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Oprah has taken a lot of heat from Republicans lately for refusing to interview Sarah Palin, after she twice hosted Obama and the Mrs. on her show. Yesterday, though, she almost got something right. Her subject for the day was a shocking one-- child pornography that shows sexual abuse, rape and torture of children and, lately, on toddlers and infants.
She interviewed a law enforcement officer who said that the tools are available, but that the volume simply overwhelms the few people assigned to intercept and punish this terrible crime. He spoke of the emotional burden of going home at night knowing that specific babies were being raped, on camera in real time, and that he didn't have the resouces to stop it. Obviously, the show was designed to make her huge audience want to "do something" (strangling a few of these sick devils is unfortunately not legal). Also unfortunately, what she suggested was to support a specific piece of legislation, the "Protect Our Children Act," Senate bill 1738. Not that the idea is wrong, but it seems there is a difference of opinion about how best to acccomplish it. The devil is in the details.
S. 1738 is authored by a who's who of liberal Democrats. It establishes a vast bureaucracy to study the issue, create "plans" and "reports," and "define the problem." S. 3344 is authored by Republican Tom Coburn. It directly adds resources to the existing task forces and establishes oversight by the Attorney General to verify these funds are effectively spent. The amount of money authorized in the first year is the same in both bills, $60 Million. I have no idea if that is enough, but if money is to be spent, spending it on actual law enforcement personnel and resources seems better than spending it on bureaucracy and paperwork while claiming to "address the problem." I trust Senator Coburn more than Senator Obama.
So, in case you missed Oprah on Monday, please DO tell your Senator to pass this important legislation. Just be aware that she got the number wrong. It's S. 3344, not S. 1738.
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