blah, tired of it

I'm over this

But the good thing is that it is calling attention to the problems you can be faced when adopting. It's not all easy

blah blah blah.. Madonna will do anything for PR. She is such a hag in my eyes. A sell out as well. The 80's Madonna rocked!! The new 80 year old Madonna SU%KS!!

YAWN!
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The baby in my belly made me do it I swear.

Boring.

Even if it is for PR, at least something good will (hopefully) eventually come out of it...

Totally agree, Felice. Who cares what her motives are so long as this little boy has a chance at life? That's what really matters.

And Malawi law prohibits NON RESIDENT ADOPTIONS. She circumvented their laws.

Blah for her
~*~Life was Simpler back then~*~

She's evil to the core. Medusa should not be allowed around children at all.

she is evil?...wtf is wrong with ppl?

she is doing a good thing. that kid would have been f*cked if he lived in that terrible place. now he has a bright future.

CNN said there are over 900,000 orphans in Malawi. If the country wanted to make an exception for someone who obviously has the means to provide the boy with adequate food, shelter, and education, then I think they have the right to.

I don't see how anyone could think the boy would be better off to stay in the Malawian orphanage.

You think it's better to take a kid away from his blood relatives and raise him in a strange country, away from people of his culture, who speak his native language, and raise him in a different religion? Lots of money is not always the best answer.

If Madonna really cared about his well-being there were a lot of other things she could have done to secure his future that wouldn't have gotten her as much press.

He wasn't living with his blood relatives. He was in an orphanage. And if he is being "raised" it means he is alive. Which is always preferable to dying, in my opinion.

i didn't even read it.

i really don't give a sh*t about madonna

Do you think if she wanted publicity she'd have to adopt a child? Seriously? The woman made $90 million on her tour that lasted only 3 months and had amazing albums sales....if she wanted publicity she wouldnt have to adopt a child.

It's funny that when Angelina, Sharon Stone, and other celebrities adopt their children...everyone praises her and says good for her...and when Madonna does it...it's a publicity stunt.

This child was sent to an orphanage because the remaining parent could not give him a good ( and by good I mean enough food and an education...not $7000 dollar cribs)up bringing. Clearly he realized the son would be better off elsewhere....

Shame on you if you think this is for publicity. At least someone (regardless of who it is) is doing what they can to give a child a better chance.

doesn't it seem mentally ass backwards that this dumb hoser went and adopted a child who still has parents? how thick do you have to be to that? that country is teeming with REAL orphans..kids who have no parents because they died of aids or whatever. what were the rest of them not pretty or good enough? it just seems like she was inviting undue trouble this way...bloody wanker....

CNN said there are over 900,000 orphans in Malawi. If the country wanted to make an exception for someone who obviously has the means to provide the boy with adequate food, shelter, and education, then I think they have the right to.

Then they probably should make an exception for EVERYONE who wants to adopt a child. But they don't.

Exactly siouxsie & Padraigin!

The Dad lost his wife and two other kids to malaria. Whatever he did or didn't understand before, it sounds like he wants his son back now. Does this sound like a Dad who doesn't care:

David's father, still had to pay off the dowry to his deceased wife's family while working full-time on his farm and looking after a newborn baby. In these circumstances, placing the baby in care may have seemed like the best thing to do.

After consulting his mother and the village chief, Yohane decided to send David to an orphanage, cycling twice a week on a borrowed bike to visit his son - a 50-mile (31km) round trip.

As the article points out, the decision to place your own child in an orphanage may seem "callous" in the West, but in Malawi, it's quite the opposite: a selfless act, aimed at giving the child access to opportunities.

Well, if the dad had to put the child in an orphanage then clearly he couldn't take care of him. Many people are adopted who still have one or maybe even both parents. I'll have to watch Oprah for myself tomorrow to get a better understanding of this.

Ginger - If what all you've said turns out to be the facts in this case, then I'm squarely with you. What I don't understand (if those are the facts) is how could Madonna be SO stupid as to get mixed up in this? She could not possibly have thought anyone could look at that situation and not feel something was wrong.

Bewcause Madonna selected the child she wanted and moved heaven and hell to get him out of the country.

david has an illiterate father who put him in an ORPHANAGE [that is messed up]...he may be totally uneducated but surely he must have known what an orphanage is for...what adoption is...you don't just give your kid to a stranger , have them raise/love it for 20 years and then give him back to you.
i am really embarrassed for that man.

David is almost a baby...he won't remember anything about the media circus or Africa-kids bounce back faster then adults. he will adapt and have a bright future ahead of him.

No Dovima, it's not "messed up". He did what he had to do in order to ensure the child had care. Read what Ginger wrote above before judging. If these are the facts, then it's a sad situation.

i just read gingers post and while it is sad, there is a silver lining.

his kid will be so much better off with madge. it would stupid and almost selfish to raise him in poverty. if he really loves his son he must let go and know that he will be given many opportunities to do good in the world through magde's bank account and celebrity.

by adopting him she will inspire other people to adopt kids who are ethnic and not newborns.

I think there hasn't been a ligit interview with the dad anyway. Who knows how he really feels. One day they claim he says he wants his son to be adopted so he can have a better life. The next day they say he says he didn't know what adoption is. I'll wait to see what Oprah says tomorrow and if she had anyone talk to him.

some of you are acting like the orphanage in malawi is the taj majal.. what are his chances of having the life madge can give him zilch to none.. i by no means like her but this kid hit the golden ticket ...this father gave his child the best give he could possibly have in life

dovima, so david could have suffered the same fate as his wife and two other children??? come on now

there are many sad circumstances and it is bittersweet when someone wants to adopt and give your kid a better life...but you can't act surprised after the fact if you signed the papers/put the kid in an orphanage [for whatever reason]

I haven't seen a legitimate, unedited interview by the biological father yet. Some say he would visit David in the orphanage on a regular basis and others say he hadn't visited since he put David in the orphanage when he was 3 weeks old.

And many if not most children worldwide who are living (and dying) in orphanages have living parents and relatives. So David's case is no different than most. Also I seen where some people have argued that Madonna should give David back and finacially support the father. I'm not down with that. That would mean any potential adoptive parent with money should not adopt and instead reunite a kid in an orphanage with his biological parents and support them. This is not the point of adoption.

wow-- i think madge looked pretty good. upper to mid 40s, and she looks it. good for her.

The truth is usually in the middle. Whatever Madonna says on Oprah, how much is the truth and how much is what a media-savvy popstar doing damage control wants us to believe?

There's a detailed story in the UK Guardian about the final weeks of his mom's life. She died six days after he was born. It says the boy's maternal grandparents wanted nothing to do with him once his mother died, but still expected the father to pay the dowry. They've had generations of extreme poverty with few options.

The article also states that the dad is okay with the adoption, although it was written last week, before the claims surfaced that he didn't understand that this was a full on adoption, not just a guardianship arrangement. He talks about his son coming back to visit him in 3-4 years.

There really isn't a happy side to the story. Being raised by Madonna isn't exactly getting a normal childhood.

Ginger, you're right the truth is somewhere in the middle and that's why I will neither condemn the biological father or Madonna and Guy. Also being raised by Madonna may not be a normal childhood but neither is being raised in an orphanage.

i think she should have taken one off that lady oprah had on in africa somewhere...that poor woman was raising like 40 kids...all of whose parents died of AIDS...this is my theory..madonna went to an orphanage looking to adopt. she may be ignorant to the fact that the kid could have had a living biological parent while she was shopping for him. but the fact is when she found out, i don't think she cared. and with the language barrier and a team of PR people and lawyers...that dad may not have known what he was agreeing to or what he was asked when. bottom line: he didn't have a chance. and someone who was really there for the kid's benefit might be sensitive to the fact he might not understand and adopt a kid where the circumstances were clearer and more cut and dry and who most definitely had NOBODY...and i gurantee there aren't a shortage of those kids. she treated it like a shopping trip. she found the kid she wanted and with her ego, thought the ends justified the means because as someone put it that kid was being given a golden ticket. believe it or not, poverty or no, sometimes blood means more. and in other countries...family is more precious and sacred than it is here. and i think it's obvious she didn't take the time to get to really know or understand the culture from which she was adopting- which is also very insensitive and pig-headed. i just think this story shows madonna's arrogance and illustrates how a westerner with a big head but good intentions can really screw things up. bad STARMITZVAH! as john stewart might say:-)

I agree so much with Ginger and Sioxsie that I don't even need to make any comments...

So everyone who lives in poverty should give up their children to strangers? Yeah, the rights of the parents don't matter at all in the grand scheme of the rich and famous.

I love you madge.
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"Amor vincit omnia"

appearing on oprah always gets you sympathy votes. why am i not surprised?
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Don't tick me off. Or you'll get it.

Give me a break.. Madonna in a suit sitting on Oprah's couch.. oh will she use the British accent or not? Madonna tried to reinvent herself.. since when does Madonna care what anyone says about her? I thought that was her thing??? How about not hanging on cross and insulting all the catholics.. Yeah right Madonna does not do anything unless it is for shock and awe. PLLEEEAAASSSEEEE. Yes helping others is so commendable.. but when you bring a camera crew with you.. you have to get the good and the bad press from it. I don't remember seeing AJ, Meg Ryan, or Hugh Jackman bring a camera crew when they adopted their children.

i'm happy for madonna and her new child. i can't believe people are flipping out because she want so save a child's life. now he has a chance for education, he'll have doctors and live past the age of 35.
i think people are just just being judgemental because it's madonna. she hasn't done anything to deserve these awful judgements about her ability to raise children. what she's done is great.

when will this woman retire?

all I have to say is, If David's other 2 siblings died of Malaria, what do you expect would happen to him if he stayed living in the orphanage?

I agree to a point that money and fame should not bend laws, but lets face it, it happns right here in America EVERY DAY. OJ SImpson killed people , and got of because of his fame and money.

The bottom line is that David would moar likely have a terrible , short life in Malawi, and I just can not hate on Madonna for wanting to improve the lives of others.

Corruption for a good cause, to me, is excusable, argue your point, but that life.

no one hates on her for wanting to help kids in africa. but it just seems if that was her true intention...there were much easier ways to do that. she said it herself. she set her mind on that kid. if it was just about saving the life of an african child, she might have realized there could have been problems with him still having a father and adopted another kid who didn't have living parents.