The pictures in question were taken over the summer, and showed the pretending to kiss or lick "novelty phallus-shaped lollipops." Other images showed the girls in their underwear with dollar bills sticking out. The ACLU has become involved in the case, and they claim that since the incident occurred outside school, it should not effect their standing. •  A new study from Britain's Department of Health has found that new mothers feel most anxious around five months after giving birth. At this point, the excitement has supposedly worn off, and friends and relatives are supposedly no longer offering as much support, which leads many mothers to feel isolated and nervous. • Nutrition experts have complained that Kellogg's is falsely advertising that its Cocoa Krispies cereal can help "boost immunity." Currently, the Cocoa Krispies box reads: ""Now helps support your child's IMMUNITY," alluding to the addition of vitamins A, C and E. But Kelly Brownell from Yale University says, "by their logic, you can spray vitamins on a pile of leaves, and it will boost immunity." • Researchers recently found that 1/5 of smokers lie about smoking during pregnancy. The study, which looked at 3,475 women from Scotland, asked women to come clean about lighting up while pregnant and followed up with the revealing blood tests. •  The Cyprus Feline Society has identified two breeds of cat that they claim are "ancient breeds" and would like international recognition for them. The two breeds include the tall and elegant "Aphrodite," and short, broad-faced "Helen." •  A professor at Harvard has announced that next semester he plans a class based entirely on the HBO show The Wire. "I do not hesitate to say that it has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication," said sociology professor William J. Wilson at a recent panel discussion.  • A new study found that while marriage rates are lower for women on welfare, receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, once they exit the system they are as likely to marry as women who were never on welfare. • International cancer specialists will meet this week to figure out how to combat the increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where almost two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until the cancer has spread through their bodies. Doctors say part of the problem is that in some areas women worry that men will leave them if they lose a breast. "It's not a trivial consideration," says Dr. Lawrence Shulman of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who is working to begin cancer care in parts of Africa where "the women are often seen as really either vessels for producing children or as sex slaves." • A mother in New York is challenging a judge's decision to 34 percent increase in the number of Down Syndrome births between 1989 and 2005, 15 percent fewer babies were born during that time due to prenatal testing. Some are worried that the decline in Down Syndrome cases will lead to cuts in research funding and that more people aren't even considering raising a child with Down syndrome. • A Texas health clinic operator CareNow says it regrets telling a Muslim doctor applying for a job that she couldn't wear her hijab. The company called it a "misunderstanding" after the American-Islamic Relations wrote to CareNow, explaining federal law requires employers to reasonably accommodate religious practices of an employee. • Today Michelle Obama is launching a mentoring program in which she and female White House staffers will mentor 20 high school girls from the Washington, D.C. area. The girls will get to visit their mentors' offices and gather for a group dinner. • Despite Liz Lemon's well-known love of the German language, 30 Rock is not popular in Germany. Its premiere last night on the German channel ZDFNeo earned a 0.0 rating, meaning it was watched by fewer than 5,000 people. Blerg. •

When we posted the original piece, many commenters called Lucy Baxter's quest to help Otto an "epic parenting fail." But after learning more about Otto, you can't help but root for him. He's much like any other 21-year-old: He can quote Shakespeare. He likes burgers and boobs. He fantasizes about women. He likes strippers. And he's really obsessed with sex.

Here's Otto's stripper daydream:

"They pin me on the wall," he says. "They kiss me right on the neck. I unbutton my shirt. It feels very nice. I had a girl. She was on my willy. She jumped on my willy. It's wicked. It feels nice. I have a huge boner. Straight up. It feels lovely. Yep. I want to do it again. She also put her boobs in my face. One of the strippers grabbed my glasses and put them on her nipple. 'Are you naughty?' 'Oh, yes, I'm very naughty.' 'Come on, big boy! Let's take it down to your trousers! Unfasten your belt and let me pull it down and suck on it!'"

Otto sort of puts food and sexy women in the same category: "Burgers with boobs. Stick in an olive-it's like a nipple. And they have legs like bacon. And their bottom is like a steak. And they also have eyes like round biscuits. Actually, their whole body's like a biscuit. I'm hungry for a stripper."

Upon arriving in Vegas at the Hooters Casino Hotel, Otto says: "Lots of hot babes in here!" But then turns to his aide, Bill, and says: "Strip clubs. That's what I want to do."

Otto has had girlfriends (they had Down Syndrome, too) before, but the relationships always ended. The women's "carers" stopped Otto from dating them, and Jeff Gordinier points out, "The parents and caretakers of women with Down syndrome often cut off a relationship because they're afraid of where it might lead."

That's where the trip to Vegas with Bill comes in. Writes Gordinier:

The British government provides a generous stipend to families whose children have learning disabilities. In Lucy Baxter's case, she has used that money to bestow upon her son a privilege usually associated with CEOs and box-office stars: an aide-de-camp. This is Bill. He specializes in social work with the disabled. Bill's responsibilities run from helping Otto tidy up his room in the morning to providing counsel on matters of love and personal conduct. Past assistants, Otto's mother says, "have wanted to please me. And the job is not about that. It's about meeting Otto's needs and supporting him, and that's exactly what Bill does. Bill has it absolutely right. He'll guide Otto. He'll sit down and talk to him about issues. But he'll very much leave it for Otto to decide what he wants to do."

What Otto wants to do is party with pretty ladies. Bill and Otto go to a club, and, reports Gordinier,

"Otto acts as though he has died and gone to Sigma Chi heaven. Within seconds he is doing the bump on the dance floor with a curly-haired blonde. He vogues. He spins. He drops to his knees and weaves ribbons of air guitar. The jukebox advances to the Kings of Leon's "Sex on Fire" and a bartender shouts above the din, "I love this song!"

"So do I!" Otto shouts back.

It doesn't take long for Otto to own the room. He becomes, within minutes, a magnetic catalyst of debauchery.

Otto plays the Roulette tables aggressively; makes suggestive, sexual comments to women (he says of one waitress, "Hottie, hottie! I'm gonna pay her to strip!" ) and guzzles booze. On some level you have to wonder if he knows what he can get away with. Bill says: "For most guys, the hottest girl is intimidating. so they don't get approached that often. But Otto is not intimidated. He goes right for the jackpot."

Gordinier talks to Karin Melberg Schwier, the coauthor of Sexuality: Your Sons and Daughters With Intellectual Disabilities and the mother of an adult son with Down syndrome, who says, "The old myth is still alive and well that people with Down syndrome are 'eternal children' — they never really grow up. I still bristle every time I see the media referring to a 'child in an adult body.'"

While the story, unfortunately, leaves us hanging — we're not sure whether Otto loses his virginity or not — it's impossible not to hope that this man is able to lead a "normal," healthy life… And that includes sexual activity.

The Greatest Virginity Story Ever Told [Details]
Earlier: Mommy Issues

[Image via Oxford Times]

According to the Journal, "Parker survived and is now 20 months old. He has poor language and motor skills and may never walk. Already hospitalized three times, Parker's medical odyssey has stretched the Cardens' finances and put a huge strain on their relationship." It got to the point where the Cardens had to get help from their parents to buy groceries for their family, which included three other children in addition to Parker.

A piece in the Washington Post outlines the pros and cons of increasingly advanced fetal DNA testing. Proponents of the test, which "use 'gene chips' to detect much subtler chromosomal variations than standard prenatal testing can," like Baylor's Arthur L. Beaudet, argue that for people who want maximum information, they deserve to know. "Some of these disorders are quite burdensome. They require lifelong nursing care. In some cases these children never walk, never talk, never feed themselves," Beaudet tells the Washington Post. "It can have a major impact on the family. People say, 'I wish you had given me the opportunity to know ahead of time. It's really destroyed our lives.' That's why women want to know."

Opponents say that not only is the test not accurate enough, but that its use could lead to eugenics. "The question is, what is the information used for?" David Prentice of the pro-life Family Research Council asks the Post. "If it's for informing the parents so they can be prepared for what might come, that's great. But if it's being used for eugenics purposes — for abortion — we would be against it." Where I think this could add a new wrinkle in the abortion debate is that perhaps some pro-choicers will believe that aborting a special needs child is morally wrong. This is pure speculation based on anecdotal evidence, but possibly it hews too close to eugenics for some, even considering the dire emotional and fiscal costs to the family involved.

But let's get back to Trig, the public face of special needs. Unfortunately, his mother, for all her purported caring about other children with Down syndrome, does not support the raising of taxes to fund special needs programs. She came out against Colorado's Prop 51, which according to the Guardian, "would provide thousands of children and adults with autism, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities with critically needed care, through a phased-in sales tax of 0.2%." The proposition has been championed by a McCain/Palin supporter, former Colorado first lady Frances Owens. Palin is against the ballot measure because, "There's got to be an alternative to raising taxes. It's a matter of prioritizing the dollars that are already there in government. What I did as governor of the state of Alaska was prioritize for a great increase in funding for our students with special needs up there. And I think that Colorado can do that also."

But, as the Guardian points out, "It's hard to see how this could become a reality. McCain has sworn to an immediate government spending freeze. And Palin, in Colorado Springs, promised to cut taxes and balance the budget in one year. If past experience is any guide, all that means is cutting programmes affecting children with special needs." Again, as with Bristol's pregnancy, and the Alaska Governor's history of non-support for pregnant teens, it seems that the only children Palin cares about supporting are her own.

The Toughest Test [WSJ]
Fresh Hopes And Concerns As Fetal DNA Tests Advance [Washington Post]
Special Needs And Conservative Creeds [Guardian]

Earlier: Ask Not What Bristol Palin Can Do For You, Ask What Sarah Palin Can Do For Your Pregnant Daughter