The lazy blogger

Albion Winegar Tourgee. – History you should know. Tourgee served as chief counsel in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation (“separate but equal”).  By the way, I think I’m going to name my rock band “Contemptible Friend.”

‘El Salvador families seek adoption answers’ – What does adoption mean to first parents?

Left alone to bring up four young children, her mother did not know where to turn for help.

Then a brother mentioned a lawyer he knew who arranged adoptions abroad for Salvadorean children. At first Graciela refused to listen, but later acquiesced.

“It was the fear and the uncertainty that convinced me, that and the bombs,” she said quietly. In August of that same year, she travelled to the capital to meet the lawyer and one of the Italian families.

In the lobby of an upmarket hotel, Graciela said farewell first to Silvia, then to Martina.

“The lawyer said they [the adoptive parents] would bring Martina and Silvia back every seven years and would send photos each year. After about a year, a year and a half, I heard nothing,” she said.

A Determined Quest to Bring Adoptive Ties to Foster Teenagers – An interesting read in light of recent events in Haiti:

But scores of foster and adoption agencies around the country have found that assertive efforts relying on the Internet, the telephone, advertisements and, in a some cases like this one, door-to-door questioning by full-time investigators, can turn up dozens of relatives for almost any child. Many of them turn out to be willing to help nieces, nephews and grandchildren they had never seen.“The lost relatives are a largely untapped resource for adoption,” said Melanie Scheetz, director of the nonprofit Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition here, which employs Mr. Lopez. “The system has overlooked all these amazing, strong people who are out there and willing to help.”

Grab one now.

Ten Americans detained by police for taking children across the border.

Updated to add:  Some of the children may not be true orphans:

“I am no orphan” said one 8 year old transportee. Her mother had told her she was going off on a short holiday. The family of five others has arrived at the SOS Children’s Villages with leaflets they had been given when their child was taken, promising a better life with a swimming pool and tennis courts. Some of these children obviously still have parents who appear to have been persuaded to hand over their children under false pretenses. The allegations have to be thoroughly investigated but the Haitian police consider this incident as organised child trafficking. The group runs an adoption camp in the Dominican Republic where prospective parents can come and stay while formal adoption papers are arranged.

What humanitarian parole is for

Two Haitian individuals with serious spinal injuries were brought to Chicago through the efforts of surgeon Daniel Ivankovich.  Ivankovich is pictured below.

Gotta love it.  Now we need to find some of those families who wanted to adopt so that they can take Mr. Suy Bazelais and Ms. Josette Delisca into their homes and hearts.  G-d is calling y’all.

As opposed to the others

So this guy is 50 years old, until recently was unemployed and has no health insurance.  He wrote to a Chicago newspaper reporter after waiting an extremely long time for a medical test through the public health system.  And the reporter apparently managed to snag him an appointment.

So what does the guy have to say?

Howard Zinn, 1922-2010

I didn’t know “A People’s History of the United States” was a “leftist alternative to mainstream texts.“  I loved it for recounting the history I didn’t learn in the classroom.  I also didn’t know that Howard Zinn was a professor at Spelman but was fired.

If you haven’t read “A People’s History,” you should.  And think about a man born in the 1920′s who recognized there was another story to tell.

(My mother’s review of the book:  “Boy!  White people sure do a lot of bad things!”)

Orphans, orphans, orphans!

Those poor orphans!  Gotta save the orphans!  That’s the prevailing narrative coming out of the Haiti disaster.  And yet “orphans” is largely a misnomer.  It’s a word that is used to invoke pity.  Poor parentless children.  But for many of the “orphans” of Haiti, it’s simply not true.

Some of the children were placed in orphanages by their parents.

Their parents.

The thought overwhelms me, as an individual whose wealth and privilege is protective and insulating.  How desperate must a parent be to surrender a child?  Pretty damn desperate.

Go Renée Tajima-Peña!

Renée Tajima-Peña was named a USA Fellow for 2009 by United States Artists, an arts advocacy organization. Perhaps more importantly, she was awarded $50,000 towards her work.  She plans to start right away.  :)

Tajima-Peña is perhaps best known for her documentary Who Killed Vincent Chin?

‘A family in China made babies their business’

From the LA Times.

No … thank … you …

Today, while at the Golden Gate Bridge, I spotted a large group of Asians trying to take a picture. Trying to be a diplomat, I slowly say “You… want me… take picture?” while using hand motions. The man looks at me and says “No thanks asshole, I got it,” in plain English. FML

Gonna get me one

Hope it’s cute.

Well, I just got contacted by somebody who said a bunch of Haitian orphans is expected tonight. And here it isn’t even Christmas. So social services is looking for people to foster them, preferably people who speak French. Only they don’t need to be licensed.

What. The. Fuck. Just hand them out to anybody who wants one.