Is no child safe?

I haven't posted on the resignation of Kevin Clash the voice of Elmo because I was waiting for more facts to come out. I didn't want to just jump on the negative bandwagon if the man was being falsely accused. When doing research again today there is another article of two more males who are saying he had sex with them when they were underage. http://lovebscott.com/news/two-more-accusers-step-forward-against-kevin-

One of the things I am seeing all over the internet is that a fifteen year old is mature enough to engage in a consensual sexual relationship. If it was two fifteen year olds maybe, but a man over the age of forty seeking sex with a minor is wrong. I have even seen the articles about the second man who has accused him of having sex with him when he was a minor, has adds on Craigslist. The Craigslist add is him as a person over the age of eighteen not younger than eighteen. In my opinion some of those articles are to try to discredit the second accuser.

I have also seen blog sites where mothers are defending Kevin Clash. Some commenters on these blogs even say  things like "So what, my child loves Elmo." I am interested in why their isn't the same type of outrage against Kevin Clash and Sesame Street compared to Jerry Sandusy and Penn State. Or Jimmy Seville in the UK. BBC news has been getting flack for this for weeks now. And anyone with access to the internet knows what Penn State has been going through. I say rightfully so.

I am concerned that somehow this story is going to end up at the bottom of a heap somewhere and just die out. Why? In my opinion because of the PR machine at Sesame Street. I am not saying that Sesame Street should be irrevocably harmed by this. The first accuser recanted and said he was paid $125,000 to keep quiet.     http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/accuser_got_to_recant_jGgd9v0ejj6wpiqVzzD9xK Where did this money come from? I have read that back in June Sesame Street was notified of the allegations from the first accuser and determined that there was no merit to them. I wonder how many times this happened? If there were any other times. I understand Sesame Street protecting their brand but doing so can hurt them in the long run.  They only need to look at Penn State to see how bad this can become for them.

It is ironic that this has happened to a brand that is so well known to children and parents. A brand that has stood for wholeness, education and honesty. It is the same reason that their isn't extreme public outrage. If this man knowingly had sex with males under the age of consent he committed a crime and should therefore be held accountable. If Sesame Street knew of other accusers in the past and did nothing they need to be held accountable as well. It is easy for people to just blame victim in cases like this. That is what happened for decades when it came to the Boy Scouts, Catholic Church, and other brands who chose to protect their brand other then to protect children. That is what is so good about social media. It has changed the way the truth comes out. Rosie
Television

Elmo Actor Kevin Clash Resigns Amid Sex Allegations

By Associated PressNov. 20, 2012

 VICTORIA WILL/AP PHOTO

"Sesame Street" muppet Elmo and puppeteer Kevin Clash pose for a portrait in the Fender Music Lodge on Jan. 24, 2011.

Last week a man accused Clash of having sex with him when he was a teenage boy, a charge Clash denied. A day later, the man recanted his charge. A lawsuit by a second accuser was filed Tuesday, according to attorney Cecil Singleton.

NEW YORK (AP) — Sesame Workshop says Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash has resigned from Sesame Streetin the wake of allegations that he had sex with an under-aged youth.

Sesame Workshop called the controversy surrounding Clash’s personal life “a distraction that none of us want” and led to his decision to leave the show.

Clash created the voice and persona for Elmo, who has become one of Sesame Street’s most popular characters.

CHILDHOOD

Why Kevin Clash’s Personal Life Troubles Parents of Elmo Fans

By Bonnie RochmanNov. 14, 20129 Comments

I feel that I had to respond to the article below. I feel that whatever one's sexuality is shouldn't impact any type of investigation into children being sexually abused (what I am meaning is gay or straight I do not feel that pedophilia is a sexual orientation. Many in the movement to normalize pedophilia do. For instance B4U-ACT http://b4uact.org/).

If during an investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse, their are those who are abusing children that are gay. It doesn't mean that the only reason they are being investigated is because they are gay. They are being investigated because they are accused of harming children. We are in the twenty first century not the dark ages. A child sexual predators sexuality, should play no part in any investigation. What the focus needs to be is on whether or not a human being has made the decision to harm a child. Bringing up one's sexual orientation is just smoke and mirrors and takes away from the reality that children have been harmed. I hope that there are no more articles like this published. We need to remain vigilant about protecting children and not get off on smoke and mirrors. Rosie

Paedophile scandal risks becoming gay witch-hunt - Cameron

By Guy Faulconbridge and Matt Falloon

LONDON | Thu Nov 8, 2012 6:58pm GMT

(Reuters) - Speculation about the identity of a senior Conservative party member accused of child sex abuse could descend into a "witch-hunt" of homosexuals, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Thursday.

Cameron ordered an investigation this week after a child abuse victim said a prominent member of the prime minister's party had abused him during the 1970s, prompting Internet speculation over who the politician might be.

I received a comment on a story from THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2012 Paedophile John Maber admitted 27 abuse charges ttp://www.memoirofaredemptivelife.com/2012/07/paedophile-john-maber-admitted-27-abuse.h I thought appropriate for me to do a blog post on this. The reader shared the following blog site www.stjohnnz.com 


This is a very thorough blog on what happened in New Zealand about a pedophile cover up of two individuals, Karl Berghan (20) and Sam Brens (21). The story revolves around young girls who were groomed by these two child sexual predators. I was most appalled by one of the young women's therapist who was aware she was sexually active at 14 years old with a man of 20 years old. Her response to this girls parents was that they should be so lucky that she found love so young. The reality is what this therapist did was unethical. A 14 year old can't consent to a sexual relationship. That is why we have age of consent laws. The young girl eventually divorced her parents and received a gag order. This prevented her parents from speaking out about what was happening. Thankfully they won their case and the gag order was dropped.

What is sad is this victim is now in her early twenties and is totally convinced that she wasn't a victim in this. She won't reunite with her parents until they stop pushing justice for what happened to her and them. This is how good pedophiles or child sexual predators (whichever word you choose to use) groom. They have her totally convinced that she was an active participant. What did they have to benefit for convincing this child she was an active participant? Even though these "men" and I use the word loosely, were arrested and brought to trial none of their victims would testify. That meant the case was dropped and justice wasn't severed. 

Please take the time to read this blog and view the videos. It is very sad that children are not more protected. Stories like these have to be told. Grateful for this information, Rosie

ST JOHN AMBULANCE NEW ZEALAND

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Behind the doors of NZ's most trusted commercial brand.

10/11/2012

Did St John Ambulance NZ conduct a cover-up of a Pedophile Protection Network within their organization?

Penn State Conference on CSA #CSAC12-Dr. Finkelhor

I haven't posted in a little while I needed to process everything from the Conference and to sort my thoughts on how I was going to discuss everything on this blog. The first guest speaker for the conference was Dr. David Finkelhor, PhD. Dr. Finkelhor is well know in the field of child sexual abuse. He is the Director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Finkelhor wrote a book back in l979 called Sexually Victimized Children which was the start of the movement on child sexual abuse advocacy/awareness. I have attached the video of Dr. Finkelhol's presentation on the next page.

To be honest I wasn't looking forward to hearing from him. He has been quoted in several media outlets as saying that child sexual abuse is on the decline. I took issue with him in a couple of blog posts back in June of this year. He did make his claims that child sexual abuse is declining. What he didn't say was that his data shows a decline in child sexual abuse. He obtains his data from child sexual abuse cases where the victim tells. The reality is that when he comes to any type of sexual assault only ten percent of people tell.  He did make clear that it is very hard to be able to get accurate data on this topic. He also made clear that the topic of child sexual abuse is a very grim topic.