Common Ground Common Sense > PROTECT.ORG Action Alert! issued 10/28

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believe_it

Oct 29 2009, 07:44 AM

QUOTE

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1724/...friend_KEY=5784

PROTECT ACTION ALERT!

Call Rep. Alan Mollohan
(202) 225-4172

Please respectfully tell him to:
"Support the National Association to Protect Children's
Proposal for $30 Million in ICAC Child Rescue Funding!"

Background Information:

THE PROBLEM: Despite years of hard work by PROTECT, parents of abducted children and Oprah Winfrey, some members of Congress are standing in the way of full-funding for the PROTECT Our Children Act.

WHAT IS PROTECT's PROPOSAL?: (1) Fund the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force program at $30 million, as recommended by the Senate. But before that can happen, Congress must
(2) Give the ICACs their own line in the budget, because right now they are lumped together with a lot of other programs. Without that line item, the money won't reach the ICACs.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?: These task forces are the backbone of America's ability to fight child pornography and rescue its victims.

WHY MOLLOHAN?: Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) chairs the subcommittee handling this bill. Key Senate leaders are already on board.

WHAT BILL IS THIS?: FY10 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill (The "CJS Appropriations bill")

"BUT I'M NOT FROM MOLLOHAN'S DISTRICT": Chairman Mollohan's actions will impact children in every district in America!

WHY $30 MILLION?: That's only half the amount authorized, and the Senate is on board with this already.

I WANT MORE BACKGROUND BEFORE I CALL: Right here: http://www.protect.org/Campaign/National/N...e-Campaign.html

We really need these calls... emails just won't do!
Use the form below to send this message to others...

Keep an eye on PROTECT's website for updates!

believe_it

Oct 29 2009, 07:46 AM

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/Campaign/National/N...e-Campaign.html
Text of Letter from PROTECT to Rep. Alan Mollohan, October 27, 2009

Honorable Alan Mollohan
Chairman
House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Commerce, Justice and Science
2302 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representative Mollohan:

I am writing to ask again for your support for the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces in the FY10 CJS Appropriations bill.

As you know, the ICAC task forces are the backbone of America’s capacity to combat child pornography. ICAC investigators have located hundreds of thousands of child pornography traffickers in the U.S. Conservative estimates indicate the at least 1 in 3 of these suspects have local child victims. Yet, these law enforcement task forces are overwhelmed and able to investigate less than one percent of these leads, leaving untold thousands of children in unnecessary peril tonight.

The PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, sponsored by Rep. Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Joe Barton (R-TX) and Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) authorized $60 million for the ICACs. Tragically, your committee has not responded in kind. As the Senate prepares to take up the FY10 CJS appropriations bill, we ask that you take two actions on behalf of the ICACs and these children:

1. Break the ICAC program out of the Missing and Exploited Children budget in the final, negotiated FY10 bill, giving it its own line item, in the spirit of the PROTECT Our Children Act, and then

2. Fund the ICACs at $30 million in FY10, as recommended by the Senate, and $60 million in FY11.

Rep. Mollohan, your leadership on this issue is desperately needed. The dollars we do not spend now are the lives we don’t save.

Sincerely,

Grier Weeks
Executive Director
PROTECT

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QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/Campaign/National/N...e-Campaign.html

Federal: PROTECT Act - Full Funding.

Bill Number: FY2010 Appropriations http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app09.html
Brief Description: Secures funding for law enforcement assigned to child pornography trafficking cases, including Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces.

ACTION ALERT UNDERWAY NOW

What's going on?... When PROTECT and Oprah Winfrey organize over 500,000 angry Americans to help pass the PROTECT Our Children Act of 2008, yet Congress won't fully-fund it a year later?

What's going on?... When our government knows where hundreds of thousands of child pornography traffickers are, yet it won't give law enforcement the funding to do anything about them?

What's going on?... When America has the technology to locate and rescue little boys and girls who are victims of sexual predators, yet those children remain in peril?

What's going on is politics as usual, and that has to change now! ... In the next few days, Congress will be negotiating a bill deciding next year's funding for the Justice Department (FY10 CJS Appropriations bill). At stake are millions in funding for the ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) child rescue teams -- funding which would protect countless thousands of children.

But some powerful Members of Congress are blocking the progress that PROTECT, parents of abducted children and Oprah Winfrey fought so hard for.

Tell them they're wrong! Please act right now, and ask everyone you can to do the same. You'll really be proud you did.

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QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/Campaign/National/N...e-Campaign.html

Detailed Information:
Imagine if police knew where hundreds of thousands of criminals were, right now, preying on children. What if authorities could use technology to locate these predators and rescue their victims tomorrow? That's real child abuse prevention, and it's a reality now. But most of these children will not be protected... unless you take action.

We Could Rescue These Children Now...
The growth of the Internet has fueled an exploding marketplace for child pornography. These are no innocent photos of babies in the bathtub. Last year, law enforcement identified over 300,000 suspects distributing sadistic movies and photographs of very young childen being sexually abused, raped and tortured. The demand for these foul crime scene recordings can only be supplied one way: through the abuse of more and more children.

But the explosion of child pornography trafficking has not only caused a modern-day human rights crisis, it has also given law enforcement powerful new tools to find and stop child predators. Hundreds of thousands of criminals are now hiding in plain sight, and 1 out of 3 arrests for child pornography uncovers evidence of local child sexual abuse victims. Investigators can follow the trail of child pornography trafficking "back through the Internet," directly to the door of these criminals. That means that for the first time ever, we have the power to stop and prevent child sexual abuse on a massive scale.

But Most Child Victims Are Not Being Protected
The shocking truth is that while we could rescue thousands of children tomorrow, less than 2% of these known suspects are even being investigated due to lack of resources. In 2008, PROTECT won a major victory with the passage of the PROTECT Our Children Act, but thousands of children will not be rescued until the bill is fully-funded.

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believe_it

Oct 29 2009, 07:56 AM

It took less than 60 seconds to call and register my strong support for the PROTECT.ORG's proposal for the ICAC program. No names, addresses, or questions from the polite, young guy answering phones at Congresssman Mollohan's office.

Please call.

believe_it

Nov 5 2009, 04:13 PM

QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/Newswire/National/S...bill-today.html

Senate takes up appropriations bill today

Thursday, 05 November 2009

The U.S. Senate will debate the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill today, which contains critical funding for provisions in the PROTECT Our Children Act.

Passage of the CJS Appropriations bill by the Senate would clear the way for final negotiations between the House and Senate. PROTECT is conducting a campaign now to ask House leaders to yield to the Senate and allocate $30 million to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces, which are the backbone of U.S. law enforcement capacity to combat child pornography trafficking.

PROTECT is also asking House and Senate negotiators to break the ICACs out of a larger "Missing and Exploited Children" budget, where they are lumped together with funding for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other programs. Without the breakout, it is unlikely the ICACs will ever see the full $30 million.

believe_it

Nov 5 2009, 04:25 PM

$30 million for Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces, the backbone of U.S. law enforcement capacity to combat child pornography trafficking?

Who'd vote against that? Stay tuned...

believe_it

Nov 6 2009, 01:51 PM

QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/Newswire/National/B...conference.html

BREAKING: Spending bill passes Senate, moves to conference

Friday, 06 November 2009

The federal spending bill that PROTECT has been campaigning on cleared its next-to-last hurdle yesterday, with a 71-28 vote in the Senate. Now the 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Act moves to a joint House-Senate conference.

Senate passage removes all remaining obstacles for House and Senate negotiators to fix problems with funding for America's anti-child exploitation teams, the ICAC Task Forces (Internet Crimes Against Children). You can read more about the issue, and PROTECT's campaign, here: http://www.protect.org/Campaign/National/N...e-Campaign.html

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QUOTE

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll...&vote=00340

Measure Number: H.R. 2847 (Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 )
Measure Title: A bill making appropriations for the Departments of Commerce and Justice, and Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and for other purposes.

NAYs ---28

Barrasso (R-WY)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Wicker (R-MS)

Not Voting - 1

Byrd (D-WV)
.

believe_it

Nov 6 2009, 02:56 PM

QUOTE

http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/index.htm

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Efforts to Combat Crimes Against Children, Audit Report 09-08, January 2009

PDF : http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0908/final.pdf
HTML: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0908/index.htm

.

QUOTE

http://www.promisetoprotect.org/Federal-Ne...t-Children.html

DOJ Releases FBI Audit Report, "Efforts to Combat Crimes Against Children"

Backlogs at FBI cybercrime labs are impeding hundreds of investigations into online child exploitation and child pornography. The report shows the FBI forensic units to be overwhelmed, despite efforts to process requests as quickly as possible.

The reports found that the average completion time for forensic work to be fifty-nine days, though a wait of "3 to 9 months" were also reported.

The FBI investigates child exploitation through its Innocent Images National Initiative. CNN reported that FBI Executive Assistant stated, "The pervasiveness of the Internet has resulted in the dramatic growth of online sexual exploitation of children, resulting in a 2,000 percent increase in the number of cases opened since 1996."

The report was released this month by the Justice Department's Inspector General. Also reviewed in the report is the FBI response to child/familial abductions and prostituted children.
(Source: CNN)

believe_it

Nov 9 2009, 05:27 PM

This speaks for itself and explains a lot. Corrections welcomed.

QUOTE

http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200911090001

Heritage Foundation Sticks Up For Violent Sex Offenders

by Chris Harris
7 hours and 12 minutes ago

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION'S TRUE COLORS

As we have mentioned before, the conservative Heritage Foundation produces the website Overcriminalized.com, which advocates the theory that "as a result of rampant overcriminalization, trivial conduct is now often punished as a crime."

Heritage claims the website:

... describes the trend in America - and particularly in Congress - to use the criminal law to "solve" every problem, punish every mistake (instead of making proper use of civil penalties), and coerce Americans into conforming their behavior to satisfy social engineering objectives.

A sampling of what the Heritage Foundation views as the "rampant overcriminalization" of "trivial conduct" is truly striking and shows why conservative politicians should think twice before embracing the views held by the conservative think tank.

As you can see below, the folks at Heritage oppose legislation tackling child sex slavery, child sex trafficking, child pornography and violence against children

Link from: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...ess=389x6973404

believe_it

Nov 18 2009, 05:49 PM

Does your state rely on ICAC task forces?

QUOTE

http://newark.fbi.gov/pressrel/2009/nk102809.htm

October 28, 2009
FBI Newark

“Despite the many arrests in connection with child pornography and the publicity of those arrests, criminals unfortunately persist with their victimization of children and related criminal activities,” said Weysan Dun. “However, the public can rest assured that since the criminals won’t give up, neither will law enforcement. This unacceptable behavior will be aggressively exposed wherever we find it for the benefit of parents and safety of children everywhere. Consequently, if you engage in this illicit activity, you will forfeit your privacy and freedom and face the full penalty of law.” Dun thanked the New Jersey State Police ICAC task force and FBI agents assigned to the Innocent Images squad for their dedication and success...

“The watching of child pornography is not a victimless crime. It exploits the children abused in the making of those images every time they are redistributed across the web,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. “We’re proud of the vital work performed by our cybercrimes detectives and their task force partners,” added Fuentes.

.

believe_it

Nov 18 2009, 05:51 PM

UPDATE

QUOTE

http://www.protect.org/
Email Update
November 18, 2009

ANY DAY NOW... Congress will make a decision on desperately-needed funding for the the ICAC teams that track child pornography traffickers and rescue their victims. As you know, we asked PROTECT members to call Rep. Alan Mollohan in late October to demand action. The word from Capitol Hill is that your voice was heard. We'll know soon, as the final hour approaches.

IN WASHINGTON D.C. ... PROTECT met last month with Attorney General Eric Holder, briefing him on the U.S. child exploitation crisis and the need for greater action from the Justice Department. We've also met with top federal law enforcement agencies about legislation planned for 2010.
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