"Race to the Pole" and anti-Mormonism

I recently finished a very interesting book - Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest, by Sir Ranulph Fiennes. When I picked it up I thought it would be an interesting book about how early explorers lived and died in their quest for the antarctic. I only later found out I was stepping into a historical controversy.

Sir Fiennes is a modern explorer of note. He has apparantly crossed Antartica on foot, and performed a number of other extrordinary feats. In the mid-1970s a biography came out that was highly critical of explorer Robert Scott. From this book, the contemporary view of Scott has become one of a bumbling idiot, according to Fiennes. According to Fiennes, the book even went so far as to accuse Scott's wife of an affair, and the head of the Royal Geographical Society of being a homosexual, all with no substantive evidence. Further, Fiennes pointed out that the other author had never been to Antartica.

I have yet to read the other book, so I can not comment on it directly. However, much of what Fiennes said about the way Scott kept his diary and the nature of scientific expeditions resonates with my own experiences. Thus, it gives merit to his book in my mind.

Now, I have not researched the history of Scott enough to resolve this historical question to my satisfaction. However, I see Sir Fiennes engaged in a very similar struggle to that of polygamists. They are contending against sensationalist writings that have become considered "common knowledge." Just as such things as the weather conditions in March 1912 have come to light with further research, items such as the "FLDS on welfare" fallacy have been debunked by adversarial witnesses such as Texas officials. It is clear that "common knowledge" has been wrong, it is more a matter of seeing how far it has drifted.

Here is the "Cattle Call" of daily links

A Chronology of Federal Legislation on Polygamy by Perry L. Porter
Hopefully, he will have some new, more positive legislation to add in the near future.

The beginnings of this chronology of the anti-polygamy bills for the Utah Territory, come from a hand out I received in a Religion or History class at BYU in the mid 1970's. I have significantly augmented it from 3 pages to about 29 pages, with additional line items from various scholarly History books and professional articles.

Sect mom allowed to stay with all her children from the Houston Chronicle.
While the judge denied the ruling on procedural grounds, she sounds quite sympathetic. It seems to me that the further the FLDS get from San Angelo, the more they are likely to find unbiased justice.

"If you think (Judge Walther) is biased, file a motion to recuse her. If you don't like the order, tell her to fix it. Don't ask another trial judge to fix it. I am not going to retry this case."
Addressing Daniel Jessop, who sat beside his attorney, Byrne added that she sympathized with his plight. "I know you don't think I do, but I do," she said.

FLDS Human Rights Violations are Fraud Reminiscient of KGB by Frank Staheli on Simple Utah Mormon Politics
While the article is not entirely current, it is certainly timely. The current abuses in Texas mirror other abusive dictatorships.

Texas is now in full damage-control mode for a heinous abrogation of human rights at Eldorado. The best damage control would be for them to admit that it was all a mistake.

More/Corrected info on Wilford Black by PligChild on FLDS View
Story of how the 1953 raid created long-term problems in at least one boy.

When he was returned to his mother, he stopped communicating with others and started wandering away. He would walk away from home and would have to be found and brought back. ... Wilford had begun attending school before the Raid, so he could do some things. After he was returned to his parents, they tried to send him back to school, but they could not get him to do anything. He couldn’t seem to concentrate.