Finally, the doctors have proven what all us hicks knew to be true. Marrying cousins have a very small increased risk of having a baby with birth defects. The increase in possibility is somewhere around 2% meaning that unrelated couples have a 3-4 percent risk whereas “kissing cousins” have a 5-6 percent risk of having a child with a birth defect.

Now, I am born and raised here in Dixie and I swear that I don’t know any cousins that are married. I’m not denying their existence, I’m just saying I’ve never seen it. It’s like Bigfoot. It’s an amazing and sort of frightening possibility but I can’t prove it with my own eyes. Having said that, I think that this news is great for the cousins who must be out there wondering if their next session of trailer park rockin’ will result in a child with birth defects. Now the stigma can be lifted and the unprotected bangin’ can begin.

Sure, the risk for defects is increased, but at least now the love that has been squelched can be allowed to breathe free. Isn’t more love in the world something that we could all use?

In Oklahoma, a woman has been accused of trying to trade her baby for a puppy. And to make this situation even sadder, the puppy was: a Chihuahua. Now, I’m no expert on dog-to-baby commerce, but this trade sounds a bit uneven. It seems to me that a 7-month-old kid ought to get you at least a chocolate Lab on the baby bartering circuit. Clearly, this woman didn’t have the latest Baby Blue Book. It’s yet another sad, sad story of the uneducated consumer.