Has she been a bad girl this year?

While nothing has been proven, it seems there is a preponderance of evidence that Swinton made the fraudulent phone calls. She is free, and Texas is totally dragging their heels in bringing her case to court. I can not say with certainty that Rozita is responsible for the kidnapping of 460+ children. Bigotry certainly played a large role. But she is certainly an accomplice to kidnapping, guilty of fraud, and guilty of religious persecution if the charges are true. When is Texas going to bring her in for a hearing? Why have they not persued her case with any speed or interest? How can this possibly be reconciled under the "equal protection" clause?

Another Great Blog, Post on Plural Life

The "Freedom and Separation" blog has a couple of good articles on Canada, and the Texas CPS trying to turn Merianne away from her FLDS heritage. I like the statement "The audacity of this rogue agency is nauseating," as I think it aptly describes the "Jim Crow" way that CPS has acted.

There is also good press coming from Canada, researching the realities of such things as the Charter of Rights. It is refreshing to see some defense of religious liberty after the initial articles were extremely one-sided.

Here is an edited post I made on the plural life blog about the changing times we now live in. The original topic was an article about a blog post by Bill Medvecky that was being passed around the courtroom. Did it help or hurt the case? Perhaps it doesn't matter, as the long-term implications are more important. Here it goes:

Good generals know there is a difference between a temporary battle and the overall war. The immediate battle right now is over the custody of Merrianne. But, there are two long-term wars: the war between FLDS and anti-FLDS, and the war between CPS/DFPS organizations and parents.

On the FLDS vs. nonFLDS front, the fact that Bill is being quoted is a definite long-term win. Instead of all the lies being spread by the anti-FLDS profiteers, the media is quoting a pro-FLDS site. Main-stream media has finally been lured into pro-FLDS territory. It is a subtle but very important twist, and one that is becoming much more common. Before, new books or congressional hearings would report only the anti-FLDS side of the story -- now they are reporting both. Things that had previously been reported as fact, such as "infant grave yards full of murdered children" and "vast stores of weapons," are now seen by any reasonable person as wildly distorted rumor at best, and more often as as the intentional libel it was.

Now for the second war -- Government vs. parents. The entire FLDS case has focused more energy and complaints on extra-constitutional abuses of various agencies such as CPS - a spotlight they certainly did not want. Using a court room to had around anti-CPS blog posts indicates that CPS has become sensitive to the criticism, and are worried about their reputation. The long term war here is whether voters and elected officials will protect parents rights, as opposed to supporting bureaurocratic abuses. The fact that there is a blog complaining about their abuses, and that it is still actively updated, is a long-term threat to their power and survival.

In the long term, what Bill has done is a victory in both wars. There has been an inflection point, the sands are shifting, and the winds have changed. Bill's post being handed around is more evidence. It is time to write to your state representatives and demand a Parents Bill of Rights.

British Newspaper Questions Logic in FLDS Raid

Andrew Stephen has written and article for the New Statesmen entitled "Danger to the Nation?"

Yet, almost certainly uniquely in Hoover's 58-year-old Most Wanted programme, Jeffs was never accused of killing or hurting anyone himself, of stealing, drug-running or arms-running, or of personally committing any violent crime. He became one of America's top ten most wanted fugitives for one overriding reason: he sought the freedom to practise his religion the way he wanted, but discovered instead that there was a catastrophic irreconcilability between the traditions of his church and the law.

News Articles this morning

Here is a collection of some interesting items that have popped up in the news. Thanks to Grits for Breakfast and The Plural Life and their comment sections for the original links.

Mental Health Workers Rip CPS
Houston Chronicle
San Antonio Express News
Dallas Morning News
Summary: Previously, FLDS complained about their treatment from CPS, which has often been dismissed as the FLDS trying to wage a "propaganda campaign." However, in this story nine different workers from Hill Country Community Mental Health-Mental Retardation Center sent anonymous letters to the Hill Country MHMR board, who made them public. One board member, Jack Dawson, is also a Comal County commissioner.

This illustrates a few points:

1. It is not just the FLDS who thought the conditions at the shelter were poor, or that CPS mistreated them, lied to them, and lied in subsequent press releases/press conferences.
2. These reports are coming from at least one Texas politician, and various Texas mental health workers. Thus, it shows that Texas is not unanimous in condemning the FLDS, and people are willing to support fairness of unpopular religions.
3. The State CPS are not above reproach, and more evidence exists that they have lied.
4. Criticism of the CPS are coming from multiple sources, and not just the FLDS. It is much easier to dismiss the opinions of an unpopular religion than experienced mental health workers and county commissioners.

Editorial from Maggie Jessop in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Here is an editorial from an FLDS mother. She attacks head-on some of the many negative rumors, slanders, and lies that have been published about the FLDS. I think I liked this line of sarcasm best:

However, I may not have it within my psychological or emotional capacity to communicate appropriately due to the widespread "fact" that I belong to an uneducated, underprivileged, information-deprived, brainless, spineless, poor, picked-on, dependent, misled class of women identified as "brain-washed." But, I'll give it my best shot.

She certainly lets loose some emotion. It is a rather potent denunciation of the actions of Texas, and the media for spreading unsubstantiated, incorrect, and sensational rumors.

Child protection law and the FLDS: There's a better way by Linda F. Smith, professor and clinical program director at the University of Utah's S. J. Quinney College of Law.

Here is the final two paragraphs:

If there are families within the FLDS community who do not impose under-age "marriages" on their children, the CPS workers should return their children to them and solicit their help to change this dynamic within the community.
Such an approach would more likely lead to eradicating what society clearly considers abusive than will a full-scale assault on the community's practice of plural marriage.

It seems to be a well-reasoned and well-informed article. She lists possible means of appeal, and what amounts to the really terrible method of the initial hearing that deprived the parents of their children without due process. It has encouraged me to once again write my state legislators and appeal for parental rights and the support of the constitution in child welfare cases.

What does Texas church raid say about us? USA Today editorial by Mary Zeiss Stange, professor of Women's Studies and Religion at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Here is an official USA Today editorial ripping the situation in Texas, and bringing up the bigotry aspect.

What is clear, however, is that there is no objective justification for brushing off the mothers as a bunch of prairie-style Stepford wives, let alone for leaping to the conclusion that mounting an armed raid to take their children away was indeed proper to do on the strength of a metaphor grounded in a religious stereotype.

This is a professor and a feminist saying this, not a member of the FLDS, and probably someone who has no contact with them. From this I pick up a few important points:

1. Feminists, who tend to extremely oppose polygamy, and are generally considered a hostile witness, oppose the actions of Texas. It is hard to argue that it is just the FLDS, religious extremists, "Utah Mormons," or pedophiles that oppose the raid.
2. A professor opposes the actions of Texas, and says so in an editorial. Professors have many things to write about. That they would write about the Eldorado raid signifies that it is important to them, and that intelligent people oppose the actions of Texas.
3. Problems with the Eldorado raid are recognized nationally. Just like Jim Crow laws and civil rights, those outside Texas saw the problems, and opposed the abuses.
   

Letter to my Senators and Congressmen

I sent the following to Senators Kyl and McCain through electronic submission, and delivered a signed copy directly to my local representative, Raul Grijalva:

April 17, 2008


Honorable Representative Grijalva:


I am very concerned about constitutional violations in the recent raid on the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas. Texas has a long history of “Jim Crow” laws and religious persecution, raising the possibility of a systematically corrupt state legal system. For example, though Arizona authorities checked the same charges and found them to be without merit, Texas authorities acted without first performing due diligence. Reports on the raid indicate the parents have been denied constitutionally guaranteed due process, have had their rights of free speech suppressed, have been illegally stripped of parental rights, and have been subject to unlawful search and seizure.


These violations happened to a small and unpopular group, but it is exactly these types of situations in which constitutional protections are needed. Nazi Germany also started with the persecution of small and unpopular groups such Jews and Gypsies. Such erosion of liberty when laws are used as tools of intolerance affects everyone. I would encourage you to take the following emergency actions:


1- Encourage the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to officially examine the actions of the state, and determine whether the civil rights of the parents were violated, and whether religious discrimination has played a role in the proceedings.


2- Hold Congressional Hearings on the raids, requiring accountability of the Texas authorities.


Thank you very much for your consideration,

xxxxx

I encourage you to write your own letters to your own congressional representatives.