For runaways on the street, sex buys survival - New York Times

ASHLAND, Ore.>> She ran away from her group home in Medford, Ore., and spent weeks sleeping in parks and under bridges.

[Charlie]

*This is an engrossing story. I find it puzzling that the New York Times writer felt the need to take a dig at former President Bush in the last paragraph as the smallest amount of research would show that the Justice Department under the Bush Administration made stopping the human trafficking of women and children a top priority. Here's a Justice Department link from 2004 that details these efforts:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2004/July/04_ag...

A shame that this writer would use such a serious subject to make such a libelous claim. Very sloppy of the Star Bulletin to pick the story up with out doing the little bit of research necessary to recognize this fact.

[Hanoi Jane]

Yada-yada liberal media. Slime of the earth should rot in hell. Those that profit on the misfortune of others are the real scum of the world.

[noend]

typical american way of life

[GaiaGirl]

I don't understand why "noend" in Hawaii thinks this situation is a typical American way of life. Nothing could be more atypical in America. These children are often running away from intolerable situations at home and are lost and confused and have no idea how to survive on the streets without becoming victims themselves. Do you really think that children have the maturity to make a decision about how to survive? No, they fall prey to the blandishments of pimps who promise them protection and a "good life," but only as long as the child does as he or she is told (and yes, there are boys out there selling sex as well). As long as there are "johns" out there who want young, nubile children for sex, there will profit for the pimps. Prostitution is not a "victimless crime." The victims are the children who get sucked into this terrible way of life and end up drug addicts or physically abused and die young. This is a terrible thing in society but doesn't exist in just America. You find child prostitutes all over the world because there are sick men all over the world who are willing to pay money to have sex with a child. That is why child pornography is such a multi-billion dollar business. It feeds the sick lust of those predators on children. The big unanswered question here is how can we protect our children and keep them safe from sexual predators everywhere? It seems impossible. I get so discouraged just thinking about it.