In Touch magazine identifies 11 things the Duggar family is still hiding.

I will provide a brief synopsis of each issue. To read more just go to In Touch Magazine:

1) The “licensed” counseling details. Jim Bob and Michelle and two of their daughters have stated the girls went through “licensed” counseling, but have not addressed why Jim Bob and Michelle apparently waited FOUR years before getting them into counseling after they had been victims of Josh. They have also refused to discuss that the counseling seems to have occurred only after the Department of Human Services launched an investigation into the family, following the police probe, which ended due to the statute of limitations having expired. Jim Bob and Michelle apparently did NOT get their daughters counseling from at least March 2002 when, according to the police reports, Josh confessed he had committed “4 to 5” separate acts of molestation, through December 2006 when Springdale police turned the case over to DHS. During that time period Josh committed at least SEVEN acts of molestation, according to police reports.

Any mental health expert will tell you that getting counseling as early as possible after a traumatic incident is incredibly important, and if Josh had received adequate counseling from the get go it would have spared his sisters from abuse.

Simply put these parents failed to do the most fundamental thing expected of parents. To protect their children from harm.

2) Downplaying the molestations as “subtle and mild.” Echoing Jim Bob and Michelle’s characterization of Josh’s actions as “mild touching,” Jessa said: “None of the victims were aware of what happened until Joshua confessed. The extent of it was mild – inappropriate touching on fully clothed victims, most of it while [the] girls were sleeping.” She also added, “In the situations where it happened and the girls were awake they weren’t aware of what was happening. It was very subtle.” But two police reports strongly contradict these assertions. 

In Touch goes on to point out that Josh's predatory behaviors increased and that he became more bold in response to ineffective attempts by his parents to curb his behavior.


The Duggars seemed to have allowed themselves to be convinced by Josh's contrition act when all he was doing was lulling them into a false sense of security while he ratcheted up the abuse.

I have seen this myself numerous times in sexual predators.

They can come across almost sickening sweet to authority figures, while carefully grooming the victims into allowing them more and more access to their bodies, and in the end even convincing their prey that it was all their fault. 

3) The escalation of Josh’s molestations is troubling to mental health experts and not to be dismissed in the manner Jessa characterized it as, “a young boy in puberty and a little too curious about girls.” Dr. Paula Bruce, a California clinical psychologist, told In Touch about the Duggars: “None of them acknowledged that this is predatory behavior. 

Like I said.

4) Safeguards. Jim Bob and Michelle have said (and their two daughters echoed) that after they became aware of Josh’s abuse they put “safeguards” in their home. But the Springdale police report reveals that Jim Bob and Michelle first became aware of 4 to 5 separate acts of sexual abuse by Josh in March 2002 and there were more acts of sexual molestation by Josh in July 2002 and March 2003. The parents have not addressed the fact that their “safeguards” repeatedly failed and allowed at least SEVEN instances of sexual molestation during the course of a year. 

Those are not safeguards, those were simply placebos to help the parents sleep better at night.  

5) Jim Bob, Michelle, Jessa and Jill all made a point to say that Josh “paid for his own counseling.” But Jim Bob and Michelle did not admit – and were not questioned – about why Josh apparently did not get counseling from a mental health professional for at least FIVE years after his first four acts of molestation, and only after the Department of Human Services opened an investigation into his activities. 

I think it is pretty clear that the Duggars did not want any word about Josh's "problem" getting out into the public, since dear old dad was still focusing on a potential political career. So the only real therapy they would have received was the therapy that they were pressured by the state to receive.

6) The family has continued to give the impression of cooperation with authorities, but fail to offer a detailed explanation of why they did not produce Josh for a police-requested interview in 2008. Josh, 18-years-old at the time of the Springdale police interview, hired a lawyer and refused to be questioned. 

Now that certainly does not sound like cooperation does it?

7) The family strongly implied that details from the DHS investigation were leaked. Jessa said of talking to DHS: “We did you know, we told them, we were honest. We said here’s what happened and we told them the complete story and my parents said, ‘This isn’t something people are going to blab around, you can tell them, you can trust them. Tell them your story. It’s a safe place to talk.’ Unfortunately not.” The reality is that no details from the DHS investigation or what the victims told DHS investigators have leaked or been reported. Cooperation with DHS is mandatory. 

This is yet another attempt to play the victim. And WHY do the Duggars all seem to have the same story about leaked documents, and betrayal by public officials?

8) Public records spin. Public records obtained by In Touch of a plane used by the Duggars show that it flew to the location of their crisis public relations specialist prior to giving these interviews in an attempt to save their TLC show. A source confirms to In Touch that the Duggars met with their own PR team to create a strategy for the interviews. 

Ahh, well that explains it. They were all coached by a PR team so that they would all be on the same page, and nobody would contradict the parent's version of events.  

9) The family has continued to float the possibility that they will take some legal action against the city for releasing the records. But a deeper analysis of the situation reveals top experts say they have no basis for such action.

But damn, do I WISH they would try to sue.


10) The Duggars have continued to mischaracterize the FOIA-released police reports as juvenile records and say there were “illegally released.” Jessa told Fox: “Freedom of Information Act is not, you can’t FOIA juvenile cases, everybody knows that.” Her characterization of what was released via FOIA is wrong. 

11) The order to destroy the police record. The order to destroy the police report was entered by Judge Stacy Zimmerman. Neither Fox nor the Duggars have acknowledged that the judge heard only an emergency argument from one side (via a lawyer hired by the Duggars) and no media outlet or other entity challenged the ruling, which many legal experts believe was overly broad and a wrong interpretation of the law. Even Springdale’s police spokesman noted the highly unusual nature of the judge’s decision.

So the question on this last one is what compelled the judge to have these records destroyed? 

After all it seems the only people who would want these kept from public scrutiny would be the Duggar family itself, so who would pressure this judge on their behalf?

And does his name rhyme with Fuckabee?

The Fox News interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar is troubling on so many levels.

The above clip is quite difficult to watch mostly because it demonstrates just how badly the Duggars failed their daughters and their son, Josh.

The first thing I noticed is that Michelle cannot seem to get an answer out without looking at her husband's face to see if he approves of it. When he doesn't he simply interrupts her and takes over.

During this first interview we learn for the first time that not all of the touching happened over the clothes as previously reported, nor happened when all of the victims were asleep as was the initial story. (All told the victims included four daughters and a baby sitter, some of them wide awake while being molested.)

So now we have a predator who is becoming increasingly bold in his molestation attempts and is undoubtedly engaging in grooming behaviors that his parents are too undereducated to notice. And keep in mind that the parents are ONLY aware of the incidents that Josh confesses to, and have no real idea if that is the extent of the abuse.

At one point Megyn Kelly alludes to the fact that the "final" victim was a child that was very young, a single digit age, and that it was only then that the parents had Josh removed from the home. Which is, in my opinion, inexcusable.

In this second portion of the interview, the Duggars claimed that they got professional counseling not just for Josh but for his victims as well, and alerted the authorities well after the fact.

The interview goes on to discuss the decision to participate in the reality show, and Jim Bob seemed to feel that they were protected by a sealed juvenile record which would keep the incident from sabotaging their new career path. The revelation about that juvenile record seems to be one the thing that Jim Bob finds to be the most unforgivable.

At one point Michelle Duggar says that her daughters "have been victimized more by what has happened in the last couple of weeks than they were 12 years ago because, honestly, they didn't even understand and know that anything had happened until after the fact when they were told about it."

That statement reveals just how ignorant these people are concerning the long term effects of sexual abuse.

There is a lot to talk about concerning this interview.

First I would like to say that Megyn Kelly did a better job than I thought she would, and that her approach got the Duggars to say very incriminating things which might not have cropped up during a more aggressive interview.

Second I have little confidence that the Duggars actually got their children the counseling that they needed. If they received any counseling at all it was undoubtedly Christian counseling which is often unlicensed and focused mostly on spiritual reparation, more than psychological problems.

Thirdly the Duggars kept trying to minimize Josh's actions as being "curious about girls." But in fact he was a sexual predator who molested his sisters multiple times, including one that was younger than ten years old.

And lastly it is beyond clear to me that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar failed to protect their daughters from a sexual predator, and to protect their son from his own impulses.

There is a reason that child protective services exist, and it is to step in and handle things with which parents are ill equipped to deal.

Ultimately the Duggars seemed more concerned with protecting their reputation (Don't forget that Jim Bob was either holding or actively seeking political office around this time period.) than they were protecting and caring for their family.

Here is more from Salon on this interview.

Apparently Bristol's new fiance Dakota Meyer has never sought treatment for his PTSD, despite a heavily publicized suicide attempt.

So in the above video, if you go to the 10:57, Meyers describes the suicide attempt:

"I was going down, and I was drinking probably a bottle, to a bottle and  half of Crown a day. Just living my life that way. I didn't care about anything. I felt like I was becoming a burden on everybody else. I just pulled my car over one day and I was like 'You know what I'm done. I'm done.' I always keep a gun in my vehicle, and I always keep my guns loaded, all of them are always loaded, so I don't have to worry about it. And you know I pulled the gun out, put it to my head, and squeezed the trigger and it went 'click.'"

Meyer goes on to claim that somebody must have unloaded his gun the day before, which is the only thing that saved him.

He goes on to claim that he made a deal with himself that if he did not try it again in that car, and drove away instead, that he would never do it again. (And of course as we know we simply never break deals we make with ourselves.)

I have to say that if Meyer is accurate as to how quickly he pulled the gun, placed it to his head, and pulled the trigger, that indicates that he was serious and did not even stop to question his actions until AFTER the gun failed to fire.

That gives every indication of a person who is a serious suicide risk and requires a serious invention.

However it appears that he did not get that intervention.

At the 12:26 mark the female host, Cristina Ferrare, straight out asks Meyer if he received any psychiatric help or counseling after the suicide attempt or is receiving any now:

" No, no I don't. You know I don't ahh. When they sent me back fro Afghanistan  I was sent to a PTSD rehab center for precautionary measures. Um I was in there and..uh..you know it gave me knowledge on it, but I've never seeked (sic) help." 

Okay first off if he was sent to a PTSD rehab center then there was very likely something in his psychological profile which suggested that he needed counseling. And of course the suicide attempt essentially proves that.

Secondly surviving one attempt at suicide, in no way inoculates you from future attempts. It's not like catching the measles.

Thirdly if there was significant alcohol use back when he made that first attempt, and there has been no counseling of any kind, then it is quite likely that alcohol may still play a significant role in his life.

And fourthly he is about to marry a Palin!

I'm sorry but if you were not prone to alcoholism or suicide before......

Okay all that I'm saying is that there are so many red flags here that I can barely see past them.

In my opinion if Sarah were serious about putting her children first, and not simply using them to attract favorable publicity, she would be counseling Bristol to slow down and plan on a long engagement instead of rushing to the altar.

Watch CNN's Anderson Cooper take on Texas Republican lawmaker over the GOP's embrace of reparative therapy.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

Cooper spoke with state Rep. Bryan Hughes, who has voted for the platform that for years has contained vicious anti-gay rhetoric. Hughes explained that the Texas GOP added support for “ex-gay” therapy after one delegate’s neighbor expressed concern lawmakers might make it illegal. 

“The language is in the platform because we want to make sure that people have rights,” Hughes offers as a reason to support ineffective and harmful “reparative” therapy. “We heard from people who wanted access to that kind of counseling, that kind of therapy, and so we believe in free speech, in free choice.” (Unless of course that free choice means they will choose to be gay, in which case Texas will counsel the crap out of them until they claim to like the opposite sex again.)

“This is about giving people choices,” Hughes claims. “If they want this, it should be available to them.” No discussion of access to abortion services came up. 

Hughes tried to claim there is “medical literature on both sides of the issue,” which Cooper blasted. 

“It’s really just not accurate to say that doctors are evenly divided,” Cooper said. “I could give you a list: the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Counseling Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American School Counselors’ Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of Social Workers. They represent half a million mental health professionals, they all say this is not a mental disorder. It’s not something that needs to be cured.” 

Cooper even slammed Hughes’ claim that people on both sides testified before the platform committee as “not true.” Hughes could not state who testified against the plank. 

“Does it concern you, again, that your party is now backing a form of therapy which basically every major medical organization says doesn’t work, can be harmful, and which many of the people who have been through it say it doesn’t work and is bad for kids?” Cooper asked Hughes. 

“No one is saying that God doesn’t love people as they are,” Hughes told Cooper, in response to a clip of former Exodus International president Alan Chambers’ disavowal of “ex-gay” therapy. “There’s nothing in the platform about that. No one is trying to take that position. Every one of us makes mistakes, makes decisions we’re not proud of. God loves each one of us, and he offers us a way for us to deal with sin and bad choices. But I do strongly disagree with what he said about God not loving people.” 

“The fact that you view being gay — or you characterize it — as a ‘mistake,’ or something that should be changed really kind of maybe says more about your position than what your words actually say,” Cooper pointed out.

You know with the possible exception of Rachel Maddow or Ellen Degeneres, I don't think I would rather see ANYBODY take apart homophobic Republicans more than Anderson Cooper.

He is so very professional as he picks apart their argument and all but calls them hate mongering bullies.

And personally I think the fact that he is openly gay just makes that much more effective. 

Marcus Bachmann gives interview to explain away allegations made aboutt him, his wife, and their clinic. Oh, and he is "flaming" mad too!

Michele Bachmann's husband Marcus Bachmann, agreed to an interview with the Star Tribune.

Here is Marcus Bachmann's response to the allegations that his clinic engages in reparative therapy:

"This individual came to us under a false pretense,'' Bachmann said. "The truth of the matter is he specifically asked for help.''

And the help he received was to repress who he was and live his life in total denial, for all eternity. Gee now WHY does that remind me of somebody?


 On calling gays "barbarians":

Bachmann said that someone must have doctored the recording of the interview, in which he addressed child discipline as well as homosexuality and sex education.

The recording also became a focus of media attention this week, including ABC's "Nightline."

"I was talking in reference to children. Nothing, nothing to do with homosexuality. That's not my mindset. That's not my belief system. That's not the way I would talk," Bachmann said.

"I think the strongest myth. ... is the myth that I have ever called a homosexual a barbarian," Bachmann said

Unfortunately for Marcus I am not sure that Americans are going to be that much happier with the idea of their children being called "barbarians" by a grown man.

Besides the blogger who first posted the video, states unequivocally that it was NOT doctored in any way.

In response to news that the Bachmann clinics accept federal Medicaid funds, while his wife attacks government funding:

Bachmann said federal and state subsidies flow to his business because it doesn't discriminate against patients in subsidized health-care programs.

"It's low income. It's people who are on limited income," Bachmann said. "It is a lower-paying insurance. It's not a money maker. ... So, gee, we get criticized because we take it. And somehow they tie it all in, into my wife because she's the big proponent of less taxes and less programs and so forth.

"So, over and over the bell rings about how we take this federal money," he continued. "Oooh, how evil that is. And I say to you: 'No. It would be evil not to.'"

"There are many grants that are just not that wise. This one actually made a lot of sense," Bachmann said. He said his business lost money by accepting the grant because the training kept employees from seeing clients.

"It had to go and rightfully so, totally to the employees. It didn't go into the pot where Bachmann & Associates could collect, receive, so that we could go on a little vacation or go to wherever," he said.

So it is okay to take government funds for providing widely discredited counseling, while your wife stands on a soapbox decrying government waste, because it "actually made a lot of sense?"


Well I guess it is not technically fraud unless Dr. Bachmann is not really a doctor of Psychology, but that would be crazy tal...wait what is that you say?

On his website Dr. Bachmann states he’s had 23 years experience. Simple math brings us to the year 1988. If Dr. Bachmann’s Ph.D. was completed prior to this date, he might have graduated from The Union Graduate School which offered ONLY a Ph.D. in Arts and Sciences. If he graduated later than 1986, then he would have graduated from The Union Institute (1986), or The Union Institute and University (2001) and his Ph.D. would have been in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Ohhh!  Well that is not good.  But I guess as long as he is a licensed clinician he should be fin...what...seriously?

Bachmann is not a licensed psychologist in Minnesota, but state law has allowed unlicensed therapists to see patients. According to the Bachmann & Associates website, he has been a clinical therapist in the Twin Cities for more than 20 years.

Unbelievable. These people may in fact be grifters ALMOST on the same level as the Palin Traveling Circus, and Baby Factory.


By the way, for any of you who might be interested, the Bachmann's just came out with a video to explain their views on marriage.