Lawyers taking a stand against abuses

Kurt S. Schulzke, an attorney from Woodstock, GA, wrote a powerful editorial in the San Angelo Times, and commented about it on his blog.

Let the government violate the law today to "protect children" and you empower it, tomorrow, to violate your rights in pursuit of other objectives. How will you redraw the line once you have crossed it "just this once"?
This isn't just a case about child endangerment; It's about the rule of law and the American system of government. Those who commit such crimes against the rule of law - whatever their office - should pay a price in court or at the ballot box. If they don't, the rest of us someday will.

Another attorney, this time Gregory Hession in Springfield, Missouri wrote an excellent article entitled "Whose Children are they, Anyway" in The New American.

This episode should be a warning to all families that an arbitrary attack by the state against a family can happen to any of us and that a court will likely not protect the family from overreaching state social workers or false reports of child abuse.

The Christian Science Monitor has an article on an appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court to invalidate illegal tactics that the Illinois CPS has been using.

The offer: Agree to a safety plan or your children may be taken away. Parents are not given an opportunity to know the substance and source of an abuse allegation, nor are they given an opportunity to challenge the safety plan before a neutral decisionmaker.

With the slur "cult" back in the news I found a great link to quotes on what comprises a cult. I encourage everyone to continue to fight the bigotry of those who use "cult" as hate speech.

1. "...one person's cult is another's religion; all religions begin life as cults. An alternative definition is that a cult is a religion which you happen to dislike." Anthony Campbell
   
2. "Cult is a word without much use outside the realm of religious mudslinging." Philip Kennicott
3. "When someone uses the word 'cult,' it usually says more about them than the group," J. Gordon Melton, founder and director of The Institute for the Study of American Religion.
   
4. "It's easy to tell the difference - a cult is someone else's religion. Corollary: "A fanatic is someone who believes something more strongly than you do." Jim Heldberg
   
5. "I have often thought that the difference between a cult and a religion is an IRS ruling." Ron Barrier
   

More links for today

FLDS: Court victory but no closer to home from Austin News - KXAN

The couple also believe the raid was a form of religious persecution. Joseph Jessop said he remains convinced the state would not back off its case, no matter what evidence the couple might have presented that they were monogamous and their children were not abused.

Are FLDS sect's beliefs sufficient grounds for taking the kids? from The Christian Science Monitor

It also now appears that evidence about the sect's belief system that the state collected during the raid – and presented to a district court to justify its temporary removal of the children – is probably flawed.

Lawyers cry foul in FLDS seizures covered by many, including the Houston Chronicle

"They have created chaos. They don't know what to do. This case has holes in it the size of the Grand Canyon," said Laura Shockley, a Dallas family law specialist with six clients in the case. "There is no way to fix this." She and other lawyers say some of the seized people, especially those who it turns out are 18 or older, have potent federal civil rights lawsuits against the state.

Texas justice: Court says state acted illegally against FLDS Salt Lake Tribune editorial

In essence, here's what the court said: You can't grab people's kids and put them in foster care unless you first prove that each one is in imminent danger. And even if, for example, you have proof that an underage girl has been forced into marriage with an adult male, you can't then claim that every other child is likewise endangered and place them in state custody.
That's Texas law, the court said, and FPS didn't follow it. Nor did a district judge, who refused to return the children to their parents, even though the state hadn't proven its claim of systemic child abuse within the FLDS compound.

Texas' FLDS vendetta Robert Murton Letter to the Editor in the Salt Lake Tribune

Perhaps he has realized that Texas will not be able to justify the extreme actions of its Child Protection Services and some quirk in the Texas law will allow it to take some innocent people's property to pay for this government excess.

CPS commits moral crime against FLDS Alberta Spence Letter to the Editor in the San Angelo Standard-Times

I am not a FLDS member, just a mother and grandmother, but I know how I would feel as would most of you. We must all protest this type of gestapo action. We are not a third world country, but if we allow this to happen we are on our way.

Watchdog criticizes FLDS hearings in the Salt Lake Tribune

These people do this everyday for a living but CPS is going to give them training?

Something Positive in the Deseret News

It seems to me that the Deseret News editorial board has taken a rather decided stance against the FLDS, and in their coverage and editorials have mostly tried to distinguish between LDS and FLDS. Thus it was encouraging to see this article:

Long litany of legal disputes begins in FLDS raid

It contained this tremendous one-liner:

Speculation does not suffice

I wish that saying were stamped in the minds of all judges who are trying these cases.