Angelina Jolie Visits Iraq

Thanks for the thread Just Jared. AJ is a woman that I admire. Her commitment to her UN duties shows a woman of character. She sets a path and follows it. Many shallow and trivial Hollywood actresses can learn from AJ. She will always be a controversial figure because many cannot get pass her looks,her so called past, her family or her relationship. However, AJ ignores the buzz around her and continue to do her work. I wish the people of Iraq particularly the Refugees aid for their plight and I wish the soldiers fighting in Iraq a safe return home. Best wishes to BAMPZS and peace to all.

#390: if you’re new to JJs then that would be a shock since everybody here knew that already. Whatcha trying to do now, have me deny it?

Adopting a ‘Brangelina’ Standard
BY ALICIA COLON
August 28, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/61453

The “Brangelina” brood hit Manhattan last week and was assaulted by the paparazzi, tourists, and the ignorant, who think nothing about invading the privacy of a celebrity family. Naturally, anonymous Web posters spewed their hateful envy on various entertainment forums and inevitably one nastily inquired why Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt didn’t adopt American orphans. But, according to a terrific book, “The Baby Thief: The Untold Story of Georgia Tann, the Baby Seller Who Corrupted Adoption,” by Barbara Bisantz Raymond, adopting in America hasn’t always been the safest option.

Recently, New York was rocked by the arrest of Judith Leekin, who allegedly collected nearly $3 million in an adoption scam that began in the 1970s with two foster boys in Queens. She subsequently adopted several disabled New York children and was under investigation for alleged cruelty when she fled to Florida. The teenage children in her care were found in what police in Port St. Lucie, Fla., reportedly called a house of horrors.

Before reading about the case, I had no idea that the city made supplemental payments after children are adopted, but there is a lot about this case that appears to confound even the authorities. After Ms. Leekin’s arrest, the city’s Administration for Children’s Services scrambled to explain how she had been allowed to take the children in while using different names. The ACS said the adoptions had taken place before the policy of taking fingerprints from adoptive parents to verify their identity was introduced in 1999. The authorities in Florida have asked a New York Family Court judge to unseal the adoption records in the hopes they may shed some light on the alleged scam. Four adoption agencies are believed to be involved, but until the documents that have been requested — birth certificates and caseworker reports — are obtained, they can’t identify the agency or agencies that did the placements.

The scandal is eerily familiar to what has been uncovered about “baby thief” Georgia Tann. I met the author of the new book that tells the thief’s story, Ms. Raymond, a Queens resident who is herself an adoptive mother, and was shocked to learn the implications of Tann’s crimes, even though they occurred decades ago. Ms. Raymond told me Tann was involved in more than 1,000 adoptions in New York.

Tann was a highly respected director of an orphanage in Memphis, Tenn., who used her position to oversee more than 30 years of baby-stealing, baby-selling, and abuse. While she is credited with popularizing the worthy undertaking of adoption, she corrupted the mission by arranging adoptions for profit to the rich, the famous, and the unfit to parent. Joan “No Wire Hangers!” Crawford was one of her clients, and we all have heard from her two adopted children just how unfit a mother she was.

Tann operated between the 1920s and 1950s under the auspices of a Memphis mayor, Edward Hull Crump, and employed a wide network that included judges, attorneys, and social workers whom she would bribe with “free babies.” These children came to her after being seen by “spotters” who either targeted babies ripe for abduction or located desperate single women seeking a better future for their child.

Many of the birth certificates she provided as part of the adoption process were altered, and she was the chief force behind the legislation that sealed these records. Tann and her cohorts convinced the powers that be that her stolen and kidnapped children, as well as all other legally or illegally adopted children, should be forevermore barred from accessing the simple facts of their birth that most people take for granted.

Ms. Raymond told me her daughter has met her biological mother and that, although it may be painful for adoptive parents, they should support their search. I asked her if opening the adoption records would discourage adoptions. “On the contrary,” she said, “Alaska and Kansas are the only two states that have always allowed adoptees access to their birth certificates and adoptions there have increased.”

Tennessee passed a law in 1996 that allows access to birth records. Since then, five other states have passed similar laws. According to Ms. Raymond, open records bills are pending in seven more states, including New York.

I recommend her book to our Legislature because while the Brangelina children know the answer to “Who am I?” every other adopted child here deserves to have that answer as well.

422 the real tita

BaZing!! You got me with the “i know you are but what am i” come back! Impressive!

Nutjob.

349 Shimizu Love : 08/28/2007 at 4:22 pm

ROTFLMAO. Yeah…Angie’s hiding her natural urges so much that people can only name ONE woman Angie’s had an affair with…but they accuse her of sleeping with every MAN she meets. You’re as big a liar as your namesake.

426 Passing Through

AND YET, i couldn’t give two shts if you take me seriously.

That would be like trying to impress a paint-huffer with a Shakespear reading.

the real tita-
ignore these trolls. They woke up in the wrong side of the bed and found out about the goodwills of the UNHCR and that really pissed them off. When they have nothing else to say because their brains are so stupid it hurts them miserably, they take you as a new bait. It freshens up their small brain to be ready to rumble. They hate smart people, you know… like Cliniqua and others. Don’t be fooled (I know you are not), their games is to try to win (which they won’t).
Jolie-Pitt fans know better!!!!! That’s for sure.

God Bless Angelina Jolie! God Speed coming home.

She is proud to be an American. She visited the troops in Iraq to boost their morals. Ange is a very rare breed, not so many Hollywood stars will do what Ange did. She is one brave lady. Others see it as her photo op., they didn’t realize that it’s not publicity, it’s because she cares so much about these refugees & our US troops in Iraq.
Maybe, X can volunteer too, but no she rather go out to dinner with her friends & go on vacation & just don’t care about the world.
So proud of you Ange.

Santa Angelina!

I think civilians should not be allowed to go into Iraq. It is way too volatile and dangerous. What the hell in wrong with ouR government allowing this. THERE IS A WAR GOING ON OVER THERE!

411 Please! : 08/28/2007 at 5:05 pm

It’s a dam shame that some stupid “comedic” actress kept postponing having a baby because she was “busy’ with her stupid show. Meanwhile Angelina has managed to have a bio baby and adopted another son all the while filming and giving an amazing performance in AMH, going on a heavy press tour, traveling for the UNHCR twice including this trip, filming two new movies, attending red carpet events, laughing at tabloid reports and being Brad Pitt’s love. When you have a passion and desire in your life, you find away to multitask as best you can.

============

Exactly !!!!

You know, I’m impressed how much Angie enjoys her kids and never seems to get mad with them, even though i’m sure they can be a handful. Wish I can say the same about my own mother LOL…

#411
Have you ever considered that JA doesn’t want to have children? Whether you have 10 kids or none, it’s your own choice and this is not a calling that every woman receives but it doesn’t make you a worse person if you don’t.

Ange should have perhaps covered up a litle more out of respect for the cultures of these countries. As tourists to these countries we are required to do so and I don’t see why she should be excused from it.

thanks for the news Jared