Sure that book will come out, Amy. They'll just give it a new title:
From zero to bimbo in 16 years.

It will sell by the truckload. After all, Lynne Spears' strategy has worked twice.

Of course the book will sell. Springer has that many viewers. Howard has that many listeners. And the whole pedo community will be looking for pictures of the delectable, bulging teen. Watch for the stalkers. Some of them carry cameras and like to be called something else, like "papparazzi" - Italian for "leech", I think.

I've been telling people to shut up about Paris for a long time. Maybe now people will see that by comparison, she's a major breadwinner.

Clearly, you can take the slack-jawed-yokel out of the Lou-siana trailer park, but you can't take the 'trailer park' out off the slack-jawed-yokel.

This story calls to mind this fabulous blog post: http://tinyurl.com/348vvw

Try to remember how incredibly big a celebrity Britney Spears got to be, and how intensely fascinated a young generation was with her. (I was old enough to scratch my head and wonder why my Titanic-loving nieces were so impressed.) It would be neat to think that all those music-video watching eyeballs had a keen view into the human soul and were actually responding to a spiritual singularity, if not an actual talent.

Apparently not. These sisters are reproducing with the tremendous urgency you expect from a typically impoverished (southern) family, where harsh life and dicey bonding seem to dial the gonads into now-or-never mode.

It's disheartening to think that that's the spirit that all her fans could relate to, an oblivious, incompetent, baby-making throb. Otherwise, maybe her fame was was all about getting the right production team and record company, etc. Showbiz is evil. There was an interesting set of Australian newspaper articles about how the industry made it happen for her a few months ago, I'll look up the links after work.

"These sisters are reproducing with the tremendous urgency you expect from a typically impoverished (southern) family, where harsh life and dicey bonding seem to dial the gonads into now-or-never mode."

Jesus, Crid.

Why don't you just say what you mean -"class will out"?

It sounds as though you're saying showbiz is evil because it gives the lower orders a fleeting, false glamor!

Late for work, but you're being a ninny again, Tressider. For 2008 it would be really great if you could get out of the habit of translating what people say ("just say what you mean"). Everyone had the same opportunity to consider the passage you're describing, and you're not wearing a secret decoder ring.

> It sounds as though you're
> saying

Reread.

> it gives the lower orders a
> fleeting, false glamor!

That too. But mostly it takes unremarkable carbon-units like the Spears sisters and pumps wealth through them like coffee through a filter. When the process is over, everybody else is quenched, and what you got is left is this soggy, stinky thang that's going straight to the landfill. See also, the Northern Indiana Jacksons (Hello, Tito!).

It sounds as though you're saying showbiz is evil because it gives the lower orders a fleeting, false glamor!

Wellisn't it? o_O

Also, once you're awake enough to read it, "Knockelodeon" is funny. Now lets all go to work

Delayed while she tries to figure out how to spin it. What I can't fathom is that anyone at all would be interested in this book in the first place. But to each their own.

Oh and look here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22332359/

Seems that Jamie Lynn timed her pregnancy so she could "rain on" Ashlee Simpson's parade!! Oh, the irony! Boo freakin' hoo! o_O

"For 2008 it would be really great if you could get out of the habit of translating what people say ("just say what you mean")."

In this case, Crid, I was calling you on snobbery dressed up as social insight.

(One catches it the whole time in the UK; it's generally less obvious in the USA).

Otherwise, maybe her fame was was all about getting the right production team and record company, etc.

I think so. There are talented kids in every high school drama class. Why do some make it and not others? See directly above.

Loved that blog link, too. My first thought was the song, "Talk to your children about the animals" (not quite right, but sort of how I think it goes).

Loved the coffee filter analogy... gotta remember that one.

And I was going to say something about taking the white girl out of the trash, but you can't get the white trash out of the girl, but Snoop beat me to it.

...Publishers' Weekly described the book as "Lynne Spears's personal story of raising high-profile children...

Try wide-profile children.

I'm sure she'll spin it that she raised such a good girl that instead of just aborting the baby before anyone knew about it, she went ahead and raised the poor thing.

Moreta,

I'm sure you're absolutely on the money.

And any publisher would be insane not to be right behind her, furiously spinning the "My Baby's Baby"/"When Life Hands You Lemons..." etc angle.

I heard about this for the first time at at dinner party last night. There was a lot of laughter, plenty of comments about the Spears clan in general, and no shortage of snide comments about white trash, Southerners, and, as Jody put it, "class will out". Sorry if that's snotty, but I can't help but laugh when people live up to their stereotype. Stage mothers whoring out their less-than-talented offspring is the third-oldest story in the book (hell, there's even a musical about it, Gypsy). Likewise, America has no shortage of Christians running afoul of the flesh. (Hell-oooo Ted Haggard!)

I have to wonder if Mama Spears taught her children about birth control. Or did she rely on abstinence and hope for the best--like a book deal about a simple Christian mother who raised two girls gone wild?

Jody, darlin', you're in America now. We don't do snobbery or "class." We taught the world about egalistarianism. The continuing theme of our show biz is the power of a pivotal individual. And that's our topic, is why people are so fascinated with these girls. What's being "outed" is the way souls are crippled by incompetent or interrupted parenting.

Per Crid's comment, evidence: Oprah. To name just one.

I tell people in France this all the time. They're stuck in their "class" in society. A woodcarver's son is probably going to be a woodcarver. And so on.

>> We taught the world about egalistarianism.

>> We don't do snobbery or "class."

Boy, would THOSE be good topics for another day.

"Boy, would THOSE be good topics for another day."

Yay for that, Eric!

And, yay for you too for admitting a spot of snotty amusement, Rebecca!

Americans have so much going for them - which is why I love living here - but boy some people are touchy when you mention class awareness!

(Though Amy is right about the French.)

Talk about lemons and lemonade, it gets even better! Now Nickelodeon is going to do a show about teen pregnancy:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22344532/

Isn't that lovely?

What can I say, Jody? Snotty amusement is my middle name.

"Snotty amusement is my middle name."

Crid thinks my middle name is "snot rocket". (Maybe we're related somehow?)

By berth.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I had hoped that Jamie-Lynne was the non-fucked up one (my kids LOVE Nickelodeon). The idea that Britney & Jamie-Lynne's mother wants to write a book about "Christian Parenting".... mwahahaha! WRITE IT UP SUGARBUNS!!!

Oh yeah, I got Class... C-L-ASS. I'm so mutherfuckin'classy, I stink of it.

What sort of punishment did your parents get for raising you, Amy?

I'm punishment enough.

But, seriously, Frederick, your problem with me is...?

I didn't spawn at 16, I'm a good neighbor, good friend, pay my taxes, give advice for free to loads people whose questions I can never use for my column, and won't sit next to you in a cafe and shout into my cell.

So...what do I do that you think is such a pox on society?

I'm pretty damn pissed that you don't feel it is your job to get me a 25 year old hottie.

Well, there is that!

Then again, it is my duty in life. The problem is, the only way for you to get one may be to rent one by the hour.

...which, in the long run, is cheaper.

> some people are touchy
> when you mention class
> awareness

You are tragically, embarrassingly mistaken about this. The sun having set on their Empire, Brits (and their wannebes) love to imagine they've got title to some lapidary insight about social hierarchy from their international ventures which just happens, for now, to be buried underneath the hulking corpse of their humiliation.

I doubt it. If you've got brains, persistence, balls or any other useful function of will (and maybe nothing else to work with), America is your first choice for a home. Because we just don't care where you came from: Our markets want your voodoo superpowers! And like nowhere else in the world, we'll pay you for them, whether you have friends in government or not.

And pop culture is regnant. We loves us some entertainment. I remember when Trump was new and somewhat mysterious, and nobody knew if he came from an industrial dynasty, or a political family, or bookish people or what. But he quickly and shamelessly involved himself in the cheesiest TV and so forth, and for good reason. A mediocre contestant on "Survivor" enjoys a fame no Astor ever dreamed of. One reason the Diana debacle was so painful to watch was that ancient royalty sat in big-eared befuddlement as a Hollywood-style ingenue stormed the castle.

In a book often mentioned here, Etcoff notes that the greatest beauties seem to average the qualities of the broad cohort, and Britney certainly appealed to average folks as being accessible.

(continued to dodge spamfiltering)

To note that the Spears girls are failing to recognize transient blessings says nothing about their "class." To me it means only that a manipulative and fractured family life can really, really fuck a person up. Here are some of the old articles mentioned earlier. In one of them there's a passage where an attorney eventually gives up Spears as a client, because it's obvious the singer has no idea what the boundaries are between friends and family and employees and vendors.

This isn't about any American fascination with social strata. If anything, we who don't care about these people as performers want to think that the showbiz machine can work to their benefit, and that a troubled person might pull it together in time to exploit rare opportunities. It's sad to see this happen to children... Jackie Coogan and all that.

It seems to me the Spears' clan also suffers from a trait of addictive personalities: the need for a progressively bigger 'fix', in this case media attention.

Britney Spears would ratchet up the outlandish behavior when a crisis would send her in search of a buzz. I'm thinking sister Jamie was looking for a bigger high through sex, pleasing her boyfriend, and getting pregnant. Pregnant women get a lot of attention. Just ask my ex-wife.

But I could be wrong.

THANK you, doombuggy, I fuckin' love that fuckin' song! (But I could be wrong.) o_O

On a lighter note, now it's being bandied about whether or not Jamie Lynn's boyfriend can be charged with statutory rape:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22349906/

ack. o_O

Thanks doombuggy. That video was fucking great! What a hoot! And how refreshing is it to hear someone admit they could be fucking wrong?

Here's Saletan on rethinking the age of sexual consent:

http://www.slate.com/id/2174841/

From the link:

--In Aldridge’s home state of Mississippi, where he reportedly works as a pipe layer...

An apt metaphor for the occasion.

We had a family friend with a daughter in the same situation as J. Spears. The county Attorney brought statutory rape charges against the 19 yr. old boyfriend, but the defense attorney presented the case as two people in love, and the jury didn't convict. (Montana)

Loved the song, Doom!

Crid,

Perhaps you should read more Kipling?

The end-of-Empire agony to which you allude was being chewed over in Britain's tiny sceptered isle a lot longer ago than you seem to think! On the whole, the Brits are over it.

(Remember that hoary old saying about the main difference between the two countries - in the USA 100 years is a very long time. And in the UK, 100 miles is a very long way.)

You're gonna say I'm still pissed off about the "egalitarian" Pilgrims next!

"One reason the Diana debacle was so painful to watch was that ancient royalty sat in big-eared befuddlement as a Hollywood-style ingenue stormed the castle."

It was hardly the first time!

You've heard of Wallis Simpson, Crid?

And - tell me. Which big free apparently classless country currently has the undeserving son in charge by virtue of who his parent was?

Crid - I know you set yourself in spirited opposition to many, many comments I make at Amy's.

But a) it's Christmas.
And b) sometimes I'm not 100% wrong.

(Oh yeah, as I've said many times, I'm not actually British. I was partly raised and educated there but I hail from a very distant spot.)

Doombuggy,
That was BRILLIANT!!!

Crid,

I also find it useful to compare and contrast these two comments from you:

"If you've got brains, persistence, balls or any other useful function of will (and maybe nothing else to work with), America is your first choice for a home. Because we just don't care where you came from..."

"These sisters are reproducing with the tremendous urgency you expect from a typically impoverished (southern) family, where harsh life and dicey bonding seem to dial the gonads into now-or-never mode."

Sure, we can - and should -all praise Oprah as an emblem of the American dream. (Maggie Thatcher, the "provincial grocer's daughter" was never such a media friendly self-invention - though she too persisted over obvious odds).

But look at the causes you immediately cite when the Spears sisters fall flat on their fetching little faces!

> a lot longer ago than
> you seem to think!

Nobody said it was a new problem...

> On the whole, the Brits
> are over it.

...Only that it was now happening to you.

> 100 miles is a very
> long way.)

?

> "egalitarian" Pilgrims

? ?

(PS- Thanks for not mocking Thursday's work-distracted spelling)

> It was hardly the first
> time! You've heard of
> Wallis Simpson

See above.

> Which big free apparently
> classless country currently
> has the undeserving son in
> charge

It's ironic when people who'd claim to be savvy about consumer manipulation confuse brand name awareness with primogeniture. It would be better if our media weren't choked with bullshit about 'political dynasties' and 'wholly-owned subsidiaries.' But even with a familiar name, Dubya had to get 50 million people (plus or minus[!]) to sign off on his inauguration the first time, and 62 million the next time. If the office had been Dad's to confer, he'd have kept it for his own second term.

Furthermore, those voters didn't say he "deserved" anything, nor that he'd be "in charge." He's hired help for a bunch of chores we all want executed. Describing the gig as a candy-laden sinecure perhaps betrays the more primitive political arrangements of your homelands.

> partly raised and
> educated there

You wear it on your sleeve, and people notice.

> I also find it useful
> to compare and contrast

Then you should do so... If there's an inconsistency in there, we should be told! The difficulties faced by people down there aren't just stereotypes. You're welcome to believe that people are born into confining strata of achievement and failure from which they're unlikely to migrate. I prefer to think that improved family performance and disciplined individuals can overwhelm other social patterns, especially in the United States. It hurts my feelings when it doesn't.

Again, we're talking about bubblegum singers. Coming from the unwashed masses is a big part of what makes a Spears-type person alluring. ("How dare you shake those street-slut thighs at me, you squealing little wench...") To whatever extent these girls come from an underclass, we're so much more saddened for their failures.

> a) it's Christmas.

And your gift is that...

> b) sometimes I'm not
> 100% wrong.

...this time, you indisputably are. Thanks, it was just what I wanted! Enjoy your holiday in the Empire state, 'k?

"You're welcome to believe that people are born into confining strata of achievement and failure from which they're unlikely to migrate."

Blessings - that's pure you!.

Handsomely allowing a commenter an absurd belief never even sarcastically voiced by anyone but Crid!

"Enjoy your holiday in the Empire state, 'k?"

I'm actually going to France (Xmas family reunion), then over to Venice (to flee the reunion), this holiday, Crid.

But that was such a sweet comment.

Back atcha, with jingle bells on!

> never even sarcastically voiced

vs.

> you mean -"class will out"?

If you see Sarkozy out jogging, thank him for his efforts to modernize French thinking. It's gotta be tough to do that in a former kingdom.

In looking for sites related to net hosting and specifically comparison hosting linux prepare net, your internet site came up. You're a really smart person!

Charlie charlie charlie, the co-operate agent. We do not see you actually as one among us so disappear and have a pleasant happy everyday living my fellow being.