PENNSYLVANIA: Bastard Nation Letter to Rep. Oliver: Please schedule hearings for HB1978

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This is the post I sent to Rep. Oliver today on behalf of Bastard Nation and myself. Please feel free to post your letters here on on the Bastard Nation blog http://bastardnation.blogspot.com/2010/08/pennsylvania-bastard-nation-letter-to.html Thank you all. Marley **********Dear Chairman Oliver: I write today to urge you to schedule hearings for HB 1978, a bill that if passed would restore the right that all Pennsylvania adoptees once enjoyed: the right to his or her own original birth certificate (obc) with no conditions or restrictions. That is, to authorize the state to treat the adopted on the same legal level as those who are not adopted. HB 1978 is an important bill. It is being watched by adoption advocacy and reform groups and individuals across the country. The sealing of birth records is an archaic hold-over from an age when adoption was held shameful. That day has passed. The restoration of the right of adoptees to their obcs is the keystone of ethical adoption practice not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the country. . As someone whose birth and adoptive families have deep Pennsylvania roots (Pittsburgh, Greenville and Bucks County), I would love to see Pennsylvania join the ranks of states that believe Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: Monday is "Contact Chairman Oliver Day" (Pennsylvania)

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Please distribute freely! BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT Give Pennsylvania unrestricted HB 1978 a hearing! Monday, August 16, 2010:“Contact Chairman Oliver Day for Adoptee Rights” HB 1978 is a short, simply written bill to restore the right of all Pennsylvania adoptees to their original birth certificates without restriction. For months, the bill has been stalled, with no hearings, in the House Health and Human Services Committee chaired by Rep. Frank Louis Oliver. To move this bill into hearings, Pennsylvania Adoptee Rights (PAR) is sponsoring “Contact Chairman Oliver Day”–a day dedicated to asking Rep. Oliver to schedule hearings. Read HB 1978 here. Read about Pennsylvania’s current access laws here. Read the entire PAR action alert here. You do not have to be from Pennsylvania to help. Please join activist around the country and contact Rep. Oliver. Messages shouldn’t take more than two sentences. HB 1978 deserves a hearing! Restore adoptee civil rights in Pennsylvania in 2010! Call, fax, or email Rep. Oliver now. Rep. Frank Louis Oliver, ChairPennsylvania House Health and Human ServicesPO Box 202195Harrisburg, PA 17120-2195Phone: 717-787-3480Fax: [email protected] Bastard Nation is not affiliated with PAR and HB 1978 is not a Bastard Nation bill. We, however, support the action and endorse Continue Reading →

NCFA Names Chuck Johnson Permanent Prez

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The National Council for Adoption today announced the appointment of Chuck Johnson as its permanent CEO and president. Johnson has been Acting President since April when Mary Robinson, after a few inglorious months in office, left the position unannounced and from my perspective, unmissed. Johnson also held the post of acting prez after Tom Atwood resigned in November 2008. He is the former director of NCFA’s Infant Adoption Training Initiative. Johnson’s appointment marks the end (so-to-speak) of NCFA’s transformation into the nicer kinder NuNCFA, bereft of Piercian existentialism, angst and cranksterism. NuNCFA, for better or worse (it’s easier to kick them around for worse) is more concerned with international and foster adoption and Beltway politics than calling Bastard Nation anarchists and terrorists and “birthdads” drive-by sperm donors, and locking pregnant unmarrieds in closets. We seriously doubt that Johnson has been booted out of Congressional offices or in times of high snit, has orchestrated a dirty tricks campaign against John McCain or other blowhard politicians. As Johnson said to me at one point ,”Folks want to work with us again.” Well, not everyone, Chuck! But enough to take NCFA off the endangered species list. In other words, NuNCFA has corporatized and Continue Reading →

Support Bastardette’s Family! Blatant Plug for Mark Jennings Reese

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This isn’t about adoption …but… I’m making a blatant plug here for my nephew, comedy writer and comedian Mark Jennings Reese. Marko is the son my late bio brother, Mark Reese, and one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. Of course, he wasn’t performing when I met him, but if he’s that funny in real life, I figure he must be funny on the stage, too. Marko will appear on the Tobyriffic Show Friday night on Albuquerque Cable Access 27. You can watch him live if you’re in the area, or on the ‘net, if not. Here’s his invitation from Facebook: Mark invited you to The Tobyriffic Show and says “Friday night at 8PM MDT / 10PM Eastern, you can see me bring the funny LIVE. If you live in Albuquerque, you can see this from COMCAST Cable Access Channel 27. Anywhere else, you can see this from http://www.facebook.com/l/baf2a;quote-unquote.org.” (The last link takes you to the live stream) Support Bastardette’s Family! It took long enough to find them! Watch Marko live and for free.When he’s rich and famous and doing the Bellagio, you can say you saw him when…

Erggkkk! Bastardette is Back! I Think…

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July has been unintended down time. It didn’t start out to be that way, but travel, the horrible heat ( air conditioning only in my bedroom and I hate typing in bed) and a yukky mystery ailment that’s kept my hands, arms, legs and feet (but not my middle) red, welty, blistery, scratchy, and scabby, reduced me to spending my time developing a relationship with re-runs of of Bones, NCSI and Mad Men marathons. I’m back now. I think. The mystery ailment is not as severe and the weather is cooler. If Don Draper can come back, then I can. I don’t even need a prostitute to slap me around to get me here. Besides, there’s is so much to say. I’ve been mulling over where to begin on my review of the Evan B. Donaldson’s double dealing For the Records 2, Then, there’s my trip to the Annual National Council for Adoption Conference (beware of Elizabeth I’m-a-Progressive Bartholet, the Evil Witch of Harvard). And how about that nutty op-ed in the Times of Trenton under the signature of the troglodyte New Jersey Coalition to Defend Privacy in Adoption: Open birth records will mean fewer adoptions that is almost enough Continue Reading →

Ivan Skorobogtov/Nathaniel Craver Update

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I have obtained new information on the Ivan Skorobogtov/Nathaniel Craver murder case. Ivan/Nathaniel was adopted from Dom Rebyonka #9 in Troitsk, Chelyabinsk region. He was placed through Lutheran Social Services of the South, Austin, Texas. LSS lost its accreditation on May 20, 2005 and closed its Russian program. The adoption took place when LSS was accredited. These changes are in the updated on Forever Family – Forever Dead. On June 14, the Michael and Nanette Craver pled not guilty to all charges at their arraignment hearing. Defense attorney Gerald Lord says he has no idea when the case will go to trial. It may start as late as next year.In May, York County Senior deputy prosecutor Jennifer Russell, citing Vanya’s age and the state’s contention that his death constituted torture, said she would seek the death penalty. The Russian government is watching the case closely.

No Justice for Masha: Part 937

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Masha Allen continues to pawned through the US justice system. James Marsh reported today on his ChildLaw Blog that Masha Allen’s federal lawsuit has been dismissed due to, of all things, “failure to properly plead a basis for federal jurisdiction.” I don’t know the details but according to Marsh:Despite the trenchant involvement of a reconstructed legal team consisting of much-sought after guardian ad litem Cambria County bankruptcy attorney Timothy J. Sloan (who replaced Masha’s former mother Faith Allen as lead plaintiff), Georgia attorneys David S. Bills (who blogs anonymously about Masha’s case at poundpuplegacy.org), William Q. Bird and Darren Summerville (who were originally hired by Faith Allen who reportedly now lives in Georgia), and Pennsylvania First Amendment attorney Thomas Vecchio (who replaced renowned Philadelphia attorney Robert N. Hunn who withdrew under protest last year), Masha “did not oppose (and consents to) dismissal [of the lawsuit] without prejudice on ground of lack of subject matter jurisdiction.” . 27 lawyers have been involved in this case, and still Masha can’t get one splinter of justice. (Where are all those politicians who vowed to help her?) She turns 18 in August and will be out from under the thumb of the state then, Continue Reading →

NEW JERSEY UPDATE: Adoptees’ Birthright Bill Reported Shelved Until Fall–But Act Now to Kill It

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Unofficial word (that is, it’s not on the New Jersey Leg website yet) is that the Adoptees’ Birthright Bill has been shelved until fall. According to news distributed earlier today to various lists, rumors of Gov. Chris Christie’s possible veto are very real. (Once it appears, I’ll link the official notice of postponement here.) *NOTE–I received official notice this morning. (see end of blog) The following message came from NJCare under Pam Hasegawa’s signature. It reads in part: From: Pam Hasegawa To: jersey Ad-v cates. Jersey Ad-vocates , NJad pt _network , A N S Adopti n-N ws-S rvice , Ad ption Umbrell After consulting with prime sponsors and other co-sponsors we reached a consensus that it is in our best interest to avoid a veto or conditional veto by the Governor. With at least one meeting scheduled with the Governor’s staff next month, the Adoptees’ Birthright Bill was removed from the board list of bills to be considered by the Assembly this Thursday. Actually, Thursday has become a committee meeting day and the final vote on the budget will be next Monday. Then recess until September. We will continue through the summer reaching out to legislators who have reservations, Continue Reading →

BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERT: Please Write New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Veto SCS799.1399

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BASTARD NATION ACTION ALERTPlease distribute freely! Please take a minute to write short letter to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and ask him to veto SCS799/1399 if it reaches his desk. The bill passed out of the Human Services Committee on June 14. (NOTE: These are the numbers used by proponents. Two bills have been consolidated and are also known as SCS1406). SCS799/1399, promoted as an Adoptee’s Birthright Bill, sells adoptees down the river, by creating a new, special 12-month temporary ”veto right” for “birthparents;” thus, exempting the state’s adopted adults from equal protection and treatment regarding the release of the government-generated public record of their births. Promoters of the bill have co-opted the language of the real adoptee rights movement and real obc access laws by equating their bill to Oregon’s law, which through ballot initiative, restored the right of all that state’s adoptees to the unrestricted right to their own original birth certificates. New Jersey is a key state. If this restrictive legislation is enacted serious harm to the genuine adoptee rights movement throughout the country could occur. Read SCS799/1399 hereRead SCS799/1399 statement here SCS799/1399: *includes a 12- month open enrollment period, starting after the Department of Health Continue Reading →