As da 5th or sixth kid in a big fambly, I guess I’m like kinda’ dumm. At leest das wat da Whyte House sez.
Terry Jeffrey of CNS writes:
John P. Holdren, the top science adviser to President Barack Obama, wrote in a book he co-authored with population control advocates Paul and Anne Ehrlich that children from larger families have lower IQs.
The book—”Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions”—argued that the United States government had a “responsibility to halt the growth of the American population.”
“It surely is no accident that so many of the most successful individuals are first or only children,” wrote Holdren and the Ehrlichs, “nor that children of large families (particularly with more than four children), whatever their economic status, on the average perform less well in school and show lower I.Q. scores than their peers from small families.”
Holdren and the Ehrlichs published “Human Ecology” with W.H. Freeman and Company in 1973. In June 2000, a study published in American Pyschologist debunked the notion that children in larger families have lower I.Q.s. But when Holdren appeared in the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee in 2009 for a confirmation hearing on his appointment to run the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, he continued to argue for the benefits of “smaller families” on other bases.
In “Human Ecology,” Holdren and the Ehrlichs concluded: “Population control is absolutely essential if the problems now facing mankind are to be solved.”
“Political pressure must be applied immediately to induce the United States government to assume its responsibility to halt the growth of the American population,” they wrote.
I guess I should apologize to my five kids. I guess I should tell them not to dive headfirst into the shallow end of the gene pool.
Darn. If only the government could’ve stopped me from reproducing so much.
Oh, and please don’t think this is just one guy who said or thought something weird and he’s an anomaly. Anyone else think it’s a coincidence that this administration’s top priority is funding Planned Parenthood and forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception.
February 23, 2012 at 8:23 pm
I have four children and they each seem pretty amazing to me! But it is much more joyful to be a parent when you embrace your children as gifts from God rather than financial burdens or drains on your freedom. It also helps when you realize that you are entrusted with these little souls who ultimately are created to return to our Father in heaven. It makes the worldly concerns if measuring IQs and fancy titles secondary to helping them use their gifts and talents for God's glory and their salvation!
February 23, 2012 at 8:45 pm
But… here's the thing… since Mr. Barack doesn't have a (real) birth certificate, we aren't sure how… ahem… intact his 'family' was as far as paternal and maternal fidelity (nice way of putting it), we aren't sure what exact race he is or what exact religion he is… could it be that he may number 27 out of his 'siblings' that he may or may not not know about? Just an innocent question.
*chuckling out loud*
February 23, 2012 at 9:35 pm
I believe the Wesley brothers were number 17 and 18 of a large family.
February 23, 2012 at 10:58 pm
The President's father, Barack Obama, Sr., fathered five additional sons and one daughter. That makes our Prez the oldest of 7! That surely explains his idiotic policies. 😉
February 24, 2012 at 5:03 am
Ridiculous! Everyone knows that kids are like pancakes: the first one never turns out well, but by the time you've made 5 or 6 each one is perfect inside and out!
February 24, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Hilarious!! I love it! Well I have to say that our first 5 are turning out great and the next 6 are really smart cookies too! They outsmart me all the time and I'm an only child!
February 24, 2012 at 2:12 pm
@anonymous; As for Obama's father and his siblings, those are just the ones we know about.
February 24, 2012 at 7:04 pm
There is a picture of a congress of baboons in labcoats from "98% of Catholics do not look at the crucifix", that belongs with this pronouncement.
February 25, 2012 at 12:41 am
Well, since most large families homeschool and everyone knows that homeschooled kids end up smarter than the average, that sort of negates the "dumber than kids from a small family" theory.
Curious how this came out just as Obama is going into a presidential contest against a man with 5 kids or a man with 7.
February 25, 2012 at 2:44 am
Nobody is stupider than population-control advocates—entomologist Ehrlich lost his famous bet with actual economist Julian Simon, vis-a-vis Ehrlich's projections of the economic effects of population growth, but he's never had the stones to admit it.
February 25, 2012 at 2:50 pm
There are only three of us and my brother is not the sharpest tool in the shed!!! I am the youngest and way smarter;}
February 28, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Keith said…
Let's see… Now, I'm not saying this to brag, but simply to provide one more anecdote to refute this claim…
I'm the 10th of 11 children. I have a 149 IQ, a Bachelor's of Science, a Master of Science and I have a 3.97 through three and a half years of seminary.
My siblings?
1 Surgeon (MD)
2 Nurses (One with a BSN and a MS to be a licensed nurse practioner)
3 Business OWNERS (One with a MS in Engineering Physics)
1 Analytical Chemist (MS in Chemistry)
1 Computer Programmer (MS in Comp Sci)
1 Teacher
1 PhD in Analytical Mathematics (He's the baby!)
And l'il ole me.
Keith, sorry for your family's lack of accomplishment. If your parents had only one of those kids, he/she might have been smart enough to be an Obama science adviser.
February 28, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Dear Professor Holdren…
Ben Franklin was brought in a family with 16 kids.
The Kennedys, mom and dad or President JFK: 13 kids.
George Foreman had 8 siblings.
Johann Sebastian Bach had 20-odd children, among whom were Carl Philip Emanuel, and Johann Freidrich who enjoyed stellar careers in music.
St. Catherine of Siena came from a family of 25 children.
Stephen Colbert is the youngest of 11 children.
Now let me tell you exactly who had a single dumb kid: your parents. And the parents of your boss in the White House as well.
February 28, 2012 at 6:29 pm
A dunky talking about ears!!!!!