Rabbi Corruption Breeds Despair Beyond Repair

"Look at that Jew. And he's a rabbi too." Jew hater pointing the finger at who else but at the Jews, after news broke of another scandal involving God's chosen people.

The Rabbinate still has its fair share of kiddie sex scandals they still haven't managed or desired to fix. Add to that this massive money laundering scheme and it spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Why would an 'at-risk' kid or a Jew on the fringes of holding on want to stay religious? If the leaders don't lead by example, how do they expect to produce honest and decent hard working folks that will follow in their footsteps?
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8165607.stm

US corruption probe nets dozens

More than 40 people, including politicians, officials and several rabbis have been arrested in a major FBI operation in the US.

Three hundred agents raided dozens of locations in New Jersey and New York as part of a 10-year probe into corruption and money laundering.

Three mayors from the state of New Jersey and two members of the state legislature were among those held.

One man is accused of kidney trafficking involving Israeli donors.

Prosecutors say the arrests were part of a "dual-tracked" investigation.

Acting US Attorney Ralph Marra told reporters there were 29 suspects on what he termed the "public corruption" side of the investigation, including the politicians.

On the other side, he said, there were 15 suspects in connection with alleged international money-laundering, including the rabbis and their "associates".

Prosecutors accuse one man of dealing in human kidneys from Israeli donors for transplant for a decade.

It is alleged that "vulnerable people" would give up a kidney for $10,000 (£6,000) and these would then be sold on for $160,000 (£97,000).

Informant

Officials say investigations originally focused on a network they allege laundered tens of millions of dollars through charities controlled by rabbis in New Jersey and neighbouring New York.

ARRESTED

· Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano

· Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell

· Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini

· Ridgefield Mayor Anthony Suarez

· State legislator Harvey Smith

· State legislator Daniel Van Pelt

· Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, Deal, NJ

· Rabbi Saul Kassin, Brooklyn, NY

· Rabbi Edmund Nahum, Deal, NJ

· Rabbi Mordechai Fish, Brooklyn, NY

Investigators used an informant to approach a group of rabbis from the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn and the New Jersey borough of Deal for help hiding his assets.

The rabbis cashed cheques he made out to charities they oversaw and paid the money back to him, minus a cut, investigators say.

The probe then widened to include alleged official corruption with links to a New Jersey construction boom.

The informant was introduced to a series of politicians and powerful local officials. Posing as a developer, he offered bribes in return for favourable treatment.

State legislators Harvey Smith and Daniel Van Pelt were arrested, as well as the mayors of some of the state's major cities and boroughs.

A number of city building, planning and fire inspectors were also held.

Mr Marra said: "It seemed that everyone wanted a piece of the action. The corruption was widespread and pervasive. Corruption was a way of life for the accused."

He said politicians had "willingly put themselves up for sale" and clergymen had "cloaked their extensive criminal activity behind a facade of rectitude".

'Misunderstanding'

The BBC's Jane O'Brien says the money laundering ring reportedly spanned the US, Israel and Switzerland.

Jon Corzine, the Governor of New Jersey, said: "The scale of corruption we're seeing as this unfolds is simply outrageous and cannot be tolerated."

Ed Kahrer, an FBI agent who has worked on the investigation from the start, said: "New Jersey's corruption problem is one of the worst, if not the worst, in the nation.

"It has become ingrained in New Jersey's political culture," he said.

Another FBI agent said: "The list of people we arrested sounds like it should be the roster for a meeting of community leaders, but sadly they weren't meeting in a boardroom this morning, they were in the FBI booking room."

Most of those arrested have been released on bail.

Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano was accused of taking a bribe. His lawyer said he intended to fight the charge "with all his strength until he proves his innocence".

A lawyer for 87-year-old Rabbi Saul Kassin of Brooklyn said it was a shame his client had been "caught up in this misunderstanding".

Correspondents say the number of people arrested is large even by New Jersey standards, where more than 130 public officials have either admitted to corruption or been found guilty of it since 2001.

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http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2009/july/Rabbi-Arrested-for-Selling-Kidneys.html

Rabbi Arrested for Selling Kidneys; Should It Be Legal?

July 27, 2009 02:00 PM

by Denis Cummings

The arrest in the New Jersey corruption case of a rabbi who brokered the sale of kidneys has renewed a debate over whether the buying and selling of organs should be legalized.

Kidney-Selling Rabbi Arrested by FBI

Brooklyn Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum was arrested by FBI agents on July 23 for allegedly serving as a broker in the sale of kidneys. According to the charges against him, Rosenbaum would bring donors from Israel to the U.S., where they would have a kidney removed and be paid $10,000. He would then sell the kidney for as much as $160,000.

“If true,” The Associated Press reported, “it would be the first documented case of organ trafficking in the U.S.”

The buying and selling of organs in the United States is banned under the 1984 National Organ Transplant Act, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Only one country, Iran, allows organs to be sold, but there is an active international black market that accounts for 5-10 percent of all kidney transplants, according to the World Health Organization.

In the U.S., hospitals perform interviews with donors and recipients to ensure that there is no payment involved, explains Time’s Claire Suddath and Alex Altman, so “it's difficult to hoodwink a doctor into believing that a fraudulent organ donor's motives are purely altruistic.” However, AP reports that Rosenbaum appeared “to have a thorough knowledge of the ins and outs” of the system and used bribes when needed.

The kidney black market is made possible by a shortage of kidneys in the U.S. and internationally. Some have called for the selling of organs to be made legal to encourage donations and fulfill demand, but medical organizations are united in their opposition to it.

Congress is also opposed to it, but Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is circulating a bill, the Organ Trafficking Prohibition Act of 2009, that would allow states to compensate donors through programs that do not involve cash payments. For example, a donor could have their funeral expenses paid.

Background: Kidney shortage in the U.S.

There are more than 80,000 people in the U.S. on the United Network for Organ Sharing/Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network kidney transplant waiting list. Little more than 13,000 kidneys are donated—either by living or deceased donors—each year, not nearly enough to provide kidneys for all those on the list.

Last year, 16,517 people received kidney transplants, while 4,530 people died, though 1,600 of them were too sick to receive a possible transplant.

Opinion & Analysis: Legalizing the sale of organs

Sources in this Story

• The New York Times (AP): Brooklyn Man Accused of Buying and Selling Kidneys
• United Network for Organ Sharing: National Organ Transplant Act (PDF)
• Time: How Does Kidney-Trafficking Work?
• Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation: Trafficking Prohibition Act: Summary
• Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network: Data
• UC Berkeley: Organs Watch
• The Wall Street Journal: About That New Jersey Organ Scandal
• HOD Society (Kidney International): Payment for donor kidneys: Pros and cons (PDF)
• Harvard University Gazette: Ethicists, philosophers discuss selling of human organs
• The Atlantic: … With Functioning Kidneys for All

Dr. Sally Satel, editor of “When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors” and herself a kidney recipient, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the Rosenbaum case illustrates the need for a legal, regulated kidney market.

“When I needed a kidney several years ago and had no donor in sight, I would have considered doing business with someone like Mr. Rosenbaum,” she writes.

Advocates of legal organ selling say that a financial incentive would increase the number of organ donations by healthy individuals or the families of the deceased. Writing in a 2005 edition of Kidney International, Drs. Eli and Amy Friedman say that as many as 100,000 people could be saved annually by introducing a regulated kidney market.

“Introducing appropriate legalization to regulate and manage kidney sales through a national regulatory body would be a ‘natural’ extension of the present end stage renal disease network collaborating with United Network for Organ Sharing and the OPTN,” they write. “Eliminating black market brokers would divert funds to kidney sellers. Money saved by decreasing the number of dialysis patients might fund additional kidney transplants.”

However, many object to an organ market because it would exploit the poor. “Even in a regulated, government-run version of transplant tourism, ‘unethical realities’ lead to exploitation of the poor and the vulnerable,” argued Harvard Medical School professor Francis L. Delmonico at a 2008 Harvard symposium on the issue.

Virginia Postrel, who donated her kidney to Dr. Satel, wrote in The Atlantic, “A well-designed system could address the concerns about donor welfare by including educational programs, waiting periods, and follow-up care for donors, and possibly by allocating the payments over time rather than offering immediate cash.”

Harvard ethicist Nir Eyal said at the sympsosium that selling an organ has a stigmatizing effect and causes “dignitary harm” to the donor and the impoversihed communities from which the majority of donors would come. He suggests that a form of compensation more subtle than cash payments or “gifts,” such as paired exchanges or benefits like health insurance and funeral costs, would lessen the stigma.
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New York Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/07/26/2009-07-26_rogue_kidney_brokers_resell_organs_fetched_from_poorest_nations_on_black_market.html

Rogue kidney brokers resell organs from poorest nations on black market

BY Brian Kates and William Sherman
Daily News Staff Writers

Sunday, July 26th 2009, 4:00 AM

The international black market for kidneys — preying on the desperate and run by a shadowy network of greedy organ brokers — is flourishing, a Daily News probe found.

The arrest of a Brooklyn man Thursday on organ trafficking charges sheds a new spotlight on an underground business where wretchedly poor foreigners — particularly in India — are paid $2,000 to $10,000 for kidneys.

Those kidneys are ultimately sold for as much as $180,000 to transplant recipients who otherwise could die.

More than 80,000 Americans were waiting for kidney transplants as of last week, the United Network for Organ Sharing said.

The wait for a suitable legitimate donor is as long as three years, which drives many to the underground market, experts said.

Lungs for transplant are also available on the black market, but the vast majority of the organs in play are kidneys, they said.

The majority of the black market kidneys are transplanted in hospitals and clinics overseas, but some have been done in New York, apparently without the knowledge of hospital officials, medical ethicists and the leading expert in the black market say.

“In India, China, Africa and Latin America the poor are selling their kidneys to wealthy buyers through an underground set of networks,” said Dr. Steven Post, professor of Bioethics at Stony Brook University.

Transplant recipients generally travel to those countries for their operations, he said.

“The donors make enough money to buy a house or put their kids through college and the doctors do the transplants overseas, in India for example, at perfectly legitimate hospitals, where nobody cares about the buying and selling of organs,” he said.

A previous News investigation into organ trafficking disclosed that one link in the underground network was smuggling live donors into the United States from Moldovia, one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union.

The donors entered the United States — generally at Kennedy Airport — on false student or tourist visas and were whisked to hospitals, where their organs were removed and given to recipients, government sources said.

The man arrested Thursday — part of a massive FBI probe of money laundering and bribery that brought down 44 people, including prominent New Jersey politicians — is also accused of arranging for organ transplants inside the United States.

“The price with what we are asking here is $150,000,” Levy Izhak Rosenbaum told an undercover federal agent, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
Rosenbaum was referring to the base price for a black market kidney for the agent’s fictitious uncle.

Rosenbaum told the undercover agent he has been an organ broker for 10 years and that his latest deal with a successful transplant in the United States had taken place two weeks earlier.

The cost, later upped to $160,000, would cover finding a suitable kidney donor in Israel, including blood samples to insure a match, payment to the donor, and travel expenses to get the donor to the U.S.

A down payment was made, but there were no discussions as to the hospital where the transplant would take place, and Rosenbaum was arrested before things went further.

Rosenbaum was a middleman in a “kidney mafia” that includes doctors in Israel, a worldwide network of organ hunters, and brokers who match patients and donors with doctors who do the transplants, said Nancy Schepper-Hughes, founder of Organ Watch, which investigates trafficking.

She said the network is headed by criminal businessmen — “think of them as the Madoffs of kidney scams” — who use money raised through bogus charities to pay doctors to perform the transplants.

Rosenbaum worked through doctors at a major medical center outside Tel Aviv, whose patients were given a choice of where to have the operation, said Schepper-Hughes, who said she has been investigating his operation for 10 years.

She said illicit transplants are relatively rare in the U.S. but that Rosenbaum “was the man to go to in New York.”

One Israeli who received a kidney transplant through Rosenbaum described the rabbi to Schepper-Hughes as “very Orthodox but jolly and very off-color. He loved to tell dirty jokes.”

She said the patient told her Rosenbaum was unable to arrange a transplant for him at a New York Hospital but set one up at a Philadelphia hospital.

Schepper-Hughes described the underground organ network as a pyramid with at least three countries involved in every transaction.

“The illegal enterprise is centered in Israel,” she said. “Donors are found in poor countries like Moldovia, Romania, China, all over. Operations are conducted in several countries. For a long time the main place was Turkey.”

For example, last year, in Gurgaon, India, local authorities said a ring of four doctors and five nurses working at three local hospitals had performed more than 400 kidney transplants over the previous nine years.

Impoverished donors were recruited for as little as $1,000 for a kidney, said Mohinder Lal, a Gurgaon cop investigating the racket.

Typically, brokers like Rosenbaum would deal with hospital transplant coordinators, usually nurses, who would make all the arrangements.

“Some of these coordinators I suspect are corrupt, others were simply trying to do good for desperate people,” Schepper-Hughes said.

wsherman@nydailynews.com

Summer Safety Tips - - - Keep Your Children Unmolested, Unscathed And Free From Danger!

http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20090702/DC4151302072009-1.html

Ten Safety Tips to Help Parents Keep Children Safe This Summer

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Says Teaching Children About Safety Works

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Summer is an exciting time for kids - what are your child's plans? Will he or she be spending time home alone or going to local parks and swimming pools with friends? The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children offers parents ten safety tips to help keep their children safe this summer.

1. MAKE SURE children know their full names, address, telephone numbers and how to use the telephone.
2. BE SURE children know what to do in case of an emergency and how to reach you using a cell phone or pager number. Children should have a neighbor or trusted adult they may call if they're scared or there's an emergency.
3. REVIEW the rules with your children about whose homes they may visit and discuss the boundaries of where they may and may not go in the neighborhood.
4. MAKE SURE children know to stay away from pools, creeks, or any body of water without adult supervision.
5. CAUTION children to keep the door locked and not to open the door or talk to anyone who comes to the door when they are home alone.
6. DON'T drop your children off at malls, movies, video arcades or parks. These are not safe places for children to be alone. Make certain a responsible adult supervises your younger children at all times when they are outside and away from home.
7. TEACH your children in whose vehicle they may ride. Children should be cautioned to never approach any vehicle, occupied or not, unless accompanied by a parent or other trusted adult.
8. BE SURE your children know their curfew and check in with you if they are going to be late. If children are playing outside after dark, make sure they wear reflective clothing and stay close to home.
9. CHOOSE babysitters with care. Obtain references from family, friends, and neighbors. Many states now have registries for public access to check criminal history or sex-offender status. Observe the babysitter's interaction with your children, and ask your children how they feel about the babysitter.
10. CHECK out camp and other summer programs before enrolling your children. See if a background screening check is completed on the individuals working with the children. Make sure there will be adult supervision of your children at all times, and make sure you are made aware of all activities and field trips offered by the camp or program.

"Child safety is important all year, but summer is an especially important time for parents and children to include safety in their activities," according to Ernie Allen, President & CEO of NCMEC. "Always listen to your children and keep the lines of communication open. Your children are your best source for determining if everything is okay. Teach your children to get out of dangerous or uncomfortable situations right away and practice basic safety skills with them. Make sure they know they are able to tell you about anything that makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused."

NCMEC also recommends that parents be sure all custody documents are in order and certified copies are available in case your children are not returned from a scheduled summer visit.

For additional safety tips and information visit www.missingkids.com or www.netsmartz.org.

This year the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children celebrates its 25th anniversary. NCMEC has played a role in the recovery of more than 138,500 children. Today more children come home safely than ever before. In 2008, NCMEC helped recover more children than any other year in the organization's 25-year history raising the recovery rate from 62% in 1990 to 97% today. And more of those who prey on children are being identified and prosecuted. Yet too many children are still missing and too many children are still the victims of sexual exploitation. There is much more that needs to be done.

About the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. Since it was established by Congress in 1984, the organization has operated the toll-free 24-hour national missing children's hotline which has handled more than 2.5 million calls. It has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 138,500 children. The organization's CyberTipline has handled more than 700,000 reports of child sexual exploitation and its Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 23 million child pornography images and videos. The organization works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

To learn more about NCMEC, call its toll-free, 24-hour hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or visit www.missingkids.com

Website: http://www.netsmartz.org
Website: http://www.missingkids.com

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orlandosentinel.com/orl-bk-safety-tips-070109,0,2315379.story

OrlandoSentinel.com

Safety tips for parents at theme parks

Walter Pacheco

Sentinel Staff Writer

Safety tips:

• Pay careful attention to where children are and who they are with at all times. They should not be alone in the park or become isolated.
• Children should tell parents or guardians if anyone approaches them or makes them feel scared, uncomfortable, or confused. If separated from adults, they should go to the closest guest services center.
• Families should discuss where to meet if lost or separated. Get a map of the park prior to the visit or after arriving.
• Accompany young children on all rides. Older children should stay in groups and take a friend with them.
• Always accompany younger children to restrooms in the park. Older children should not go to the restroom alone.
• Report any suspicious or inappropriate behavior to park authorities.
• If you have a cell phone, keep it on and make certain your children know those numbers.
• Children should not wear clothing displaying their names.
• Children should not talk to strangers.
• If parents are not participating on a field trip, they should find the chaperone's contact information.

SOURCE: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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http://www.pressbanner.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Your+health-+Tips+for+a+safe-+fun+summer%20&id=2882838-Your+health-+Tips+for+a+safe-+fun+summer&instance=home_community

Your health: Tips for a safe, fun summer

by Terry Hollenbeck, MD

07.03.09 - 11:21 am

Over the years of my emergency/urgent care career, I’ve dealt with many different injuries and illnesses commonly seen during the summer months. With that in mind, I’d like to share my thoughts on making this a safe summer for everyone.

n Sunscreen: Almost everyone who spends time out in the sun must wear sunscreen to block the harmful, damaging effects of the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Use a sunscreen that offers protection against both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF rating of at least 30. Apply it liberally and often (at least every two hours). Parents, protect your kids’ precious skin.

• Insects: Beware of the many summer bugs lurking out there. For mosquito protection, use a repellent that contains DEET, which, when used as directed, is safe for adults and children older than 2 months. Regarding the stinging insects such as yellowjackets, wasps and honeybees, avoid them if they are in your vicinity. If you do get stung by a honeybee, which is the only one of the stinging insects that leaves a stinger behind in your skin, remove it as quickly as possible by any means possible. It is OK to just pull it out with your fingers and not waste time finding something with which to scrape it off. Immediately apply ice to the sting. Also, when out in a wooded or grassy area, always check your entire body for ticks when you get home. If you find one, remove it as soon as possible by getting a pair of tweezers, grabbing the tick close to the skin and pulling it straight out.



• Poison oak: The best protection is to recognize it and avoid it. If you come into contact with poison oak with your skin, clothing (including shoes and shoe laces), or garden tools, wash the affected area immediately with soap and water. Poison oak oil must be washed off your skin within a few minutes to avoid the dreaded rash. Remember, all parts of the poison oak plant contain the nasty oil, including the leaves, branches and roots.



• Heat: Heat exhaustion is marked by extreme sweating; fatigue; and cramps. Heat stroke (a life-threatening condition) is marked by lack of sweating; red, hot skin; and a very high body temperature. Both conditions can usually be prevented by drinking plenty of liquid and avoiding direct sun as much as possible, especially between the hours of 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.



• Water safety: Four thousand Americans drown every year, with most victims being men by a factor of four times more than women. Alcohol is frequently involved. So make sure the kids are supervised in the water every single minute. Watch out for rapid currents, rip tides and rocks, depending on where you are, and always be aware of your surroundings. Boat injuries claim another 700 American lives a year. Drive your boat sensibly, have enough life preservers on board for all passengers and do not drink alcohol and drive.



• Bicycling: Wear a helmet! No matter how obvious this bit of advice is, I still see people riding without a helmet — and I really cringe when I see children without this life-saving protection. Head injuries are often very serious, if not deadly, and are inexcusable when they involve the lack of a helmet. Be aware of your surroundings and be in control of your bike at all times. Don’t take foolish chances.



• Eating: Summer picnics can be a common source of food poisoning, manifested by vomiting and diarrhea. Food left out too long is the usual culprit. Handling uncooked chicken or eating undercooked chicken is also a common source of this illness.



• Driving: We all drive more during the summer. The cheapest form of life insurance while you are in a car is the good old seal belt. Wear it! Make sure your children are in proper age-appropriate car seats. And hand-held cell phone use while driving your car is now illegal — don’t break the law.

Follow these tips, and have a very enjoyable, safe summer.

Terry Hollenbeck, M.D., is an urgent-care physician at Santa Cruz Medical Foundation in Scotts Valley. A doctor with 34 years’ experience, he invites health-related questions at valleydoctor@sbcglobal.net. Information in this column is not intended to replace professional advice. For any medical concern, consult a qualified practitioner.

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Keep Summer Safe For Your Kids

With summer underway, outdoor activities are in full swing. However, without the proper precautions, summertime fun can result in serious injury or even death -- especially for kids. Sue Smith, at Children's Hospital of Michigan, says that an adult should always keep an eye on kids while swimming because drowning can happen in a matter of seconds. She adds that no child should be in a boat without a proper Type Two life jacket:

Listen:

And make sure the kids have their bike helmets strapped on right:

Listen:

Smith also reminds everyone to keep an eye on the kids when there fireworks are going on.

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Letter: Never Leave Child Alone in a Car

Thursday, July 02, 2009

To the Editor:

On Saturday June 20, yet another child died of hyperthermia when left alone in a parked car. April Knight, 2, lived in Kentucky, and at the beginning of summer is already the 13th child in the U.S. to die in a hot vehicle this year.

How can we be sure this does not happen to the children and families in our own community?

The truth is summer may be a fun time of year, but it can present difficult, sometimes dangerous challenges for parents. From inconveniences like bug bites to tragedies like drowning and death, children themselves are often unaware of these issues or too young to understand. Fortunately, many of these accidents are preventable. As parents, babysitters and caregivers, it’s our job to ensure that every child remains safe and healthy in the coming months. Taking a few moments to be aware of these situations is a small sacrifice to make for our children’s wellbeing.

Parents might leave their children alone in a vehicle if they want to avoid waking a sleeping baby or getting the child out of and back into a car seat. But a child can get overheated quickly — it only takes 10 minutes for a car’s temperature to increase 19 degrees Fahrenheit. Long lines or a broken register can make a quick trip in the store unexpectedly longer; meanwhile, the vehicle is growing warmer. This and countless other safety issues for children in parked or running vehicles are very real and very dangerous. A child should never be left alone in a car.

Parenting can be tough at times, and summer safety issues pose a special challenge. Luckily, resources are available dedicated to helping parents make the season both fun and safe. Visit the Parent Resource Center on Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia’s Web site at www.scanva.org and look for the feature on summer safety. Reading through tips on children in cars, preventing sunburns, water safety, finding supervision and other topics in our summer safety section is an easy way to increase your knowledge and prepare for this season. Take time to learn more now, and keep summer the fun-filled time it should be for you and your children.



Diane Charles

Executive Director

SCAN of Northern Virginia

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,184842,00.html

Keeping Children Safe From Predators

Tuesday , February 14, 2006

This is a partial transcript from "Hannity & Colmes," February 10, 2005, that has been edited for clarity.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: Keeping children safe from predators is every parent’s top priority and now parents have a tool to help them do just that. "The Safe Side" is an innovative series of child safety videos that aid in teaching parents and children the important messages of safety in a variety of different situations.

Joining us now are two of the collaborators behind "The Safe Side." Of course, we have the host of "America’s Most Wanted." John Walsh is with us. And the creator of "Baby Einstein," Julie Clark is with us.

Welcome, both of you back to the program.

First of all, my kids, I didn’t have to make them watch this video. Because once I put it in, it was like every other video that you put in, they just loved it. They stood there. They watched it. We talked about it. It’s mind-boggling to me how many of these predators are out there, isn’t it?

JULIE CLARK, "THE SAFE SIDE": It’s stunning. It’s absolutely stunning. And parents have to have these conversations with their children. And what we hear at "The Safe Side" all the time is "I don’t know how to talk to my kids about it."

HANNITY: Yes.

CLARK: I don’t want the kids to be afraid of everybody that they see. And of course, you don’t. But you want your kids to have the right information and know what to do. So that’s what this is all about.

HANNITY: John, it frustrated me somewhat. I had you both on the radio and right here on this program. You, rightly so, were trying to get this Child Safety Act of 2005 passed. A lot of these guys didn’t have the moral courage to stand up here.

But we’ve got a problem in every small town and every city in this country. These guys are lurking in every neighborhood — there are no exceptions — that they are predators of little children.

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA’S MOST WANTED": Absolutely. And there’s no way to track the ones who don’t comply with their parole or probation. You know, I thought parole or probation was a privilege, but we have 550,000 convicted sex offenders in this country. These are the guys that have been convicted and are felony convictions.

And 150,000 of them are missing. So there is no way to track them. No way to know if they’re going state-to-state. We had a case last week on "America’s Most Wanted" where a guy had two warrants out for him for violating his parole as a sexual predator, came into Florida and molested three little girls.

How do you tell those girls and those parents that the United States Senate didn’t have time to pass the Child Safety Act of 2005, and we have to reintroduce it for 2006, get it passed in the House and the Senate? I have to ask, what was the Senate judiciary doing this time around?

HANNITY: Obviously, they were too upset with, you know, giving lectures to Judge Alito, which they probably could have done in about a day.

What is the status? When you reintroduce this bill you have to now go back to the beginning. This — this was why we had some urgency the last time you were on the program. It didn’t get passed. How can people get behind it and how short did you fall here?

WALSH: Well, first of all, they can visit TheSafeSide.com, the Web site where they can find this video. And Julie did a great job. She’s the genius who created "Baby Einstein" and put all her heart and soul into this video.

So they generated almost 20,000 letters to U.S. senators, TheSafeSide.com did. And you can find that. You can find a sample letter, who your senators are, and write them.

But you’re right. We have to reintroduce it before the House of Representatives, go through all those nightmare hearings. And Mark Foley and James Sensenbrenner kept their word in the House of Representatives. But I was told by Arlen Specter, who’s been friend of mine for years, and everybody on that Senate judiciary, Democratic and Republican, that they’d get this bill done. And it’s about time that they do it, sooner the better, because these guys are roaming around the country.

HANNITY: Have you been up to Washington? Have you spoken to these guys, too?

CLARK: I have not, but boy, John has been up there constantly.

HANNITY: Yes, I know he has.

CLARK: It’s been fantastic.

HANNITY: What is the whole premise behind this? You obviously know that there are predators out there, but the idea is to teach children how to react. Are they capable?

CLARK: I think kids are really capable of knowing the right thing to do. Avoiding the situation, and that’s what we try to tell kids. You know, you get in the car, you put on your seatbelt every day.

HANNITY: Yes.

CLARK: You don’t get into an accident every day. You do it because you want to be prepared, and you want to be ready and know what to do if the situation arises. And that’s what "The Safe Side" is all about.

HANNITY: Yes. I want to go — John, I want to ask this question. The recidivism rate is so high for these predators. Why do we even let them out at all and have these — for example, I went to the New York Web site and literally you cannot follow, because you’re supposed to be able to find predators in your neighborhood. Why do we even let them out, knowing how high the recidivism rate is for these predators? Why let them out?

WALSH: Well, you and I have talked about this a million times. I mean, little Jessica Lunsford was kidnapped and murdered and buried alive by a guy that had 22 convictions, who was in noncompliance as a sexual offender. He was living 150 yards from her house and stalked her and broke into her house in the middle of the night.

I don’t know why we let them out. I don’t know why we as a society don’t accept the fact that they are not curable. I don’t know anybody in the psychiatric community that says we can cure these guys. So if we can’t cure them and we don’t keep them in jail as long as they should be there, I say they should be on a penile colony on Mars. We’ve got to — we’ve got to at least track them.

COLMES: "The Safe" — you do this in a very interesting way, a very creative way, that you don’t scare the kid. You actually make it fun for them. And it would be very easy to do it another way. How did you manage to do it in a way that gives them entertainment value as opposed to, "Oh, my God?" A frightening way.

CLARK: Right. Well, we had to make it fun. You’re exactly right. Because kids, the way that they learn is by repeat viewing. So we wanted them to watch it again and again and again.

We use a great host, a very, very funny person. There’s a gorilla. There’s a dog. There’s lots of goofy stuff that happens in the video. It was written by Carol Cordova, who’s a wonderful writer. She’s been teaching child safety for 20 years.

COLMES: Right.

CLARK: Great, great stuff. And that was, you’re exactly right, the key.

COLMES: They actually — the kids want to watch it?

CLARK: They want to watch it. You know? And parents are talking to them about it, and it’s opening up these conversations with parents and kids. And it’s great.

COLMES: In terms of the safety act we talked about, John. We talked about the trouble you had getting it passed. Specifically what would it do? What are the provisions of that piece of legislation?

WALSH: It would create a national sex offender registry. Some states sort of adhere to Megan’s Law. Some sheriffs don’t do it. Some chiefs of police don’t.

It would create a national sex offender registry so we would know. If these guys don’t register when they go state-to-state, it would be a federal crime. And guess who would look for them? Not that one little man police department or one- woman police department, the U.S. marshals would track them down.

If they committed a second offense, they would do 25 to life. It would certainly give us the chance to know that when they went from state-to-state or didn’t comply, that there would be somebody that would go get them.

COLMES: I don’t understand the resistance to this. And you, Julie, have — you must hear from parents all the time.

CLARK: I do.

COLMES: Who just are worried, concerned. We hear so many stories like the Lunsford case and the things that John covers and we’ve talked about on this show. Parents see this and they realize how vulnerable they are.

CLARK: Absolutely. All of us as parents vulnerable. And what I never hear people talking about are the rights of these children, the rights of the children who are victimized. What happens to them? I think that we always hear about the rights of the criminals but never the kids. And these kids’ lives are being destroyed. We have to work on it.

HANNITY: All right, guys.

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