I know that. It was merely a facetious joke about how this is the sort of situation that would once have inspired debate and comment from the party, but now it's focused only on what women should do with their bodies.

Okay, well, I still think she should have gotten help for her son instead of jail time.

Remember when school choice was a huge part of the Republican platform, and they were trying to pass laws that would allow parents to give their kids better educations? Why don't you go back to THAT, Republicans, instead of rummaging around inside women's bodies? Then maybe I could take you seriously again.

Ugh. It's incredible that you managed to deal with that, and it sucks that you had to.

I used to know of a Sears house still standing in Missouri, too. (High-five Missouri girls! I do miss that state.)

That's what I thought. There are places where you can get a nice house with three or four times the square footage for that price. And if you are in an area where you can secure land to put that house on, you're probably in an area where you can just buy one of those.

I remember those!

You're not supposed to have books. Books are not minimalist. ;-)

Yeah, that really bugs me. I was horribly upset both times I discovered I was having girls; I cried for days. But I still *wanted my babies,* and I was still determined that they would never feel anything but valued.

And that was common at the time, and her mother wanted and approved of the match and so did she, and all of the contemporary evidence points to them not consummating the marriage for at least several years if ever (there's a very strong theory that they never actually did; keep in mind that she never even was pregnant…

Yeah, food early in the morning tends to give me what my husband and I delicately refer to as "tummy troubles." It's just not enjoyable.

I am so sorry for your loss. And your comment made me get teary-eyed.

Oh, there's no doubt that he loved her very much. I don't know about reciprocation, but when the Eller scandal broke out—evidence he may not have been entirely faithful, which lends credence to the "never consummated" theory given his obvious devotion to her elsewhere—she was devastated. (It was Eller or Ellert, I…

Am I the only one for whom the thought of eating before noon is just gross? I can't work up the enthusiasm to eat anything in the morning, much less something heavy or substantial.

Yes. That's it exactly!

Ugh. Now they have to mess with my Poe?

The first thing I thought of was Elizabeth Peters's THE MURDERS OF RICHARD III.

Do you know the circumstances of that marriage?

The blog in question is refusing to approve any comments which disagree.

yeah, I notice her outrage focuses solely on people who want boys, and not a word about people who want girls and are upset to learn they're having boys. I've known a few of those women, and felt just as sympathetic toward them as I do those of us who hoped for boys and got girls.