Alice, I am equally shocked that you can't separate the two issues. I am the first to admit (and my notes in this posting will back it up) that I too feel that the focus was being shifted from the child to the issue of Traveler discrimination.    I still feel that some people have tried to do that.

I take issue with ANYONE who tries to turn words around, which is why I also took issue with your posting against Larry.    To say that Larry is not concerned with the child is plain wrong, even in the post that you copied he is not ignoring the child. I do believe that his focus is for the welfare of this child.   Larry took the unpopular position of saying that the child wasn't abused. I don't know if he is right or wrong.

What Larry did, and continues to do, is take another view of what happened. Most of us were shocked by what we saw on the videotape. Most of us have a hard time accepting the POSSIBILITY that we did not see the whole picture of what happened.

If you take the time to read Larry's OTHER postings, he is concerned about what happens to that child.   The thrust of his issue was on placing the child in a home where she will receive proper care and be in an environment that supports her heritage.

I'm not saying that Larry is correct. I'm saying that there are two sides and none of us no the whole story. We aren't the judge and jury here.

Let's not resort to name calling and character assasination. We become no better than the criminals in that case.

Ron