MASSACHUSETTS BETRAYED: "IT’S NOT ABOUT OPEN RECORDS"

Massachusetts adoptees have once more been betrayed by their “friends.” SB 63, the re-hash of last year’s SB 2690 pocket vetoed by Mitt Romney, has passed the General Court and will reach Gov. Deval Patrick soon. The so-called Massachusetts reform group ABC (who cutely demonstrates its dedication to adult civil rights with a baby blocks logo) and their sell-out politician friends like to say SB63 “stops the clock” by guaranteeing that original birth certificates will be accessible to adoptees born on or after January 1, 2008. That would be fine, if it also permitted earlier adoptees to access their birth certificates, too. But it doesn’t. SB63 separates and segregates the rest of the state’s adoptees, based on date of birth, into those who can and can’t get their birth certificates. So much for civil rights! SB63 SUMMARY(1) adopted persons 18 years of age or older born in the commonwealth on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 or an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth on or after January 1, 2008 will be “allowed” unrestricted access to the original birth certificate. (2) Adopted persons born Continue Reading →

INDIA: BIRTH RECORD ACCESS

Bastardette received this a couple days ago. The petition is time-sensitive. Please sign it. Bastardette Dear All, Please sign the comments and circulate the link widely. We need a lot of signatures, so thatCARA really considers our comments.http://www.petitiononline.com/adoptee/petition.html Basically CARA acknowledges that many of us Adoptees do want to search for Roots and specifically open the records. But sadly they explicitly close the records in case of children born to unwed mothers. Practically that means many of us- if not most- are effectively stonewalled from any search and prevented from knowing our original identity. However since there is a chance of our voices being considered, before that comes into effect,let´s all try our best to achieve positive change. Since the comments have become a bit long, here the three main points summarised. a) Birthrecords: that Adoptees, do also get an original Birth Certificate, with the names of their biological parents b) Right to access to our files and records, even in case of children born to unwed mothers c) Support and Setting up of independent Post Adoption Services Thanks for your support! Warm regards Arun Dohle

SAY IT AIN’T SO! JOE SOBRAN SUGGESTS GEORGE W. BUSH SHOULD HAVE BEEN ADOPTED

Adopted people are accused of many things: bed wetting, fire setting, kleptomania, lying, home wrecking, mother hating, and serial killing (WMD: ax). I mean, who else would do these things? Certainly not legos reared in white picket pens, weaned on strip malls and fern bars, with two happy church-going hets nannying them from cradle to grad school. And to be honest, being adopted isn’t all that bad. It gives us adoptees something to blame all our problems on. But even adoptees set limits on acceptable behavior. Recently, dredging up the old nature or nurture argument, former National Review editor Joe Sobran. suggested the unsuggestable: George W. Bush should have been put up for adoption at birth. Saturday’s Lew Rockwell.com published Sobran’s July 9 Liberty Watch column, Lessons of History (also found on his webpage, The Reactionary Utopian.) Sobran wrote: What must the old man [George Herbert Walker Bush] feel as he sees his family name become accursed of all nations? Being a parent can be tough. Kids can give you unpleasant surprises. Usually, though, these can be coped with. If your son gets drunk and totals your new stretch limousine, well, you’re not happy, but it’s not going into the Continue Reading →

ADOPTION.COM BOYCOTT: MEMBERS WALK; WILL ADVERTISERS FOLLOW?

Got this today via the Green Ribbons and Fr. Jack Sweeley: Boycott Adoption.com. It’s alleged that adoption.com may have shut down its gay adoption forum in reaction to the recent court ruling that the discrimination suit brought against it by gay paps will move forward. I don’t know anything beyond what the press release says, and I’m posting it here for informational purposes only with a couple of observations. Closing down the “Non-traditional Families” board in order to “avoid” queer adoption issues and look as pure as Lillian Gish makes perfect stupid sense. It reminds Bastardette of when she lived in Albany, Georgia. She was there post-Albany Movement, but the scars on the city were apparent. The park system, though desegregated on paper, was in reality closed so nobody could use it. Better to shut down a public facility than let the N Word push its way on to a picnic table. The first Mr. Bastadette (Lance Corporal, USMC Bastard to you) and I liked to walk over to the zoo on Sunday morning to watch the alligators feed. I know, but hey…what else was there to do in Albany? One day we decided to take a short-cut through an Continue Reading →

MAY 4, 1970

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,We’re finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in Ohio. Gotta get down to itSoldiers are cutting us downShould have been done long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know? Gotta get down to itSoldiers are cutting us downShould have been done long ago.What if you knew herAnd found her dead on the groundHow can you run when you know? Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,We’re finally on our own.This summer I hear the drumming,Four dead in Ohio. OHIO–Neil Young ********** COLUMBUS FREE PRESS – Bob Fitrakis Why Four Died in Ohio: Governor Rhodes and His Relationship with the FBI The Lethal Media Silence on Kent State’s Smoking Guns

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT MISSOURI HB 509 PLEASE FORWARD FREELY! ATTENTION ALL ADOPTEES WHO LIVE OR WERE BORN IN MISSOURI Last week the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on HB 509 which restores the right of Missouri adoptees to access their original birth certificates. The Committee will probably vote on the bill on April 10, 2007. The bill permits any person adopted in the state, 18 years or older, to access their original birth certificate upon request. This is a clean bill with no restrictions. Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization supports the bill. HB 509 can be found at http://www.house.mo.gov/bills071/biltxt/intro/HB0509I.htm The relevant part of the bill reads: Upon receipt of a written application to the state registrar, any adopted person eighteen years of age or older born in the state of Missouri shall be issued a certified copy of his or her unaltered, original, and unamended certificate of birth in the custody of the state registrar, with procedures, filing fees, and waiting periods identical to those imposed upon nonadopted citizens of the state of Missouri. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as violating the provisions of section 453.121, RSMo. If you have a Missouri connection please contact the Continue Reading →

A SUNDAY VIDEO FESTIVAL: BABY DUMP PSA REVIEW

Sunday afternoon. Bored. Too early for a nap? The BBC-America Benny Hill marathon making you edgy? Worried about what to do with that secret pesky baby you’ve been hiding in your over-sized sweats since that Fourth of July whiz-bang in the backseat? Abortion too late? Adoption too difficult? Then you should consider a drop-off at your nearby No Shame No Blame No Name Safe Haven station. What’s that? You’ve never heard of this new and exciting option the government has created for nice people just like you so you won’t have to trouble yourself setting up an ethical adoption plan for that “unwanted baby? Sit back and relax. Fix a cup of lemon camomille. Then, take a few minutes to enjoy this little Safe Haven PSA Video Fest and learn all about your “safe haven” choice. These instructional videos are fun. They’re entertaining. They’ll make your heart feel as warm as the heart of a pasole pig at the Olympics of Competitive Eating. And at the end of our little festival you’ll know just what to do. We’ll start with an overview of the “safe haven” program with a nationally distributed PSA narrated by Emmy award winning actress Patricia Heaton. Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION PRESS RELEASE: MASSACHUSETTS BLACKLISTS ADOPTED ADULTS

MASSACHUSETTS BLACKLISTS ADOPTED ADULTS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE_____________________________________________________________________________ March 22, 2007 If the legislature has its way, some Massachusetts adoptees may soon find themselves on a state-established blacklist that bars them from accessing their own original birth certificates because of the date of their birth. Other adoptees, however, born, during the “correct” timeframes will be allowed access. Blacklist Bills SB 63 and SB 77, passed unanimously on March 21, by the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Children, Families, and Disabled Persons create two categories of adoptees. Adoptees born on or before July 17, 1974 and on or after January 1, 2008 will be allowed unconditional access to their original birth certificates now sealed by the state. Adoptees born between those dates, will continue to be governed by current Massachusetts adoption law and forced to get a court order to get their own birth certificates. If they’re lucky. Adoptees and their families should look their legislators in the eye and ask the very important question: what makes one adoptee worthy and another one not? And tell them SB 63 and SB 77 are not acceptable–for anybody. SB 63 and SB 77 turn back the clock. While other states, including neighboring New Hampshire, move Continue Reading →

MASSACHUSETTS: BAD NEWS BILLS PASS OUT OF COMMMTEE; ADOPTEE BLACKLIST ONE STEP CLOSER

If we weren’t already aware of the moral bankruptcy of Massachusetts politicians, we certainly are now. According to a phone conversation I had Thursday with a clerk at the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities, Committee, the committee in executive session, voted unanimously on Wednesday a DO PASS on SB 63 and SB 77. Translation: Massachusetts adoptees are screwed. For late comers, this is what these bills will do to Massachusetts adoptees: (1) Adopted persons 18 years of age or older born in the commonwealth on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 or an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth on or after January 1, 2008 will be “allowed” unrestricted access to the original birth certificate. (2) Adopted persons born in Massachusetts between those dates will not be “allowed” access their original birth certificates without a court order as under current law. So, if you’re a Massachusetts adoptee between the ages of 0 (not born yet this year) and 34 forget it! You’re a non-person as far as politicians are concerned. Ironically, less than two years ago, many of these same Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION; SUBMITTED TESTIMONY IN OPPOSTION TO 3 BAD BILLS: MASSACHUSETTS SB 63, SB 77, AND HB 2190

Bastard Nation submitted testimony opposed to SB 63, SB 77, and HB 2190 all of which codify a 34-year black hole for those adopted in Massachusetts, barring them from automatic unrestricted access to their own birth certificates. Below is BN’s SB 63 testimony. Since the other bills are basically the same, testimony opposing those bills is identical and won’t be posted here. Links to all the bills can be found in the Bastard Nation Action Alert posted here on March 17 (below) SUBMITTED TESTIMONY IN OPPOSITION TO SB 63: An Act Further Regulating Access to Birth Certificates (original birth certificate access to certain adoptees) Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization, urges you to vote NO on SB 63. Instead of treating all Massachusetts adopted adults equally, SB 63 creates two classes: one with privilege, one without, based on date of birth. According to SB 63: (1) Adopted persons 18 years of age or older born in the commonwealth on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 or an adoptive parent of an adopted person under 18 years of age and born in the commonwealth on or after January 1, 2008 will be “allowed” unrestricted access Continue Reading →