It isn’t quite North Korea versus the world, but the celebrity arms race between Angelina and Madge escalated this week, as Madonna and hubby Guy Ritchie visited Malawi to launch a charity for orphans that will base its activities on Kabbalah. Actually, the better analogy is the Cold War: just as the United States and Soviet Union did in their time, the celebs are collecting the allegiance of various third-world countries, which gain publicity in exchange for putting up with the antics of their new patrons. Ethiopia and Cambodia, the native countries of her two adopted children, are in Angelina’s sphere of influence. Now Namibia, which provided seclusion, and guard against paparazzi for the birth of Shiloh Nouvel earlier this year, is firmly lodged in her column. Now Madonna and Guy have made their own Southern Africa play.
Of course, they can’t just start up a charity for those poor Malawian orphans; they have to have one of their own! The lucky son-elect is David Banda, age 1, whose mother died after his birth. David’s father is in the picture, and has given the adoption his blessing:
“They are a lovely couple. She asked me many questions. She and her husband seem happy with David. I am happy for him. Madonna promised me that as the child grows she will bring him back to visit,” he said.
And the Malawian High Court has awarded Madonna and Guy an exemption from the country’s law against cross-border adoptions:
Malawian law does not allow for inter-country adoptions, and generally requires people who want to adopt to spend 18 months being evaluated by Malawian child welfare workers. But it seems even this is no obstacle for the Material Girl after Malawian officials, who refused to elaborate, indicated that such restrictions would be waived for the couple.
The best part of this is that the government of Malawi is going to send its own social workers to check on the child’s well-being:
“Government in this instance will use our Washington office (embassy) to monitor the progress with the couple (Madonna and Ritchie),” said Andrina Mchiela, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
“And also government will appoint a welfare officer from Malawi to liase with our Washington embassy and make visitations to where the child will be,” she added.
For more serious analysis of celebrity adoptions from Africa, check out this article from today’s Washington Post.
Sorry perhaps it’s me but I don’t get the South Asian connection of the post.
What, you’ve never seen Madonna wearing a bindi?
I knew it was me!
But seriously, how is this desi?
Third world adoption. Cold war references. Famous co-opters of desi culture. Exotifying. World poverty. Orphans. Etc. Furthermore, with all the sniping and weirdness going on on some other threads today, it’s time for some relief. I gave y’all elephants, it wasn’t enough. So here are some celebrities.
i immediately thought third world adoption too. kind of a stretch, but it wasn’t inscrutable to everyone 🙂
Stretches ‘R’ Us. After all, we are a nation of yogis.
We demand MONKEYS! Monkeys that fling POO!!!
I shoulda listened to my moms. Fackin A. She warned me my Maddox tattoo wouldn’t stand the test of time.
I kinda liked Madonna’s pseudo-desi-mixed-up-asiany-kabuki-makeup-and-hairdo-ray-of-light phase….
As long as they are good parents, that’s all that matters….
well, i’m not one to think that everything that should be posted on this blog should have a clear and present and obviousl brown angle anyhow….
Was this post worth the effort in typing? You decide…
Was this post worth the effort in typing? You decide…
worth your effort to comment clearly.
How is that so, fool?
wut, iz this is a victorian novel? “fool”?
Kidding man. I am reading Hamlet though. Maybe its getting to me or something.
Hey where’s my “fool” comment??
I bet Maddonna’s poops are brown colored, unless she eats some Palak Paneer, or Cilantro chutney, in which case it will be green. And it’ll float. If you eat a steak, it sinks to the bottom and it’s definitely brown. That is not cool, why would one have to change colors to rise to the top? Totally an issue of discrimination!!!
guju, wutz up with yellow poop?
You macacas baffle me. Now you’re flinging poop. Oh well. I give up. As Wilbon and Kornheiser say, “We’ll try to do better next time!”
Good to see Africa being courted by so many people. Besides the media celebrities, Bill Gates’ charitable foundation is spending billions; MIT has designed cheap hand-cranked laptops for millions of african children; and most significantly of all, China is investing massively in Africa. Africa now has avid suitors from both the West and the Far East. Which means it cant be taken for granted anymore.:)
BTW, I laugh when I read desis describing India as a “vast” subcontinent. Dont these deluded exaggerators ever look at a map? Africa is ten times the size of India! With a population thats over 10% lower than India’s. Desis are the most crowded people on earth.
Too much good biryani. Damn those Hyderabadis!! Oooo, look at us, we’re soo pretty, fairer than them brownies stuffed in the bowl’s hole. Slums, I tell you. Slums!!! Not only are they bottom dwelling scum, but they clog up all functions of society, too. Plungers may be politically incorrect, but they’re a necessary evil.
For some reason though, the green party floating above acts all high and mighty. C’mon, they’re all righteous in their vegetarianism, low cholesterol, organic crap. We clean the dark dank enviroments. We don’t kill. We’re anti-war, I bet Bush doesn’t eat his veggies. We’re really rich in nutrients.
All that comes crashing down when good ol E. Coli pays a visit, don’t it?
But hey, ain’t NOTHING worse than those whiteys. They’ve got all anglo names like Cottonelle. They exist above the water level and the unfortunate ones, from Applachia, get dropped into the tank after an inter-racial mix (brown, yellow, green, black, whatever). Yet, they still float on green. All the other colors belong in the bowl. The white just unfortunately gets dropped in. Such bigotry.
I have seven questions only.
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
What does that have to do with desis?
Brown is everywhere, ask UPS. Or people who poop.
Brownz caused 9-11.
And Brownz work in 7-11.
Brown caused 90/11/01
What has brown caused for you?
My poop is more bronze than brownz.
Showoff. Bronze only gets third place. For a brown, you’re such an underachiever. Unless you entered the poop olympics. Bronze in the olympics will turn you into a hero. Historically brownz have a poor performance record in the olympics, despite the massive population.
Hehehe Looks like this thread has gone down the poop hole! Siddhartha try monkeys next time. 🙂
Oh would you people stop, already…..
Your use of the world “escalates” and “arms race” was needlessly provocative. I get enough of this type of titillation from Zee TV Gold, thanks for shamelessly masalfying this noble blog.
GujuDude: I detect some jealousy of those perfectly tapering at the ends, even contoured bronze legends I so flippantly drop from the brown hole!
Who would have thought a post about babies would become this, um, infantile?
paging Rajni the Monkey….
I mean the SM intern. Paging the SM intern….
Not jealous, just showing how you’ve gone astray. Show some SOLIDarity for Mr. Hanky’s sake! Brown have to stick together, regardless of what shade you are. That way, we can force those capitalists to listen to us. Poop Action Committie (PAC) will prevail! If we can force change when the tide trying to flush us and our problems away is re-directed back at the culprits.
REVOLUTION!!!
I was once at Lotus when Mr. Hankey waddled my way. He was shit-faced…
Sorry for the hijack folks, back to your regularly scheduled movements. Typing that is.
There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear. Something that Madge, Bradgelina, Jawed Karim, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Oprah have in common. Rich people who’ve become very eccentric an un-corporate and define themselves beyond their wealth and want to change the world; but don’t apologize the slightest for their wealth.
There are some rough edges but in general, I like it. I know a lot of people like this. My business partner went to Med School just for fun with no intention of practicing. My lawyer quit Cravath, learned Chinese, and moved there.
Mr. Kobayashi recently linked to piece from some old fashioned dialectic who disapprovingly labeled them liberal communists. Not sure if that’s quite right; their not driven by guilt and more than few love Ayn Rand. I suspect Mr Kobayashi may be one of them but he’d never admit it, even to himself, unless he’s on the toilet.
Maybe that will solve the problems (as seen by the west) in Africa. Have celebrities ever succeeded in solving problems? I know they have been trying hard for long to solve the AIDS problem, with a little success.
Working on highlighting issues like left-over landmines(Princes Di) or third world debt relief (Bono) is very different than choosing to adopt a new-born baby. It’s completely crazy or cruel to take on the latter without being 100% committed.
Gives a whole new meaning to “flushing your browser cache”…
I heart Siddhartha.
I heart GujuDude.
😀
A PTI reference! Siddhartha you’re heroic and all over the place.
GujuDude, I’m thinking it was the boarding school mealtime experiences that are responsible for your, um, insightful gastro-commentary.
You forgot to call us knuckleheads a la Wilbon.
Via Drudge: PAPER: Madonna African ‘slave auction’; lined up 12 boys and selected one…
Here’s your link: speaking of poo-generating monkeys, my half-brown nephew’s name is Maddox, too.
Shameless nephew plug, I know. 🙂
Shruti:
The food in itself was a completely differen experience, but my observations stem more from the aftermath of those meals 🙂 (or LSD), though with the ‘Indian’ style hole in the floor and a sloped ledge into it, all expunged were treated equally. Socialist ya know, but in the early 90s India took steps towards a liberal capitalist economy, which means more of those dreaded western style bathrooms are finding their way into the prosperous homes of a growing middle class.
Judging from today’s threads, it went without saying 😉