Hat tip to Lara Logan
The Associated Press headline reads, “War Reporter now fighting baby drama.” There was certainly the skulky and narcissistic way out of her “unplanned” pregnancy, which would have spared public humiliation and career concerns, but CBS News reporter Lara Logan chose the heroic option:
Lara Logan, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, tells The Washington Post she is pregnant, and the father is a married federal contractor whom she met while stationed in Iraq.
Logan’s relationship with Joseph Burkett – who’s in the midst of a divorce from wife Kimberly, with whom he has a 3-year-old daughter – has made media headlines, including the front page of the New York Post.
Logan is going through a divorce from estranged husband Jason Siemon, a Chicago-based energy lobbyist whom she married in 1998.
“Nobody likes to read about themselves like that, especially the way it’s been sensationalized,” [said] Logan, 37…. “I hated it. But I’m just going to rise above it and keep going.”…
Logan, whose pregnancy was unplanned, told the newspaper her due date is in January, and she’s “looking forward to being a mom.”…
The reporter – known for her intrepid war coverage – was promoted to CBS’ chief foreign affairs correspondent last month….
Logan, a contributor to 60 Minutes, has won numerous reporting accolades, including an Emmy and Overseas Press Club Award.
[Photo of Logan at the American Women in Radio & Television’s Gracie Allen Awards in May is courtesy of Getty]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Hey Jill, I bought a pregnant suit that I am going to wear at school for 2 weeks (to see what kind of reactions I’ll get) and then write a report about it for the school paper. Would it be okay for me to also send a copy to you to post on the blog?
Oh you went through with it! Alright PiP!
Of course Bobby! I’m just hoping it was a good investment!
I am really excited to do it, it’s going to be a little while but I figure I can start practicing and wearing it out in public, maybe :)
I might also wear it when I come home to visit, give mom a little scare, haha.
Mwahahaha! Take THAT mom!
lol yeah, “sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you.”
It’s sad when women are called heroic for not killing their babies rather than considered stupid harlots for getting knocked-up by a MARRIED man.
Yes, I’m glad she didn’t dismember her baby but that doesn’t make her a hero. It just means she’s not a monster.
Anon was me.
Jacqueline, AMEN!
What a compassionate, Christian thing to say. I’m sure Christ would say the same thing. Yep…quite sure.
They’re both getting divorced, so what’s the big deal?
She wants to contine the pregnancy – Pro-Choice is fine with that.
x: Well, you are exceptionally diplomatic and sweet!
Jill, this isn’t directed to you, but, I get really tired of being notified by the MSM every time someone gets divorced,remarried, etc.. Isn’t that why they created People Magazine?
My life is full enough, thank you, without the extra blah, blah, blah.
(It feels good to get that off my chest!)
I am glad that she is keeping her baby and not getting an abortion. Having an affair…kinda moot now isn’t it?
Janet, did you hear how skinny Michael Jackson looks?
What a compassionate, Christian thing to say. I’m sure Christ would say the same thing. Yep…quite sure.
Christ never said having pre-marital sex or adultery was okay. He forgives those who do it, but never heralds it as heroic. In fact, He says to go and sin no more.
This woman doesn’t deserve a cookie for not killing her baby. She’s not to be admired for her foolish choices just because she didn’t compound it with an additional evil.
I don’t call rapists/robbers heroes for not murdering the witnesses. Likewise, I don’t call women that make dumb choices heroic because they didn’t murder their child.
Jasper, Jacque:
Better choice of words next time, sil vous plait.
I was referring to the posts that were deleted, not the ones that are still up now.
Doug: 12:05:Janet, did you hear how skinny Michael Jackson looks?
Yes and I’m very concerned about it. He should see a doctor, don’t you think? Lol.
PiP, 10:13a: sure!
I think considering the current state of affairs in America, she is certainly brave. She could have easily had the abortion, not told the father, or her husband and save herself a lot of grief. So good for you, Lara. I wish the best to all of you involved. We all make mistakes, and after it’s all said and done, she kept the baby!!
Carder- There is nothing wrong with my choice of words.
Hey, who deleted my comment?
I think that Jacqueline has a point even though she may have expressed it strongly.
We have two adults here who are married and who committed adultery. Not good.
No one seems to have blinked an eye over this fact. Not good. Shows how low the moral fibre of society is. The choice to be immoral, Doug?
The woman is pregnant but has decided not to abort. Very good.
I place little hope in the future of this relationship, despite the fact that they are planning to marry. They will both likely cheat on each other sometime in the future. What goes around, comes around.
I bought a pregnant suit that I am going to wear at school for 2 weeks (to see what kind of reactions I’ll get) and then write a report about it for the school paper.
PIP, awesome, and it’ll be very interesting to hear your story afterwards. Are you going to act as if you’re pregnant? I’d think almost nobody else could know or else word would get around…
Patricia, We have two adults here who are married and who committed adultery. Not good. No one seems to have blinked an eye over this fact.
With all due respect, Patricia, only 11 people have commented on this story so far, including those whose topics are unrelated to the actual story, so it’s a bit premature to say that no one has blinked an eye. Jacqueline has as you know.
Jacqueline, this story reminds me of the story several months ago about a teacher from a Catholic school who was fired for getting pregnant (out -of wedlock, if I remember correctly) because she broke her contract. You had more than enough compassion for her because she didn’t abort, why all of a sudden do you have no compassion for this woman, Lara Logan, who also chose not to abort?
No one seems to have blinked an eye over this fact. Not good. Shows how low the moral fibre of society is. The choice to be immoral, Doug?
Patricia, if they were both in relationships that were ending, I don’t see the exact timing of things to be a big deal at all. “Immoral”? Oh come on.
Carder,
I don’t understand, why did you delete my comment?
Doug, my friends and some family do know about it, but our school has 11,000 undergraduates and I don’t plan to tell anyone I am not friends with :) (until the end). I guess then to pull it off I’m gonna have to do it like the first day of school…
Agreed. They had an adulterous affair that resulted in pregnancy. Adultery is a sin. I am still glad she is keeping the baby.
PIP, they’re going to be looking at your boyfriend and going, “Dude….”
Carla, since they’re both going to be divorced, what’s the big deal, i.e. “adultery.” Does it really make a difference when the paperwork is done?
To me it’s like a woman being pregnant a week after her marriage or a week before. What the heck…
Doug, I don’t have a boyfriend anymore :P
But yeah I’m going to hold hands with all my guy friends to imply that they are the father.
With all due respect, Patricia, only 11 people have commented on this story so far, including those whose topics are unrelated to the actual story, so it’s a bit premature to say that no one has blinked an eye. Jacqueline has as you know.
I was referring to the MSM and media reaction, Janet.
Patricia, if they were both in relationships that were ending, I don’t see the exact timing of things to be a big deal at all. “Immoral”? Oh come on.
Posted by: Doug at July 10, 2008 3:38 PM
Yeah, whatever Doug. Try telling that to the children and the spouses who were dumped, will you?
Adultery is adultery. They are still married. You have just proved my case, Doug. :-D
Pip, that plan (to hold hands w/guy friends) could backfire if someone saw you with more than one of those friends!
Oh yeah, I guess I didn’t think about that, lol
Janet said:With all due respect, Patricia, only 11 people have commented on this story so far, including those whose topics are unrelated to the actual story, so it’s a bit premature to say that no one has blinked an eye. Jacqueline has as you know.
Patricia said: “I was referring to the MSM and media reaction, Janet”
I’m sorry. I misunderstood. Maybe the MSM is being relatively kind to her because she is one of their own. Look how they are going after Alex Rodriguez, the baseball player, who is rumored to have had an affair. Although I believe it is wrong, it is nobody’s business, really.
Doug: God hates divorce, that the big deal with that. Your casula attitude towards sin is a fatalistic flaw you have and evidence of the darkness you live in.
Bsides divorce reaps destruction, i.e., the kids, the relatives, not to mention the souses.
Committing adultery is a sin and murdering a baby is a sin. Both are forgiveable if confessed and repented of.
Let this be a lesson that when we sow seeds of destrution we reap destruction.
Whe we turn away from sin, God jumps in and rescues us from the eternal consequences of sin.
PIP:
Here’s an idea: wear a hdden video camera to dcoument the stares/reactions, etc. Perhaps you can post it on YouTube later. Good luck.
Pip, I think we’re roughly the same age,and I can tell you that I occasionally get a few strange looks but for the most part people react pretty positively around me. I’m definitely at the “ready to pop” stage of pregnancy though, so maybe they just take pitty on me for being this huge in the middle of summer in Texas!
I will say that I feel *much* more self concious now that I’m too swollen to wear my wedding band. I doubt anyone else even notices, but I feel like they must all be thinking “oh look, another young,unmarried mother.”
When I was pregnant with my son, my college peers were really good about the whole thing…at least to my face. I don’t know what they thought, but they treated me really well and were really helpful. Hopefully you’ll have a similar experience. Of course, my college was only 500 students and they were all women, so it might be a whole different dynamic than at a 10,000 student campus.
I can’t wait to see how it goes for you.
lauren: I will say that I feel *much* more self concious now that I’m too swollen to wear my wedding band.
Maybe you could find a cheap ring at Target to wear until baby is born!
I’m sorry. I misunderstood. Maybe the MSM is being relatively kind to her because she is one of their own. Look how they are going after Alex Rodriguez, the baseball player, who is rumored to have had an affair. Although I believe it is wrong, it is nobody’s business, really.
Posted by: Janet at July 10, 2008 5:21 PM
no problemo. I wasn’t clear in my post exactly either. :-D
Lauren: I remember gaining 50 lbs with my first and I had to take my rings off, and couldn’t wear any of my shoes either!
True. Thanks for sharing your story. In my college career I have only seen one pregnant student. I just met a freshman the other day who had a baby and she was telling her story about how hard it was to get financial aid and stuff (she can’t live on campus because she has a baby, and also our school is dealing with housing shortage) so I’m definitely mentioning real life problems facing college mothers, too. And exploring the dynamic balance between “we don’t want to condone pre-marital sex” and “we will support you if you make a mistake” that the administration is failing on (in my opinion). I’m glad you had such a good experience. Is there anything you think could have helped you more when it came to being a student mother?
I’ve definitely thought of getting a fake ring, but so far I haven’t because I’m weird and feel a bit strange wearing a ring that isn’t *really* my wedding band. I think I will get one though, because I just switched drs, and though I’m sure she could just look at my charts and see I’m married, my Dr always gives me these pittiful looks when I come in without my husband (who’s at home watching our son…I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t want to take a 3 year old to a Dr’s appt that will likely last 3 hours!).
Pip, the other students at my college were great.
The college itself was TERRIBLE.
I mean, they put on a facade of being supportive, but in reality they made in nearly impossible to be a parent and go to school there.
First of all, like you mentioned, there was no on-campus housing for parenting students. Once the baby was born you were forced to live off campus. This in itself wouldn’t have been *too* bad, except for the fact that they also cut my scholarship to take away housing expenses.
Also, because I was then considered a day-student, I lost my work study as well. I also lost my meal plan.
The net effect was that my out of cost living expenses went up about 5000 a semester, because my scholarship was cut at a rate higher than what needed to be taken off for living expenses.
Now, I was married, so I could have potentially overcome these obstacles, but for the typical unmarried college student, my school’s policies were a kiss of death.
It is so ironic to me because my school was a women’s college. You would think they would have a better system in place.
I ended up leaving the school because I decided to get a more useful major than biology (because, seriously, who has the time to raise a family *and* got to grad school before you can work?). I decided on nursing, and enrolled at the university in my home town. That school didn’t make it *easy* to be a mother and a student, but they certainly cost much less and had a more flexible schedule of classes and such.
Wow lauren, what a lousy experience for Mom’s at your school. I had no idea it is so difficult. There isn’t much else they could have taken away from you.
Hm, did my comment get deleted or did it just not post? It’s possible.
Anyway lauren I’m sorry you got screwed over but I have no doubt that is happening at my own school and others (and it’s something that needs to change). I’ll definitely include these points in my paper.
Thanks guys.
I don’t think the school was trying to be punitive, they just had a *really* bad system in place for pregnant students.
Looking back, I wish I had challanged them on this more to try to change things.
Yes, hat tip to home-wrecking! It’s one thing to keep the baby, its another to ditch the husband for the baby-daddy. You stay classy, Ms. Logan.
Lauren, I’m sorry that you’re all swollen and sweaty : ( If I was with you I would make you vegan gazpacho.
HisMan, I’m so afraid of getting divorced I don’t think I ever want to get married.
I no I take marriage very seriously, at least staying together for ever, having children and raising them. But no matter what a man says no one ever really knows if they’re lying, right?
Thanks Jess :)
I’m just thankful for this little one. I’m also thankful for central air conditioning!
Jaque: “cheating bastards”
Jasper: “war slut”
Jill has asked the mods to crack down on stuff like that regardless of their position. She’s sick and tired of it.
You may appeal to Jill if you feel the deletions were unjustified. If she wants them back up, I will be more than happy to oblige.
Carder,
Ok, no prob. Thanks :)
Jess:8:57: HisMan, I’m so afraid of getting divorced I don’t think I ever want to get married.
I no I take marriage very seriously, at least staying together for ever, having children and raising them. But no matter what a man says no one ever really knows if they’re lying, right?
Hi Jess, I know how you feel. It’s not easy to find a good man. You know the Catholic Church has always been about lifelong relationships; you can find a lot of good information if you search a bit. The internet can help. The Pure Love Club (i know, it sounds kind of hokey) was started by a single Catholic guy several years ago, now he and his wife give talks on love and marriage, etc. This link is a QUIZ you can take to see if a relationship has a chance of lasting. I hope it helps.
http://www.pureloveclub.com/chastity/index.php?id=7&entryid=22
P.S. I met my husband at church. Not a bad place to look! :)
Janet,
Do you ever watch Pure Love on EWTN? It’s hosted by Jason and Crystalina Evert. What a wonderful program!
Do you ever watch Pure Love on EWTN? It’s hosted by Jason and Crystalina Evert. What a wonderful program!
Posted by: Bobby Bambino at July 11, 2008 6:21 AM
Hi Bobby,
I’ve seen it. They really are a great couple. A good show for the teens to watch!
You had more than enough compassion for her because she didn’t abort, why all of a sudden do you have no compassion for this woman, Lara Logan, who also chose not to abort?
If you recall, I never called the other woman a hero for not aborting. I simply expect people to be humane enough to not dismember their children, rather than giving women a cookie for it. To say that women are heroic for not murdering their innocent children just makes abortion seem acceptable, rather than horrific.
The other woman, the schoolteacher, was also repentant of her immoral choice, went to her spiritual authorities for mercy and was FIRED. So instead of the mercy and right treatment she deserved, she was abandoned and left jobless. This is deplorable. Note: I never praised her immoral choice or even her choice to make it right as well as not kill her child(this is simply expected). What I did was defame the way she was treated.
Now this woman is being hailed a hero for not killing her baby, despite the fact that she is an unrepentent homewrecking adultress who is leaving her husband to marry the married man with whom she was unfaithful. Kind of different than going to a priest, confessing and asking for absolution and mercy, isn’t it? She doesn’t seem the least repentant for her adultery.
Scenario A was a woman that made a mistake and sought to rectify and handle the consequences correctly. For that, she was bashed and told she deserved her firing from the very people who should have given her absolution and compassion.
Scenario B is an unrepentant woman hailed a hero because she’s not killing her baby. Not killing one’s own child does not make her a hero.
These situations aren’t comparable.
Now this woman is being hailed a hero for not killing her baby, despite the fact that she is an unrepentent homewrecking adultress who is leaving her husband to marry the married man with whom she was unfaithful. Kind of different than going to a priest, confessing and asking for absolution and mercy, isn’t it? She doesn’t seem the least repentant for her adultery.
I don’t want to start this argument all over again, but I would like to say a few things. The fact that teacher in the story months ago may have gone to confession (I don’t recall that specifically being part of the story)
means she would have been absolved. A priest will not deny a person absolution if asked for sincerely. No question about that.
She doesn’t seem the least repentant for her adultery.
And we know that how??? We don’t know if she is filing for an annulment for some unknown reason. She may have also gone to confession for all we know.
If you recall, I never called the other woman a hero for not aborting. I simply expect people to be humane enough to not dismember their children, rather than giving women a cookie for it. To say that women are heroic for not murdering their innocent children just makes abortion seem acceptable, rather than horrific.
I understand your point but I suppose that can depend on your definition of “hero”.
3. hero – someone who fights for a cause
paladin, champion, fighter
defender, guardian, protector, shielder – a person who cares for persons or property
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hero
She obviously is defending, protecting the rights of her unborn child by not aborting and will be the guardian of her child and shield it from harm as the baby’s mother. That is heroic enough in my book.
“Patricia, if they were both in relationships that were ending, I don’t see the exact timing of things to be a big deal at all. “Immoral”? Oh come on.”
Patricia: Yeah, whatever Doug. Try telling that to the children and the spouses who were dumped, will you? Adultery is adultery. They are still married. You have just proved my case, Doug.
No, I’ve just noted that if the relationships were ending anyway, it’s not that big a deal if they were seeing each other.
HisMan: Bsides divorce reaps destruction, i.e., the kids, the relatives, not to mention the souses.
Well, I don’t know if they were problem drinkers or not, but often, second marriages last longer and better than do first marriages, and in no way is it necessarily a bad thing for two people who are really not suited that well to each other to split up and find others.
But no matter what a man says no one ever really knows if they’re lying, right?
Oh Jess….geez.
“Jess: But no matter what a man says no one ever really knows if they’re lying, right?
Doug: Oh Jess….geez.”
It’s true; everything I say is a lie. Except that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that. And that…
Bobby –
Liar!
:)
She obviously is defending, protecting the rights of her unborn child by not aborting and will be the guardian of her child and shield it from harm as the baby’s mother. That is heroic enough in my book.
She’s not DEFENDING anything! No one is coming at her with a suction machine. She’s simply not laying down hundreds of dollars to have some med school wash out attack her child. She’s doing nothing- not perpetrating a murder doesn’t make you a hero, Janet.
I have never paid money to have someone dismembered. Am I a hero? I don’t think so. I am merely not a monster.
Your standards for heroes are low. Our views of women and motherhood are so low that we hail people that do the minimum of what they are supposed to do (i.e. not kill their own baby) as some sort of noble figure.
J:11:41: Your standards for heroes are low.
Fine. You win. I am a pathetic judge of character.