Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 18, 2014

“Because the media wouldn’t be giving us this attention if we had adopted an American orphan.”

“Because most of the American unadopted orphans are special needs, older kids with established personalities, or have siblings that need to be adopted with them.”

Following from yesterday, some more details of both the attack and the later, inspirational, likfe of Kim Phuc are here:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8678478.stmThere is also a lot all over the net about the meeting with the US veteran who, at most, was involved in ordering the attack (which was actually carried out by a South Vietnamese pilot). However, the sources on this all seem so partial it is hard to know who to trust.

For what it’s worth: Last night, while slogging through my customary reading of the Sunday New York Times (I’m a slow reader), I came across this marriage announcement for Thomas Trudeau, a son of Garry Trudeau and Jane Pauley. I may have missed comments on this, but I can’t recall seeing any. You can see the announcement at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/fashion/weddings/a-lasting-third-impression.html?_r=0

It was a big deal to me when my family adopted my Vietnamese sister but I don’t recall we had any media coverage. This was around 1970. We did have some local media coverage when she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. My folks were no in it for the limelight though.

Reminds me of Angelina Jolie.

""I about got my head bitten off and never did get a straight answer."

Did you really ask her why she “bought” two babies?.They must take after their uncle. Or, you trained them well.

I have two good friends who adopted from China – they didn’t “buy” their children, thank you, and they have two lovely, well-mannered daughters. You are quite the uncle there, bawana…

Since the US population has increased some 40% since 1975, if the number of children available for adoption has stayed the same, then we are making progress.

I think this was the flight referenced that one of my high school classmates was on and somehow survived. She had recently shared a video on her FB page about it, had no idea she was on it.

the implication of the question is that it does not matter what could you have done. what matters is what good you have not done

Ahhh! Ladies and Gentlemen,Mike Doonesbury’s future second wife!

I have friends from church who adopted (separately) two children from China. They are very open about the cost and graft involved with all levels of officials in the process from paying the U.S. adoption “liaison” company to every person involved in the chain in China. Although it is very unpleasant to look at it this way (and I’ll get slammed because it isn’t PC), they agree it does amount to a very expensive purchase.

Did “Kim” grow up to be Mike’s second wife?

-By definition, a teen of any national origin becomes ‘snotty’ now in the US. It seems to be part of growing up here.-Almost all international adoption involves paying a lot of money to whoever is in charge. In past, some of the nuns who ran the homes for unmarried teen moms in Ireland made a lot of money ‘selling’ the babies to US couples who were unable to have their own babies; there have been books written about this.-And adopting in the US can also involve a lot of money if adopting ‘privately’, not through a government agency. Adopting through a US government agency can be a real challenge, because birth parents are allowed to change their minds even after the child has been placed. Which is another reason why lots of US folks adopt overseas.

Axed????? Did it hurt?