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Kola_boof AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Kola_boof
Post Number: 3783 Registered: 02-2005
Rating: Votes: 2 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 12:42 am: |
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By Christopher Thompson LILONGWE (Reuters) - Human rights groups in Malawi will seek a court injunction on Monday to stop pop star Madonna from proceeding with the adoption of a one-year-old boy in the impoverished African nation. Malawian law prohibits adoptions by non-residents, but officials are granting an exemption or waiver to Madonna, who has confirmed her intention to adopt the child who lives in a dilapidated orphanage near the Zambian border. The legal challenge would come less than a week after Malawi's High Court granted the entertainer and her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie an interim order allowing them to take custody of a boy identified as David Banda. The couple, who arrived in Malawi on October 4 on what was described as a humanitarian trip, left on Friday without the child, who did not have a passport. They departed amid growing criticism within the former British colony to the adoption. Eye of the Child, the leading child advocacy group in Malawi, said on Saturday the request for an injunction would be filed in a magistrate's court in the capital Lilongwe on behalf of about five dozen non-governmental organisations. "They (government) haven't followed the law. What has happened is a shortcut," said Boniface Mandere, a spokesman for Eye of the Child, which is among the groups seeking the injunction. A government spokeswoman declined on Saturday to comment on the impending injunction, the first clear sign of concerted opposition in Malawi to the adoption. One of Banda's relatives has questioned the way the adoption is proceeding. Outside the country, Madonna's visit to Malawi has renewed criticism from those who accuse Western celebrities of using Africa and other parts of the developing world as a platform for misplaced, publicity-fuelled altruism. Madonna spent most of her time in Malawi visiting orphanages and meeting charity workers as part of a campaign to publicise the plight of some 900,000 orphans in this nation of 13 million people, where AIDS has destroyed many families. She has pledged to donate about $3 million (1.6 million pounds) to the campaign to help these children, many of whom are infected with HIV. The effort is being spearheaded by her Raising Malawi charity. The 48-year-old star already has two children. _________ Let's visit pop star, say orphan's relatives THE African family of Madonna’s newly adopted child has demanded an invitation to her multi-million-pound mansions to check on his welfare and living conditions, write Steven Swinford and Christopher Thompson. Pofera Banda, the baby’s uncle, expressed concern that the singer was “taking advantage” of his family. He said they wanted to come to England to see the baby’s new home. His criticism came after Madonna was granted a controversial adoption order for David, a 13-month old boy from a Malawi orphanage, on Thursday. He may fly to Britain to begin his new life this week. His uncle said: “What I want to know is that if this child is taken, as we’ve been told, when will our child be visiting us? When will we visit him? How much contact will there be between us and him? “We want to find out the benefit of the adoption to this family. We have seen other parents who have had their children adopted still living in poverty. They have not seen their children, all they see is pictures. We don’t want that to happen to this family. “If the child is going with Madonna we want our brother Yohame (the baby’s father) to go and see where he is staying. If that is not going to happen then as a family we are saying the child should not go. People have taken advantage of my brother because he has little education. I am saying this because in our family I am the only one who can read and write.” David’s mother died days after giving birth to him in a mud hut 13 months ago. His father took the boy to an orphanage because he couldn’t afford to buy him milk. He said that when he met the singer he told her: “I want you to keep this boy, raise him, educate him — but you have to know he is my son and he is a Malawian.” But there is increasing concern about the legality of the adoption. Eye of the Child, Malawi’s main children’s rights group, will tomorrow apply for an injunction to delay the adoption order. It is illegal for foreign nationals to adopt a Malawian child, but Madonna has been granted an interim order and special waiver to help her circumvent the law. A spokesman for Madonna, who was back in Britain and believed to be celebrating the 10th birthday of her daughter Lourdes, was unavailable for comment yesterday.
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Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 6690 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 06:23 am: |
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If I'm reading this correctly, relatives of the child are challenging the adoption PRIMARILY because THEY desire to receive some sort of compensation from Madonna. Is THAT a fair and valid reason to thwart the adoption? The father put the child in an ORPHANAGE because he couldn't feed it. His brother claims he can neither read nor write. And he's alleged to have WILLINGLY offered the child to Madonna. I am HARDLY a fan of Madonna the singer and person (and she should be drawn/quartered for her acting). But, honestly, this article AFFIRMS to me that Madonna should be allowed to adopt the kid. |
Urban_scribe AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Urban_scribe
Post Number: 148 Registered: 05-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 08:01 am: |
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This reminds me of an episode on My Wife and Kids where "Jr. Kyle" knocked-up his teenage girlfriend and the girl's poor, ghetto-ass parents felt that since the "Kyle" family was well-off and since the son impregnated their daughter, that meant the "Kyles" were duty-bound to take care of the ENTIRE family. Love her or hate her, Madonna doesn't need this bullshit. Let that child STAY in the dilapidated orphanage where he'll either starve to death young. Or grow up uneducated, malnourished, and impoverished (like his family). Rather than all the things that Madonna and her husband can offer him - good health, the best opportunities in life, and the best education at the best schools (Madonna's daughter attends an exclusive European boarding school and speaks perfect French, Spanish, Italian and English - and she's only 10). Rather than this boy's family being greedy, looking out for THEIR OWN interests, and seeing Madonna and her husband as their meal ticket, they ought to be glad that at least one of them will be afforded the chance to have a better life. And if Madonna and Ritchie get some publicity out of this - BIG DEAL. The amount of publicity CAN NEVER compare to their raising and providing for a child, whom they have NO obligation to, until he is a legal adult - another 17 years from now. Plus, in Great Britain, 21 is the recognized age of adulthood. So, now we can add on 3 MORE YEARS. AND - once he becomes an adult, most likely he'll end up with a big fat trust fund compliments of Madonna and Ritchie - NOT his blood relatives. But based on little David's family's actions, could anyone blame Madonna and Ritchie if they just say fuck the whole thing and keep it moving? Why doesn't Kobe Bryant go to Africa and adopt some Black children? How 'bout Bill Cosby? Quincy Jones? Maya Angelou? Toni Morrison? Halle Berry? Beyonce? Jay-Z? Diddy? Russell Simmons? 50 Cent? Shaq? Y'know who IS adopting Black children and no one ever gives him props for it - Katt Williams! Mr. "Pimp 32/Never in the histoy of Niggerdom" himself. Williams has 9, count 'em NINE, children - only ONE is his biological son. The other EIGHT are all Black and Latino children who HE ADOPTED. And he isn't even as rich or as famous as all of the above named celebs. So, what's their excuse? Hmmm... Once again, "niggers" love talking shit about Whitey helping them (Oh, they're just doing it for publicity/"White guilt") but don't want to do shit to help themselves or each other. You mean this boy's family can't pool together what they have, get him out of that orphanage, and take care of him - like family is supposed to? No, they want to ride on Madonna's coattails and talk shit about her at the same time. Madonna, girl, go get you an Asian baby and spare yourself the bullshit. |
Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 6697 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: Votes: 1 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 08:20 am: |
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Urban_scribe, I REMEMBER that episode of My Wife & Kids. The girl’s parents were loud, obnoxious and intrusive. The father looked like some steroid-injected behemoth. That was amongst my favorite MW&K episodes. I agree with EVERYTHING you said here. Who the hell cares that Madonna (and other celebrity) are trading charity to garner goodwill and favorable PR. If the balance of what they do is POSITIVE, that is all that is important. I hope Madonna hangs in there and gets and loves the kid. And it is interesting that WHITE celebrities appear more inclined to adopt poor/starving African children. But, hell, most of the time African Americans act like they don't like or want the kids they helped MAKE. So it does NOT surprise me that Black celebrities are visibly ABSENT in markets of adopting African kids. Much LOVE to Katt Williams for helping to make up for (many) other foks mistakes. |
Mzuri "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 1942 Registered: 01-2006
Rating: Votes: 1 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 01:35 pm: |
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Madonna's adopted baby's father tells how he was powerless to stop her By Angella Johnson Last updated at 10:59am on 15th October 2006 The father of the little boy adopted by Madonna in Malawi has described his feelings of confusion and powerlessness in the face of the singer's determination to take his only surviving child away. Peasant farmer Yohane Banda, who can barely read or write, admitted he didn't fully understand what was happening when he went to court on Thursday in his best clothes to see for the first and only time the woman who was offering his 13-month-old son David a new life in the West. All he knew, as he sat in his dirt-stained cotton trousers, a check shirt and his treasured black denim jacket at the High Court in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi, was that the slight, blonde woman standing before him in a simple black dress and black knee-high boots was hoping to take his boy away. Yohane's court ordeal will further intensify criticism that Madonna had flown into the poor African country and used her wealth and celebrity status to try to steamroller authorities into granting a fast-track adoption. For despite the court issuing an interim custody order, it seems Madonna is yet to start the complicated legal proceedings necessary in Britain to adopt a child. If she does not complete the procedures, she could face a jail sentence of 12 months. In Malawi, where the law prohibits adoptions by non-residents, human rights groups have stepped up their campaign to prevent David being taken away. The charity Malawi's Eye Of The Child will tomorrow seek an injunction opposing the adoption. Meanwhile Yohane, 31, whose wife Marita, 28, died a week after their son was born, was left to reflect on the confusing events of his day in court with Madonna. Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, he said: "She was smiling a lot. She told me, 'Your son is very beautiful and he makes me very happy. I promise to take very good care of him.' "I looked directly into her eyes and said, 'Although I am giving you my son I want you to look after him well as he is the only one I possess. I want you to keep this boy, raise him, educate him - but you have to know he is my son and he is a Malawian.' "Then she thanked me for surrendering my child into her care. She said: 'I could not have taken him if you had not wholeheartedly consented.'" The 30-minute court hearing was conducted in English, with Yohane taking part through a translator. "I sat directly opposite Madonna and we looked at each other face to face throughout the meeting," Yohane said. "I was looking into her eyes and I could tell from them that she was a good lady." He confessed he had been nervous and overawed by his surroundings, and bewildered by the speed at which his baby had been put up for adoption. "It has all been very crazy. Everything has happened so fast. I can't believe what is happening." But he added: "In court I did understand that I was agreeing to give the baby up for adoption." Yohane, who left school at 12, said he had not been able to understand the nine-page document written in English which was presented to him in his village home by Reverend Thompson Chipeta, a retired preacher who runs the Home Of Hope Orphan Care Centre in Mchinji, a town near Malawi's Zambian border, where David lived. Yohane told how David had been in the orphanage since his mother died. The intention was that he would one day return to live at home. But it appears David was offered for adoption without his father's knowledge when his picture was sent, along with those of 12 other "suitable", boy babies, by e-mail to Madonna. Yohane said the first he knew about the adoption was on September 30, when two officials from Malawi's Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare came to the village. He said: "They told me a mzungu (white foreigner) had seen a picture of David and liked him very much. "They said she wanted to adopt and take him to America. They said that she would give him a better life. "At first I wasn't very sure. I asked if it meant that I would never see him again. "They said I would be sent pictures and when David was older he would be able to visit the village." "My family and I agreed that this was a very good opportunity for David to get an education and grow up healthy. "There were some minor disagreements about his Malawian culture but we said yes." Yohane had never heard of Madonna, or her raunchy songs. He was told only that she was "a very nice Christian lady". It was never explained that Madonna is in fact deeply involved with the Kabbalah sect. But it is clear that once she arrived in Malawi on October 4, when she hoped to collect David, Yohane felt swept up in what by then appeared to be a relentless process. He said: "I had taken David to the orphanage because my wife had died and he was sick and we could not care for him. My other two sons had passed away from malaria while they were still young - one was almost three and one just over a year old. When David became very sick I didn't know how to cope. "I am a single man with no experience of these things. My in-laws, who live in Zambia, did not want him and my extended family is too poor to take him in. "I was scared he would die like my other children so I took him where he could be looked after properly. I felt very sore in my heart, but I could think of no other way. "He was one month and seven days old. The orphanage made me sign a letter to show that I was handing him over to their charge, but I suppose deep in my heart I always imagined that when he was better, or I had got another wife, I would go and take him back. I did not think anyone would want to take him away. "But I was persuaded by Rev Chipeta. He said that I was to hold fast and not waver in my decision. "He said many people would come to the village and tell me things but that I should go ahead and let the woman have my son - that it was the best thing for David's future." Even if Yohane had been able to read the documents relating to the proposed adoption, it is possible he would not have understood their legal implications. A simple man, he spends his days tending a tiny vegetable garden, caring for a handful of scrawny goats and growing maize, which he sells in local markets. To make extra money he carves wooden handles for hoses, axes and other tools used by subsistence farmers like himself. Around him run ragged children. Everyone here is poor beyond the imagination of most Westerners. Yohane's 56-year-old mother, Athnet Mwale, explained: "No-one here could take care of David. He needed good milk and nutrition. We are too poor even to properly feed ourselves. "When we sent him away it wasn't because we did not want him. It was because we could not look after him." Now Yohande's younger brother Jeffrey and other family members have written a letter to the orphanage protesting that David could be taken out of the country by a "rich white donor". It pleads that the baby must be brought up "knowing his Malawian culture". It all leaves David the innocent victim of a legal stalemate. With Madonna unable to bring the baby home without the appropriate paperwork and the Malawian authorities unable to let him leave, he remains at the luxury Kumbali Lodge, where Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie stayed during their visit. There is believed to be a wet nurse, a driver and a male bodyguard all in attendance and according to sources, a leading child psychologist flew into the country with Madonna and is still there with the child. Meanwhile Yohane still struggles to come to terms with what he has done. He says he has received no money in connection with the adoption of his child, but there is a sense that this committed Christian, who sang with his late wife in the local church choir, has a niggling suspicion that what has happened is not right. Certainly he has never behaved like a man who willingly abandoned his son. For the past nine months he has visited his son whenever he could - regularly cycling the 25 miles from his home in the village to the orphanage along treacherous dirt and stone tracks more suited to rugged four wheel drive vehicles. He said: "I would bring him food from my garden, then sit and play with him for a while. I wanted him to know that I was his father, that I love him very much. "He is my only child still living and I think of him as a gift from God. He is also the best memory I have left of my wife." David was one of around 100 babies being cared for at the Home of Hope. But it was he who Madonna selected to share her opulent lifestyle, taking only slightly longer to make her choice, according to one acerbic critic, "than she would to select a new handbag". Sources at the orphanage told The Mail on Sunday that almost immediately after landing in Malawi, Madonna had rushed to see the child. One said: "The first thing she did was move David and his nanny into a private room. She said she had been excited during her flight at the prospect of seeing him for the first time. "She was so wrapped up in her baby. She said he had lovely hair and cooed over his dark skin. Guy was there, but he said nothing and kept in the background. He didn't hold the baby. "Madonna carried David out in her arms and seemed very happy. Her smile was very big she said, 'Oh he's beautiful I just adore him'. I didn't see her husband hold him at all." Staff at the luxury lodge reported that Madonna and her husband had slept in separate beds and would put the baby's cot between them at night during their stay. Guy held the baby only occasionally, but Madonna was seen walking with him strapped to her back in a fabric sling, Malawian style. Two days after Madonna arrived, Yohane received a message from the orphanage. He said: "They wanted to know if I was still happy to go ahead as the lady donor who wanted David had come to take him. "I said yes. The person said I should not leave the village as I needed to sign some papers." The Rev Chipeta met Yohane on October 7 to explain what would happen next. Yohane said: "He said I would have to go into Lilongwe and fill in some papers. I still didn't know the name of the woman. "He just said she was a good Christian lady, who does a lot of charity work and also supported the orphanage. "I asked if David could come to the village, one last time, so we could say goodbye. "Rev Chipeta brought him the next day. It was Sunday and he was with his nanny. "We killed a goat and had a small ceremony. There were tears and also happiness, because we feel he will come back to us one day." It was only last Monday, after this newspaper was the first to track down Yohane at his remote village, that he learned the identity of his child's benefactor. He had never heard of her. Perhaps it is not surprising. Lipunga, the village where he lives has no electricity or lavatories and baths are pits dug on the outskirts of the settlement. Children, clad in rags, are covered in the red dirt that blows over the mountain range from Zambia, their faces smothered with the remains of dried food. There are no obvious signs of hunger, but nor is there any indication that anyone here owns anything of any value. Yohane said he wanted his son raised with Christian values. And he had been repeatedly reassured that everything was being done in David's best interests. "I suppose that I don't have any say in what happens to him now," he said. "But Madonna's lawyer told me at the court David would be brought at regular intervals for visits to Malawi. "So I am sure I will see him. Maybe she will bring him to the village. "He will always be in my heart. I hate to see him leave Malawi but I have come to accept the loss. "The government people told me it would be a good thing for the country. He will come back educated and able to help us, that will be a good thing." Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4104 51&in_page_id=1770 |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5571 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 12:33 am: |
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WTF. If Madonna wants to rescue a child from the dire poverty of his circumstances, what's the big deal? If the kid's father has a problem with this, then let him take the child back and Madonna can go petition the DCFS in this country and pick out a "cute" little black toddler to raise and convert to Khabbalism. |
Enchanted Regular Poster Username: Enchanted
Post Number: 145 Registered: 11-2005
Rating: Votes: 2 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 01:52 am: |
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I hear the cost of living in Malawai is $980 a year. Why doesn't she just give the father some money so that the child's family who already loves him can take care of him if she's so concerned with the child's welfare? Wouldn't that be the best thing for the kid? The kid has a grandma and uncles and a dad.
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Moonsigns Veteran Poster Username: Moonsigns
Post Number: 1565 Registered: 07-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 12:26 pm: |
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Leave her alone. Considering the circumstances, the child will (obviously) have a far better life than his family ever could of imagined --or provided. And, WTF ever about the family wanting to come check out the "living conditions" of the little one, once he lives with Madonna --Please --like it's going to be worse than that rotten orphanage he was left to die in. Madonna can send pictures.
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Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 6703 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 12:31 pm: |
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Enchanted, Maybe when Malawains figure out a way to take care of themselves, there will be much less justification and support for foreign, cross-cultural adoption. |
Nolanfane Regular Poster Username: Nolanfane
Post Number: 346 Registered: 09-2006
Rating: Votes: 2 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 03:14 pm: |
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I'm with Enchantress. Isn't there a kid without so many relatives needing adoption? If Madonna's heart is so big then why not give old dude money to raise his son in his own family? I was all for this until I read it's just a matter of a poor family. She could really help this boy with helping his family out. Isn't she building a $3 million orphan there? What's $980 extra to help a family stay together?
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Yvettep Veteran Poster Username: Yvettep
Post Number: 1365 Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 05:07 pm: |
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If Madonna wants to rescue a child from the dire poverty of his circumstances That is the thing. I do not believe this is her primary objective. I believe she wanted to add a child to her family, primarily, and this is the means by which she chose to do it. There is nothing wrong in that. But to recast this as a charitable mission is, I think, a tad naive. In another vein, in my professional capacity I would have to wonder about the psychological development of a child growing up in a family (especially with other sibs, biologically related to his parents) who is repeatedly given the impression that he is a family member because he has been "rescued." How should such a child come to see himself? His parents? Other Malawians? Does the child have obligations of "gratitude" to Madonna and spouse that her/their biologically-related children do not? Interesting questions, from clinical, research, and policy-making perspectives. |
Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique
Post Number: 5591 Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, October 16, 2006 - 06:10 pm: |
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Well, one of the fringe benefits of any kid adopted by Madonna will be that such a child will be very far removed from the direness of poverty. I would agree, however, that the material benefits do not take precedence over the spiritual ones to be gained from being taken into a loving family circle that will be sensitive to the needs of an adopted child. Still, it's not like blond, blue-eyed babies adopted by blonde blue-eyed parents don't also grow up and want to know about their roots and biological parents. |
Chrishayden AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 2854 Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 20, 2006 - 12:33 pm: |
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It is de rigeur for these Hollywood types to do this--they won't ever have to deal with him--nannies and others will raise him and they will have the tax write offs and pr they need. |
Lil_ze Veteran Poster Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 559 Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 20, 2006 - 06:16 pm: |
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madonna is just an celebrity who's fame is slowly fading, this adoption is just another attempt to keep her name in the press. madonna is truly a pathetic example of a so-called star who is desperate to maintain her a-list celebrity status. i wonder why these so-called celebrities never adopt black american children? "hey look at me, ive adopted a black child from africa". "ain't i a great human"? madonna go f yourself!!!!!! |
Ntfs_encryption "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1033 Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 - 01:49 am: |
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"hey look at me, ive adopted a black child from africa". "ain't i a great human"? So? I could care less what her motivations are. As long as a child who is destined to live a life of destitution and poverty is rescued and given a better life, her politics are moot. SAVE THE CHILD AND OFFER IT A BETTER LIFE. What are you doing for that child or any other impoverished starving black African orphan? You and all the others who have issues with her adoption are not going to do one thing for this child -not one thing! She is. E’nuff said…..
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Abm "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Abm
Post Number: 6721 Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 - 09:36 am: |
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Ntfs, DITTO!!! |
Ntfs_encryption "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Ntfs_encryption
Post Number: 1043 Registered: 10-2005
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 - 05:38 pm: |
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"Maybe when Malawains figure out a way to take care of themselves, there will be much less justification and support for foreign, cross-cultural adoption." Bro -you just took truth to another level....!!!!!!! I think you just closed this post out with that comment.
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Lil_ze Veteran Poster Username: Lil_ze
Post Number: 562 Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, October 21, 2006 - 05:53 pm: |
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madonna could support 100 families in malawi, for life instead of adopting this one child. she is just out for publicity. as far as what I'M doing for starving african orphan children? im not doing A DAM THING. nor would i ever. if these african children are starving, thats their PROBLEM. i don't care about them. never have, and i NEVER will. i still can express my views about an aging has- been who loves the lime-light so much she adopts african children to keep her name in the press. madonna could "save" hundreds of these starving african children if she wanted to, not just one. she is a self serving has-been. |
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