Children as politically correct accessories.
Despicable.
I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, in that they believe they are doing something good, which they are. If they happen to get some good PR along the way, so be it. Hell, these women get PR if they order something new at Starbucks, or change their hair color, so why should we be at all surprised when they get PR for the laudable action of adopting a needy child ?
I am with JD.
I am so with you on this post.
Don't forget that Mia Farrow also introduced her husband to his future wife (her adopted daughter), so her heart is really full of many kinds of goodness.
JD makes a good point. Don't be a playa hater RWS.
Barry:
Wow. You hold these women in contempt and find the actions of adopting children from impovrished nations and provide them with a life of luxury? Seriously, despicable?
Wow.
>Barry:
Wow. You hold these women in contempt and ...
Lighten up, Francis.
Here's the point you missed, sphincterboy:
If the object of the exercise is to adopt a child and give it a decent life, these Hollywood divas don't have to go very far from home. That they seem to shop around for the most exotic, most far-flung, most National Geographic-worthy child smacks of accessorizing to me.
When Brangelina adopt a poor unphotogenic child from Alabama, then I'll be REALLY impressed.
I actually agree with you...I do think it's for the publicity. Let's relish this moment.
I do think having celebrity parents will make their life different. I hope it's better...I would imagine it will be.
I'm with JD, too; celebrities can have pure motives, sometimes.
btw jon steward and other comedians on sunday at 8pm on CC will be doing a fundraiser for autism.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/0609...ym235.html?
.v=1
Honestly, would anybody know who Angelina was without the PR that surrounds her global adoptions? I doubt it. Without them, she's just another pretty face (among many), and Brad Pitt's wife.
Madonna is an aging celebrity in need of media attention. Her sudden interest in adopting African children sounds like a pr move. Would the idea have even occured to her without Jolie's precendent? Madonna has never been one to ignore the latest trend.
These adoptions do smack of the "One World" mentality.
Jolie may be a devoted mom, but I'm not sure she's grounded in reality. I heard her speak about having a home (treehouse) built in Cambodia because she wanted Maddox to "experience his culture." Angelina said they planned to live there part of every year. She also spoke about the dangers they incurred to do so - something about land mines and machete wielding thugs routinely murdering families.
Good moms protect their children from danger, not deliberately put them into harm's way for multiculturalism's sake. 
Christine
Barry:
Is there a diference between impressing you and comitting a diepicable act? I think your scorn for their actions is not deserved.
I think you may have sunk to a new low with the personal attack of "sphincterboy". Nice work.
Thanks. Also: you are incredibly boring.
Madonna gives the country $1 million to get permission to make a documentary there, several million to build an orphanage, with the catch being it must teach and practice Kaballah, and oh, please waive the standard 18 - 24 months residency requirement for an adoption.....
No, of course it's not all about Madonna and the PR.
How about giving this child's father and grandmother money for a better life if that is what the point was? The child was in an orphanage because the father could not support the child.
Barry,
You're better than that, use your wits and intelligence and facts and heart, dont go to the DARK SIDE...........
JD, RWS, Christine,
Madonna's lifestyle, the constant overexposure to raw sexuality in books, videos, songs, I am torn between what RWS is saying and JD after seeing the rampant poor in the third world and then poor in New Orleans while in my 20's and 30's I tend to be on the side of okay a trophy but I wouldn't want to live on the streets either.
I'm grateful for my gifts from God
Karen has a point I hadn't thought of. Why not provide some sort of job or even the money she would have spent raising the child to the father so he can raise his son? Instead of taking him away from this life of poverty provide for the family not to be in poverty and keep them together.
I heard a funny joke by a comedian saying that Angelina Jolie's son must have thought he had hit the jackpot being adopted by two movie stars, yet he had spent his whole life going from one third world country to another. She said I bet he is thinking "When the hell do we get to Malibu????"
Heh.
Actually there is another factor that you may have overlooked. In this country there is a chance that the adoption may be legally challenged down the road. Suddenly the childs father mmay become interested in this child when he learns that Madonna is the adopted mother. Court battles and extortion ensues. Far better to get a kid from another country.
paul,
Trust me. I have been involved in the adoption process. There are literally thousands upon thousands of children who have NO ONE. No one.
Sparkle, I'd love to hear about your adoption work.
Madona can change. Dr. Laura did.
I thought you were all about the children? Isn't the most important thing that they now have food and shelter and not to mention they can inherit millions of dollars and do something good with it in their homeland.
There are plenty of American children who could use the help as well.
Last I checked Madonna didn't live in America. Help ourselves first then help others?
But The Dark Side pulls at me so...
My point was, I don't like this Hollywood designer adoption. It's like when these tinsletown types name their kids- it's an arms race of wierd names- "Apple", "Moses", "Moxie Crime Fighter", "Banjo"- I'm not making this up! Those are actual names of kids born to Hollywood people!
So when the Beautiful Rich People start adopting children, all I see is each one trying to outdo the other.
And that leads me to the one thing I hate more in this world than Brussels sprouts, or even the Dallas Cowboys, and that is... pretentious holier-than-thou BS.
Boy, that's something we don't want in this world is people competing to be compassionate, competing to see who can donate the most money. Let them do it who cares, when it comes down to it they are helping someone. After all they are the ones in the spotlight and if people see them doing something others will want to.
SoMa- than you for illustrating my point about pretentious holier-than-thou BS. You libs never disappoint!
This baby has a dad and grandparent who gave him up because they can't afford to feed him? That's either a profound act of love, or an excuse.
Karen has a point. If Madonna's intent to help this baby is genuine, she could help the family stay together instead of taking the child for herself. There's more to this story, I suspect. I don't want to think anyone's heart could be so cold.
I think how Jolie obtained her son became the subject of an investigation of a baby-selling operation, unbeknownst to her at the time.
Is it nobler to help third-world children find adoptive families than American babies in need? I guess to some celebrities with whom anti-Americanism is so in vogue, anti-American baby adopting is trendier.
Sheesh, for some reason Paris Hilton and her chihuahua come to mind. I don't want to see her with an adopted infant from France carried around in a designer alligator bag.
Christine
The kind of adoptions I find pretty despicable are the kind like Sharon Stone's recent adoptions. Blond, blue eyed boys. Let's face it, little blond blue eyed kids could be placed in the homes of thousands upon thousands of MARRIED COUPLES who are on waiting lists, and yet they were given to SINGLE MOM Sharon Stone.
Now those boys have no daddy. Gee, that's just swell Sharon!
I say if you insist on adoption and you are not married, (or have a job that will mean basically hiring a full time nanny to raise the child) adopt an older foster child or handicapped child that is hard to place.
Let the babies that are in the most demand go to the ones who will have a home with a mom and a dad, and even better, a home where one of the parents will be a stay at home parent.
Do not deny them that, otherwise you're just being selfish.
IMO 
About 20 years ago (way back when I was married), my wife and I tried to adopt a kid. We went through three different agencies (even though they didn't want you to use any other agancy but THEM). We tried for seven years. We finally gave up when it was apparent that the agencies were just stringing us along, collecting money from us along the way, and they never had any intentions of giving us a child to adopt. We even tried to adopt one 11 year old boy who suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome, but we were turned away.
It's really just a game the social workers play to keep money coming in to keep their jobs. That's where I first developed an intense dislike of social workers. Of course, if you're a celebrity with beaucoup bucks, then of course you can step to the head of the line and pick out the child of your choice! Money talks.
GaryK:
If your still interested, private attorney's will cost you much more, but will deliver results through private adoption.
Sad to hear of your frustrations, but most attorneys who work in adoption can tell you many more horror stories about social services than you would ever want to hear.
doug: btw jon steward and other comedians on sunday at 8pm on CC will be doing a fundraiser for autism.
Bill to do some good for autism is being blocked by Joe Barton -- if he is your rep -- Texans -- give him a jingle
Christine, do you let you kids go to American schools? If so, nowadays, they can be raped and shot. If you homeschool, you might be safer, unless your husband is crazy or you are. That's American culture.
Garry, that's really surprising about the 11 year old you were turned away for, and you deserve much admiration and praise for wanting to adopt him.
I greatly admire the people who adopt the ones that are almost impossible to place in homes.
I do not admire the single parents who adopt the ones that every couple who is married want.
Karen: The child was in an orphanage because the father could not support the child.
That's lame. Why couldn't he? Is he just lazy? Doesn't he live in a capitalist country? What's wrong with him? And the grandmother, what's up with her. Lots of grandmothers work and earn money. They sound like someone looking for a handout.
Yeah, the kid with fetal alcohol sydrome was kid that was featured in the local Detroit newspaper in the regular "waiting to be adopted" column. Both his parents had drank themselves to death, and the kid didn't have any known loving relatives. He should have been easy to adopt, especially since there were several other couples who came forward to try to adopt him. What he was, was bait. The agency (Catholic Social Services of Wayne County, MI) had all of us prospective parents take parenting classes, then totally blew us off. They also blew off two other couples from that class we kept in contact with. Not to mention they kept sucking money out of us.
I'm too old and crochety to try to adopt now. I seem to have lost my tolerance for kids in my mid-50s. I was a normal active kid, out playing sports, climbing trees, catching frogs, etc. Kids nowadays seem to only watch TV and play video games.
Also, I've dated a number of women since my divorce in the early 90s, and *every* son I'm seen that was raised by a single mom was either totally feminized or else in trouble with the law. it's scary. An entire generation of boys was raised without a strong male role model in the home. No wonder some of those kids try to imitate freaks like Eminem.
The kids probably better off as a spoiled rich mirror of his mother than as a diseased, starving, unfortunate soul.
Let them go. PR stunt, ego rush, whatever.
Working in the bizniz I can say that it is MUCH more difficult to adopt an American child. Unfortunately, there are MANY who need a loving home.
Adoptive parents in this country DO face the possibility of having the bio parents or other blood relatives show up down the road and start some sort of lawsuit to get the child back.
With our current system, the parents are given more rights than the children. It's all about giving the parents chance after chance to clean up their act so that they can have their kids. Meanwhile, the kids are shuffled around. I've rarely seen a child available for adoption, with parental rights dissolved, before the child is 10 or 13 years old. By then they have been in so many placements and have had so many failed attempts to reunite with the parents that they have 'issues' of their own.
The leftist agenda is all about not judging the parents for whatever they have done and 'teaching them how to be good parents'. If you had seen what I have seen you would know that you can't 'teach' some people how to care about their own child.
All the same - I wish these people would put their star power and money behind the US system if they care that much about kids. The system needs fixing and the children need to be given a chance.
But that's not what's in vogue right now - the 3rd world adoptions are whats the thing to do now.
And I don't resent Sharon Stone adopting kids that look like her - blond, blue eyed kids need homes too.
JD is right...being a celebrity, each and every move of them is monitored...doesn't mean that he or she should give up on doing what they always wanted to do...even I plan to adopt an Indian kid as well as an African kid...we need to appreciate her for doing the right thing her heart says inspite of knowing what others or the media might talk...
why is this coming out now ? Was this scandal leaked by Republican operatives just to try to influence the election ? Shame Shame Shame
lol
Beth, those blond blue eyed kids could have had a home with two parents. How did she manage to jump the list as a single mom? The waiting list for parents wanting white kids is miles long.
If you want a child so bad, get married, and then get your blond blue eyed child. Otherwise you just paid more $$, went to the front of the line, and denied those kids a father.
Selfish.
Wow, no moral judgments here, eh?
How many American handicapped children have you all adopted?
And, uh, Garry?
Also, I've dated a number of women since my divorce in the early 90s, and *every* son I'm seen that was raised by a single mom was either totally feminized or else in trouble with the law. it's scary.
I raised two sons since their fathers death 10 years ago. The 22 year old is a Vista volunteer in small business development in Colorado this year - chose that location to hone his rockclimbing skills, but it will also help him improve his marathon times running at the high altitude. I'd like to see you call him feminized to his face...Or his 15 year old brother, tight end on his undefeated football team, also one of only 6 boys (out of 45 students) in the AP/Honors curriculum at his school. Yeah, and their 19 year old sister is on full scholarship as well, volleyball and girl scout Gold Award winner. All liberals btw, and very politically active.
Not too hard to see why you're still single. You sound like a real prize. Seeing as just today, we had another peek into GOP "morality" - with the dancer who quit Dancing with the Stars due to her GOP ex-rep's addiction to pornography and adultery (Craig Schelske)...why don't you people just tend to your own dysfunctional families and let others alone?
Wow, such ignorance. How many posters on this thread have adopted? Why not? Why are you wasting the world's precious resources having children by birth? How arrogant! Why not adopt a 5-year-old handicapt child who's been in 8 foster homes. They certainly need a home. I've adopted two children from China, partly because of the adoption process in this country, as described by Beth. And she didn't go into detail.
There are plenty of children by birth who are unloved by their celebrity parents. You don't really know anything about Jolie or Madonna as parents. Jolie's daughter would have died if not adopted. Excuse me, but can you say she doesn't love her? Good grief. [Vent off...]
Actually, let's have a little education. Beth can correct me if I'm wrong. As I understand it, there are two ways to adopt in this country.
1) A pregnant woman has decided to give up her child at birth. This will be thru some sort of agency. You have to submit your dossier, and the mother will choose who she wants to have her child. You have to sell youself, basically. Even if chosen, the mother can change her mind up to the last minute. As Beth says, the father could reappear later, as they often cannot be found to give their approval.
2) A child in foster care. Children in foster care will not be infants; they will often have been shuttled through the system; they will always have been 'abused', at least mentally due to the foster care and/or incompetent parent(s).
So, who would want to choose one of those options? Thru door number 1 - a possible series of rejections and last minute cancellations leading to years of frustration. Thru door #2 - an abused child.
The leftist agenda is all about not judging the parents for whatever they have done and 'teaching them how to be good parents'. If you had seen what I have seen you would know that you can't 'teach' some people how to care about their own child.
As opposed to the "conservative" agenda, which is to have the power of the government used to dictate what lifestyle a parent is allowed to have, and if they fail to live up to the expectations of the ideal, place the children in an underfunded foster care system.
Why is the government a more important decision maker in how people raise their kids than their neighbors are? If there is a kid in trouble in my neighborhood, or if their are problems in his home, we all know about it, and we take care of the kid by whatever means necessary (leaving the government out of it as much as possible.)
I'm tired of "Conservatives" attempting to use the government to define what is and is not acceptable parenting. If you know a kid that needs help and are too much of a coward to confront the parents yourself, find someone on the kids block who will. Don't get the government involved in a neighborhood problem.
Lindy said, "I raised two sons since their fathers death 10 years ago. The 22 year old is a Vista volunteer in small business development in Colorado this year - chose that location to hone his rockclimbing skills, but it will also help him improve his marathon times running at the high altitude. I'd like to see you call him feminized to his face...Or his 15 year old brother, tight end on his undefeated football team, also one of only 6 boys (out of 45 students) in the AP/Honors curriculum at his school. Yeah, and their 19 year old sister is on full scholarship as well, volleyball and girl scout Gold Award winner. All liberals btw, and very politically active."
So, Lindy, you wonder why I'm still single. Well, you've been single for 10 years after your husband's death. Tell me, did you poison him, or did he take the poison himself? And you yourself admit that your sons are feminized with the "all liberals" line.
If you were closer to Michigan than Colorado, yes, I would come to tell your sons to their face that they were feminized by being liberals. But you know, your liberal pedigree is slipping. HOW can you let your son play a violent, manly sport like football! oh, the horrors! Besides, doesn't that violate the liberal mantra of "equal outcomes" because after all, one team has to win and one team has to lose. There's no more ties in football.
Yeah, I'm still single because I refuse to have anything to do with lefty moonbat women, which is the majority of single women in the People's Republic of Ann Arbor. So why are YOU still single? Can't find any liberal guys who make enough money for you?
Garry you're quite the poster boy for the moral degeneracy of your party. You don't know the first thing about my sons, but your asinine insinuation that masculinity is based on one's political beliefs exposes what exactly what kind of morons are attracted to your set of beliefs.
Wake up and look at the real world, if you can get your basement windows open and have an unstained pair of pyjamas available. My son just spent three days hanging off ropes in the Rockies. My other son is always black and blue and quite enthusiastically heterosexual. Yes, Dorothy, in AMERICA real men can follow any kind of political beliefs that suit their values. I know that damages your fragile world view.
You don't know if I'm single now, do you, strange lonely man? What have you been doing the last 10 years while I've been raising three fine Americans on a very meager salary? Insulting and judging and staying very much in your lonely bubble no doubt.
BTW, let's take one more spin around "moral" redstate America: Of the top 15 states for divorce rates in 2005, all 15 voted for Bush in 2004. All fifteen.
Get out of your dirty glass houses or stop throwing your hypocritical little rocks. You are despicable.
Lindy, you just said you raised two sons since their father's death 10 years ago, which implies you raised them by yourself.
And what have I been doing the last 10 years? Making lots of money to contribute to the VRWC! And making fun of moonbats. And I'm hardly lonely. Have had a couple of long term relationships since the divorce. You still didn't answer whether you poisoned your husband or if he drank the poison voluntarily to escape you!
But not to worry. Once your sons get out in the real world and start making money and they start seeing how the blue-staters want to waste their money, they'll turn towards the right.
GaryK:
Do you not like feminine women? You apparetnly are under the belief that extreme right-wing views are masculine, yet you seek a women with such a masculine trait.
Then again this goes hand in glove with your comments earlier about Ann Coulter (and her adam's apple, her hands, and her complete lack of a figure.)
You are perhaps revealing more of yourself than you realize.
Nothing is funnier than lectures by the Left (like Lindy) on our party's morals after 8 years of El Sleazbo in Chief Bill Clinton....with the Left about ready to reinstate his White House historical artifacts stealing wife and potentially rapist husband in there yet again.
But by all means, continue to amuse us....
Hmmmm.... the comment by " Anonymous | 10.13.06 - 5:45 pm" was mine. don't know what happend to my "handle."
I had also responded to jandrew's comment about my not liking feminine women, and that totally disappeared.
Jandrew, I *love* feminine women, don't care for masculine women, also don't care for feminine men. (And no, I don't go for *ANY* kind of men in the way you probably go for them.)
I had also mentioned about how I had merely stated that the women I knew who raised sons by themselves had problems with those sons. I didn't actually specify Lindy's sons because I have never met her. However, due to the vehemence of her protestations that her sons are not feminized, one would have to speculate that they are indeed feminized. The bottom line is this: I believe kids should be raised in a two-parent household, and that boys NEED a strong father figure to learn from.
Lindy, here's another question for you: Do you sons have any interest or ability in things mechanical? Can they do any household/car repairs? I've also found that unless the mom was really into mechanical/carpentry stuff, that the sons grow up with zero knowledge of that stuff, and it's important stuff to know.
-- Garry K
You are missing something important. People adopt children from other nations because of the complexity of our system. When I was married, we looked at adoption. Our laws are so stupid, domestic adoption was not very attractive. Fortunately, God is more knowledgeable than medical science and we had a son the old fashioned way after all, it just took 6 years to get there.
I disagree, if they are getting publicity, it will encourage others to adopt. I think you could spin anything to make it turn bad.
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