US Christian group arrested in Haiti on child trafficking charges

By GottaLaff

This is not exactly what true Christianity is about:

Haitian police detained 10 members of a US Christian group after they allegedly tried to leave the country with more than 30 children who survived the country's devastating earthquake. [...]

Police had arrested five men and five women with US passports, as well as two Haitians, as they tried to cross into the neighboring Dominican Republic with 33 children late Friday, Haitian authorities said. [...]

The Americans were members of an Idaho-based charity called New Life Children's Refuge, said Social Affairs Minister Yves Christallin, adding: "This is an abduction, not an adoption." [...]

Patricia Vargas, head of an international center caring for the youngsters, said that officials at the Haitian Institute of Social Welfare, which deals with adoptions, told her "most of the kids have family."

Some of the older children had spoken to aid workers and "say their parents are alive, and some of them gave us an address and phone numbers," she said.

The US embassy confirmed that ten US citizens were being held for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."

At least they were caught. This time.

UPDATE, via an e-mail alert from the Associated Press:

Haiti prime minister says US Baptist group knew it was wrong to take children out of country.

They knew.

So who was the shoe-thrower?

By GottaLaff

I'm sure they're treating Zaidi very well since the incident, because, you know, Iraq is a model of freedom and democracy now that Bush's war has knocked some sense into them. Here's a little insight into who he is:

Muntathar Al Zaidi is a 29-year-old Iraqi reporter for the Cairo-based Baghdadiyah Television. According to friends, Zaidi covered and was "emotionally influenced by" the American bombings of Sadr City in Baghdad earlier this year and was also kidnapped by Shiite gunmen in 2007 and held for three days. "This is a goodbye kiss, you dog," Zaidi shouted as he threw his shoe at Bush. He shouted "killer of Iraqis, killer of children," from the bottom of the secret-service scrum that engulfed him, and then, "my hand, my hand." Zaidi's television network demanded his immediate release.

I guess this is expresses how he felt after Bush sent people to his town to kill his friends and family. In their society, per Thom Hartmann, this is considered a non-violent way to hurl an insult (literally) at someone.