Should Madonna Adopt African Boy?
FOX HANNITY & COLMES,
October 16, 2006
COLMES: Well, the Material Girl never seems to never be far from controversy. And this time, Madonna is following the lead of other Hollywood stars and adopting a 1-year-old boy from the small African country of Malawi.
The human rights groups are concerned that Malawi's ports pushed aside normal regulations to benefit the pop star, who had made a generous donation to the AIDS-stricken country. These groups are also concerned that authorities did not fully explain the implications of the adoption to the child's father.
Earlier today, the child was seen boarding a plane en route to London, where Madonna and her husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, live with their two children.
Joining us now, Star magazine news and style editor-at-large, Jill Dobson, and FOX News legal analyst, Peter Johnson.
Now, Jill, I've got a big problem here.
JILL DOBSON, NEWS AND STYLE EDITOR-AT-LARGE, STAR MAGAZINE: Yes.
COLMES: First of all she goes to this country. She throws money at these -- at the country itself. I guess to some of these child centers. They see -- gets e-mails what from 12 families, chooses one. She's there ostensibly to help orphans. This child is not even an orphan. She's buying a child to take with her. It's unseemly.
DOBSON: Alan, a lot of people look at it the way you do. I personally think that she is trying to do a good thing here. She's been working with this group, Raising Malawi, to help raise awareness with these children. During her concert, she has photographed a different...
COLMES: She's buying a child.
DOBSON: I don't look at it that way, but a lot of people do. And that's why there's an international scandal.
COLMES: What's she doing if she's not buying a child?
DOBSON: I think that she's trying to help this one child by raising him of one of her own and at the same time giving millions of dollars to help so many others.
COLMES: How about giving millions to the dad so the dad can raise his child rather than taking the kid?
PETER JOHNSON, FOX NEWS LEGAL ANALYST: Off base, Colmes. Off base.
COLMES: She wasn't with the kid when she went back to London and had her three of her helpers.
JOHNSON: The father is delighted.
COLMES: He is conflicted about it?
JOHNSON: Two siblings -- two siblings. He may be morally conflicted, but he gave up his child to the chieftain. The chieftain. The chieftain said...
COLMES: For money.
JOHNSON: Not for money. The chieftain said this is the best thing for the child. The father said it's the best thing for the child. I think...
COLMES: What about breaking the laws of the country?
JOHNSON: It's a blessing to this child. The highest court in that country ratified this. They have 18 months to decide whether it's the appropriate thing to do. Why are we trashing Madonna?
COLMES: I'm not trashing her gratuitously. You have to go and be a resident of the country for 18 months.
JOHNSON: There are exceptions.
COLMES: ... because she's Madonna.
JOHNSON: No.
COLMES: She has money.
JOHNSON: No, because she has a kind heart and she has the ability to maintain a home for this child.
HANNITY: I'd like to read a report. The father of this little boy adopted by Madonna has described his feelings as confused and powerless in the face of her determination to take this surviving -- his only surviving child away.
The peasant farmer who can barely read or write admitted he fully didn't understand what was happening when he went to court in his best clothes for the first and only time to see this woman who's offering this new life to his only son.
She's ripping this kid away from the father. I hate to admit Colmes is right.
JOHNSON: You've Hannitized Colmes. He's Colmes-nized you.
HANNITY: Listen, she's ripping this boy away from the father.
Head me tell you, Joseph adopted Jesus, adoption of this child is an important.
HANNITY: The father is alive. The grandmother is alive.
JOHNSON: Excellent thing of the father was not able to care for this child. The grandmother was not able to care for this child.
HANNITY: Why doesn't Madonna give money to the father and grandmother (ph)...
JOHNSON: ... to care for this child.
HANNITY: All loving and powerful Madonna, Jill, can just write a check and guarantee that this kid has a great life with his dad and the grandma.
DOBSON: Well, you know, a lot of people have called this a P.R. move for Madonna. I think if she was making a P.R. move, she would have chosen a different child. She chose the child that was closest to her heart, who happened to have a father who's still living but is in an orphanage.
HANNITY: You're both killing me. If the father had more money he could take care of him. Couldn't he?
DOBSON: True. That would be the smartest P.R. for her. This is a terrible P.R. move for her. But I don't think she's being...
HANNITY: Why don't we just sell our kids to the highest bidder here? I mean, this is insane.
JOHNSON: Should Elian Gonzales have been sent back to his father?
COLMES: Yes. The answer is yes.
HANNITY: This is not the same thing.
JOHNSON: OK, all right.
HANNITY: Why, because he could be brainwashed. This is a different thing. She's going -- this kid is going to be ripped away from dad, thinking his father doesn't want him anymore.
JOHNSON: Brainwashed with love.
HANNITY: How much money did she take? Buy our kids, sell our kids.
JOHNSON: She's not buying a child for prostitution, for pornography. She's buying a child...
HANNITY: Make her child look good.
(CROSSTALK)
COLMES: We've got to run.
JOHNSON: Buying a child for love.
HANNITY: You've got no proof of that.
COLMES: Coming up next, they'll still argue.
But meanwhile, fighting broke out this college football game. But that wasn't the only school brawl that broke out over the weekend. We're going to have a full story coming up next on "Hannity & Colmes."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HANNITY: Finally tonight, a total of 31 members of both the University of Miami and Florida International football teams were suspended after this brawl broke out during Saturday's game.
Now, the fighting began in the third quarter when Miami's James Bryant pointed to the FIU bench after catching a touchdown pass. On the extra point attack FIU's Chris Smith wrestled Miami holder Matt Perelli to the ground and punched him.
Then the bench was cleared and the fight lasted for over five minutes. Players from both teams punched and stomped on opponents as you can see. An injured FIU player swung his crutch at several Miami players, and a Miami player took off his helmet and slammed it into an FIU player.
The play eventually resumed, and the Hurricanes won 35-0.
And in Fontana, California, what may have began as a race-related fight between two teenage boys escalated quickly into a riot involving over 500 students at Fontana High School.
Now the fight initially started when one black student and one Latino student exchanged -- exchanged words during a pep rally. More than 100 law enforcement officers converged on the campus to subdue students who were throwing bottles and rocks. At least six students were arrested there. The evening's football game was eventually canceled.
COLMES: That video tape looks much like what happens here during commercial breaks. It's the same kind of environment.
HANNITY: If only I had the chance. A helmet.
COLMES: Luckily I've got good attorneys.
HANNITY: And that is all the time we have left this evening. But we toss it now to Greta Van Susteren. She's standing by for a special edition of "On the Record" tonight -- Greta.