CPS has much more power now than they did in 1953. Now CPS is terrified of returning a kid to an abusive situation and having that kid wind up dead. They'd much rather break up a thousand families than have one kid get killed.
CPS actions are under the radar because they are considered civil actions and don't have to comply with Constitutional prohibitions against illegal searches and siezures or abide by rules of evidence or any of that silly legal stuff. They don't have to prove criminal activity by the parents, only that they believe the evidence shows that the kids are being abused, or that they might be abused in the future, and if they can convince the judge of that, that's all it takes.
The YFZ parents are never going to see their kids again until they age out of the system. The fathers will never be allowed to see their kids. The only chance the mothers have of regaining custody of their children is if they leave the ranch, divorce or renounce their husbands, and renounce their religious faith, and convince the case worker assigned to their case that they're sincere, and not just going through the motions. This is about religion, and has very little to do with saving the children from harm. If you're a member of this sect, you'll not be allowed to keep your children by the State of Texas.
The only criminal prosecutions that will come of this case might be the two men who were arrested during the raid and charged with interference or disorderly conduct. No one will be charged with rape or incest or abuse of any kind, because the criminal due process threshold of evidence is higher and Constitutional prohibitions have to be complied with in criminal cases, even in Texas. All of the evidence siezed in the raid will be inadmissable because the warrant was based on a fraudulent phone call, and it won't stand up in court.
What will happen to the YFZ ranch? They'll probably go on. The men will probably quit marrying underage girls, but the polygamy will continue, they may just claim their "spiritual wives" are just girl friends and the sex is consentual. Unless the state of Texas can successfully criminalize other aspects of their behavior, I don't see much more happening between Texas and the FLDS.
And BTW, Texas has a 180 year history of older men marrying teen-agers as young as 14. No one ever considered it sexual assault on a minor. It was simply a grand old pioneer tradition. There are tens of thousands of teen-age girls having sex with older men in Texas right now. Texas is never going to go after those men. Only if they incorporate underage sex into their religion will Texas lift a finger to put a stop to it. There's just too much history behind the practice. This statute was aimed specifically at the FLDS, and they are the only target of this law.
So let's face it. Texas has succeeded in making the FLDS sect a de facto illegal religion. I didn't think that was possible in the United States of America. Not in my lifetime.
But then I forgot. In the late eighteen-thirties the governor of Missouri ordered the state militia to exterminate the Mormons and drive them from the state. They were forced out of their homes and off their lands, at gunpoint. A few years later the Mormons were driven from Illinois after Joseph Smith was assassinated. In the 1880's, Idaho passed a state law that Mormons couldn't vote in elections. State legislators were embarrassed a few years ago to find that those laws were still on the books and had never been repealed.
America will turn a blind eye to this, and the abuse of power will just keep getting worse. Texas DFPS is convinced if they can get you to hate this group of people enough, they'll be home free and out of the woods. They're going to get away with this because not enough people care about the rights of a wierd offshoot Mormon cult to get very fussed about it.
Check out these sites for more background. http://www.johntfloyd.com/comments/april08/13a.htm
http://www.johntfloyd.com/comments/april08/22a.htm
Have a nice day. Thanks for reading.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
What kills me is how so many are turning a blind eye to the religious persecutiong and saying, "This isn't about the religion! It's about child rape!!"
Those who think that they are safe from persecution just might find themselves being one of the "others" one day. Then they'll know what it's like to have The State violating *their* human rights!
Post a Comment