It's not just the throwaway children they're pimping

As a follow-up to my previous post on teenage prostitution, this report from Britain illustrates too well that it's not only throwaway children they're preying on. A suspicious teacher investigates a fifteen-year-old's bag and finds the accoutrements of prostitution. She definitely wasn't homeless, but that's about all we know.

This girl probably was reeled in with the promise of easy money, rather than out of desperation.

The pimping suspects were released "facing no further action". *Sigh* I hope that was only because of lack of evidence. Because it's actually pretty depressing.

Is a society where the stigmatism of prostitution is eroding, where middle-class young women (and much younger) dress like hookers putting our daughters in greater danger?


Technorati tags: Prostitution

Because, ya know, pimping children isn't BAD enough

The FBI did a nation-wide sweep to rescue teenage prostitutes. Forty-eight children were rescued. But why bring in the Feds?

Historically, federal authorities rarely play a role in anti-prostitution crackdowns, but the FBI is becoming more involved as it tries to rescue children caught up in the business.

"The goal is to recover kids. We consider them the child victims of prostitution," said FBI deputy assistant director Daniel Roberts.

"Unfortunately, the vast majority of these kids are what they term 'throwaway kids,' with no family support, no friends. They're kids that nobody wants, they're loners. Many are runaways," Roberts said.
...

The federal effort is also designed to hit pimps with much tougher prison sentences than they would likely get in state criminal courts.

Government prosecutors look to bring racketeering charges or conspiracy charges that can result in decades of jail time.

"Some of these networks of pimps and their organizations are very sophisticated, they're interstate," said Roberts.

Come again?

The federal effort is also designed to hit pimps with much tougher prison sentences than they would likely get in state criminal courts.

Government prosecutors look to bring racketeering charges or conspiracy charges that can result in decades of jail time.

Because pimping children isn't bad enough.

I remember the outrage one of my sons felt a few years ago reading the paper one day. Somebody guilty of sexually abusing a child got a sentence of ten years. Just like the guy who stole a beer truck.

What is wrong with us?

(I am in no way slamming the FBI's operation. I know their hearts bleed for these kids. It's the courts and the legislators that are messed up here.)

Organizations who are helping:
GEMS
The Dream Center
I'll add more if you tell me where to find them.


Technorati tags: Child prostitution

The captain is the last to leave the ship

Or the airplane.

Flight 1549 was obliged to land in the Hudson River earlier today, after an unfortunate encounter with a flock of geese. Everyone survived.

At a press conference soon after the incident, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that the plane's pilot Chesley Sullenberger, 57, who used to fly F-4 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure no one was left on the plane.

His airplane is floating in the middle of a river on one of the coldest days of the year, and Sullenberger checks the plane not once, but twice, to make sure everyone got out safely.

Tell me again why I'm not justified in holding on to a little idealism? There are demonstrably people who still know - and live - the meaning of the words duty, responsibility, and selflessness.


Technorati tags: Flight 1549, Heroism, Good news

Naomi Lakritz is my new hero

You may recall that I raised my eyebrows a wee bit at the reaction of the Luther College gunman's parents, who wanted to reassure the world that their son was a good kid. I grumped a bit about the uselessness of a word that can expand to include almost any behaviour.

Naomi Lakritz grumped at greater length and brought up some excellent criticism of the modern tendency to excuse all and avoid hurting the self-esteem of our precious progeny, starting with this:

If the 16-year-old boy in Regina who took 300 students hostage this week and pointed a gun at the school's pastor is a good kid, what does a bad kid look like?

The day after the incident ended with the principal wrestling the gun away from the boy, and his subsequent arrest, lawyer Brad Tilling passed on a message from his parents: "They would like people to know that he is a good kid and obviously there was some difficulty the other day."

A "good kid?" An armed hostage-taking is "some difficulty?"

Read the whole thing. She wrote it a month ago, but I suspect it was available only to subscribers before now.


Technorati tags: Naomi Lakritz, Self-esteem, Luther College

The Walrus is angry

This is a rant. A personal, hot-under-the-collar, spitting-indignation rant. I normally try to keep the tone of this blog civil and rational and respectful. Not right now. If these things offend you, you might wish to go elsewhere.

There is a young lady on one of the forums I frequent who is twisting in excruciating pain. Why? Because her husband is not sure he wants to stay married to her. He says he loves her, treats her well in every other regard, but he's not too sure about the commitment thing. Worse yet, this young man is a Christian. Or he says he is.

Man, do I want to take this young fellow and smack him up both sides of the head. Real hard. Grow up, buddy. It's time to stop being a self-absorbed adolescent and start acting like a real man. Guess what? Your life is not all about you and the latest little wind of emotion blowing through you. It's not about your self-fulfillment or your self-realization. Marriage is not about your comfort and meeting your needs. Marriage is about love and commitment and meeting somebody else's needs. You stood up in public and swore, before God and man, to do that very thing.

Have you no self-respect? Would you be willing to stand again in front of the same people who were present at your wedding and say, "Yes, she's a fine woman, and I think highly of her, and I know I promised for better or for worse, but I don't think I feel like it anymore. And I am willing to subject her to searing agony because I don't feel too sure about it anymore. But that's OK, right? It's all about how I feel, right? My ambivalent feelings are more important than her happiness, than my word, than my commitment to God." I dare you. Do it.

I wouldn't treat my worst enemy the way you are treating your wife. You claim to love her, and yet you are torturing her as surely as if you were holding hot irons to her skin. I am beyond disgusted. What you desperately need is somebody to tell you to your face that you are being cruel and selfish and that there is absolutely no excuse for it. This is not a time for sympathy and soft words. Get over yourself and get back home and love your wife.

I just hope you have parents or a pastor or a best friend who will not hold back for fear of seeming uncharitable. Honour your word, honour your commitments, honour your wife. That's the only way you'll get my respect and deep down I'm sure you realize that's what you need to do to find some self-respect too.


Technorati tags: Divorce, Marriage, Commitment

Deluded internationalists

This quote from Pankaj Mishra's review of Erez Manela's The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anti-Colonial Nationalism strikes me with all the force of a sudden spotlight. I have long bemoaned the profound ignorance of global realities among people who should know better (the people who actually hold some geopolitical power), most especially the incredibly naive idea that most of the world wants to become a clone of America. The debacle in Iraq, which is only now beginning to be turned around, is largely attributable to this cultural arrogance. But Mishra says it better:

The victories of the Cold War – and the giddy speculation that history had reached the ideological terminus of liberal democracy – revived illusions of omnipotence among an Anglo-American political and media elite that has always known very little about the modern world it claims to have made. Consequently, almost every event since the end of the Cold War – the rise of radical Islam, of India and China, the assertiveness of oil-rich Russia, Iran and Venezuela – has come as a shock, a rude reminder that the natives of Delhi, Cairo and Beijing have geopolitical ambitions of their own, not to mention a sense of history marked by resentment and suspicion of the metropolitan West. The liberal internationalists persist, trying to revive the Wilsonian moment in places where Anglo-American liberalism has been seen as an especially aggressive form of hypocrisy. Increasingly, however, they expose themselves as the new provincials, dangerously blundering about in a volatile world.

Hat tip to David Akin's On the Hill.

Technorati tags: Pankaj Mishra, Geopolitics, Internationalism

Half the mourners at gunman's funeral were Amish

Now I'm willing to bet that they were there more to support the family than to honour the gunman, but still.

"It's the love, the forgiveness, the heartfelt forgiveness they have toward the family. I broke down and cried seeing it displayed," said Bruce Porter, a fire department chaplain from Morrison, Colo., who had come to Pennsylvania to offer what help he could and attended the burial. He said Marie Roberts was also touched.

"She was absolutely deeply moved, by just the love shown," Porter said.

The Forbes report.

Technorati tags: Amish

Amish schoolgirls demonstrate courage - and more

"Shoot me first."

Thirteen-year old Marian Fisher hoped to buy time for her younger schoolmates and offered her own life to give them a chance.

Her 11-year old sister - who survived - asked to be shot second.

Some experts had been concerned that the Amish schoolchildren, so sheltered from TV violence, would be ill-equipped to handle the unspeakable experience of the Nickel Mines shooting.

It would appear that prolonged exposure to goodness is a more effective preparation to face evil than exposure to simulated violence.

[Update] A fuller report

Hat tip to the Anchoress.

Technorati tags: Amish, Nickel Mines

Walk in forgiveness

And the Amish are showing us how it's done.

From the New York Times:

In one sign of their approach to tragedy, Amish residents started a charity fund yesterday not only to help the victims’ families but also to help the gunman’s widow.

From Beliefnet.com:

Yesterday on NBC News, I saw an Amish midwife who had helped birth several of the girls murdered by the killer say that they were planning to take food over to his family's house. She said -- and I paraphrase closely -- "This is possible if you have Christ in your heart."

From ABC News:

We arrived in this community of Nickel Mines, Pa., curious about how the Amish, who live differently than most Americans do, might react to what was an unthinkable act of violence.

It didn't take long for us to learn that the Amish families most affected by this tragedy have responded in a way that might seem foreign to most of us: They talk about Monday's school shooting only in terms of forgiveness.

From Ekklesia:

A cousin of one of the children shot by disturbed killer Charles Carl Roberts, aged 32, has said in an interview that he believes Mr Roberts’ wife would be welcome at the funeral of the girls who died.

The Amish community in Pennsylvania, USA, is in “deep shock” over the events, those close to it say. But they continue to be sustained by the love of God, and by a strong belief in non-violence and the power of forgiveness.

From Pittsburgh Live:

Lefever told those gathered in the large church that he was with Roberts' widow and children Monday when an Amish man arrived at around 9 p.m.

Standing in the kitchen of the man who shot 10 Amish girls hours earlier, he embraced Marie Roberts and offered forgiveness.

"In that place of mourning, there was hope," said Lefever, fighting back tears. "There was life."

...

Marian Koob ... recalled an accident about a year ago when the Amish community offered their forgiveness after a drunken driver killed an entire Amish family as they rode in their buggy.

"The Amish community has taught us all about forgiving," Koob said. "They teach us all how to live in this world."

[Update] Good discussion in the comments.

Pastor Jeff and Conblogeration contrasts the coverage by different newspapers, some of which could not bring themselves to look at the faith aspect of this story and restricted themselves to the "quaintness" of the Amish.

A very lively discussion going on in the comment section of Amba's post on this subject at Ambivablog.

Technorati tags: Amish, Forgiveness

Killing Amish schoolgirls

Charles Carl Roberts is an enigma. The milk truck driver, up until yesterday a law-abiding man, devoted husband and father, and apparently all-round nice guy, invaded an Amish schoolhouse and executed the schoolgirls. Few are expected to survive.

Police are scrambling to determine a motive. He did leave suicide notes, apparently outlining a 20-year old desire to molest girls and an anger with God. Police also speculate that the latter was fueled by the death of a newborn daughter in 1997. Evidence of the former comes from his suicide notes and the sexual lubricant he brought with him to the school siege, but which he apparently had no time to use.

There were virtually no advance warning signs, only a shift in moods reported by coworkers.

Roberts' co-workers said his mood had darkened in recent weeks, but suddenly brightened over the weekend, [State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B.] Miller said.

"A few days before the shooting a weight was lifted," Miller said Tuesday.

I am struck how easy it is to not know the people we work and even live with. There are things under the surface that can be incredibly powerful - for good or for evil - and yet remain completely hidden. Evil things in particular grow better in the dark. Most of the deranged killers in recent memory have been loners or very quiet men, turned in on themselves, or at the very least, keeping locked rooms in their souls that no one else was allowed to enter.

So what can be done about it? We can't exactly start reporting our coworkers to police every time they fall into inexplicable funks. Perhaps we need to be more sensitive to the people around us and probe gently if they make strange, uncharacteristic remarks. I've been guilty in the past of timidly backing away from topics that might get weird or messy. Maybe I shouldn't. Sunlight and fresh air are great disinfectants.

But our first responsibility remains ourselves. What are we nurturing in our own hidden rooms? It might never erupt in the spectacular evil of the Nickel Mines schoolhouse, but we could very well spray the acid of our bitterness, or the putrid stench of our sick obsessions on the people around us, wounding them or - even worse - encouraging their own evils. It is perhaps time to go talk to a friend, a pastor or priest, or a help line and let the air in.

Maybe if only one person confronts his own evils as a result of this slaughter, those little Amish schoolgirls will not have died in vain.

In the meanwhile, my heart and prayers go out to the families of both the victims and the killer.

[Correction] The references to molestations in the past that CCR claims to have done were made in a phone call to his wife during the siege.

[Update] See here for the reaction of the Amish.

Technorati tags: Charles Carl Roberts, Nickel Mines

Lying in a democratic society

John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia points us to a very interesting article by prominent journalist Amir Taheri about the function of lies in the political life of a democracy.

In theory at least, political leaders do not need to lie in democratic societies. These are societies supposed to be based on transparency and mutual trust. If voters are considered mature and responsible enough to choose a government, they must also be assumed to have an almost generic preference for truth.

The problem is that things are not always exactly the same in theory and practice. Voters in democratic societies might resent being lied to, especially when the liar is caught in the act. But they have an immense capacity for lying to themselves. The topic once came up when I was interviewing the late British Prime Minister James Callaghan. According to Callaghan, democracy was a system that led societies to the edge of ungovernability, and that was the best place to be for an advanced human society. In such a system, lies could push society over the edge.

And, yet, the advanced Western democracies have lived, and continue to live, with some basic lies - lies that electorate likes to hear. The former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok had a nice formula: the entire welfare state was based on the lie that the same guilder could be spent many times over.

...

In despotic societies, the people lie to the despot who, when he lies back to them, invites only derision. In democratic societies, voters lie to themselves, forcing their rulers to lie back to them. The difference is that in democratic societies, whenever the need arises, the few can always be blamed for the sins of the many and chased out of power in an election. In despotic systems, however, the vicious circle of lies is seldom broken without violence.

I think he's hit the nail on the head. I have wondered for many years how to overcome this inherent weakness of democracies, that voters virtually insist on being lied to. It is indeed difficult to be an honest politician, because we punish them so brutally if they try it. But if they push the lies too far, we punish them brutally for that too.

My only consolation is that autocracies have not come to grips any better with the dynamics of lying; it just has a different dynamic.

Padded cell vs. open road

Open letter to MP John Baird and Prime Minister Stephen Harper


Dear Sirs,

The Anti-terrorism Act is coming up for review. This law was passed hastily in the aftermath of 9/11 and contains some of the most alarming provisions ever enacted in a Canadian Parliament.

I have been impressed by the level-headedness and willingness to act according to principle that your government has demonstrated. Could you please use both in retooling this act?

Security certificates and the extremely broad wording limiting freedom of the press are especially troubling, as they dangerously undermine the foundational values of a free society. Allowing this legislation to be reintroduced in its present form would leave a legacy of open doors for legally sanctioned despotism. While you may have no intention of abusing the possibilities of this highly regressive act (although one could argue that any use at all is abuse), you cannot guarantee the actions of your successors.

I am confident that there are ways to protect our society from terrorism without sacrificing our most fundamental principles: freedom of speech, presumption of innocence and open trials.

I for one, am willing to accept some measure of risk in protecting these principles. Padded cells may be safe and even comfortable, but I prefer the risk of the open road.

On a related note, I believe it is high time that charges against Juliet O'Neill were dropped. This was a shameful move by the previous government and it dishonours you to allow it to continue.

Respectfully,

Technorati tags: Juliet O'Neill, Anti-Terrorism Act

Are we really honouring the heroes?

We have made men proud of most vices, but not of cowardice. Whenever we have almost succeeded in doing, so, the Enemy permits a war or an earthquake or some other calamity, and at once courage becomes so obviously lovely and important even in human eyes that all our work is undone, and there is still one vice of which they feel genuine shame.

Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39

On September 11, 2001, many people lost their lives. And some people gave them. This is not to say that those who lost their lives were necessarily cowards, or died as such. But they had no say at all in the matter of whether or not they lost their lives, and precious little in how they lost them. For them we grieve, huddled in pain at cemeteries and memorials.

Others looked death in the eye and overcame it, through their courage and through their ability to see values greater than their own comfort and even survival. For them we grieve also, but with our shoulders straight and our heads high.

For whatever state of decadence Western society may find itself in, we have not entirely lost the ability to recognize and honour heroism and selflessness. This does us proud.

To what extent though, will we be able to incorporate these ideals into our individual and corporate lives? Can we together find a greater goal than our comfort and pleasure? The signs, coming as they do from a very complex and textured society, are complex and multi-faceted, but overall, I am not encouraged.

If we are to truly honour the heroes of 9/11, remembering them is not enough. We must, to one degree or another, follow in their footsteps. For this to happen, I fear it will require further and greater blows to wake us from our torpeur, if it is not already too late.