Laura Silsby: Loses her Grip on the Gang; Did the Con Get Conned?

This is the first part of a 2-part blog, which was becoming too long for comfortable consumption. Part 1 is limited to the latest story coming out of Haiti on the break-up of Silsby's onsite New Lifers and allegations of attempted court bribery last week.

The Laura Silsby child lifting case just keeps getting stranger.

MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders reported Saturday that one of Laura Silsby's "missionaries" slipped a note to his producer Don Wood during an off camera interview. Signed by eight of the 10 prisoners, the note said the detainees feared for their lives. And seemingly feared Silsby.

The 3 minute broadcast is below.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here are the relevant parts:

• We fear for our lies here in Haiti. There is corruption and extortion.

• Laura wants to control. We believe lying. We are afraid.

• Please you must listen. We have no way to call. Court will not let us have a say about truth for us We only came as volunteers. We had nothing to do with any documents. We have been lied to.

******

The Associated Press picks it up from there, reporting Sunday morning (Feb. 7) that Edwin Coq, the Haitian lawyer representing the group in court last week, has been fired by Jorge Puello, the Dominican attorney retained by the detainees' relatives, after they rejected the lawyer recommended to them by US Consular Services.

Puello in turn, hired Coq to work the Haitian end. Puello, the guy who a few days ago complained to CNN about living conditions in the jail, claims (and what's left of the Haitian government isn't denying it so far) that Coq tried to bribe Silsby & Co out of jail and out of the country with $60,000 he'd requested from the families for his fee, even though he told the AP on Friday that he was taking no fee. (No mention on Puello's fee, if he has one).

In another story from CNN Sunday, Coq claims he was actually hired by Eric Thompson, husband of detainee Carla Thompson, and had quit the case, not been fired as Puello claimed.The London Sunday Telegraph reported that Coq was preparing to resign anyway because he had not received money promised him by the families of this clients.

Puello has a different story. He says:

Coq initially requested a $10,000 fee, but kept asking for bigger and bigger amounts. He said that when Coq reached $60,000, he said he (Coq) could guarantee it would lead to the Americans' release. Coq orchestrated "some kind of extortion with government officials" that would have led to the release of nine of the 10 missionaries...He had some people inside the court that asked him for money, and he was part of this scheme."

Despite Coq's earlier claim of pro bono work, he does not deny he had the money (or at least some of it) , now claiming it was his fee (that didn't exist on Friday), not a bribe.

I have worked for 10 people for four days working all hours. Look at what hour I'm working now responding to these calls. I have the right to this money.

The story gets more interesting since both Puello and Coq have thrown Silsby under her own bus. At the Friday hearing, pleading for provisional release of all but Silsby (bail where bond is not required, which would permit the prisoners to return to the States until trial), he told the court that in his opinion the nine had been well-intentioned but naive volunteers duped by their leader who had lied to them that she had the legal documents to transport the children to DR. Puello agrees that Silsby lied to everyone else. He seems to have little interest in defending her.

The God that failed. The bribe that failed.
The story is so confusing. Silsby is so slippery. The other defendants so ignorant. To make things more complicated, Coq speaks Creole and no English, and has been working with Silsby through interpreters whose language skills seen to be questionable. Thus, we have a story full of questions, inconsistencies, conjectures, and holes making it difficult to offer sane observations. So far, MSM has not investigated the bribery allegations, instead taking them at face value. I can't decide without more information, though I can easily see the the morally deficient Silsby trying to buy her way out of her jam--with somebody else's money

These are some of my random meandering thoughts from the last 24 hours. I keep running them around in my head. They tend to change, so tomorrow I may have a whole set of new observations and conjectures, especially if and when new information is released.

• Why would the families or Puello hire an attorney who doesn't speak English or have decent translators? Surely there are better choices, even in the midst of Haiti's chaos. After all, Consular Services suggested a lawyer (who presumably spoke English). Why was this lawyer rejected?
  

• Were funds transferred to Coq, and if so, how much?

• Did Coq, in fact, have $60,000 in hand and did he want more? The report that he planned to resign from the case because he'd not received the funds promised suggests he didn't have the $60,00, the last amount the Puello mentioned, or that he wanted even more.

• Were, in fact, bribes offered to the court, or is this just a lawyer smackdown? If so, how much was offered and to whom for what? Since the Haitian government with its history of corruption has much bigger things to worry about right now, I don't expect this to be pursued, unless it's linked to something bigger. The Haitian and US governments just want this to go away.
  

• Was Laura Silsby aware of the bribe offer? As the "spokesperson" and self-appointed group herderm did she, in fact, suggest it under that self-made privilege she likes to throw around while the rest of the group sat on the floor singing praise songs? Reflecting on Silsby's murky financial history, lack of ethics in Idaho and Haiti, and her long failed history of rules-are-for-other-people lifestyle--what I call Silsby exceptionalism--it is almost inevitable that she would try to toss her trick bag stuffed with other people's money into a Haitian judiciary sinkhole and then credit God with their release--a release that only the delusional psychic grifter and her followers (maybe) could actually believe would happen. Though Silsby has complained she couldn't communicate well with Coq, would that prevent her from entangling him in her latest scheme through some other source?

• If Coq offered a bribe independent of Silsby, did Silsby know about it at some point?
  

• No matter where the bribe initiated, (if it did) did the other prisoners know about it? The group's specific reference to "Laura wants to control. We believe lying. We are afraid" tells me that they believe that Silsby not only lied about their rescue mission, but continues to lie to authorities and themselves; thus, putting them in some kind of danger. Would a failed bribe attempt (or rumor of attempt) fueled by their baby stealing plot be enough for them to fear retribution from people who didn't get the pay-off? Or do they actually fear Silsby?
  

• If there was an attempted bribe, who dropped the dime on Coq?

• Is Silsby expendable? Obviously she's the loony ringleader that can't stop mugging for the press, but beyond that, she offers no financial incentive to acquit. While the other nine have families to at least somehow support their attempt to repatriate Silsby has nothing but a foreclosed home, a failed business, lawsuits, a ruined reputation, and a lot of disillusioned churchies who won't be eager to donate to her defense fund.

• Was the whole thing a con? Did the con get conned?

I am particularly struck by Silsby's performance (and this is indeed performance) before Friday's court appearance. News videos, some of which can be seen in the above video, show a blissed out Laura Silsby leaving for court, patronizing smile on her made-up face, explaining patiently to her dumbo audience, that God will set them all free. She and her crew, in fact, took their packed bags with them to court, expecting to fly out of Port au Prince later in the day. Was her confidence based on her incessant phone conversations in her head with God or did she believe throwing around money would make the problem--and them--go away? I've been around a lot of evangelicals and fundamentalists over the years, but I can't remember anyone this jazzed on her personal interpretation of God' will. The woman just isn't plugged in.

Instead of the walls of Jericho falling at God's proxy commando, the ten prisoners were officially charged with child abduction and criminal association and remanded to new jails: the men to the severely damaged national penitentiary (all the prisoners escaped after the earthquake); the women to a women's prison in Petionville. Since Haitian law is based on the Napoleonic Code, anyone charged is considered guilty until proven innocent. The court has up to three months to decide the next move.

Incredibly, after the bad news that they might sit in jail for another three months, Silsby, enjoying her 15 minutes of fame overtime, gave a thumbs up to the press, (see above with her nanny Carissa Coulter) telling the press, "I feel good. I'm trusting God." Two days later her "missionaries" sent their note: "Laura wants to control. We believe lying. We are afraid."

"It smelled like trafficking to me" -- US Orphanage Director on Silsby & Gang

This nugget slipped through my fingers earlier this week. As far as I know, no one has picked up on the significance I think it has.

Haiti judge quizzes US missionaries over child case was published February 3, 2010 by the BBC. The article includes an interview with Hal Nungester, director of HIS Home for Children which underwent a babylift I wrote about earlier. (You need to see the video from the link above. The full length article that you click on at the bottom of the video has a greatly edited version that excludes Nungester as does the article.)

BBC: The director of this orphanage was contacted by the American missionaries but was suspicious.

Nungester: We're very cautious about anything that could even appear like traffiicking--child trafficking--and it just smelled like child trafficking to me.

The same day CBS News correspondent Bill Whittaker also interviewed Nungester:

CBS News has learned the Americans contacted at least two orphanages in Port-au-Prince after the quake. The director of this one turned them away and warned what they were doing was wrong.

"They were looking for 100 orphans to take to the DR, the Dominican Republic," Hal Nungester, with the H.I.S. Home for Children told CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. "They had no paperwork. They had no authorization from the U.S. government, from the Haitian government, or from anyone involved. They were just taking kids. That fits right in with what I would classify as child trafficking."

We have heard stories that the team went orphanage to orphanage looking for children to collect for their mismanaged, ill-thought social experiment, but unless I missed it, this is the first time I've seen an American orphanage director and fellow missionary come forward publicly with his suspicions. I'm sure the interviews were longer than this, and I'd love to see them.

Also note in the opening of the video, Laura Silsby, when asked if she believed she owed the government of Haiti an apology, she says, she doesn't and goes on to say things are working out with God's help. This was before the was were remanded back to the slammer.

******

I am currently working on two new blogs, but am stuck with some fact checking. I hope to have one or both up soon.

CUB Statement on Haiti

CUB: Concerned United Birthparents had issued a statement regarding Haiti. It is linked on the sidebar at the right under Organizational Statements. Here is an excerpt:

As the United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and its partners – including the Haitian Government and the Red Cross – establish safe spaces for the hundreds of thousands of children separated from their families before and after the earthquake, and begin to register all unaccompanied minors, CUB urges the governments of the U.S. and Haiti to halt any further airlifts of children or any new adoptions.

In addition, CUB urges that any groups with clear or potential conflicts of interest – such as adoption agencies and ministries – be removed from the decision-making process about how best to serve Haiti’s children. Humanitarian policies should be applied on a case-by-case basis for those children whose legal adoption had already been approved, and were in the process of being adopted, with the support of the latest and best practices in the field. “But,” Cullen says, “all other pending adoptions should be immediately suspended.”

Haitians living in the U.S. should get help to locate their youngest relatives on the island, and the transfer of any children with documented parents or family members in the U.S. should be expedited, for temporary or permanent placement.

Thanks, CUB!

In Their Own Voices:--New Lifers on a Mission for God and Adoption

My original blog, from which this is taken, grew and grew, so I'm splitting it up. Part 1 is Laura Silsby, and Charisa Coulter and others in their own words. Part 2 are the voices and narratives of the children and parents exploited by the Idaho christo-suburbanites. If the blog continues to grow I'll split it some more.

Last night KTBV Boise aired an interview with Silsby. You can see the video and read the transcript here

Below are some excerpts from the interview which show clearly that Silsby still doesn't comprehend that she cannot just pick up kids off the street and ship them off to another country, even if God told her to do it. " (This audacious claim will be discussed in a later entry).

We came here to help the children who had no one else, children that kind of were on the streets or in orphanages that were not in line really for other types of aide.

and

Silsby called it all a mix-up and said the group is not guilty of any crime. We did have documents we had approval from the Dominican government to go over to, to take these children over to the Dominican Republic. We had we believe that we were getting conflicting information on what was required and we understood that Pastor Sandil wrote us a statement and then indicated that he...,"

This is from CNN, American Morning, CNN transcript, February 1, 2010:

LAURA SILSBY, DETAINED IN HAITI: We believe that we have been charged very falsely with trafficking, which, of course, that is the furthest possible extreme, because our hearts here, we literally all gave up everything we had, income and use of our own funds to come here and help these children.

CARLA THOMPSON, DETAINED IN HAITI: God is the one that called us to come here, and we just really believe that this was his purpose.

From CNN, For Haitian Parents Giving Kids to US Group Backfires Painfully, February 2, 2010

Haiti's government requires documentation stating approval for children to exit the country Silby acknowledged she had none.

From the New York Times, February 1, 2010, Case Stokes Haiti's Fear for children, and Itself:

Laura Silsby: "God wanted us to come here to help children, we are convinced of that."

and

"We intended to raise those children and be with them their entire lives, if necessary," she said, standing behind a door of thick metal bars in pedal pushers, sandals and a blouse printed with palm trees "These kind of children are sold across the border for the price of a chicken We wanted to give them lives of joy and dignity in God's love."

A records check, I made this evening, however shows that incorporation papers for New Life Children's Refuge were only filed with the Idaho Secretary of State on November 25, 2009, and that international adoption is the organization's mission. In part, the papers read:

A. ....The Corporation shall hold and manage funds for the establishment of a Children's Refuge designed to provide a loving Christian environment for abandoned and unwanted children. Plans include orphanages, schools, medical clinics, and villas for adopting parents. The Corporation plans to provide opportunities for adoption as well as a sound education for life skills...

New Life's Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission agenda, (which I'll write about in another blog) admits that it has no orphanage or any other facility outside of a rental hotel that God directed them to, but again, makes clear that its mission is international adoption:

Seaside Villas at Playa Magante: Villas for adopting parents to stay while fulfilling requirement for 60-90 day visit as well as Christian volunteers/vacationing families. Provide opportunities for adoption through partnership with New Life Adoption Foundation which works with adoption agencies in the U.S. to help facilitate adoptions and provide grants to subsidize the cost of adoption for loving Christian parents who would otherwise not be able to afford to adopt.”

But... there is no New Life Adoption Foundation registered with the Idaho Secretary of State. It is not listed as a licensed adoption agency in the state, and obviously is not an accredited international adoption agency with the US State Department. It is probably safe to say that now, it never will be accredited, if and when it rises from the rubble.

Adoptions to the US from the Dominican Republic are rare According to State Department figures, since 1998 there have been a little over 200. In 2009 there were 11. (link is a little wanky.) How the New Lifers thought, without accreditation, they were going to adopt out undocumented Haitian citizens from their group's DR hotel is one of the great mysteries only they--or God--an answer.

******

But there's more!

Earlier today the Associated Press posted a video of Charisa Coulter, VP of New Life Children's Refuge, guarded by two Haitian cops in a University of Miami field hospital, as she's treated for either severe dehydration or the flu. Lying in bed, she looks and sounds pretty miserable. IRL, Coulter is Laura Silsby's live-in nanny. The link is now gone. I did, however, copy down her short interview. Coulter told the AP:

I am really praying that we'll be able to take these kids out and we will be able to provide a safe and loving home for these kids who have nothing and the charges will be dropped and they'll be able to see our hearts.

Coulter's father, Mel Coulter, an Idaho Department of Transportation spokesperson, has gone to the press to build up sympathy for his daughter and her colleagues. "Outrageous" he declares of the charge that she and her nine companions attempted to traffick or kidnap 33 children."When you are called by God to do something, you cannot say no if you are truly committed to following him." (You can see a picture of Coulter at the hospital in this article.)

******

Now comes Jorge Puello, an onsite attorney retained to represent the alleged traffickers complaining in the CNN American Morning link above, that the prisoners are living under unsatisfactory conditions:

There is no air conditioning, to electricity. It is very disturbing.

No! Yes! Really!

Would I make this up? He really said this while tens of thousands of Haitians have been left with nothing, living in the streets, or are dead. I bet there's even some homeless Haitians who would would be thrilled to have a roof over their heads at the jail. I'm waiting for Puello to suggest that the suburbanite New Lifers, in deference to their specialness, be held in beach houses at Labadee with meals catered by Royal Caribbean International.

In a phone interview with Fox News' Greta van Susteren, Puello complained that he has been able to meet with only one of the prisoners since no one in authority is handy to give permission to speak to the others. Perhaps the police have better things to do than jump when Americans and their surrogates with special needs say jump.

We get to the police station and we ask to see them and they say we need permission from the director general. When we asked them where is the office of the director general, they keep telling us they don't even know, that the building collapsed and there's no one there and they are just giving us the run-around.

Followed by this exchange between himself and van Susteren:

VAN SUSTEREN: Do you know what your clients intended to do with those children? Was it just to bring them to the Dominican Republic or to the United States?

PUELLO: There was no intention to bring them to the United States. They were only trying to take them to a temporary facility so they can be taken care of. A lot of these kids don't even know that their parents have died. They need psychological help. And it doesn't make any sense when at the border they are not asking for any papers. But Haitians cross over to the Dominican Republic and the Dominican government is not asking for passports or any ID to cross over.

VAN SUSTEREN: Where did they find these 33 children? How did they get these children?

PUELLO: There was an orphanage that collapsed in Haiti. It was called friends of the orphans of Haiti. And there was somebody over there that told them that the orphans had no place, no room to place them. And these people that came to Haiti to help these kids were trying to do a job that nobody is doing right now. There's too many kids in the streets. There's a lot of people starving to death in Haiti. And they were just trying to help them. There was no intention to do anything illegal.

******

Joining the pity party we have Sean Lankford, husband and father of two of the women being held, (Corinna and Nicole) accusing the Haitian government of not furnishing customary post-quake amenities. Lankford is a business applications developer for Hewlett Packard, Silsby's former employer.

From AEP, Parents "Reclaim Children in Haiti Abduction-Adoption Row

He said he had not been able to speak to them since their arrest and was concerned that they had not received better treatment in detention.

"First off, you know, I think they were required to give them food and water. I mean, the basic essentials for life. And they were to help them to contact counselors on their behalf -- at least to give them the ability to do that. They were late in doing that," Lankford complained. "I appreciate everything they have done. I know that it took them a while to find them first off. I know also that there's a lot of needs that are happening in Haiti," the Meridian, Idaho resident said.

******

The New Life media blitz so far has been a fizzle. Outside of a relative few supportive comments on the numerous articles and blogs I've read, the New Lifers are being soundly condemned for their actions.

Laura Silsby sitting--or rather standing from the pictures of seen--in her Haitian jail cell, continues to yatter on about good intentions, misunderstandings, and God's work. She hasn't grasped that "permission from the DR government or Pastor Sandil (I'm just beginning to research him) doesn't mean squat. As I wrote earlier, I've given my readers permission to stick up the convenience store of their choice. I trust they are not gullible enough to think that my permission exempts them from the long arm of the law. Now, I'll up the ante. I hereby give permission to all my readers to order online purchases from Silsby's homeshopper.com with fraudulent credit cards. Hey, it's OK. In these hard times my readers are desperate for Fendi clutch wallets and Balmain fuck-me booties. God told me so.

I've been working over the question of intent and organization. One one hand I believe they knew exactly what they were doing, since they wrote about and fund raised it all over the 'net before they left. On the other hand, since they were not hooked into any established missions or aid groups who actually know the rules of engagement. Instead, they listened to the voices in their head, which apparently had no clue either. (I'll be writing about that later, too.)

Silsby's story remains full of holes...and she and her lawyer can't shut up. Rule 1 if you're accused of a crime: Don't talk to the media. And don't let your lawyer talk either. For a award winning entrepreneur (with endorsements from Joan London and Dr Phil) she sure is stupid. Or a liar. Or both.

I don't know if I'll put up anything tomorrow outside of adding links.

Addenda: Also read The 10 Arrested Christian Scavengers Had an Adoption Centered "Mission" For the Kids They were Caught Trying to Remove Illegally

Warning! The Mormons are Back for More "Orphans"

While checking on material for a blog that's going up later today, I found this article from the January 27, 2010 Salt Lake City Tribune, Child Experts Warn Not to Rush Haiti Adoptions. We learn the Utah babylifters are back:

The Utah Hospital Task Force, which leaves for Haiti on Thursday (February 4), plans to provide medical care, rebuild the Healing Hands for Haiti medical center in Port-au-Prince and "assist in the transportation of impoverished and orphaned children."

The group hopes to send its plane back to the U.S. within hours of arriving, after picking up 70 orphans. Those children had already been matched with adoptive parents through For Every Child, an American Fork-based agency.

Here's a response from Adam Pertman, director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute

Pertman said aid groups going to Haiti have good motives but attention needs to be paid to the children's psychological well-being.

"You wouldn't choose to move a kid who is traumatized into new circumstances"

and

Nobody would choose to move children into new homes at a time like this. These are traumatized human beings right now. We do not have to decide where they are going to live for the rest of their lives in the middle of a crisis.

and from the Swiss-based Child Relief ( I have been unable to find the original source)

But Child Relief, a Swiss-based international adoption agency, said that 90 percent of children in Haitian shelters were given up by poverty-stricken parents to people "who promise them money."

Child trafficking is common in this country and after the earthquake the risks are now increasing," the agency said in a statement on its Web site.

But, what's ever kept "well-intentioned" baby lifters and kidnappers from following best practice, ethics, and the law?

How how many aid planes will be diverted to fill the entitlement of Utah's privileged?

Tila Tequila Wants to Adopt Haitian Orphans

I know this is not serious Haiti news, but I just had to comment.

As if things can't get any worse in Haiti, now comes attention whore and obsessive tweeter Tila Tequila announcing she intends to adopt two (or three) Haitian "orphans." Of course this wouldn't happen even if hell freezes over.

Numerous sources report that Tequila, apparently recovered from her suicidal tendencies over the December death of so-called fiancee Casey Johnson and her thwarted "attempt" to adopt Johnson's adopted daughter (another hell freezes over impossibility) tweeted her orphan saving intent yesterday. Last month I wrote about the Casey Johnson adoption scandal here.

My favorite headline is Hollywood Gossip's Tila Tequila Threatens Haitian Orphans with Adoption. Her tweets include (original spelling)

I will adop 2 children from HAITI....I'm going to try to do that ASAP! Those poor babies ! Mommy is coming to rescue u my Angels! xoxox.

I am going to have 2 biological babies of my own, then adopt 3 other babies who need a home! TILA FOR PRESIDENT!!!!For real

4 real Im filing papers now to adopt a child...a boy around 2 years old!! I'm sooooooo excited! AHHH oops! I wasn't supposed 2 tell u that!"

Aceshowbiz reported another tweet:

"I'm in the middle of filing papers to adopt another child right now! While I have my own, I want my baby 2 have a bro or sis 2 play with!,"

Yesterday, Tequila posted the following message on her official webpage Tila's Hotspot and her My Space blog

Hey everyone!

Even though I am already pregnant right now, I have always wanted to adopt at least 2 or 3 more children of my own. Right now with all the horrible things happening in Haiti, I have decided to go file some papers to see if I can at least save 1 baby from Haiti and bring he/she to America and provide a nice, loving, home for my adopted child and save the baby from the tragedy going on in Haiti right now!

Love,
Mama T

Ace also says that in the middle of making her Haitian adoption plan Tequila asked for volunteer sperm donors for the second baby, she plans to make immediately after the birth of the first.

I wanted to go back and look at her tweets myself to see if there were any more, but Tequila has deleted her Twitter account. (Maybe hell did freeze over!) As I was finishing this entry, for some insane reason I looked around and found an archive them here, (pages 4-6.) Interspersed with dozens of inane obsessive chatter about herself, her alleged baby, her "business" plans, Casey Johnson, and all around public masturbation, you'll see this:

I am the virgin Mary, and my child will be born Jesus Christ. I am the second Coming.......God told me so. I shall save all good people

You will also see several claims that "the Ambassador" (unnamed) supports her adoption plans.

Just got done talking 2 Ambassador! Hes gonna help me adopt a child from HAITI! Im so blessed! Ok guys thats all 4 twitter. I got work 2 do!

and

I swear this is wut the Ambassador emailed me in regard 2 adopting a baby frm Haiti "God Bless your heart you are truly one of God's angel!

It would be nice to think the Twitter account was nuked because her family staged an intervention, but they didn't. She promises us a new "celebrity blog" soon.

Now I'll return to real Haitian news.

Political Armtwisting in Port au Prince: It's Still All About Adoption, All About Us

I've been meaning to post this addition to the Very Important Person Hall of Fame.

On January 29, ABC 4 in Salt Lake City reported a baby lift story that involves Very Important Persons in Utah and beyond. The Very Important Person Magnet is Stephen Studdert, (a VIP in his own right) an adviser to Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush. You can read his bio on his Studdert Group webite.

According to the ABC 4 report Studdert started the Utah Hospital Task Force and negotiated the "release" of 125 "orphans (the figure was later corrected) bound mostly for Salt Lake City and presumably nice Mormon homes.

As a former mission president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Studdert started the task force with a call to all former L.D.S. missionaries who served in Haiti to return in the aftermath of the earthquake to serve again, this time as volunteer interpreters. The task force was expanded to also include medical teams, construction workers and security personnel.

The Task Force doesn't have a webpage, but it does have a blog and a Facebook page. It is working with Healing Hands for Haiti International Foundation, 501(3)(c), which seems to be an L-d-S organization, founded in Salt Lake in 1998. Its mission is fostering the expansion and quality of rehabilitation services for the benefit of physically disabled adults and children in Haiti. The Healing Hands facility in Port au Prince was severely damaged in the earthquake. Dr. Jeff Randle, founder and Chair of the Healing Hands Governance Committee has just returned from a week in Haiti. His blog is here.

According to ABC 4, the "orphan" evacuation had been "up in the air" for a week. On the 28th it was called off again when the adoption agency handling the children said that the Prime Minister of Haiti (why is it that US reporters can't actually write his name?) Jean-Max Bellerive, had left the country without signing the releases. The Deseret News pouted, "The Haitian prime minister had run off to Canada." The same article parenthetically informed us: "he was reportedly in Canada." (NOTE: Google is your friend).

Bellerive, in fact, was in Montreal attending a conference with US Secreatry of State Hillary Clinton, Canadian Prime Minister Steven Harper and others to "review and improve the delivery of short-term aid as well as chart a course for long-term recovery"--hardly as important, of course, as expeditiously sending off a few dozen adoptables to be Mormonized and Caucasianized. The Miami Herald reported that after the Montreal trip Bellerive went to the Domincan Republic, presumably on business, not to live it up at someplace like Villa Castellamonte to spite USA paps.

On Thursday evening, around the time Studdert's "rescue plane" landed, agency reps said they were informed Bellerive was returning to Port au Prince, but would not be available until some time Friday to finalize the authorizations. The "rescue plane" might be forced to return without its human cargo.

Then, like Jones, along came Studder. ABC 4 reports: (my emphasis):

The jet (Studdert's plane) landed in Port au Prince late Thursday night with a task force of 110 Utah volunteers.

ABC 4 News has learned Stephen Studdert, the task force leader, went immediately into negotiations with both U.S. and Haitian officials on the fate of orphans from the Foyer de Sion Orphanage -- 70 of whom already have adoptive parents waiting for them in the United States.

These negotiations continued through the early morning hours of Friday while the task force's charter jet remained on the runway at the Port au Prince airport in violation of rules requiring relief aircraft to depart within 90 minutes of arrival.

Aid planes were delayed or diverted, so Steve Studdert could bring home the bacon to Utah.

On January 29, at 8:48 AM the Healing Hands blog posted a text message that the organization had negotiated the release of 125 "orphans" who were headed to Miami.

We have negotiated the release of 125 orphans bound for SLC and are on ramp in Haiti. Steve Studdert and Executive team along with full support from US Military and US Customs and ICE Agents made it happen. It is truly a miracle.

According to ABC 4, 70 of the "orphans" were going to adoptive parents waiting for them in the US. As usual, reporting was fuzzy and incurious with universal claims that the children had been adopted pre-earthquake, though it is more likely they were in the pipeline. Maybe.

The adoptions went through For Every Child. Here is its Haiti Adoption page. Agency rep Lori Timmerman told ABC 4 that the agency was scurrying to arrange for host families though social service agencies if "extra children do in fact make the trip to Utah."

Extra children??? And how might they get through?

But wait! There's more! Watch this video from the SLC Fox affiliate where we learn that the "release" was pushed through by Utah Senators Orrin Hatch (right), Bob Bennett, two other unnamed US Senators, the US Ambassador, and two unnamed former White House officials. Here is Hatch's press release. In an entry dated Jaunary 29, 8:15 PM, the task force blog acknowleges assistance from Hatch and Bennett.

And we can't forget God who created this massive orphan migration for his greater glory and to make the American middle class feel good about itself. Lori Rosenlof, a pap in waiting of two and Port au Prince orphan herder told the Deseret News, "God has had his hands all over this."

Foyer de Sion publishes blog updates here and also mentions Hatch.

The number of children supposedly sent to the US varies greatly. Initially, the Utah Task Force said 150 would be taken out. The number has varied due to paperwork problems, final release authorizations, last minute changes, misstatements, and misreporting. 150 was downgraded to 141, 125, 70, and finally 66, a figure the task force says is correct. Other children reportedly will be airlifted by other aid agencies when the US government approves entry.

Jason Glen Taylor, a volunteer with the Utah Hospital Task Force hit the public's panic button when he begged, during the Fox video, "These babies will not survive here. There's babies dying in the streets. Let us take these babies home."

But those babies are not dying in the streets--not those with a troop of task force nannies taking care of them. Instead babies are dying in streets, hospitals, and camps due to lack of medical supplies and other aid while privileged politicians, their cronies, and "desperate" US paps hog air space and tarmacs, twist arms and play Great White Hope.

It's all about adoption! It's all about us!