I have to admit that Kim Kardashian is rather intriguing. The Ipod was nothing more than loading up the old girl songs they thought she’d enjoy. I agree with La Liz….there is no way I’d gush all over ‘royalty’ they are people who by accident of birth got a plushy deal. If anything, they should be rather embarrassed by unearned wealth and waste as billions starve.   

My heart goes out to little Mercy James.  What was that judge thinking. 

The IPod gift was a good idea and a very personal idea and if anyone thinks either Obama sat down and loaded it up is wrong.  I am sure the aids did it but it was still a great gift. 

I think it is sad that little Mercy now has to spend the rest of her life locked away.  Madonna could have given this young girl a great life…hopefully her appeal will be heard and she will be granted custody.

I think its easy to say how you would react IF you ever get the chance to meet royalty…I dont know how I would react. 

Good morning Liz and all.  Poor Madonna - she’s just trying to provide an orphan with love and a shot at a bright future.  It has to be stated that she is not being singled out and run through the mill by the government and others in Malawi she’s just getting the most press.  I am not sure what the inspiration behind the roadblocks to proper adoption to appropriate parents the government creates in Malawi but there is definitely a system that seeks to extend the process out and make it impossible in the end.  Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels is in the news this morning for the very same reason.  He and his wife finally had to give up on the idea of adopting a child in Malawi due to the insanity - they’re now in the process of adopting from Ethiopia.  What a heartbreak for the good people in Malawi - certainly there are many.

Speaking of Philadelphia and Nefertiti - when you visit Philly you might consider visiting the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.  One of the finest collections of Egyptian artifacts, lies in wait for you there.  As for Kim K - really I’m full up on the sex-tape celebutante brigade.  Can our culture ever get beyond cotton candy and back to celebrities of substance.  Not a prude but a diet with so much of that on the menu surely loads the brain down with unhealthy plaques.

A year before my Pop passed away, I polled all of my family for songs that reminded them of him.  I also asked for personal stories to back it up.  I burned them onto a CD (we didn’t have iPods,,, gosh how things change and quickly! and presented it to Dad for his brithday.  I also burned copies for all of us.

Its still my favorite CD, three years after he died.  My family was moved, and Dad even (a kind of emotionlist guy at times) had  a tear in his eye.

We all know that the Prez did not program that iPod himself, but it was a great idea (even if the Queen already had an iPod, some people have more than one iPod, but that would make me nuts).  The woman has enough money to buy herself anything she wants, and a thoughtful gift like that shows imagination and careful planning.  Good job!

RE: Madonna.  Liz, you are obviously upset about this.  However, I will stand on my earlier posts.  If Madonna wants to adopt a child, she should look into adopting here in the US.  She can certainly take her pick, we have many children here who need the assistance.  The up side (for Madonna), is that she would be under protection of US law, and not dependant on a foreign country’s fickle government.  She had problems after she adopted David, why should this time be any different?

It may seem harsh, but as I’ve said before, I believe that she and other celebrities, such as Angelina Jolie, go to Africa to adopt because they get more press.  There are several celebs who have adopted here in the States and they get far less press.  Madonna has ample opportunity to help her home country and should look here first if she wants to expand her family.

I think the iPod was a great idea, like, what do you get for a Queen ??? They obviously did research and filled it with songs and movies that she would love… great idea.

It sounds like Madonna has had a connection to this little girl since she adopted the little boy from there 2 years ago. I can understand countries pushing back against the rich celebrities swooping in to take their unfortunates, but really, what is best for the child ? Staying in an orphanage with no hope ? Madonna pursued this through the proper channels and worked for two years on it. I’m no fan of madonna, but I think she should have been granted this. 

I am troubled by the apparent schadenfreude in many of the comments on the 3 April article announcing the denial of Madonna’s adoption request.  It is directed at Madonna and born of assumptions on what is going on inside Madonna’s head; but the little girl is the one who has lost out on a family, an education, good medical care, the freedom to chart her own destiny, and many other benefits of adoption.

I am going to go out on a politically incorrect limb here.  I hear the concerns that celebrities are "buying" babies and that Malawi can provide just as well as Madonna, albeit not in a crass materialistic way, because who would want that?  Well, WRONG.  I have seen real poverty such as you cannot find in the US, and on a real, practical, everyday life level, it is NOT better to grow up in an orphanage in one of the world’s poorest countries than with a foreign family who will fully provide for your physical, emotional and educational needs.

If life in Malawi is just as good as anywhere else, why are so many trained health professionals emigrating?  Why do so many men emigrate to work in Europe or in other African countries? People want OUT so they can have opportunities.  Opportunities now denied to a child who could have had a chance.  

David Banda’s mother: Malita was born in 1980, and was one of ten children, of whom seven are now dead.  She was married in 1990 - yes, at age ten.  Her first two children died.  She died giving birth to David at age 25.  David’s father put him in the orphanage, and later agreed to the adoption.  He was overjoyed to see him again - he obviously loves his son and DID SOMETHING SELFLESS AND WONDERFUL FOR HIM.  Painful to the parent, wonderful for the child - that is real love.

Mercy James’ mother:  Mwandida died giving birth at age 18, out of wedlock, incidentally.  Bad?  Well, maybe for those who were criticizing Madonna’s morals.  Odd how the father denied all responsibility for the child until the adoption news hit.  How’s that for morals?  And the Malawian officials had initally said that Mercy’s parents were both dead, so whoever turned her in to the orphanage didn’t tell the whole story. And now we have Grandma and two uncles who suddenly don’t want to let Mercy go, but they don’t want to take her home, either.

Sorry, but the "Madonna is immoral and therefore a bad mom" doesn’t hold water compared to all of this.

Happy over the Madonna decision?  Yes.  She goes in waving her fame and money around trying to actively circumvent a country’s laws.  Who named her Queen of the April?  And I read she had a temper tantrum back in her hotel room after the Court ruling, storming at her lawyer’s failings, “How could this happen to me?” with her child Lourdes….her CHILD folks, wrapping her arms around her mother trying to calm her down.   Reflect.  WHAT is wrong with this picture?  THEN she decides to…oh I don’t know…THROW A PARTY.  This isn’t about a child in a Malawi orphanage.  Go watch this past weekend’s satire on Saturday Night Live where “Angelina” and “Madonna” fight over babies.  The sketch is called “Spicy Brown Babies and (spoiler alert) Angelina wins the baby game when she announces she’s getting a baby from Russia that has a baby, within a baby, within a baby.  This is what really has people up in arms.  It’s not the poor orphaned child and rescue thereof. It’s motive.  And we aren’t fools.

Now a topic dearer to my heart.  Josef von Sternberg.  Yes to “The Shanghai Gesture.” Total grabbing people by their labels to anything he did with Dietrich.  “It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily" (Shanghai Express), Marlene casting her high heels off into the desert to follow Gary Cooper (Morocco,) and my all time favorite, (Dishonored,) where Marlene as a spy is facing an execution squad, asks them to wait a minute, fixes her stockings, takes out her compact and lipstick and redoes her mouth, then cut to seeing the lipstick tube fall in the snow.” WHAT a director.  WHAT a woman.…

which nicely segues into Nefertiti.  These creases and bumps?  What surgery?  What plaster covering?  This is me.  I never had a bump.  I just….eat healthy, drink lots of lotus juice and rub tons of eucalyptus oils followed by a mask of pyramid dust clay.  Oh yeah…munching a grape…my trainer has me run out to the Valley of the Kings then do Pyramid steps.  Great for the abs and butt.  And those rumors about my having organs removed and put in Canopic jars.  I mean…really.  I’m Queen of the Nile….Madonna….or should I say…Denial?