MADONNA UPDATE: HAVE MERCY ON MERCY!

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The New York Times today reports that the British children’s charity. Save the Children UK, has asked Madonna to reconsider her adoption of Mercy James (see entry below). Of course, Save the Children would never want anyone, aka Madonna, to think that it thinks the singer is up to no good: ‘Please think twice,” Save the Children spokesman Dominic Nutt said, explaining that many of the international adoptions that occur around the world are unnecessary. Nutt said he was not suggesting that Madonna was doing anything wrong — but he said the whole process of international adoptions is often flawed. ”I would not want to, for one second, suggest that Madonna hasn’t done anything by the book,” Nutt said. ”But sometimes the book can fail.” Madge’s spokesperson, Liz Rosenberg, says Madonna will not comment on Save the Children’s suggestion.

MERCY ME! MERCY MINE! MERCY US! MADONNA SCORES ANOTHER MALAWIAN !

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The press is reporting that Madonna is set to pick up a new acquisition in Malawi next week. Four-year old Mercy James, if everything goes right, will join the Ciccone family: Lourdes, Rocco, and David Banda. Madge, as the Brits like to call her, is set to fly into Lilongwe this weekend to pick up the goods at Kumbali Lodge, where Mercy and “Madonna’s people” have already been deposited and await her blond arrival. Madge’s court date may be as early as Monday. MERCY ME!Madge has suffered long for this moment in material motherhood. Back in August 2008 Madonna and then-husband British film director Guy Ritchie, seen here looking pretty unhappy, were set to adopt Mercy, (at least according to Madonna; Ritchie’s enthusiasm was said to be not so high )when Madonna decided suddenly to put her energy into keeping her marriage afloat or as an anonymous “close family friend” told The Sun (OK, not the best source): The adoption process in Malawi is so long and stressful that all the legal wrangling put a huge strain on their marriage.” “They dropped proceedings to pour all their energies into each other. But Madonna now feels they are stable enough to Continue Reading →

NEBRASKA: STATON CASE CLOSED

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Nebraska’s biggest and most famious “safe haven” case is “officially” closed. Yesterday, Gary Staton, 36, (left) appeared before Douglas County Juvenile Court judge Elizabeth Crnkovich to settle guardianship of his two oldest sons, 16 and 17, “safe havened” last September at Creighton University Hospital during the Nebraska Fiasco. Crnkovich, who has worked with the family for the last six months, did not terminate Staton’s parental rights, but appointed unnamed legal guardians for the boys ” who are currently in foster care and attending high school together. Calling the Statons a “good family” Crnkovich told Gary Staton, “I’ve worked with you a long time and through that have known the challenges and have known the circumstances that brought us to this place… What you’ve done today, oddly enough is very generous.” On March 12, Staton voluntarily terminated parental rights to his seven youngest children, “safe havened” at the same time. Those children are currently living with his late wife’s aunt in Lincoln. According to Action 3 News Omaha, she plans to adopt them. After the hearing Action 3 decided to stalk Staton, forcing him to sneak out down the backstairs of his new house without comment. A reporter, however, managed to Continue Reading →

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: QUESTIONS FOR CARE FROM MARYANNE COHEN

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On March 16, six CARE board members sent around an email to lists announcing their involvement with CARE and AB 372. The following day, Maryanne Cohen, a member with me, on one of those lists, asked these board members some questions about AB 372. To date, there has been complete silence, although at least three of the signatories to that email are members of “our” list. Last night commenting on the entry that precedes this entry, Maryanne posted these same questions With Maryanne’s permission I’m posting her entire comment below. The only changes Ive made is the addition of *** ****** In any state where I have followed legislation and written letters of support, up until now I have always been able to understand the messages put out by the sponsoring group. Whether I agreed or not, I knew what they were proposing. I also find CalOpen and Marley, Ron, 73Adoptee quite clear about their views. Not so with CARE. I truly do not understand what CARE wants to do or what kind of legislation they want to introduce.I tried asking some questions on a list where members of CARE offered to answer questions. I am still waiting for any Continue Reading →

BLOG ALERT: READ DENI’S AB 372 INSULTS ADOPTED PERSONS

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Longtime Bastard activist and Marin Maven Denise Fuller Castellucci (center) has a great blog today: AB 372 Insults Adopted Persons Deni was part of CalOpen’s AB 1349 campaign in 2001-2002. Here’s a sample: My parents were told by the system that we would get all the information when I turned 18. It was a lie. Instead, I would get non-identifying information. What was blocked out with a black pen was completely arbitrary. An adult adoptee in Marin County got her non-id info on a small index card. It is hard to describe what it is like not being trusted with the facts of my own birth. It assumes as an adult I cannot handle the truth and be trusted to be responsible with it. In the eyes of the government I am either a perpetual infant or a potential stalker. Also check out BB Church’s latest on the California Catastrophe. Note on picture: not a single doctor or social worker in the bunch.

BLOG ALERT: LIVING PRO-LIFE CHOICE FOR WOMEN

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A great blog appeared yesterday on Shakesville: Breaking the Silence on Living Pro-Lifer’s Choice for Women posted by first mom “Shaker Anonymous.” It really tears the lid off the anti-abortion pro-adoptionist arguments. It speaks for itself, so I won’t comment on it here. Here’s a snip: They’re [anti-aborts] always blatting on about how concerned they are for us, apparently because women aren’t capable of making decisions without the gently guiding hand of all-knowing patriarchy, lest we irreparably damage our emotions and drown in a whirlpool of remorseful tears. They care ever so deeply about the long-term psychological effects of not having at least 10 months to consider whether or not to terminate a pregnancy, but no mention is ever made about women who actually do give up the baby. Seems to me that anyone who actually does so is lauded far and wide for Doing the Right Thing, but is simultaneously despised for being an unnatural uterus-bearing mechanism which has horribly malfunctioned. Where the fuck did that narrative come from, and why does everyone buy into it at some level? Thanks to Maryanne for the heads up!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK’S DAY!

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Here is Shane MacGowan and Kirsty McColl singing New York Fairytale on Top of the Pops. OK, it’s a Christmas song, but I think it’s good for St Patrick’s Day. If you don’t’ think so, don’t play it. Back in 1986 Bastardette was still working at the Ohio State University Theatre. One of her colleagues was actress, director, and OSU Theatre Associate Professor Joy Reilly. Her cousin was the legendary–even then–Shane MacGowan. While still a boy soprano, Shane had sung at Joy’s first wedding, and she recalled him as a “sweet boy,” who despite his later claims, came from an accomplished and intellectual family and had not been to Borstal. Well, that was a long time ago. Even then. Before he filed down his teeth. So Shane and the Pogues were playing in Columbus and Joy and I went to the Newport for the show. Joy had a radio program on WOSU-AM and hoped to tape an interview with him, but it didn’t happen, since Shane was–surprise!–drop dead drunk through the show. And maybe before. As I remember, we weren’t exactly convinced he’d been that drunk while performing. He’d been known to play it up slopping beer all over the Continue Reading →

CALIFORNIA: CARE’S PROBLEM WITH HISTORY–BASTARDS HAVE NONE

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Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past…George Orwell In the last 48 hours, the California Adoption Reform Effort’s Ministry of Truth has removed two CARE documents and their links from its increasingly anorexic website: (1) a letter dated February 24, 2009, to Cal Assembly Judiciary Chair Mike Feuer, in which CARE president Jean Strauss writes bastards and adoptees out of their own rights movement and history and (2) a memo dated February 26, 2009, from CARE’s pricey lobbyist cum Executive Director Stephanie Williams “explaining” to her constituency once more why AB 372 isn’t what it seems to be… and, oh, but the way, we may just have to send some of you down shit creek without a paddle. That’s the beauty of the Internet. Shazaam! History can vanish with the hit of a button, but it can also be rescued with another. Bastards aren’t stupid. As obsessive retrievers and collectors of our own stolen history, we rescue history from the dustbin and guard our treasures with the diligence of Mr. T. You can read what CARE doesn’t want us to read here (letter to Feuer) and here (memo to membership). BASTARDS NEED NOT Continue Reading →

DO-GOODER ALERT: SHOULD BRISTOL PALIN’S BABY HAVE BEEN PUT UP FOR ADOPTION?

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Well, it didn’t take long! Hardly had Bristol Palin announced her break-up with Levi Johnson when somebody asked: Should Bristol Palin’s Baby Have Been Put Up for Adoption? Stephen Waldman, editor-in-chief of BeliefNet posed the question in yesterday’s Huffington Post The whole political debate has assumed that there were only two choices — keeping the baby and having an abortion. Given the long waiting lists of people trying to adopt, wouldn’t offering the baby for adoption have been just as compassionate as raising the child alone? And boy, is he getting dumped on! Some of the biggest dumpers, in fact, are adoptive parents. Janice Taylor, another HuffPo blogger responded: My daughter is adopted,and I think I’m going to surprise you with what I am about to say. I believe that – whenever possible, teenager or not – the child should stay with their mother. The teen mother will need support, for sure – but she doesn’t have to get married. Bristol is a good example of a young mother who has plenty of support, with or without Levi. I’m happily surprised that so many responders stuck a fork in Waldman and his offensive presumption that Bristol Palin should have been Continue Reading →

NEBRASKA FIASCO UPDATE: STATON TERMINATES RIGHTS; LANDRY OUT; DUMPEES STILL IN LIMBO

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I’ve been collecting material to update the Nebraska Fiasco, but haven’t had the time to put everything together. Since the big news on the Fiasco scene Monday was the termination of Gary Staton’s parental rights, I’m catching up a bit here. Please go to Children of the Corn for the complete collection of Nebraska Fiasco blogs. GARY STATON TERMINATES PARENTAL RIGHTSAccording to Omaha Action 3 News, Gary Saton, 36, the widower who “safe havened 9 of his 10 children (the oldest is a legal adult) at Creighton University Medical Center last September, went to court Monday (March 9) to formally terminate his parental rights. Since their abandonment, the seven youngest children, ages 2-15, have been living with an aunt (sometimes described as a great aunt) in Lincoln who will remain their legal guardian until each turns 19. The two oldest boys are, at their own request, living in foster care in Omaha so they can finish high school together. Staton was granted visitation. He planned to visit his former family in Lincoln Monday evening. No word otherwise, on Staton’s current situation except he has moved from the family’s home which has been condemned by the city. Last October, a week Continue Reading →