This post reminds me of the Trolley Square shootings when some people were determined to use the fact that the shooter was Bosnian (not even a practicing Muslim as far as I know) as a general ethnic indictment. I don’t think the problem here has any particular tie to being Palestinian; it’s the deliberate over reliance on the welfare system.
To tell you the truth, it reminds me of the complaints from more secular Israelis abut the the various religious groups who refused to do any work other than studying Torah while having large numbers of children who would be supported by the Israeli state. Nowadays the Orthodox are more engaged in society (thank God), but it was the source of a fair amount of tension for a long time.
I haven’t been following your blogging on this issue very closely, and I am curious what your preferred solution to the problem is? As I see it there are pretty much three ways to handle it: deal with the fact that some people are going to leech off the system, implement Chinese style population control measures (i.e. forced abortions/sterilizations), or have a “you’re on your own point” after some number of ids (possibly zero) where the state is not going to to help you take care of any extra offspring you have and if you happen to be one of Octomom’s brood it sucks to be you.
Of the three I think the first is the least morally objectionable, but it’s still a bitter little pill to swallow.
[FFG: YOU’RE MIGHTILY MISINFORMED. TALOVIC WAS, INDEED, A PRACTICING MUSLIM WHO WAS ENRAGED ABOUT DEAD RELATIVES IN THE MUSLIM WAR ON CHRISTIANS IN BOSNIA (ACCORDING TO HIS OWN RELATIVES). A RELATIVE OF HIS SENT ANTHRAX TO CONNECTICUT’S GOVERNOR, WITH A NOTE ABOUT ALLAH AND AGAINST ISRAEL. HE DID ATTEND A MOSQUE THAT WAS RIGHT NEAR HIS HOME. ORTHODOX JEWS WHO HAVE MULTIPLE KIDS ARE MARRIED. THEY ARE NOT SINGLE MOTHERS AND THESE ARE THEIR KIDS–NOT THE RESULT OF A RIDICULOUS IMPLANTATION OF A WHOLE COLONY. MOST OF THEM ARE NOT ON THE PUBLIC DOLE, AND I CHALLENGE YOU TO FIND ME ONE WHO HAD EIGHT KIDS AT THE SAME TIME WHO HAD TO BE IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT FOR MONTHS AT THE COST OF OVER A MILLION DOLLARS TO TAXPAYERS. DS]

FeynmanFanGirl on March 25, 2009 at 12:34 pm

I can think of an additional solution: Make the ethically-challenged fertility doctor who perpetrated this farce take responsibility for it. He chose to implant 8 embryos. He chose to implant them in an unmarried, unemployed woman with no means of support. Let him take responsibility for his bad choices.

Kalifornia Kafir on March 25, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Actually this case points out the absurdity of the Great Society that has been foisted on Americans ever since LBJ.
Why should taxpayers have to support the offspring of irresponsible people for what ever reason decide to spread their legs then expect the rest of us to pay for it.
When I was growing up and an unmarried girl got pregnant they had basically two choices;put the child up for adoption or raise it yourself with you own funds.
You could not run down to the state welfare office and expect the taxpayers to pay for your decision by lavishing state aid, medical care, and public housing so you move out of your parents house.
I think it is high time to go back to the good old days when people had to live with their choices good or bad.
I say the state should collect for the health care and attach her income.

ScottyDog on March 25, 2009 at 1:43 pm

DS: Talovic was indeed upset about the genocide he was witness too, but I have never seen anything suggesting that this rage extended to Christianity in general. Most of the stuff I’ve read relating his experience in the (American stopped) genocide to the shooting focused on the long term psychological scars from being exposed to that level of violence as a child. I admit to not hearing about the relative, but that’s still not him.
As for the Orthodox Jews in Israel… They are married. That is great. I do prefer it as a general principal when children are raised in married households. But her being a single mother was not the issue you raised. The issue was her reliance on state support to raise her children, and in this way these Orthodox households differ only in degree, not kind. You see Orthodox families in Israel getting near 20 children (being fruitful and multiplying being the first commandment in the Bible) which puts them on a scale with this woman’s 16, not to mention that it was an entire culture, not one (likely mentally disturbed) woman.
Kalifornia Kafir (Kareful not to add another K!): A VERY fair point and the doctor’s continued administration of IVF techniques at all after six kids and with no real income raises serious questions about his medical ethics. But it still leaves the question of those who mooch off the welfare system the all natural way.
ScottyDog: I agree that we need personal accountability, but the problem is doing that in a way that does not ruin the children’s lives just because their mother happens to be crazy. If we launch them into the world of foster care they pay for her mistakes, not her. And then she might get empty nest syndrome and decide she needs some more…
I confess to being substantially left of this blog. I think we as a society have both an obligation and a necessity to give people the tools they need to be competitive in the modern economy. Even if their mother tests the limits of our goodwill.

FeynmanFanGirl on March 25, 2009 at 2:07 pm

My main issue was not her single status, but the fact that taxpayers would have to support her. if she was self suffucient, I would be annoyed, but not as annoyed, because it is obvious that she is not a well person, who should not have so many kids.

mindy1 on March 25, 2009 at 2:40 pm