The possibility of a child disappearing in a weather balloon, hot air balloon or on a string of balloons isn't alarming to me. I'm certainly concerned for the child in question but there's a sense of relief because the child's whereabouts are known. The bigger issue is bringing that child down safely, if they are indeed in a balloon.

What eats my lunch is those children whose whereabouts aren't known. Whose safety is constantly in question. Children who are stolen from their bedroom in the middle of the night, like Utah native Elizabeth Smart. Abducted from a school bus stop, like Jaycee Lee Dugard. Or recently vanish on their way home from school, like Somer Thompson.

Unfortunately unlike Smart and Dugard, who eventually returned to their families after months and even years in captivity, Somer won't be returning home. The seven-year-old Florida girl was walking home from school when she ran ahead of her sister and twin brother and was never seen again. Her body was discovered two days later in a south Georgia landfill.

Early into the investigation, investigators ruled out all 161 registered sex offenders who lived within a five-mile radius of Somer's home. More than 90 of the 161 registered sex offenders live within three miles of Somer's home.

What neighborhood can possibly feel safe when it discovers that within three-to-five miles of their home they're surrounded by sex offenders? Somer walked home from school traversing a neighborhood riddled with sexual perpetrators.

The second grader didn't have a chance. What child does when the streets that lead back to their home are filled with a staggering cesspool of predators? The statistics for this northern Florida community are astounding. And those are just the numbers for the sex offenders that are registered. The likelihood that the person who abducted and killed Somer Thompson is registered as a sex offender is slim to none.

"The sheriff and I both feel that it's a predator who has probably done it before," said John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted" and father to Adam Walsh, who was abducted from a department store in Florida in 1981. Adam's severed head was all that was discovered from that abduction.

Walsh referenced four child disappearances in the Jacksonville, Fla., area that happened 20 years ago that have never been solved.

Crimes against children rob a parent, a family, and a community against any sense of safety and security they have. It leaves those of us who don't live in a neighborhood with 90 registered sex offenders checking the national sex offender database for those who do live within reach of our children. Crimes against children are unspeakable and happen far too often.

At the core of this issue, the lingering question of why continually surfaces. Why are children preyed upon? One answer that rises to the top is pornography. When centerfolds are made to look younger, clutching a teddy bear and wearing school-like uniforms exposing shaven genitalia, the image that is portrayed is not of a woman, but of an underage child. It's a tough topic to discuss but it's one that needs to be discussed.

Serial killer Ted Bundy cited pornography as the "root" of his crimes. The night before he was executed for the rape and murder of a college student, he gave a taped interview to Dr. James Dobson, head of the Christian-based organization, Focus on the Family. While Bundy acknowledged that pornography did not cause him to commit murder, the consumption of violent pornography helped "shape and mold" his violence.

"You are going to kill me, and that will protect society from me. But out there are many, many more people who are addicted to pornography, and you are doing nothing about that," said Bundy.

Today's pornography has temporarily shifted away from images of women in bondage, which subliminally advocates violence against women, to women now posed to resemble young girls.

Playboy's 2007 Playmate of the Year was awarded to Sara Jean Underwood, a petite 23-year-old, freckle-faced college student whose measurements rank her as having the smallest breasts of any previous Playmate winners. Her winning centerfold photo was of her holding a teddy bear and nothing else. Combined with small breasts and shaved genitalia she appeared more childlike than adult. After her win, Underwood acknowledged she could now have breast augmentation surgery. The underlining message was that the more pubescent she looked, the greater the draw.

This month, Playboy lured an underage audience by featuring a pictorial of animation-based Marge Simpson from "The Simpsons" on its cover. The caricature cover may be a funny jab at Playmates, but inside the glossy magazine there still remains pornographic material.

There is no level of clean pornography. It debases and objectifies women. When adult women or men are photographed to appear childlike it sends a dangerous message that children are fair game. They aren't. Children deserve to feel safe and live safely without predators preying upon them.

Pornography is one level of depravity against women and children. By prohibiting it in your house, workplace, garage and on your computer, it sends a clear signal of intolerance. It may seem like an inconsequential step, but forbidding pornography in your life is nonetheless a step in preventing the objectification of women and children as disposal sexual objects.

Mary Billiter of Alpine is a weekly Star-Tribune columnist. Write to her at mbilliter@silverstar.com.