Laura Silsby is scheduled to return to Boise around 2:00 PM today. She was released from the Haiti Hilton yesterday after being convicted of "arranging unlawful travel" and sentenced to time served. Obviously, the Haitian government just wants this albatross off its neck and around the necks of the Idaho courts where her ever-expanding business and personal problems have roosted. Better Idaho than us.
As much as I'd like Silsby to spend a lot more time in the slammer, I am not surprised at the release. After all, the Haitians have more dire things to worry about than Bible Barbie. What did surprise me was Charissa Coulter's appearance in court with Silsby. I had to play the tape back to make sure I heard right.
One of Silsby's other partners-in-crime Jean Sainvil, a Haiti-born "pastor" in Atlanta is being tried in absentia, and his status is unknown.
Silsby (showing some leg in court) told the AP "I'm praising God" and apparently made no further comment until she was interviewed at the Port au Prince airport before clearing security. Megan Mattson, spokeswoman at the U.S. State Department, told the press Silsby was looking forward to returning home to her own children. Is that's what known as a "Freudian slip?"
Central Valley Baptist Church is supposed to release a statement, but I can't find one so far.
I don't have any time this morning to comment further, but the video below from KTVB-TV (aka the Official Laura Silsby Fan Club) says more than I could write in the next 12 hours.
Once the legislative season is over, I'll have more to write about Team Silsby and Yoram Puello. I have a lot of material I've not been able to put together. It will be fun. And maybe a partial antidote for the miserable deformist crap that passes for "adoptee rights" we've seen so far this year.
Laura Silsby neared the three month mark this weekend, and the Central Valley Baptist Church wants to make sure you know it.
Saturday afternoon they threw a We-heart-Laura rally at the Idaho Statehouse. About 100 attended, including her local gang of electric Kool-Aid (minus the acid, we think) testers. A Northwest Cable News-KBTV video of the event is posted at the bottom of this entry. Be sure to watch Nichole Lankford prostrate herself in prayer. Fellow pranksters Paul Thompson and Charisa Coulter are seen or interviewed and more TeamSilsbys were spotted. Coulter, ever loyal to her boss, declared:
She is always on mind. It's a roller coaster. You have highs and lows but our hope is not in government and officials. It is in God.
But so far, God seems perfectly happy to keep Silsby in her own private Haiti Hilton.
"We want people to know that there still is support for her, organizer.'"Randy Jackson said. "If you pay attention to the media, sometimes it seems like there's a lack of support for her. There's still la lot of people who support her and want this whole ordeal to be done and for her to be home with her family. (NOTE TO RANDY: Supporters are not posting many supportive comments in the Statesman.)
Charisa Coulter's best friend and avid Silsby fan Sue Pearce gave us the QOTD:
Laura is a mother. She has three children. She needs to come home and I can't wait to go meet her at the airport when she does."
We have no memory of Silsby evincing concern for her children since her arrest. If she had, she might have come across a tad more sympathetic. Silsby, in fact, didn't show much concern for her children before her arrest either as reflected in her financial and business shenanigans and her dream trip to Haiti.
Speaking of Silsby's children...another Silsby lawyer has thrown in the towel.
TheIdaho Statesman reports that Robert Williams, who's been representing her in "child custody issues" filed a motion to withdraw. He joins Gerald Husch, Silsby's Personal Shopper attorney who bolted in March. Williams says he has been unable to communicate with his client. He probably wouldn't have gotten paid anyway. Silsby's ex-husband Terry Silsby (right) has sued for custody of their two children, living with him since the ex's trip south. She has an adult son who is married.
There are few details, but the Statesman reports that Judge David E. Day ruled on several custody-related issue brought by Terry Silsby. Mr. Silsby asked that the court hold the children's passports out of concern that Laura would take the children out of the country if and when she ever makes it back to Idaho. Day ruled that Mr. Silsby's lawyer Matthew Bohm should hold the passports for now. He also granted Terry authority to register the children for school in his own school district.
The last few days, I've been having difficulty writing about TeamSilsby. The subject has grown cumbersome, and any subset soon takes on a life of its own, then collapses in its own immensity. As a result. I've got several disjointed pieces that go together in some way, but have no logical transition, and grow more complex each time I try to de-complex them. It's enough to give me writer's block.
So, I'll take the easy way out for now and just throw some thoughts out. I'm still working on Part 2 of Haiti Earthquake Glorifies God; Also a piece on the Pickett family. But for now, here's a bit on Charisa Coulter's return.
Charissa Coulter has returned to Boise (via Miami) tearful and Jesused-up. According to news reports she was met by about 30 adoring fans at the airport, including five of her six Idaho cellies (Paul Thompson went missing). Central Baptists and friends after a brief prayer huddle burst into Amazing Grace upon her arrival. Of course, the real welcome will be for Mrs. Silsby. From the looks of the comments in the Idaho Statesman, though, (any article on TeamSilsby will do), when and if she's released, CVBC will be forced to use more than a choir to fend off locals wielding pitchforks and torches. Curiously, the latest version of the church's webpage makes no mention of its wandering member.
Coulter's statements to the press on her arrival in Boise are disturbing. She showed an incalculable amount of arrogance, ignorance, and selfishness about TeamSilsbly's "orphan" mission, the group's flaunting of Haitian law, and the hideous consequences of their actions. Not to mention how the average person anywhere in the world feels about them. Coulter’s “it’s all about loving children” translated into "it's all about me." But as long as it’s "me" that God is calling, it's OK. I guess.
And what about those 33 + a possible other 40 kids you were busy moving around during your phone calls with The Diety? Any care about them and their families?
Several news videos are up of the homecoming. ThisKTVB-TV report is the most detailed.
Unfortunately, it replaces an earlier video that captured some "interesting" comments from Coulter that were disappeared in the update. Luckily, I transcribed the most egregious parts of the unsanitized version (some of which remain in the current video) below.
Q: What’s your take on what’s going to happen? Any idea at this point?
CC: No, it’s all in God’s hands. I don’t know. We’re just gonna sit back and we’re going let him do his job. and when he wills she’ll be back. She’ll be here with us. Q: Are you worried about the charges at all?
CC: We don’t have to worry. It…it’s, ’s like I said, it’s in God’s hands and he wants us to trust him. We are 10 Christians who obeyed God’s calling. And we went to help the nation of Haiti and their children and for reasons unknown to us, it did not go the way we planned, but we realize that God is in control, and that this was what He wanted. It’s hard to understand there’s so much…there’s so much going on that we can’t see.
Q: Do you have any idea of the timeframe of when Laura will come back.
CC: No. I’m not going to speculate. It’s, their processes is different that ours and so we’re just going to let the judge and all those involved work it out
Repeat: We are 10 Christians who obeyed God’s calling. Apparently:
*** coercing poor, traumatized and desperate parents--survivors of the worse earthquake in modern history--out of their children with promises of child resettlement to upscale living quarters, a pool, soccer field, and school (none of which exist except in TeamSilsby's head) and parental access to the kids via the Internet (!) ; that is, until the kids are adopted and spirited away by total strangers in the Great White Protestant North.
*** sneaking through back alleys and banging on orphanage doors with an entrepreneurial sociopath who can't even pay her own employees and mortgage;
*** lying to Haitian, Dominican, and US government officials about your activities;
*** collecting money through legally questionable fund raising procedures back home;
***diverting attention and funds from a massive humanitarian crisis to feed your specialness;
***and mucking up genuine material aid and medical treatment for thousands of homeless and injured and dying people
qualifies as "God's calling."
Repeat: And we went to help the nation of Haiti and their children and for reasons unknown to us, it did not go the way we planned...
Incredibly, Coulter told KIVI-TV's's Jackie Orozco that she hopes to return to Haiti to "to help in the future."
KTVB-TV has disappeared one of the videos I embedded in the blog I'm finishing right now. While looking for it, I found this BONUS VIDEO: a February 9 interview with Charisa Coulter's father, Mel and Eric Thompson, husband of detainee Carla Thompson. A serious luv fest for Haiti.
Thompson assures us that he loves Haiti--or rather "those people"-- and prays for the government every day to do the right thing by his wife who only wanted to "help children." Nothing about praying for the families his wife helped break up or mention of the illegal activities she engaged in to do it.
Coulter opines that it's "unethical" to separate Silsby/Coulter from the other eight since the lawyers were hired to represent all of them. They went in "ten as one" and they need to come out as one. Gee, funny how Jim Allen claims those lawyers never represented him. And he got out "as one" while the rest of them were left to stew.
Reporter Ysabel Bilbao closed her report saying the men believe that "the country is better because of the group."
I've played the tape several times and don't hear them say that, but it sounds like something they'd say. Or maybe Bilbao was getting her own snark in. If anyone wonders how the Haiti earthquake could have been made any worse than it was, the answer isn't far way.
Reuters reported about an hour ago that Judge Bernard Saint-Vil signed a release order for Charisa Coulter' today, but will hold Silsby for "further investigation. "(No details yet. Maybe he's reading Baby Love Child or Haiti Vox or me!)
Unfortunately for Ms Coulter, an "administrative glitch" will hold her in Haiti until Monday:
Coulter was returned to custody on Friday because court administrators could not find an official stamp necessary to validate the judge's signed order, Sainvil said.
"I already signed the release order. All that is left now is to seal it but they cannot find the official stamp," he said.
There was no chance that Coulter would be released before Monday, chief prosecutor Joseph Manes Louis told Reuters.
"I returned the order to the judge becausethere is an administrative problem. Once the problem is solved I will proceed according to the law," he said.
KTVB-Boise reports that the two prisoners met separately with Judge Saint-Vil today for about two hours each and gives a few additional details.
A mistaken attribution fixed from Randy Bohlener to DownshoreDrift)
God continues to stick it to Laura Silsby and her combination cellie and live-in nanny Charisa Coulter. One or two more days in jail.
Various news sources (I'm mostly using AFP via Raw Story,Verdict on US missionaries in Haiti imminent: US official with a little backup from the AP's Haiti judge not ready to release 2 US missionaries), report that Judge Bernard Saint-Vil has heard testimony from his three unnamed witnesses (Why do we know who they are, but the MSM won't name them: Hildago, Chenvert and Sanvil?) and now needs only to send the evidence to the prosecutor general's office for a final go-over.
"The final decision is mine," Saint-Vil said. And from all accounts, the dynamic duo intend to be home soon. According to the AP:
The two women were in good spirits while waiting for the hearing, dressed in casual shirts, shorts and sandals, chatting with members of their legal team and eating sandwiches. Afterward they filled out U.S. Embassy and court forms before boarding a Haitian police truck that took them back to jail.
"We're waiting on the judge's decision and on our God," Silsby told reporters as they left.
Silsby, wearing her customary well-scrubbed and blissed-out exburban Baptist face, flashed her Bible to reporters, reciting Psalm 33:20: "Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield."
Oh yes, both of us would come back to Haiti because there is so much need here, especially for the children," Silsby told an AP reporter at the airport-side police station where they are being held.
"We would definitely come back to help them once this misunderstanding or whatever you want to call it is sorted out."
Whatever you want to call it?
We realize that Silsby hasn't the amenities she's accustomed to at the moment, like Google. She might want to type her name in when she gets back to the US.
And, hold on to your hats:
The missionary said she wants to go ahead with setting up that orphanage, taking in both earthquake victims and the children of Haitian migrant sugarcane cutters in the Dominican Republic.
Those orphans and cane cutter kids will have to stand in line behind about $2 million worth of creditors and a lot of ungrateul former employees eager to steal the food out of the mouths of children. Those no-pays are probably a misunderstanding or whatever you want to call it.
I'd like to point you to Baby Love Child's Central Valley Baptist Church used its tax status for Laura Silby's New Life mission, too. Looks like there was a little misunderstanding or whatever you want to call it about the New Life Children's Refuge tax status and fundsraising practices. This is a big story we hope (dare I say it?) the IRS picks up. It could be just a matter of the church acting as fiscal agent, but why do I think it's more? BTW, why does Sean Lankford insist that he never paid Jorge Torres Puello a dime, when there is ample evidence to suggest that a lot of money was wired to DR?
******
I really feel for TeamSilsby's State Department handler, Charles Luoma-Overstreet, spokesman for State's Western Hemisphere Affairs, who is stuck with rationalizing the unrational and pretending he cares what happens to the "missionaries." Presumably he gets paid good money, maybe hazard pay, for this unpleasant task. Luoma-Overstreet removed the clothespin from his nose long enough Tuesday to tell the press:
We're looking forward to a decision from the judge. This is a sovereign decision of the Haitian government,"...We are in touch with the authorities here and we'll be looking for that decision, hopefully soon.
...There are complicated issues in play here"...
..."It's not an easy question when we're talking about minors and orphans, welfare and disasters...
...We need to be very actively involved in seeing that all the procedures that are in place to protect the welfare of minors are followed to avoid confusion and misunderstandings," he said.
Then, he really went into diplomatic overdrive:
He explained the media attention the missionaries' case had generated in the United States was educating the US public about the issues involved in adoption outreach in disaster-struck countries.
Unfortunately, instead of visiting the State Department's Adoption Disaster Teleclassroom, Team Silsby and hundreds of other DIY orphan savers took up the cross of disaster evangelism and have converged on Haiti since the earthquake, in person or vicariously via the Internet. Instead of doing something useful, like helping to keep a family together or building a bathroom, they spend a lot of their time blogging and tweeting about how UNICEF and its "anti-international adoption agenda," is not only responsible for TeamSilsby's arrest, but strongarms governments to keep their children at home when they would much prefer to export them to far away places with strange sounding names.
Of course, this really isn't about UNICEF and adoption (even if it is). It's about Biblical American hatred of the god-hating UN which, depending on how far you've fallen off the meter, is run by Communists, Jews, Muslims, atheists,Freemasons , bankers, the Illuminati, eugenicists, or worshipers of Zeus. Or a mixture. That's a topic for another time, but here is a random page of anti-UN blathering, and it's one of the saner ones. Here's one of the more insane.
There are a lot of adoption disaster busybodies clogging up bandwidth. Their adoption theology is complicated, goes beyond The Great Commission, and and difficult to grasp without a lot of history and context, which is beyond the scope of this blog. Without that context, I almost hesitate to post some of their Haitian thoughts, but I think it's important to read the mentality we are dealing with. I've downloaded a lot of their pontificals. Here's a few examples:
Doug Phillips: Doug's Blog. Doug manages (why not?) to link sound trauma treatment and best practice child welfare to abortion:
On the ground in Haiti, Christian orphan relief workers and missionaries are experiencing opposition from UNICEF, an international abortion provider, and formal opponent to American adoptions of Haitian children.
Step One in UNICEF’s anti-adoption strategy was to attempt to confound the huge outpouring of compassion and adoption interest by the international community, by voicing their concerns and opposition. Step Two was to politicize the capture of ten American missionaries transporting Haitian orphans over the border to the Dominican Republic, by mounting a media campaign to raise concerns about sex trafficking. Given the tremendous financial input of the United Nations, and their massive presence in Haiti, it is understandable why the Haitian government has often been in lock-step with UNICEF priorities.
Mommy Blogger and serial Haiti adopter Watching the Waters: Mrs. Waters moans over the Haitian requirement that each child scheduled to be shipped off for adoption needs her or his case investigated and then to be approved individually by the president, not shipped off on the next plane by collectivist roundup.
UNICEF continued to push their anti-adoption agenda on the Haitian government, until the government insisted they needed to approve each child on a case-by-case basis. Now, I am 110% in favor of ensuring that each child coming out of Haiti actually be eligible for adoption. But this is not what this is about. These families, who have now been sleeping on the floor of the US Embassy in Haiti with their children for days, have paperwork proving that they have adoptions in process. But UNICEF feels that Haitian children should stay in Haiti. That it is better for a child to stay in the country that they were born in, even if it means they are raised in an orphanage. And the Haitian government is being cowed by the pressure.
Randy Bohlender serial adopter, cultural imperialist, and intercessory missionary (i.e.,unemployed; please send donations) and founder of the adoption ministry Zoe Foundation (not to be confused with the other odious Zoe's Ark): Redeeming Orphans: (For a more extensive look at Randy go here.) Randy calls UNICEF's "anti-adoption" promotion nothing more than "nation pandering" and thinks Haitian and other Third World people are just too dumb to know what's best for themselves.
What would UNICEF do? In their perfectly ordered world, an orphan child would go through a process to verify that it’s an actual orphan. Then, they would try and match that child with an aunt, uncle or some other family member. If that fails, they look for another family in the country. If none shows up, they would look for a foreign national living in the child’s country of origin. If they can’t find a foreign national, then begrudgingly, they might be in favor of that child moving across a national border to a loving family.
I'm not sure what’s at stake here…the best interest of the child or the nation-pandering that UNICEF needs to engage in to keep this charade alive.
The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.
God, probably distracted momentarily by a same sex marriage announcement in the New York Times or a San Berdoo bastard's unsealed birth certificate, put scads of children in the wrong tummies, and now people like the above gang and Silsby have to clean up the mess. What would God do without his helpers?
******
Finally a short update on Paul Thompson, returned hero pastor of the Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls. Thompson (who I'll write about in a backburner blog soon) preached his first sermon since his return from jail, and it was covered by the Twin Falls Times-News. The important part of the article comes toward the end where Thompson frames the TeamSilsby arrests and incarceration as a stage for evangelism and conversion as in Rahm Emanuel's "You never let a serious crisis go to waste""
He spoke during prayer of a Haitian guard who approached the group, asking to be converted to Christianity.
Lord, that’s the kind of displays of our lives that we want to the watching world,” he said.
There is much more to write about. I've got several half-written entries, which I hope to get up soon. Of course, there's always new news pouring in.
Here's a small update on Silsby and Coulter's newest hearing that I posted earlier. Reuters reported last night that the dynamic duo's hearing will drag on for a few more days, so it appears that the orphaholic martyrs will be buried in their well-deserved jail cell until midweek. Hopefully longer.
Investigative judge Bernard Sainvil said that before freeing Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter he wanted witnesses that he had already examined in the Dominican Republic to give their testimony in Haiti. "The Americans will have to stay in jail while I hear those people ... the hearings will take place Monday and Tuesday, and they won't be released before I finish," Sainvil told Reuters.In case you haven't seen this video of Silsby and Coulter going to court the other day....note that Ms Coulter's lack of charm school training is showing.
No details yet, but the New York Times reported minutes ago that Laura Silsby and CharisaCoulter will not be released until next week. It looks like Judge Saint-Vil is trying to nail down Rob Chenvert, Jose Hildago, and Jean Sanvil. Does anybody know if Isaac Adrien has been called on the carpet yet?
My emphasis:
Judge Bernard Saint-Vil tells reporters that he has asked two real estate agents and a pastor from the Dominican Republic to testify in Port-au-Prince about property the missionaries rented to set up an orphanage.
That is expected Monday. If they do not show, Saint-Vil says he still expects to rule next week.
2/26/2010: Tiny Update: A report from the European Press Photo Agency (in Spanish) says that "persistent" comments by defense attorney AviolFleuernt regarding the the exact release date of Silsby and Coulter put Judge Saint-Vil in a "delicate position with respect to the release:
Sin embargo, fuentesjudicialessostuvieronquelaspersistentesdeclaracionesdelabogadoAviolFleurantsobre la fechaprecisadeliberacióndelas dos misionerasquepermanecendetenidas, colocóaljuez en una "situacióndelicada" con relación a sudecisióndeponer fin alproceso.
I've gotten behind in my reading. Has anyone heard from Larry, Curly and Moe recently? It sounds like Judge Saint-Vil doesn't expect them to show up. If they don't show, Silsby and Coulter should not be released. But then none of those so-called not-adopted pipeline kids should have been sent to the US and other points either.
A little R& R at the New Life Children's Refuge, Cabarete
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'sonsite 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.
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 bonowork, 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 Silsbyexceptionalism--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 repatriateSilsby 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."
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.
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.
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.
ABOUT END CHILD EXPORTATION AND TRAFFICKING IN HAITI
Stop Child Exportation and Trafficking is a collection of my blogs on Haiti published originally on my main blog, The Daily Bastardette. It is also a resource page for media, researchers, and the public interested looking for material and opinion on the ethics and legality of fast track adoption, babylifting, "humanitarian aid,"identity, historical and cultural erasure, and corrupt practices in international adoption, especially in the current Haitian earthquake crisis. It includes links to blogs, news articles, reports, and Haitian sources that are not available on The Daily Bastardette. We will publish occasional guest bloggers......................................................................... "Our human impulse to rescue is a profound one and an honorable one. But what we think of as a rescue can often compound the losses that children and cultures experience. Most societies, no matter how desperately poor, cherish their children and it is a huge loss to them to have their children removed."—Jeanne Howard, co-director, Center for Adoption Studies, Illinois State University
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Laura Silsby is scheduled to return to Boise around 2:00 PM today. She was released from the Haiti Hilton yesterday after being convicted of "arranging unlawful travel" and sentenced to time served. Obviously, the Haitian government just wants this albatross off its neck and around the necks of the Idaho courts where her ever-expanding business and personal problems have roosted. Better Idaho than us.
Silsby (showing some leg in court) told the AP "I'm praising God" and apparently made no further comment until she was interviewed at the Port au Prince airport before clearing security. Megan Mattson, spokeswoman at the U.S. State Department, told the press Silsby was looking forward to returning home to her own children. Is that's what known as a "Freudian slip?"
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