Victory in Home Schooling Rights

Looks like California has come to it's senses regarding parental rights in homeschooling. The LA Times reports:

Governator Schwarzenegger:

This is a victory for California's students, parents and education community. This decision confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children. I hope the ruling settles this matter for parents and home-schooled children once and for all in California, but assure them that we, as elected officials, will continue to defend parents' rights.

Phillip Long:

Educating your children in your own home preexisted these buffoons that sit on the 2nd Circuit. It preexisted this state. It preexisted us. Parents have been teaching their own children since the beginning.

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.

Another letter on the Senate Hearings

I sent similar letters to both my senators, my representative, the state Attorney General, Governor Napalitano, Obama, and President Bush. Please reach out to your legislators with letters. Feel free to use my letter as a base.

Senator Reid has called for a hearing on the FLDS that seems to be nothing more than federally funded hate speech. Reid has included only anti-FLDS bigots that are proven liars and profiteers of sensationalism. No pro-FLDS individual has been called to testify, reminiscent of Hitler, Mao, and Stalin.

Meanwhile, the Texas raid has proven that the FLDS have much lower rates of welfare, underage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and rape than the general U. S. population. Senator Reid should either grant equal time at the hearings, or be forced to resign for using taxpayer money to promote religious persecution. As president of the Senate, please compel Senator Reid to include equal time for the FLDS at the hearings, and personally attend the hearings to insure that the FLDS are fairly represented.

I have written, and will write again. My representatives, the president, and the vice president can not say "we haven't been asked."

Letter to Arizona Attorney General, Terry Goddard

On the Arizona Attorney General site, there is a link for the civil rights division: civilrightsinfo@azag.gov . There is also a link to a civil rights complaint form. I wrote the following letter to the Civil Rights division. I would encourage polygamists in Arizona to file a civil rights complaint form, demanding that Goddard stop his hate speech.

I would like to report hate speech. The Attorney General himself, Terry Goddard, has engaged in hate speech toward the FLDS. Not only has he participated in exagerrated claims of lawlessness and abuse, but he has granted the bully pulpit to others that have used it to promote outright lies and advertise their books. Such behavior is truly reprehensible.

It has been reported that Mr. Goddard has been invited as a witness to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the purported crimes of the FLDS in the coming weeks. However, it is also reported that not a single representative of the FLDS has been called to testify, though a number of proven slanderers and profiteers will testify. The current makeup of this hearing amounts to nothing more than federally sanctioned hate speech. Mr. Goddard would not be representing Arizona, or defending the constitution by attending. As a citizen of Arizona, I demand that he recuse himself from attending, or recuse himself from being attorney general. His continued religious persecution should not be allowed to continue.

Letter about the hearings scheduled by the Senate Judiciary Committe

I was really frustrated when I read what Harry Reid was up to, and I sent this letter to my senators. Please let your senators know about this miscarriage of justice, and do not let them get away with it.

Senator Reid has recently proposed holding a senate hearing on the alleged crimes of the FLDS. As the situation in Texas has demonstrated, the detractors of the FLDS have been shown to be liars, bigots, and profiteers. Yet, Senator Reid has so far not allowed any FLDS representatives to testify.

I implore you to insure that the FLDS have at least one representative at the hearings. It is against every principle of justice to have what amounts to a trial without the accused even allowed to be in the courtroom. I heartily encourage you to take a stand against this religious bigotry.

Sincerely,

Some Web highlights

I am only linking a few articles that I feel are either important or rare. You can get most of the mainline stories from newspapers or other blogs.

Follow-up failure in Texas from Journalism.org notes that the original raid recieved much more media attention than the Texas Supreme Court forcing the children's release.

The drop-off in coverage from the initial raid to the Supreme Court decision occurred across all media sectors. Online and network news saw the greatest decline in coverage.

Plural Marriage is Among Consenting Adults by James A. Marples in the Albert Lea Tribune (Minnisota and Northern Iowa) as a Letter-to-the-editor

If all those in the relationship were consenting adults and no abuse, incest or coercion takes place, and if all the children are happy and healthy, I say: Let those people live quietly in peace. It was good enough in Old Testament days of the Holy Bible. And that scriptural precedent should be the legal foundation or precedent for revisions in America law today.

Monogamous Deception Letter to the Editor by Thomas McCabe in the Cape Verde (AZ) Bugle

The lower courts have spoken; the Supreme Court of Texas has spoken. Yet the quasi-dictatorial government agency, the Texas Child Protective Services, defies the courts to impose 'their' own brand of 'law.' On March 29, Texas State Police armed with assault rifles, attacked, without cause, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints and forcibly removed 416 children. What is considered kidnapping in Texas? Doesn't the Bill of Rights apply to all citizens?

CPS Actions Damaged Children Editorial by Johana Scot and Richard Wexler in the San Angelo Standard-Times.

Instead, CPS opted for the mass amputation of the mothers from their children. They were taken from the foggy and distant danger they faced and thrown into the clear and present danger of foster care. ... Instead, CPS opted for the mass amputation of the mothers from their children. They were taken from the foggy and distant danger they faced and thrown into the clear and present danger of foster care.

Home Schoolers Threaten our Cultural Comfort by Sonny Scott in the Northeast Mississipi Daily Journal.

Indications are that home schooling is working well for the kids, and the parents are pleased with their choice, but the practice is coming under increasing suspicion, and even official attack, as in California. ... Now the kid is raising hell again, demanding the latest Play Station as his price for doing his school work … and there goes that modest young woman in the home-made dress with her four bright-eyed, well-behaved home-schooled children in tow. Wouldn’t you just love to wipe that serene look right off her smug face?

You can now purchase FLDS clothing! Provide modest and functional clothing for your children while helping the famalies recovery from the raid.

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
   

Calling Harvey Hilderbran to resign

I think "Hairbrained" Hilderbran needs to be held accountable for his abuses of power and position. As part of this I sent an email to him, as well as a letter to the local newspaper of his district that closely followed the letter I sent to him. I encourage you to send your own.

The Kerrville Daily Times Letter to the Editor

harvey@harveyhilderbran.com

Representative Hilderbran:

I am calling on you to resign. You have tried to use the apparatus of the State to persecute an unpopular religion. This clearly violates the "Establishment of Religion" clause in the constitution. You have also engaged in religious persecution, using a religious slur in the public media. This form of hate speech is indefensible. Finally, you have abandoned your long-standing political principles of property rights and personal liberty in an attempt at political popularity, showing a huge defect in your character. Resign so that you may remove the beam in your own eye, and spare the 53rd district from a bigot and demagogue.

Sincerely,
xxxxx

"I Percieve" blog, email to Judge Walthers church

Recently found this blog, which carries powerful and rather incendiary prose. I usually don't dedicate an entire post to a blog (otherwise I would have to do it every day for Grits and Brooke) but this has some interesting articles that I've never seen before.

Texas TRO: Separate CPS & Walther from FLDS

I smell a rat. Having read both draft orders in the FLDS case, my view is that neither draft complies with the order of the Texas Supreme Court... The drafts suggest that these unfortunate victims of government abuse are beginning to legitimize — in their own minds — the misconduct of their government captors.

First United Methodist of San Angelo burns cross, prays for Judge Walther

I have a feeling that with the atrocities she has inflicted on FLDS families, Walther will need those prayers. ... Why don’t the FLDS appear on First United Methodist’s prayer page?

I thought that was a good question. While they did have a listing for "Eldorado Situation" that could mean anything. So, I wrote to the email addresses on their Prayer Request page:

I respectfully request that you add to your prayer list that the FLDS parents and children be protected from the abuses of power of the State of Texas, and be protected from those who desire to persecute them.
Sincerely,
xxxxx

It was a good reminder for me to say my prayers - both for the FLDS, and also to keep the CPS far away from me and my family.

CPS a national “empire built on taking children”, Georgia Senator Schaefer warns

As the Texas CPS horror unfolds, some American parents watch passively as if it couldn’t possibly happen to them. Be warned. What Texas CPS did to the FLDS en masse, other states’ CPSs do every day across the country to individual families.

Walther signs extortionary FLDS order

A house is only a home if you enjoy the protections against search and seizure that all Americans are supposed to enjoy. This distinction is obviously lost on the judge who — for what reason God only knows — continues to preside over the case. Because of their religion and the venomous bigotry of Judge Barbara Walther, these Americans citizens are being denied their basic constitutional rights.

Continued Coverage

Looks like there is now an official in Canada trying to prosecute polygamists. However, the two prosecutors he has hired have both declined to prosecute. Hopefully he gets the message some day, but it might take the Canadian Supreme Court, just like it took the Texas Supreme Court.
It's proving difficult to prosecute polygamists by Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun
B.C. prosecutor weighs polygamy charges by Wendy Stueck, The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Tellingly, the articles never quote a current Bountiful resident, only repeating allegations of government officials and a former FLDS member. Bigotry and slanted media are not just US problems when it comes to religion.
The mess in Texas, Pancho Villa and "usos y costumbres" on The Mex Files
International coverage continues, with the article discussing Pancho Villa being a polygamist, as well as many Mexican immigrants to the United States currently practicing polygamy.

The claims of abuse were overblown, and the State of Texas has not been particularly interested in pursuing child or spousal abuse cases that involve more "mainstream" sectarians.

Whose Kids Are They Anyway? by Mike Gallagher, nationally syndicated radio talk show host
He joins Micheal Savage as major radio talk show hosts who have spoken out on this issue.

But the mantra of "protecting our children" shouldn't give a state agency the ability to shred the constitutional rights of each and every adult who comes into CPS's crosshairs. ... Everything about this story is rotten. It's the textbook example of a zealous government destroying the United States Constitution in order to grandstand and pretend that they are only interested in protecting the children.