Bare Branches

This story was forwarded to me by my buddy, Russ. It's about a book written by a BYU professor, Valeria Hudson.

"Hudson earned academic honors for her research on China's gender imbalance and her appearance on "60 Minutes" was the latest manifestation of her work's widespread impact. Her book "Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population" is bringing more global attention as it addresses the growing disparity between the number of boys and girls in Asian societies where families value having sons instead of daughters ...

During the one-child policy in the 1980s, the kidnapping of baby boys was the problem. Now, about 25 years later, the first generation is reaching marriage age and, according to the "60 Minutes" reporter, could leave an estimated 40 million men bachelors for the rest of their lives. Effects from the one-child policy are also leading to illegal trafficking of females to become wives.

The Chinese government recently confiscated a large plastic bag full of 28 baby girls ranging in age from two to five months, Hudson said. They were found stuffed together, latched under the roof rack of a cross country bus and sold by their families for as little as eight dollars a piece."

Wow, wow, wow. I cannot comprehend what circumstances would lead someone to sell their baby daughter for a mere eight dollars (I don't care about rates of exchange here - $8 anywhere wouldn't give you much of anything). It has got to be the worst confluence of abject poverty, minimal education - or miseducation - and, most of all, abominable goverment policies. This makes me worry for Seven and Kevin.

I'm gonna go wake up my daughters and play with them now.