Can there be any human beings lower than this?

[Bunny]

Children who were orphaned by the tsunami now run the risk of being kidnapped and sold into child sex rings. I'm normally against the death penalty, but I could very cheerfully watch the perpetrators of this fry! :mad:

Sorry if these are dupes.

<snip>
But Swedish and Thai police are searching for a 12-year-old Swedish boy last seen leaving a hospital in Thailand with an unknown man.
A boy matching the description of Kristian Walker was last seen on Monday with a German man at a hospital near the resort of Khao Lak, but has since vanished, despite a desperate search by his American grandfather, Daniel Walker.
<snip>


http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5034232.html


<sni>
The government, police, non-government organizations and religious groups have vowed to stop child traffickers from selling children whose parents were among the approximately 100,000 people killed by the devastating earthquake and tsunamis in Aceh province.

NGOs and Muslim groups claim that child traffickers are now preying on some of the estimated 50,000 orphans at refugee camps and hospitals in Aceh and neighboring North Sumatra province. They allege that children are being stolen and then offered for sale or adoption via cellular phone SMS (short message service) text messages.
<snip>


http://www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=1&news_id=7789

[whirlygigspin]

1. where there's a corpse, you find vultures

I usually just call them republicans.

[Atman]

2. Don't get drawn in!

I saw this report. CNN has been hyping it, too. Yet, it said NOTHING. Nothing was actually happening like this. As your own words say, "children are at risk" for this. IT IS NOT HAPPENING as far as anyone can tell, even according to CNN. Children are at risk for this in Bush's bombed out Iraq and Afghanistan, too. Children are at risk for this in the slums of America and Europe.

With limited communication, no way to locate one another, perhaps, can you imagine one good samaritan taking an injured child to the hospital? Why does this mean the child was kidnapped? Only in America would we tell the kid he was on his own, because we're afraid we might be seen with him and be accused of kidnap or child molesting.

There was not one person in the CNN segment who could say this actually was happening or had happened. It was entirely speculation. This entire theory appeared to be hinged upon this very sad Dad who could not find his kid after the waves. He said he "hoped" his child had merely been kidnapped and not killed by the waves. That led the focus of the story to this mysterious child kidnapping angle, although NOTHING suggested anything like this was happening outside of this poor man's desperate (unrealistic) struggle to find his child alive.

In other words, it is emotional journalistic opportunism.

Child rape, slavery, prostitution...it is all horrible, horrible, to be sure. But don't lose focus from the real issues of real people needing real help.

(on edit) I heard from my sister in Thailand yesterday. She is taking in a couple of the orphans, at least temporarily, until they can be properly placed. Hate to sound republican, but there is GOOD news that can be addressed. There are still good people out there.

[Bunny]

3. Well, thanks for the info. But, I'M not losing interest in the real

issues. I do not know if this is true or not, but I did hear that the Indonesian government has now declared that children under 16 may not leave the country without a legitimate parent or guardian. If this is, in fact, true, THEY obviously believe it is or may become an issue.

[Atman]

5. That just appears to be COMMON SENSE

You can't take a kid out of a McDonald's Playland without proper ID...why should you be able to fly out of the country with one?

[rooboy]

6. NO no no...

the Indonesian govt is preventing children under 16 from leaving ACEH, which is fighting the Indonesian govt for independence and is under martial law. Different motivations for this could easily be at work here.

[sui generis]

9. and that's because children 16 and over are adults

or may have children themselves.

[Midlodemocrat]

8. It is an issue.

Don't forget, Thailand has an astronomical sex trade. How many Godly Westerners frequent some of those brothels? These children are at risk and need to be protected.

[sui generis]

7. and another thing

let's pull our heads out of our collective ass please. Kids are sold into slavery and used in slavery EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR - I think something like between 19 and 25 million children on this planet live as worker-slaves and a significant portion of those as sex slaves.

It is terrible, but if we want to make a difference of any kind we have to DO SOMETHING about it other than piss and moan on DU.

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2004-12,RNWE:en&q=anti+child+slavery+organizations

[Atman]

10. That was my point, though I didn't make it clearly

This is an ongoing problem. If you weren't concerned about it before, don't let the MSM, themselves desperate for new angles in this nine-day-old story, suck you into a manufactured issue when the real issue is bad enough to warrant your concern 365 days a year.

[sui generis]

11. I don't realize how grumpy I type sometimes

x( I'll go suck down some coffee and perk up.

Okay, I'm back

:hi:

[Bunny]

12. Okay, well to hell with me for even bringing it up.

Jeez.... :eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

19. I'm glad you posted it, Bunny

it is a real issue. I have been following the relief efforts through many channels including MSM as well as other avenues and there is great concern that some of these children could fall prey to evil doers.

I don't agree with those posters who indicated that caring about this issue takes the focus off real ones. This is just as real, at least to me.

[KurtNYC]

4. Good news and bad on the swedish kid

Thai police today released a German man who left hospital near Kaho Lak on Monday with a youngster, at first thought to be the missing Swedish boy, after questioning him about possible kidnapping. Police confirmed the man's account that he had helped reunite two German boys with their parents and a Swedish youth with his mother.

"We have ruled out the theory that this man kidnapped anyone," police spokesman Vichai Boonruen said.

The bad news is they still haven't found him.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tsunami/story/0,15671,1383785,00.html

[DS1]

13. But yesterday DU was claiming that the MSM was full of it

and this wasn't really happening, and Blitzer was lying, and and and :eyes:

[Bunny]

15. Well, I didn't follow it yesterday.

I first heard about it this morning. If it's a dupe, sorry about that!

[DS1]

17. Nothing to worry about, I'm just pointing out how opinion substitutes fact

on this site

[Bunny]

18. Indeed it does. Thanks! n/t

[tk2kewl]

14. I am surprised we haven't sent military recruitment officers with Powell

"Well, you see, son, this place is pretty much hopeless. You'll never find a job or get to rebuild your life. But if you sign here we can get you 3 squares and money to send home to mom."

[soleft]

16. It was reported earlier that people who had lost all their children

were taking abandoned children. It could be a matter of traumatized people acting out of grief.

Wasn't sex rings a big topic in a speech Bush gave to the UN?

[underpants]

20. NO there aren't

but don't think (I'm sure you don't) this is something new. They seem to have swooped in having recognized the opportunity as the news broke.

No there is a really special place in hell for people like that.

[Bunny]

21. Yeah, unfortunately it's not new.

I'm aware that parents sometimes sell their OWN kids into sex slavery, if that isn't completely disgusting! It just seems so tragic, that kids who are already struggling with losses so enormous, are now possibly being kidnapped into the sex trade. Yep - a special place in hell, for sure!