The RETURN of Philosophical Ramblings: Different Races, Different Prices

I found out something shocking about the adoption industry: certain races cost more than others.

For example, adopting a white Russian baby with blue eyes will probably cost more than a mixed child from Guatemala.

"It's the free market," my friend told me, as he explained the situation.

According to him, if you wanted to adopt a baby from the islands, the MINIMUM cost is $11,000 ... and that doesn't include the years of paperwork and hassle.

"First, you have to pay an attorney here in the States. You have to undergo psychological review ... background check. And that's just here. In the islands, you have to pay a lawyer THERE to get the ball rolling on that end. And THEN you have to deal with immigration. It's a mess."

Now, if you're choosy about a baby ... and that baby's race is in HIGH DEMAND ... well, guess what? You're paying more.

"And the wait is longer ... five years," he said.

I told him that the whole thing seemed wrong. It reminded me of the slave trade. However, I had to admit that the adopted child is being helped, regardless of the surrounding circumstances ... but, then again, what about the children whose race is in low demand?

Damn. They're just forgotten children. They're chaff, as far as the richest people in the world (us) are concerned. Not even chaff. Less than chaff. Not even in our frame of reference. Not in our thoughts. Forgotten.

But, hey ... those kids need to be rugged individualists, right? They need to RUSH to excellence. That's right -- overcome dirty water, zero education, a language the world doesn't speak, an ethnic race with no lobbyists on capital hill demanding assistance on your behalf... good luck!

***

Speaking of forgotten kids ... I heard that Barack Obama's brother was interviewed for this month's Vanity Fair. Here's a segment of the article that talked about the interview:

The Italian edition of Vanity Fair said that it had found George Hussein Onyango Obama living in a hut in a ramshackle town of Huruma on the outskirts of
Nairobi.

Mr Obama, 26, the youngest of the presidential candidate's half-brothers, spoke for the first time about his life, which could not be more different than that of the Democratic contender.

"No-one knows who I am," he told the magazine, before claiming: "I live here on less than a dollar a month."

According to Italy's Vanity Fair his two metre by three metre shack is decorated with football posters of the Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter, as well as a calendar showing exotic beaches of the world.

Vanity Fair also noted that he had a front page newspaper picture of his famous brother - born of the same father as him, Barack Hussein Obama, but to a different mother, named only as Jael.

He told the magazine: "I live like a recluse, no-one knows I exist."

Embarrassed by his penury, he said that he does not does not mention his famous half-brother in conversation.

"If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed," he said.