Former POW Jessica Lynch expecting baby

AP/seattlepi.com ^ | August 24, 2006 | AP

[Toby06]

I just hope she does well in her future career as a teacher, which is what I believe she wanted to become....

Yeah that.

[HitmanLV]

Shoshana Johnson, a real American Hero. Yo Joe!!!!

Look her up.

[Aquinasfan]

On a side note I look in our local paper at all the baby announcements just to see how many of the parents both have the same name. It use to be no one would ever announce unless they were married, now at least 80% have different last names.

That's awful. As marriage goes, so goes society.

[HairOfTheDog]

Agreed. And it bugs me to no end. Being mean is not a political position, it's a personality defect.

[proud_yank]

I don't either, but I thought that was pretty bad too.

I remember my Dad got pretty fired up when Dan Rather, or some other loon in the press, kept cutting off Al Sharpton to let Effin speak during the Rat primary debates.

Conservatives can boost their credibility a lot by calling things fairly, which they usually do.

Whereas liberals tend to show their tolerance by calling you a 'bigot', when you don't think that ethnic minorities should get handouts or preferential treatment simply because they're an ethnic minority.

[WV Mountain Mama]

I think that a couple of reasons Shoshana didn't get as much publicity are that 1. She was one of 7 or so others. 2. The Army has forbid them from talking about their captivity at all with anyone. The Army was/is investigating reports of pow abuse with their group. 3. It is hard to keep the spotlight on people who are not allowed to talk about what they went through, which is where the story is.

I saw them (the group) on a couple of shows and one soldier did start to talk a bit about their capitivy horrors and I believe that Shoshana told him to stop talking about it with the cameras rolling.

[HitmanLV]

Well, there's a time to be mean, but it's almost never when you want to convince someone you are right.

Being mean to people who you want to be on your side of the argument makes no sense. Making people who want to win over feel bad also doesn't make much sense.

[HairOfTheDog]

I almost kept my name when I married. At 35 it felt really weird to change it.

[Xenalyte]

Too bad they don't marry and legitimize that child.

[doug from upland]

Okay. Congratulations. Now, get married.

[ordinaryguy]

But why does she (still) have a "publicist"?

I think she does motivational speaking. A publicist would be useful in that line of work.

[Xenalyte]

Not long ago, another FReeper told me I was being judgemental and hateful when referring to an illegitimate child as a bastard.

My argument - that any dictionary defines "bastard" as a child whose parents were not married at the time of its birth - was given no weight, and I was told that "it's mean to label the baby because he didn't do anything."

Well, you know what? Shame is a powerful motivating force, and if more women were greeted with humiliation, perhaps they'd want to shelter their babies from it, and they wouldn't HAVE the babies until they were married and no shame accrued.

[HairOfTheDog]

If getting married is the right thing to do, they will. It certainly isn't something one should do simply because a bunch of busybodies with hollow advice think they should. It's their commitment, not yours.

[JackDanielsOldNo7]

hasn't worked out real well so far.

[rudabaga]

Being mean to people who you want to be on your side of the argument makes no sense. Making people who want to win over feel bad also doesn't make much sense.

yeah, what he said.

[HitmanLV]

That's true, but she was the only woman in that group (I am pretty sure) which draws at least some attention to her situation.

And I saw some of the interviews also and you are correct, I recall Shoshana saying that, too.

Still, I think there is a tacit bigotry going on here. The government made the Lynch story more of a story, and I think at least some of that was because she was young, cute, photogenic, and white. The dominant media culture bought into that and ran with it. America made her a star for a while.

America had much less interest in making Shoshana, and her fellow prisoners, stars too. It sucks, it's marketing.

Marketing sucks.

[Xenalyte]

I'm one of the tactless ones.

I do support the troops, of which she's not one anymore, so I believe it's time for her to lead a proper civilian life, and that includes marrying before you get knocked up.

[DUMBGRUNT]

A marching song, the DI would call it to the cadence.
Almost as popular as "Please Mr. Nixon drop the bomb, 'cause I don't to go to Viet Nam"...
The wording seemed to vary from one post to another. This one is close to my recollection.


The Prettiest Girl
The prettiest girl (The prettiest girl)
I ever saw (I ever saw)
was sipping bourbon (was sipping bourbon)
through a straw (Through a straw)
The prettiest girl (The prettiest girl
I ever saw (I ever saw)
was sipping bourbon .... through a straw.
the next verses follow the above format

I walked right up
I sat right down
I ordered up
another round.
I placed my hand
upon her knee
she said young man
your teasing me.
I placed my hand
upon her thigh
she said young man
that's way too high.
I picked her up
I laid her down
her long blond hair
lay all around.
The wedding was
a formal one
her daddy had
a white shotgun.
And now I've got
a mother-in-law
and 14 kids
who call me pa.

[rudabaga]

Well, you know what? Shame is a powerful motivating force, and if more women were greeted with humiliation, perhaps they'd want to shelter their babies from it, and they wouldn't HAVE the babies until they were married and no shame accrued.

Well at least you're honest about wanting to punish the children...

[WV Mountain Mama]

I don't think she is in elementary education anymore. She took a couple of classes and said it was not for her.