Child Sex Trafficking

09.15.2010

I have to admit that today is actually the 17^th. My schedule the past few days hasn’t allowed me to be home 12-15 hours per day but, I knew on this day’s morning while at the gym, that I wanted to respond to a report on CNN that I saw about Craigslist.

I knew that adult services were advertised on Craigslist and though I may not like it, as long as adults are willingly and knowingly engaging in these services, I don’t have enough of a problem to be enraged. (I have my opinions about prostitution and the issues it brings up but this isn’t the time or place.) What I do have a problem with is Craigslist allowing for advertising for child trafficking. This is unforgivable.

CNN reported on a woman whose 12-year old girl was abducted in April on her way to school and by sheer chance and conversation with friends, neighbors and authority, she found her daughter on Craigslist, in a wig and a compromised position being sold for sex. And there was nothing she could do other than call the authorities and try to nail the pimp. Luckily, they did but it took months. Even though mother and daughter are reunited, the damage is done. This girl will be in therapy for the rest of her life.

I can’t even begin to explain how angry this makes me. And it’s not just the child trafficking; let’s put that aside for a moment. Where the hell do Craiglslist’s execs get off by allowing for this kind of advertising to take place? Where the fuck are their morals? Has money become that much of a priority, that much of a necessity to allow for little girls to be advertised for sex? How does whoever green lit those ads sleep at night? How do those execs go home to their families and be proud of the decisions they made that day? How can they look into any child’s eyes, much less their own if they have them, and feel good about knowing that they allowed for someone’s daughter to be exposed publicly and sold so that some disgusting, poor excuse for a human being can make money?

We pay for this, people. We all pay for this because that girl’s essence is ruined and if she doesn’t get proper help, she will turn to a life of drugs and maybe even go back to prostitution because that’s what she’s told she’s worthy of. If she does get proper help and pulls through, think about all the other girls who don’t and turn to a life of crime and/or drugs. These decisions affect us societally, financially, and environmentally, and it turns my stomach.

p.s. Here’s some more info on this topic: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/node/14087

Science and Morality

08.25.2010

Two scientists, Dr. James L. Sherley and Theresa Deisher, may win their case against the Department of Health and Human Services because they are morally opposed to stem cell research. It is because of them that there is a current injunction on federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells.[1]

What about being morally opposed to scientists creating the atomic bomb that killed thousands of Japanese? Or bombs that kill Iraqi civilians? Or Afghanis?

What about being morally opposed to scientists creating methods to alter cells genetically so that we can engineer an ideal baby?

What about being morally opposed to the hunger of thousands of children already born and living in our own backyard? Or being morally opposed to thousands of children already born who die from neglect and physical abuse at the hands of their supposed caretakers?

My father-in-law has Parkinson’s disease. Stem cell research is one of the biggest hopes we have in finding a cure not just for that disease but also for MS and Huntington’s disease, among others. Is the plan to privatize this research? If so, who's paying for it? We're all going to end up paying for it in some other way; higher health care costs, anyone?

It’s so frustrating to me how much people are willing to fight (and kill) for the possibility of someone else's baby or just for the mere idea of a baby and yet, look away so easily at the death, destruction, and neglect that goes on around us on a daily basis. They may give a voice to the “unborn” but what about those children who already walk, already talk, and already feel? What about those children who already understand from the actions of adults around them that they are not wanted? What about those children…?

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[1] Maugh II, Thomas H. “The Pair Behind the Stem Cell Suit,” Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, A10 and Kaplan, Karen, “Scientists Rush to Use or Redirect Stem Cell Funds,” Los Angeles, Times, Wednesday, August 25, 2010, A10.