Get her to the church on time

McCain's VP candidate, Sarah Palin, assures us that her 17 year old pregnant daughter will marry the father of her baby and raise the child. Oh my, we are back on the wild west frontier here, aren't we, when women worked hard to produce children and raise them, because that's what we did then, whether we liked it or not. Or, a woman could be a spinster. Or a prostitute. Choices, all.

But what if, now take a moment to consider this, what if the father of that child does not want to marry the daughter of potential next Vice President of the US and raise the child? Yikes. What does a mother do? Or a religious right wing?

We do not know who this uncondomed young man is, but we do know he is in quite a pickle. We know he did not take responsibility for any birth control and that he is capable of fathering a child. Oh no, what if he needs his parents' consent to marry (he will if he is under 18 in Alaska) and they refuse because they are Democrats or they think he is too young? Or maybe this is his ticket to the big time, to Washington, to the world as a stage. Be careful with that one, young man. While sex with the potential VP's daughter may bring you up, so to speak, sex of all kinds has generally brought down a lot of men in this country.

So, if he refuses or isn't allowed to marry the pregnant Palin, what happens to the conservative supportive embrace of this painful family situation? Conservatives like to assign blame (who doesn't), so we must speculate on where the blame will be aimed. Will it be blamed on "God's will"? Oh, tough one. No, it might be blamed on the "liberal" press, or perhaps the insidious workings of venial spirits, anathema to the non-thinking religious right. It could be blamed on the lad's parents wanting to protect him from the spotlight and a ruined life -- could the kid ever go to college and work and support his wife and child? Oops, forgot this is Alaska, he could be a fisherman and not need college, no matter if he wants to go. What to do, what to do?

So he marries the girl and makes things "right." Pun intended. My suggestion: Get married ASAP (hey, the kid will calculate his/her birth date against the parent's marriage date), have the kid, grow up, change, and separate after either the mother-in-law's term of whatever office, governor or VP, is over and get on with your life before it is too late. Or not. Might work out despite the fact that your life was determined before you could grow a full beard. Good luck to you.

So this still leaves us with that religious right issue hanging out there. It seems it is pleased to think the kids will marry and have the baby. Whose life is it, anyway?