Should a 13 yr old sex slave be prosecuted for prostitution and her pimp get off?

Houston Texas, which has been called  the national hub of human trafficking, recently had an interested case of mentally retarded 13 year old runaway girl being  prosecuted for prostitution even though the legal age for consenting to sex  is 14.

The case involves a girl identified as B.W., taken from her mother at age 11 and placed with Child Protective Services. After running away from CPS, she was picked up by Houston Police Department officers two years later after they observed her trying to sell herself on the street. She was booked on charges of prostitution. Later, after her age of 13 became known, she was placed in the juvenile system and charged with delinquency for committing prostitution instead of returning her to CPS.

link

The Texas Supreme Court hearing is here between the lawyers who are arguing whether a child can be prosecuted for prostitution. I watched it in its 45 minute entirety because I was pretty shocked! This is shock and awe material for anyone familiar with how sex slavery is done. It takes a while for the page to load the video, but I believe if you are interested in human trafficking it may be worth your watching to see what we are up against and how our system is so anti  girls who are under the influence of sex traffickers.

Highlights are minute 9:30 where Ann Johnson begins her argument that sending 13 year old girls to jail for prostitution is a bad idea and will just cause a vacuum that will get the human trafficker to find another 13 year old runaway, convince her that he loves her, and then sell her body for sex, pick her up, and then pick her up and her cash after she is done.

After that- go to minute 29:30

Judges : Has anyone gone to see who this alleged boyfriend is?

DA: The record is silent about that. I can’t tell you.

Judge: Do you find that disturbing?

Yes it is disturbing!

http://stmarytxlaw.mediasite.com/mediasite/SilverlightPlayer/Default.aspx?peid=34f4a4037aea4c4da860e9184d7430c3

RIP: Author J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Review for “Hope For Haiti Now” Download

I was expecting some nice tunes, but this is music by the greatest musicians giving their best efforts to help out Haiti after the terrible earthquake, like only 2 weeks after the catastrophe happened. I have not heard anything this great from Rock and Roll since the 1971 Concert of Bangladesh with George Harrison and Ravi Shankar and Bob Dylan and Ringo Starr which raised 243K for Bangladesh which had just suffered a cyclone and a terrible war.
This music restores my faith in the power of music and America to do good – a faith that was sorely tested after the slow response to the Katrina disaster in New Orleans.

Here’s my song rundown:

Send Me An Angel – The beautiful voice of Alicia Keyes who “Sometimes I feel like… I don’t belong anywhere” but is begging for an angel to direct her to heaven so that she doesn’t feel like a dove with no wings. Very heartfelt.

A Message of 2010 – ColdPlay plays a catchy tune about how they are not going to take a bath until the message hits home that we should help NOW.

We Shall Overcome – Bruce Springsteen sings that old great spiritual – We shall overcome someday. We are not afraid! Here in my heart we shall overcome day. Haiti will overcome.

Time to Love/Bridge Over Trouble Waters – Stevie Wonder does Bridge Over Trouble Waters with more sheer honesty and spirit than Art Garfunkel.

I’ll Stand By You – Shakira sings that she will “Stand By You” no matter what! I guess even if we believe in voodoo!

Motherless Child – John Legend gets “Sometimes I feel like a…” exactly right. Sometimes he feels like a motherless child. A long, long way from home. A great cover of this bluegrass classic.

Hard Times Come Again No More – Mary J. Blige A plea to Hard Times to not come again to her cabin door no more. Another beautiful voice!

Breathless -Taylor Smith sings about orphan survivors running into her arms breathless. “I will never judge you. I can only love you.”

Lift Me Up – Christina Aguilera wants to be lifted up.

Driven To Tears – Sting gets preachy. A great musical sermon with a great solo.

Halo – Beyonce can see Haiti’s Halo. A beautiful song.

Lean on Me – Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, and Keith Urban cover “We all need someone to lean on!”. Just call on me brother, when you need a hand. I will remember that.

Like a Prayer – Madonna – in the midnight hour I can feel Your power! Especially when You call out Madonna’s name!

Hallelujah – Justin Timberlake – Bathsheba makes an appearance in this song.

Let it Be – Jennifer Hudson covers the Beatles song.

Many Rivers to Cross – Emeline Michel sings a sad song about the trial of crossing rivers.

Stranded – Jay-Z, Bono, the Edge, Rilianno I’m not going to lead you stranded. A great song written about the Haiti earthquake. “The Saints are Coming” hit of the album. I hope this song is true.

Alone and Forsaken – Dave Matthews and Neil Young sing about tragedy and God.

Rivers of Babylon/Yele – Wyclei Jean starts out with Psalm 137 and then goes crazy! Actually I think this is the greatest song on the album! The earth shake! But the soul of the Haitian people will never break!

Stranded – an even better version of “I am not going to leave you stranded!”

Truly a great download with the money going to a great cause!

(I published this review on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Hope-For-Haiti-Now/product-reviews/B0035QNFGW/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Dreaming on Martin Luther King Jr Day

I have a dream that many guys would man up and commit to love one woman for a lifetime, and that all children would have 2 parents that love and do not abuse each other. Cohabitation is destroying the concept of marriage, not gay marriage.

I have a dream that many young people and couples would become missionaries in Africa. They can pay off their VISA’s and Mastercard’s just as well over there as over here.

I have a dream that American churches would adopt African villages and build a well of clean water for each and every village.

I have a dream that there would be no invisible children in Uganda.

I have a dream that church on Sunday would be not the most segregated hour of the week, but the most desegregated.

I have a dream that churches would have both English and Spanish and sign language services in America.

I have a dream that there will be a pro-life health care bill and all the Democrats will vote for it and all the Republicans will vote against it.

I have a dream that instead of sending Soldiers to kill the children of Afghanistan and Iraq, that the United States would be sending Nurses and Doctors and School Teachers.

I have a dream that blacks would have the same life spans as whites.

I have a dream that Houston would stop building the biggest abortion extermination center outside of China (78000 ft, 6 floors, clinics designed for late 2nd trimester term abortions) which is aimed at aborting minority children in that city. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/pphset/moving.htm

I have a dream that every child, black, white or Spanish,  in Houston will receive good education and health care.

I have a dream that Sarah Palin would not be our next president or secretary of state.

I have a dream that they would design a stun gun that doesn’t kill people and that cops would carry these instead of real guns.

I have a dream that revival would break out in America, starting with the cities. Maybe starting in Philadelphia.

I have a dream that there would be no nuclear weapons in ANY country, including the USA.

I have a dream that no country would use water boarding (simulated drowning) – which is torture.

I have a dream that the Taliban would discover peace and Jesus Christ and start respecting women.

I have a dream that the news of Jesus Christ would spread throughout the entire world – Asia, Africa, Europe, Americas, Antartica, the North Pole – and the result of this would be prosperity for all, instead of prosperity for the few, and the advancement of the Kingdom of God.