for adoption?

This is where I draw the line; where I say stop, shut up and sit down.

First and foremost, have those who screamed this option thought about who this would hurt? This would hurt 14 children, all of whom are fully related siblings, that would undoubtedly have to be split up. We already know their mother claims to feel a void related to childhood, do we really want to risk creating a similar void in these children that they have to fill in their own way when they reach adulthood?

Secondly, since when did it become okay in America to yank children from the parent just because they were considered poor by our standards? So many shout from the rooftops that she is, essentially, homeless and has no job. But, taking into consideration the current economic crisis America faces today wherein thousands have lost their jobs and had their homes foreclosed on, doesn't this apply to other parents? Do we take away those children too?

If the answer is no, then that leaves only one other reason why one would think these children should be removed from her care: bad decision making. That's it in a nutshell. Most cannot comprehend how anyone with good decision making skills could voluntarily undergo IVF to add even one more (much less one that turned into eight) to an already large family by today's standards.

That, in my opinion, is the pretentiousness that is getting on my last freakin' nerve!

Have we not all made bad choices in life? Bad choices that affected our children too? I'll step up to the plate and admit that I have. And I did things voluntarily. And, some would say, I'm not so mental stable at times myself (just ask my husband and children). Not to mention I made a couple of those decisions when I was young, broke, and single.

And I take comfort in knowing that I'm not alone. I can't think of anyone I know who hasn't been guilty of stupid mistakes - mistakes that affected their children as well as them. Do I think our children should be removed? No, of course not and neither would the vast majority of those screaming about removing OctoMom's children. After all, they've done their own stupid things that would place them in this category.

So why these children? Is it because it was a multiplied mistake?

Just because it was a careless decision on a grander scale is no better reason to cast judgment upon Suleman than we should upon our own selves. After all, if you open the door for the government to remove children based on one person's bad decision making, you best be ready for them to start making the decision for all of us. And that's just not another right I'm ready to hand to the government on a silver platter.

Sure, I think Suleman is nuts. I have to wonder what in the !#$% she was thinking even trying for one more. But give me one good reason why these children should be removed from her without using the words unemployed, single, or mental.

Oh, and yeah, you can use the words fourteen, six, eight and/or children...but keep in mind you're venturing into an area of allowing government to control the number of children we have. Before answering, be sure to ask an honest Chinese how they really feel about that.

Lastly, remember this, if you answer pertains to her thoughtlessness to her older children or the new babies by doing what she has done, you're taking a stroll down Bad Decisions Boulevard - be mindful of the broken glass from the homes scattered about.

At this point, I just feel sympathetic for the children. They are truly the innocent but will undoubtedly pay for their mother's mistake. And that breaks my heart.

In the meantime, I'll keep my pretentiousness in check lest I someday screw up (and I will) and wind up on the receiving end of such a vicious and vile reaction.

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