We don't want to hear about it! We don't have time to address problems like the sexual exploitation of children, nor the mental illness or rampant poverty and ignorance that fuels the horrid crimes.
Cuz we have real problems down here in the Bible Belt, real problems like gay marriage and uppity pro-choice women to deal with! We have palatial churches and slum schools to build!
Only the deaf, dumb, blind and stupid could possibly believe that whatever it is we're doing down here in the Bible Belt is working.
It's not working! It's high time we got a new kind of belt!
Reuters:
In a sleazy hotel room, "Brittany," then aged 16 and drugged into oblivion, waited for the men to arrive. Her pimps sent as many as 17 clients an evening through the door.
A "john" could even pre-book the pretty young blonde for $1,000 a night, sometimes flying in and then flying out from a nearby airport. None of this happened in Bangkok or Costa Rica, places that have become synonymous with sex tourism and underage sex.
It took place in Atlanta, the buckle of the U.S. Bible Belt, where the world's busiest passenger airport provides a cheaper, more convenient and safer underage sex destination for men seeking girls as young as 10.
"Men fly in, are met by pimps, have sex with a 14-year-old for lunch, and get home in time for dinner with the family," said Sanford Jones, the chief juvenile judge of Fulton County, Georgia.
A new federal law passed in 2003 ensures that American sex tourists landing on foreign soil and hiring prostitutes under the age of 18 can get 30 years in prison. But in Georgia, punishment for pimping or soliciting sex with a girl under 18 is only five to 20 years, according to Deborah Espy, the Deputy District Attorney of Fulton County.
"Men are coming to Atlanta to have sex with a child," said LaKendra Baker, project manager for the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE). Half of the street-level prostitutes in Atlanta are believed to be under 18, according to experts. . . .
"People are stunned that Atlanta's the No. 1 sex center in the country," said Steinberg.
Hat tip to Alternate Brain
Red States Bible Belt The South Atlanta Sex Tourism Christianity Democrats Progressive Values 2008
