Posted on 04/15/2008 5:15:25 PM PDT by tripod
ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - State officials Tuesday defended their decision to suddenly separate mothers from many of the children taken in a raid on a polygamist ranch in West Texas. Texas Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the separation was made Monday after they decided that children are more truthful in interviews about possible abuse if their parents are not around.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
(Scratching my head) Hand over to be "molested" or as brides?
In many states, isn't it legal for an underage boy or girl to marry an older spouse with parental permission?
Where is most of the information on this case coming from? Are those sources freepers would normally trust on other issues?
Hell no I’m not kidding. There is a wholesale violations of rights occuring here. Supervision is the key. Reunite and supervise until it is sorted out. That’s the way to go.
I don't think this is/was a sex cult. This is an LDS sect (religious cult if you will) that has certainly gone too far. The marriage of a child under the age of consent shouldn't be condoned. Nor is it proper.
It was at one time standard LDS teaching that a person couldn't obtain "Exaltation" without engaging in Celestial Plural Marriage in an LDS Temple. Hence the temple on the ranch in Texas.
The main LDS church renounced polygamy over a 100 years ago. Even when polygamy was accepted, only a tiny percentage of members engaged in it, though it was supposedly required
It also seems the state has gone too far by not allowing the mothers to stay with their children. What is this? guilt by association?
It really takes someone who knows about LDS church history to put all of this into context. It's not a simple case of sex abuse.
Under government duress.
The anonymous call is very troubling, and so far no one has explained just how this justified the raid.
That said, IF allegations are true, I’m glad they acted quickly and without loss of life. Other raids have not turned out as well.
In Texas, i believe that age where a minor can get married with parental permission in 16.
But, perhaps there was sexual abuse of these children before they were pawned off to be married.
I wonder about that too. If the allegations are true, it’s probably all justified—but where is that anonymous caller, and why won’t she come forward?
We really don’t know about the boys. Not enough information.
Common sense rules.
The boys could be aware of what is going on. At least in some instances, involving the young girls and older men. They could have information or be witnesses to some things that would help the investigation.
I watched a program once wherein young Morman men told of how they were mistreated by being forbidden to interact with the young girls that had been programed to be used by older men. The young men/boys were mal treated to such an extent that they were either banned from the group and thrown out on their own with nothing to help them live or adjust in the real world, or they ran away.
Think about it. A young teen or older teen boy starts being interested in girls (the norm, anyway), right? Yet in this group they are treated like dirt because the cult is run for the older men to take the girls for themselves almost as soon as they hit puberty.
I believe we know only the tiniest tip of the iceberg so far.
If you find yourself thinking too conventionally...that is, what you are used to in normal society, but only ONE ABERRATION, like girls being used by older men, you could easily overlook that this entire thing is totally screwed up and manifests itself in many, many ways.
I believe it’s fair to point out the doctrinal beliefs concerning this matter. I generally try to avoid attaching societal labels to religious practices, but in this instance I am compelled to do so, by thinking it sexual abuse.
I believe a reasoned comeback would state that procreation was the ultimate goal. While that may be true, I can’t dismiss the reality of what has been taking place, to view it in the terms of those who would defend the practice.
BTW, I’m no trying to say you support what has been taking place.
Thanks for the comments.
I can't recall: is it the one that floats or the one that sinks that's the witch?
Frankly, my spider-sense is tingling. I’m beginning to think this whole thing may or may not have been a carefully premeditated put-up job by the sect’s shadowy leaders. I’m not saying everybody’s in on it but the State of Texas has clearly bitten off more than it can process. It’s looking like there is no evidence of anything blatantly abusive. All the mothers (the more telegenic ones, that is) are weeping for the cameras on cue, claiming mistreatment by the state and begging for their babies back. Nobody’s going to talk. They will never find the mysterious girl claiming abuse because there isn’t any.
The civil liberties gang is starting to circle the wagons around them and they are playing the media like a fiddle. I’m afraid this is going to be a big, big PR disaster for TX and likely the same thing will happen that happened in UT when an aggressive Governor went after the FLDS back in the fifties; bad press and electoral retribution with the result that Mormon polygamists became radioactive and the authorities looked the other way from then on.
Maybe this wasn’t pre-planned but it might as well have been. After all this time not a single man has been fingered and nobody is singing, save to denounce the State.
The rights of children to be protected trumps parental rights in every court in the nation.
I suspect most of these mothers are good mothers. The authorities need to go after the perps, and I doubt they will develop much if any evidence that will hold up in a court of law in child interviews. And, if they have an informant that will testify they should use the info to separate the abused ones and keep the other mothers with their children. This is heading for a PR disaster for the Lone Star state.
My question is this: If polygamy is a crime in the various states, why aren't they taking action to close down the temples??
IMO, it’s going to be revealed over time that supposed call from a 16 year old was fictitious. The defense is going to give the prosecution hell over it.
If that is true, the judge may throw the book at some public officials.
IMO it’s very likely that some CPS employee thought they were doing the right thing by falsifying a report.
If the man that was supposedly involved with the sixteen year old can prove he had not been to the farm in a number of years, it’s going to get real dicey.
Apropos of the media and the 1950’s incident. I saw a news special that interviewed a handful of former children of the long-ago raids and they were all denouncing the authorities rather than their “fathers.”
There are plenty of anti-polygamy survivors and activists weighing in too, but I’m afraid the polygamists are going to be able to play victim here.
I have yet to see one single charge involving a parent and their son. Perhaps you can tell us what those charges were.
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