You are clearly one of the zealots who is categorically opposed to international adoption. At least you've made that clear.

And you've also made it clear that you're one of those people who has a lot of opinions about something that you've never experienced personally.

When it comes to experience, actually adopting is different than "knowing personally...over one dozen adoptive families." That's like saying that you know what it's like to be African-American/Italian/an accountant/give birth just because you know some African-Americans/Italians/accountants/people who've given birth...

You're entitled to your opinions, misinformed as they might be, of course. But your opinions, like your assumptions, are wrong. If you read my post carefully, you would see that I had a biological child (and well before the age of 40, thank you very much), and am most definitely fertile. I then adopted.

Again, I feel sorry for you if your idea of "friends" are "educated, affluent white professionals" that actually will debate the skin color of their Guatemalan children in front of you. I'd be horrified to have those people as so-called friends. Luckily, I don't have friends like that, and wouldn't keep them if I did. The ones that I have who have adopted internationally are kind, decent people, definitely not like your "friends."

Since you haven't adopted anyone, anywhere, and the sum total of your experience is talking to some bigoted/selfish/utterly unpleasant adoptive families you apparently personally know, and you are obviously very biased against foreign adoption, I'm not sure what else to say to you.

I'm fertile, I donate money, I volunteer, I work for social change in Guatemala, and I don't know anyone who fits your warped descriptions of adoptive families, among the hundreds of families I know. So as far as I see it, you have it all wrong not only about me, but about international adoption.

Saw your exchange with GG, and you were spot on. I have faith that he's not a lost cause, though, as I believe he does really think about things and even if he doesn't come right out, he takes it on board.

He's also pretty good about admitting when he's wrong, even if he didn't on that post.

I don't think that he has adopted the kneejerk Hillary worship that we're seeing from Joan and many of the other writers at Salon -- at least not yet.

I support Obama, but even more, I support impartial coverage. I appreciate when there are valid critical articles about Obama or any of the candidates, but that's not what's been going on here at Salon for the last year.

I agree with you 100% about Hillary Clinton. I think she's smart, but she's made some bad moves, and she's not inspiring as a leader, likeable as a public figure, or even a compelling speaker. Being a smart crack bureaucrat is not enough (can anyone say Al Gore), and when you add in the utterly polarizing crazy-making effect she has on the right wing, I think she's not a good choice.

Like you, I still do enjoy selective reading & writing and letters -- but it's mystifying, and disheartening to me that the site that gave me air to breath during the 2000 and 2004 elections could be moving in such a different direction...

Keep up the good conversation, totoro!

Muchas gracias! Thanks!!

Offensive is exactly right...

It's pointless asking Shapiro's editors to do something. Because Joan Walsh, editor in chief, has been condoning passive aggressive attacks on Obama by all her staff for the past year, and she's one of the most egregious offenders with her steady stream of passive-aggressive political coverage that belies her Hillary bias.

Absolutely correct. First child they had available was the one we adopted. He was not a newborn, he was somewhat older.

With Guatemala, most agencies make it clear that turning down a referral is highly frowned on except in the case where, as Gross found, a child is discovered to have serious medical concerns and the family had specified that they weren't equipped to adopt a child with special needs.

I'm not sure how it works for Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Ethiopia, Haiti, etc.

You have time to add stars to the responses, but you don't have time to correct your obvious -- and, as the lack of correct indicates, apparently quite deliberate mistake?

Sad, Salon, Sad.

And Carol Llloyd, I thought you were better than this, but apparently, you too have drunk the koolaid.