Article

2005-04-26 -Short Attention Span Theater-

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Posted by Steve 2005-04-26 8:23:03 AM|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Nuttin' says luvin' like marryin' your cousin!

Posted by raptor 2005-04-26 9:37:16 AM|| 2005-04-26 9:37:16 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 A friend went to school in Central Pennsylvania, an area he referred to as Pennsyltucky. The state motto is "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania." To that my friend added " . . . and he's married to his cousin."

Posted by Tibor 2005-04-26 9:48:04 AM|| 2005-04-26 9:48:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 (sniff) I love happy endings.

Posted by half 2005-04-26 10:09:13 AM|| 2005-04-26 10:09:13 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 And don't ask her about eating groundhog.

Okay. I won't.
Teeth count? Mullet check?

Posted by tu3031 2005-04-26 10:12:32 AM|| 2005-04-26 10:12:32 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Sean Penn and Meg Ryan?. This has Billy Bob Thornton and Juliette Lewis written all over it.

Posted by BH 2005-04-26 10:20:49 AM|| 2005-04-26 10:20:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Oh, for Chrissake...

It's early days yet, but they seem happy. Give 'em a break. (Just saw the picture. Dang. He looks like my brother-in-law.)

C.U.D.D.L.E.
I researched this site for a post on gay marriage I was writing once, but I don't think I actually wrote about it (too lazy to look). Upshot is, a large number of states allow cousin marriage. Are cousin marriages contracted in states that allow it valid in states that don't (obviously so, in this case)? If so, how can gay marriages be different? You have to think of these things.

Also while doing that research, I turned up an article which I think was in the Guardian, but which now can be found here (very bottom of the page) which asserts:

It is perhaps appropriate to note that the only countries in which first cousin marriages are banned are 30 of the 50 U.S. states, plus PR China and the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea.

Fascist dictatorships, all. Guess he told us. (Note that he's being asked whether relative marriages in other parts of the world are coerced, as when a 58-year-old man marries his 18-year-old niece. His conclusion: nope, nope, dudn't happen.)

Posted by Angie Schultz 2005-04-26 10:21:01 AM|| [http://darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2005-04-26 10:21:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 While first cousin marriage may not be illegal in other places they are sure as hell frowned upon. They are popularly believed to result in idiot or deformed children. There is some truth to this if you live in a relatively (genetically) homogenous population eg on an island somewhere, where many people share the same recessive traits. In a heterogenous population like most of the USA its much less of a problem (but it's still a significant statistical risk).

Posted by phil_b 2005-04-26 10:40:40 AM|| 2005-04-26 10:40:40 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Saudi Intermarriages Have Genetic Costs
rates of some metabolic diseases may be as much as 20 times higher among Saudi Arabia's 14 million people than they are in populations where the gene pool is more widely mixed.

the rate of marriages between first cousins, second cousins and other relatives in the Persian Gulf region, estimated at more than 55 percent in Saudi Arabia

Posted by ed 2005-04-26 10:52:04 AM|| 2005-04-26 10:52:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 There has actually been a great deal of research into the problem. I wonder if blind, idiotic hate is an inbred thing? Oh, gaze upon this and despair all you of the house of Saud and Bughti!

Posted by Tkat 2005-04-26 11:14:29 AM|| 2005-04-26 11:14:29 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 We have similar issues with inbreeding in some rural Alaska villages. Lots of medical problems, though with increased travel, the gene pool is expanding.

Posted by Alaska Paul 2005-04-26 11:54:23 AM|| 2005-04-26 11:54:23 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Every time I hear a Blue Grass tune It makes me wish for a cold beer and a first cousin.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2005-04-26 12:08:26 PM|| 2005-04-26 12:08:26 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 phil_b: There is some truth to this if you live in a relatively (genetically) homogenous population eg on an island somewhere, where many people share the same recessive traits. In a heterogenous population like most of the USA its much less of a problem (but it's still a significant statistical risk).

My feeling is that the risk is low. Note that their last names are Amrhein and Andrews - implying that their fathers were not of the same national origin. For comparison, in Arab societies, inbreeding has been going on for dozens of generations, with not even a smidgen of foreign blood mixed in.

Posted by Zhang Fei 2005-04-26 3:28:38 PM|| [http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-04-26 3:28:38 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 "whut could I say? She has worms and I love to fish...."

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-26 3:45:51 PM|| 2005-04-26 3:45:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Frank - Beverage Alert!

Aw shit! Windex!

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 4:05:34 PM|| 2005-04-26 4:05:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 is this man paralyzed? If not how is he getting disability because he is stupid but they let him hjave a firearm too hunt?

Posted by Thraing Hupoluper1864 2005-04-26 4:26:32 PM|| 2005-04-26 4:26:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 ZF - It's possible her name is her ex's. She was married before (presumably to a non-relative).

Posted by Desert Blondie 2005-04-26 4:27:13 PM|| [http://azjetsetchick.blogspot.com] 2005-04-26 4:27:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 I seriously dated a gal from Wakulla county who had maternal and fraternal Uncles with the same last name. I didn't really care at the time, but I can see how you Yankee folks might look at it.

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-26 4:45:15 PM|| 2005-04-26 4:45:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 So you could, um, run faster, Ship?

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 4:46:36 PM|| 2005-04-26 4:46:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Works at Walmart and married to your cousin? Sounds like a normal marriage for that area. Cept that man is on disablity and she shouldn't try to marry up like that. Maybe all the other cousins was spoken fer.

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2005-04-26 5:07:35 PM|| 2005-04-26 5:07:35 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 Now I've got earworms!

Tom Lehrer, "Oedipus Rex": . . . Yes he loved his mother like no other/His daughter was his sister and his son was his brother. . . .

Steely Dan, "Cousin Dupree": . . . Honey how you've grown/Like a rose/Well we used to play when we were three/How about a kiss for your cousin Dupree. . .

Posted by Mike 2005-04-26 5:18:37 PM|| 2005-04-26 5:18:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 It was rejection city PD.... for me. Still I'ma allowed in all the right places.

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-26 6:57:21 PM|| 2005-04-26 6:57:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 great - "Get Crabs at Poseys. Shipman did!"

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-26 6:58:41 PM|| 2005-04-26 6:58:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 This is the definition of a "rough audience" or a "tough room", Ship, lol!

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 7:00:49 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:00:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 LOL! and i wuz getting meloncholy.

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-26 7:02:06 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:02:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 I feel your pain, Bubba. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to care, bro. Some wild-eyed hardass will dash your feelings on the Rocks o' Snarky Doom! *sniff*

;-)

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 7:07:22 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:07:22 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 I have 394 more stories of heartbreak longer than one paragraph, I will keep them and dole them out has needed.

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-26 7:17:27 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:17:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 Course you gotta remember that wymns started breaking my heart back in 1st grade long recesss. I HAVE A LIST RIGHT HERE!

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-26 7:19:04 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:19:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 394 - Good! If ya don't ask, you only guarantee nothing happens, heh. I found out, after thinking about it and trying the concept out, that the "untouchables (the really awesome femalians in HS) spent most / a lot of their time sitting at home. If you acted like you were unafraid of rejection and their equals, they'd take an interest - and many said "Yes", heh. I enjoyed some aspects of HS, lol!

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 7:25:01 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:25:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#29 We only tease cuz we love ya. Otherwise we arrange for the Greek army to induct ya...heh heh

Posted by Frank G 2005-04-26 7:33:39 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:33:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#30 There! See what I mean? Heh!
;-)

Posted by .com 2005-04-26 7:35:17 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:35:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#31 I understand that the sometime cousin marriage isn't really all that dangerous, and if the extended family doesn't already have a pervasive tendency toward genetic defects it's only a little more dangerous than marrying a stranger off the street.
But those statistically improbable effects can be quite spectacular, and in cases like this it's human nature for the unscientific exception to prove the rule. After doing it for a few generations, nevermind as long as the Saudis have, you do run into serious trouble.

Posted by Asedwich 2005-04-26 7:42:17 PM|| 2005-04-26 7:42:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#32 "Andrews collects disability payments from the government. Amrhein works at the courtesy desk at Wal-Mart."
And they have enough left over for cigarettes for two, seven pets, two televisions, and an occasional lobster. What a country!

Posted by Tom 2005-04-26 8:08:58 PM|| 2005-04-26 8:08:58 PM|| Front Page Top

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