Without realizing I was going to do it, I just took a deep breath and let out a huge sigh as I placed my fingers on the keyboard in preparation of composing this post. I am SO tired of the whole Madonna mega-media-mess, but I can not allow myself to shut up about it just yet.

I was over on the forums this morning and opened a Madonna-related thread to see how opinion is running at the moment. I started reading with the first post from much earlier in the week and was not surprised to see how the mood... more

More on the persecution of journalists continued from the previous post ... Speaking of Reporters Without Borders, that organization that strives to protect journalists from persecution, imprisonment and murder is not happy with the UN. A report titled, "UN Human Rights Council misses chance... more

For anyone adopting internationally, one of the first steps along the road that makes up the adoption journey will be toward learning about the countries you'll be considering for the place of birth of your future children. Doing a Google Search will net you lots of material. Web sites like the US State Department's listing of countries and Adoption.Com can give detailed info... more

For a child not yet four-years old, Sam is amazingly compassionate. He speaks often of the kids still in the orphanage where he and Cj were cared for, and regularly sorts through his clothes and toys for things to give, "kids that have no family".

He's been known to burst into tears at the thought that dinosaurs have gone extinct, and was so very touched and touching about the dead baby hedgehog tenrec the cats left on our veranda yesterday.

When in Kenya a few months ago, we visited the ... more

Continued from the previous post about the best and worst places to give birth and be born.

Save the Children is espousing education as the answer to the huge gulf that separates the two worlds.

Women who are educated are more likely to postpone marriage and early childbirth, seek health care for themselves and their families, and... more

From the previous post about Save the Children's report on the most dangerous places in the world to give birth, or to be born. Yesterday's UK Guardian newspaper followed up the June report with an article by one of their reporters who went to check out the situations for herself. She titled her report: Different Planets.

From... more

Back in June, Save the Children released a report titled, "Pregnancy and Childbirth the Leading Cause of Death for Teen Girls in the Developing World". This first-ever "Early Motherhood Risk Ranking" was issued alongside the fifth annual "State of the World's Mothers" report. The two identify the 50 most perilous places in the world to give birth and an index of how women are doing in... more

Still in the mood to trash Emma Nicholson ... and she makes it SO easy ... here's a recent story out of Romania that, on top of the news from yesterday, makes me want to throw up.

Romanian... more

She's never far from my thoughts, the Evil Baroness, but reports today have my eyes welling up with tears and my temper fuming ... The UK's Sunday Times is reporting on two letters sent from groups of Romanian orphans to the European parliament in a bid to get some attention focused on their plight as the EU debates entry for Romania.

It is absolutely heartbreaking to think about how long these kids have suffered.

The... more

Holidays, violin lessons and non-existant cows ... Travel may be educational, but school officials in the UK aren't impressed. In fact, they are so unimpressed that fines of up to almost $200 are going to be handed out to parents who have the unmitigated gall to take their children on vacation.

That's not completely fair, as they won't charge anyone anything as long as the holidays jive with breaks in the school schedule, but don't even think... more