print“Imagine: One day you’re frolicking in the open air on a large compound, doing your daily chores, and feasting on hearty homegrown fare; the next you’re gagging on a diet of T&A courtesy of MTV, and fast-food compliments of your fat foster mom. As the makeshift mom hollers at you to swallow your zombifying meds—the Texas foster care system is notorious for pumping its charges full of psychotropic drugs—her flaccid live-in lover eyes you lustily.”
As I write, many of the kids kidnapped by Texas rangers from the Yearning for Zion ranch are being scattered across the state to far-flung group homes and shelters. In the land of the free and home of the brave hundreds of children can be rounded up and removed from their families based on a hunch or a hoax. No hue and cry will ensue—not from professional civil libertarians, nor from members of the unwatchful dogs in the media, or from presidential candidates vying to uphold—or is it just to hold—the Constitution.”
The excerpt is from my new WorldNetDaily.com column, “They’re Coming For Your Kids!” The column leads the WND Commentary Page for Friday, April 25.
I still think this kidnapping is antisemitism. The women are all dressed like Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) from Seinfeld.
Just kidding. I have to joke about this or I am going to go postal on the next do-gooder statist I see.
Create moral/mental midgets via the government school system, use said midgets as an excuse for more government. What a racket!
The state originally claimed that the women went willingly… although the state was armed to the teeth when they entered the compound. We all know what happens to children who don’t cooperate with the state.
Sorry, Ilana.
These agents should have raided this place YEARS AGO. They might even be accused of negligence, because they knew this stuff was going on for years.
Likely NONE of these little girls took the TAKS test, required for graduation from high school in Texas – girls are often not educated beyond a certain age so they can be “servants” of men.
And (from a Utah insider) Warren Jeffs convinced the TX compound and others to lower the marriage age from over 20 to 14 – where were the Feds when this happened?
These “Mormons” were living agasinst the TX civil law – these girls are scared to death – they won’t talk because they believe they will go to hell if they talk.
If forced marriage of 14 year olds to provide children for the Prophet isn’t slavery , nothing is.
Good column. Unfortunately, most will not have a heart for these children and mothers just as most have no heart for freedom.
And again — the imputed threat is to teen-aged girls being brainwashed into young marriage. What is the legal justification for stealing these young children from their mothers? All of this is based on a phone call from a known hoaxer who has done this before, even using the same phone and number.
If this perversion of Justice is allowed to stand, no one’s Civil Rights are safe in America any longer, as this episode sets a new precedence for the Abuse of Constitutional Protections of Due Process of Law.
This Nation was Established on the Fundamental idea that we all are Assumed Innocent before the Law, UNTIL Proven Guilty.
There has been no due process in any of this perverted and distortion of law in Texas.
The Court has acted upon a known liar’s accusation, then proceeded to make a Judgment of Law that finds these people Guilty of a Crime, WITHOUT a Charge, or a Conviction on a single one of them as yet.
This outrageous Abuse of Authority by this one Judge has perverted every Foundation of the Laws this Nation has held to since it became a Nation.
By Judicial Fiat, Guilt has been proclaimed and Judgment entered without even being charged with a crime as of yet.
This Judge had nothing but an accusation, yet moved to find guilt by an ASSUMPTION OF GUILT!
I am outraged over the destruction of all Truth and Due Process these American Citizens have been denied.
Like their religion or not, they have the very same rights as all other citizens in this land, the right to defend themselves against the accusations in an open court of law, and facing their accusers.
None of this has been allowed for these Citizens, and that means none of us are safe if we allow this perverted and distorted abuse of the Law by this twisted Judgment.
Yes I am angry about it, as we all should be.
Furthermore
This Judge in Texas has assumed the power of a tyrant, to declare guilt or innocence without the benefit of a Jury Trial.
With the Rights of the Accused to have a Defense.
They have yet to be able to defend themselves in a Court of Law, having been charged with a crime.
No one has been even charged with a crime as yet,and is the FIRST ORDER OF DUE PROCESS OF LAW.
Without a charge, without a conviction, the State has Issued a Formal Judgment of GUILT.
All they have at this point in time is an INVESTIGATION, no CONVICTION.
Does this now mean that all it takes to be found guilty in America is an ACCUSATION AND AN INVESTIGATION?
That is all it took under the Nazi’s and the Communists, NEVER IN AMERICA BEFORE TODAY!
Well said, Ilana, in “They’re coming for your Kids.” Polygamists today, home schoolers and Christians tomorrow. Keep this type of writing up as it exposes the intent of the statists and semi-fascists now running most governments too. They believe the state owns all the children, they really do. The final battle and the determinative one in the culture war will be about who will raise and educate the children…the state vs. family and Church? This is a battle for all times. (E. Ray Moore, Jr. at http://www.Exodusmandate.org)
Dead On Ms. Mercer. As a dedicated Christian and homeschooler, I see on the horizon a dark storm rising. The great fears we have from a growing government bent on command and control of even the most basic things in life is becoming an reality.
The courts decision in California against homeschoolers, the statements by idiots like Al Gore stating that “denying global warming is like those that believe the earth is flat” or Meterologists that deny it should have their certifications removed…etc.
With a Democrat in the Whitehouse, a majority in the House and a 60 member majority in the Senate…the Constitution will be relegated to a footnote in the history books of the world. Scary times.
[Let’s not forget the Republicans; they’re no better on liberties, perhaps worse.–IM]
And last of all, this case is about one thing, and one thing only:
Does the State give Rights?
Or
Do Rights come from God, our Creator?
This Nation was Founded ON this very idea; rights are God given, not State given.
The separation of powers, by recognition it is NOT the State that grants Rights, but our Creator.
—————————
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary ..TO
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, ….. requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men,…”
————————
The Law and the Government is instituted to PROTECT THESE RIGHTS, not TAKE these Rights away.
If we lose this very Founding Principle, America no longer exists in the world of today.
The Spirit of Liberty has DEPARTED America, just as it did to Ichabod
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichabod)
If the Foundation of America is cast away, and we have now accepted the idea that Rights come from the State, the Law, the Bench, the Government, we have lost all Civil Rights for any Citizen.
This Judge has openly DEFIED the very Foundation of America.
Is it going to be allowed to stand is the only question I have left.
Having worked at a private Christian Children’s home in Texas, and having rescued many severely abused kids from FOSTER HOMES, I can tell you that what the state has done is A: Typical of their myopic world view, and B: Dangerous to those few remaining conservatives.
Ilana has hit the nail on the head with this article.
This is a litmus test to see at what level of indifference and complacency the “sheeples” reside. If there is no or little real opposition to these tactics, then you can guarantee that the next step will be jack-booted thugs breaking your doors down and taking your kids at gunpoint, just because you’d rather home school them than have their brains turned to jelly by the state. [SWAT teams do it every day in the name of the Drug War.–IM]
Go ahead and stay silent over this. They are not your kids. But don’t cry to me or anyone else when they come for you and yours.
DGP
Equal Protection of the Law, is IMPOSSIBLE without EQUAL ENFORCEMENTt of the Law.
As the Texas Legal System appears to have TARGETED this “cult” this “sect” this “compound” for the marriage of under age girls becoming pregnant, the High Schools all across Texas and the USA are overflowing with under aged girls bearing children OUT of WEDLOCK.
And that is ok!
In fact it is supported with counselors, sex class, entertainment industry, print media, television productions.
The hypocrisy of it all demands Divine Justice.
The Natural Law that has been ignored by the Texas Legal System, in this case, let alone any other.
Which Justice CANNOT be Abolished, Amended, or Erased by any Court House in the world of mankind.
The stench of this hypocritical situation is overbearing in its odor and injustice openly provoking the Creator to Rule mankind and our Laws.
I am outraged!
I want to stir the people up to fight this injustice if I can, and thank Ilana for her article, and this blog to give me a voice.
Thank you for giving me a voice, Ilana. Your article is beautifully written. Watching this go on has left me with feelings of anger, deep sadness, and helplessness. I’ve prayed for them, and I’ve signed what is likely an ineffective petition for them. The State’s actions are of a totalitarian regime. As a mother of four, I find myself fearful for my own family. Will someone come here to destroy my family?
Hey Ilana,
Just wanted to point out there is a website that is trying to help the children who were stolen from their parents.
http://www.captivefldschildren.org/index.php
Found it over at Wendy McElory’s site.
By the way, love the picture of you in the Dream Theater t-shirt. Nice to know that not only are you smart, you have wonderful taste in music.
A good take on a very bad deed done by the empire. In this country, it really does seem like parents just raise kids up for the state. Is’t it wonderful that those kids will now be able to attend spring break and watch MTV all day? Opportunities like that truely should be available to all.
Dear Ilana,
All that you say is true. And yet the roots of this poisonous plant are in the culture of child support and custody which the vast majority of American subjects embrace.
Here the bastards have kidnapped a mere 400 or so kids at gunpoint. They didn’t even machine gun the parents and burn their homes this time!
But everyday, in every county of every state, thousands of children are similarly stolen and the victims enslaved to pay the state’s minions.
Until the enormity of this wrong and evil system is recognized, there will be more and more of the same.
But with modern brainwashing and propaganda techniques I don’t believe we will ever again get the required revolution.
Welcome to Hell. Made in USA.
I am LDS, and I see the FLDS as apostates. Nevertheless, I deal in evidence. Where is it? People are allowed their beliefs, even if they’re wrong. Is the State allowed to take children and browbeat them until Big Brother gets the evidence? Half the cases I see are based on a caseworker’s opinion. To round up these kids on the basis of an allegation is just a wee bit excessive, not to say megalomaniacal. We are apparently allowed to do all things now “for the children.”
Are FLDS men abusing young girls? Probably. Still, where’s the evidence? Being odd is not evidence. I saw one report that said these kids did not have access to TV or the internet. Barbarians! I was not aware that we have the right to life, liberty and access to information. The poor things are in for it now.
It is vital that we defend the rights of those we don’t agree with. Not to excuse sins, if such exist, but to defend liberty. Years ago Pa. went after Quaker kids and forced them into public schools. They had no delinquency, drugs, pregnancies, illiteracy, no TV. The handwriting was on the wall then.
[It would have been more admirable had the LDS stated what you state, rather than respond so meekly, as it has to date.–IM]
This is an excellent column. Bravo!
The whole situation enrages me–but the thing that gets me the most is the separation of nursing mothers from their babies. A few days ago, the judge said the following in response to an Application for TRO filed by attorneys to stop it:
“Walther acknowledged the nutritional and bonding benefits of breast-feeding. “But every day in this country, we have mothers who go back to work after six weeks of maternity leave,” she said.
“The court has made a determination that the environment those children were in was not safe,” said Walther, adding that there is a shortage of suitable placements for infants in Texas.”
After getting some bad press for such a monumentally barbaric comment, the judge asked CPS to keep the nursing mothers with their babies. However, CPS is keeping only those infants under 12 months with their mothers. There are some babies only a couple of weeks over the line who will suffer abrupt halting of breastfeeding–including some twins who were premature and who need special care. Link
Hell is too good for the people responsible for this.
[Bravo to you, my dear, for this. As a mom who breastfed her daughter for 9 months, and knows the bond that is formed because of it—a unique one—I cannot imagine what it would be like. Having a nursing infant removed from her mom, who is already devoted enough to spend the time (modern-day women don’t even try breastfeeding), is torture—physical and emotional.—IM]
regularron, thank you for posting that link. I hope it makes its way further into public view. From the timeline there
it is reported that some of the officers wept as children were being “peeled” away from their parents. There are
decent people within the legal system. I pray they find the courage to come forward.
I’d like to know why very little media
attention is given to the NOW organizations Presidents involvement in stirring up suspicions that eventually led to these children being carted off.
Lauren
[About those weeping officers: It sounds like the “I was only following orders” defense. Where did we hear that one?–IM]
I can not believe you would stick up for these child abusers (and enablers). Isn’t 100 yrs of abuse enough? Shouldn’t these kids have opportunities to select their path, rather than be brainwashed? You act like you’re sticking up for the kids, but you’re really sticking up for their parents, who have been doing this for generations, and they think it’s just correct and normal. Damn – give the kids a chance. They should spread them across the USA and finally destroy this sick cult. Give the kids a real life – and choices.
And those of you who use the “pregnant kids in high school” rationale – remember that those kids got to choose who they slept with, and weren’t forced into marriage. These poor kids would never know anything about real life unless someone (the state of Texas) stuck up for them. How many could become doctors or true contributers if they stayed where they are? Again – it’s all about getting the kids out of an abusive environment and giving them true choices as they grow up.
[What you say then must be achieved while respecting due process and the rights of innocents. You can’t disregard the Constitution for the sake of enforcing a better life on kids not your own. That’s the very definition of tyranny. You miss the point of my essay—and the point of the American Bill of Rights. And that’s a pretty big miss.—IM]
My pleasure Ilana. I’m as sick as every other Freedom Lover over this. And I’m a Catholic. lol
If you get a chance, check out that pencil neck geek, Rich Lowry’s column on the subject at hand.
I can’t see the justification for taking 400 kids [based on a false report as well] and placing them in a foster care system that abuses, rapes, and murders more kids than any unsavory religious group. The kids are far better off with their own families than getting raped or murdered by the state and assaulted by a decadent culture.
Furthermore, the psychiatrists evaluating the kids are saying they have found very little abuse but that their belief system itself constitutes abuse. With that very dangerous precedent, any Biblically oriented Christian group [especially homeschoolers] can easily be seen as having abusive belief systems.
Thank you, Ilana, for pointing out the importance of due process. These children did need to be rescued if true abuses were suspected, but not from the frying pan into the fire, and not in the way it went down.
THANK YOU!!
I’ve been waiting, in vain I feared, for someone to say this!
Why haven’t I read/heard this argument from conservatives before?
Have they forgotten the message scrawled on the Nazi Labor Camp wall?
“When they came for the gypsies, I did not speak, for I am not a gypsy.
When they came for the Jews, I did not speak, because I wasn’t a Jew.
When they came for the Catholics, I did not speak, for I am not a Catholic.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak.”
(Can you see “the little corporal” dancing for glee in hell?)
Unlike the hateful Rev Wright, I will not call for the damnation of our country, for that is neither good nor Godly; and as a republic, we get the government we deserve.
But I am now reserved to pray “God Forgive America”!
Sorry Ilana …we didn’t mean to be so hard on you…:) We love your articles and stances you take on so many issues! My girls love to read your articles…homeschool requirement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFjopSfq5Bw
B.L. Biddle The Steel Sorority
[Adorable girls; good job. About your other note: Republicans may pule for fetuses, but their support for unprovoked wars makes them, at least in the last 8 years, the bigger killers of fully-formed human beings. Running up a second-to-none national debtmakes them the biggest thieves to date too and culpable for the state of the economy.
I’ve documented Republicans in the last 8 years. More in this and other archives on the site.]
One man, one wife, and not underage girls. These people are not healthy, and the children in this CULT are at risk.
I once was a Mormon and know the culture. Flds is but a protest against Utah outlawing polygamy to gain statehood. Who are we to judge? Apparently the cowboy nazis in Texas believe they are judge and jury to give these innocent, naive children to trailer park “foster homes”, to be fed a diet of wonder bread, kraft dinner and MTV. Hey, the lady that started all this should be prosecuted, not these wonderfully innocent children. So here’s a heads up for all of you: if you don’t toe Big Brother’s mark, they will come after your kids too. Stand up and stop this idiotic, fascist crap. Bush has created a monster…let’s nip this in the bud before they break in our door with APCs and snipers.
I also blogged about this today. Interesting twist, Swinton is also listed as a pledged delegate for Barak Obama. Go figure.
Keep up the good work.
Dear ILana: We need you on all the cable news networks. You are right 100%. This is very dangerous for the rest of us. Are we next? Where are the Constitutional lawyers? These children have been kidnapped by the ( STATE ) of Texas. Help-Help-Help
God Help Us
Robert & Belinda Benda
[The day you see mainstream media embrace me like it has other pundits—so-called rightists–the day you know I have sold out.—IM]
I’ve frankly been fascinated by some press reports which have stated that at least 250 attorneys http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5711151.html repeatedly challenged Judge Walther and Texas CPS officials during an initial hearing.
That’s a lot of attorneys in one crowded room! I wonder, where did they come from, and what perspectives might they represent? Were they civil libertarians? Were they LDS folks?
The article doesn’t say;other articles I’ve read do not reveal the backgrounds of these attorneys. But somewhere (and I know not where) in the legal system there is, apparently, opposition to this judge and what she is trying to do (and has apparently successfully achieved.)
[I have not seen one attorney speak out forcefully on TV. All I’ve seen is pussy-footing around. And there are magnificent attorneys, such as the one who fought for Michael Jackson, Thomas Mesereau.–IM]
I want to make one more comment. First of all, I think Ilana is one hell of a writer. These children are NOT the property of Nazi Texas and should not have been placed in custody at gunpoint. How many were terrified at these cowboy hat-wearing gestapo invading their homes? How many will see that as a good thing? Let’s say YOUR philosophies are contrary to the party line. Cowboy boots kick in your door, drawling cowboy wannabes take your children and call you unfit, because you treated your children as chaste, innocent beings that love without reservation…Big Brother is here and Bush opened the door. 1984, as with most “science fiction”, was a prophetic piece that we are now experiencing. Please, please, understand that your children could be next, based on any pretext big brother decides. Stop the madness now, or live it later. Texas’ motto is “Don’t mess with Texas”. My response is, “Don’t Trust Texas” Please…human rights are going down the drain…fight it now or live it later.
Ilana, you make a very important point, the government always warms people up to the idea of penetrating private homes and taking control of their children or their property for that matter, under the guise of a “self-righteous” justification. Since these people are a cult, the government knows they can flex there unconstitional muscle, and many will ignore it, but the scary part is that when the government comes after homeschoolers, people will have already been numbed, by the lie that the government is “justified” in their violations of the Constituition, because they’ll tie it to this incident, the masses are ruled by emotion instead of strict adherence to the Constituition. It’s the same old technique Hitler used. This issue concerns me greatly, since we are a Homeschooling family. The U.S. needs our prayers.
Regardless of one’s abhorence to the beliefs and practices of the FLDS or that they are accused of breaking the law does not give the government or the State of Texas the right to violate these people’s Consitutional rights. It should shock every American that this state is violating the very laws they are sworn to uphold. Texas has a poor track record when it comes to protecting people’s rights, even to the point of a rifle barrel and killing its citizens which it did in Waco with the Branch Davidians. And as happens all too often lawless judges have usurped the authority that rightfully belongs to the legislature and the executive officers. This type of action was precisley what the King of England was doing to the Colonists and in the end there was a rebellion. When people have had enough of this abuse they will rise up and throw off the yoke. Until then we meekly submit to these injustices.
H.L. Galbraith
Thank you for a very bold article! I just posted similar sentiments on my blog and am hoping more people will begin to realize the dangerous precedent this whole thing sets.
Ms. Mercer, I completely agree with your treatment of this nightmare. Right on.
I’m sure that if state authorities were to descend on communities (both rural and urban) and randomly kidnap hundreds of children across the country, they could easily “discover” the same instances of abuse, teenage pregnancies, and molestation that they claim to have found in this sect. Perhaps they could save their subjects the expense and contrivance of concocting a probable cause or “anonymous tip”. Sadly, amongst the debates over whether the children should be returned to their parents, yawns have been the only response to the question of whether this miltary raid should have ever occured in a free nation. Unfortunately, it appears most Americans are ready for this new brand of totalitarianism.
I’m not really one for polygamy, but I think the kids here are getting punished for the sins of their parents. Further, since the government isn’t rounding up
black welfare queens and their children, with who knows how many boyfriends, why
is it OK for the government to round up white women, who are living by
themselves with their children? Really, what’s the difference? It’s OK for the government to do this to whites, but not blacks? Oh well, at least the government hasn’t burned the mothers and children to death like the government did at Waco–at least, not yet.
For over a year I have been asking “politicians” if they consider the Bills of Rights of the Federal Constitution and our State Constitution (Ohio) to be valid. None has even bothered to answer. Acts like the raiding of this compound are evidence that they do not. I appreciate you taking the high road on this matter and using your platform to speak the truth. If this can be done to a mormon group on the basis of their techings, then every “public” school in the country should be closed on the same grounds. The Scriptures ask, “If the foundations are destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” Perhaps its answer in 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the best we can find.
“They’re Coming for Your Kids!”
If your child is in public school, the State has already come and have them. The kids are not being taught the things that will allow them to be productive citizens; They’re being socially engineered instead.
Also, millions of perfectly normal schoolkids have been labled as “mentally ill” or “learning disabled” so the Psych/Pharma complex can put them on dangerous drugs such as ritalin. Taxpayers are subsidizing
these destructive intrusions to the tune of many billions each year.
We have a generation of drugged zombies to look forward to unless we take action to stop this.
One very effective organization can be found at http://www.cchr.org.
Another chilling State intrusion is occuring over in Germany, where the government has decided that homeschooled children may be kidnapped and turned over to the psychs for “treatment”. I don’t know if Orwell foresaw this, but I can see this catching on over here as a brand-new income source for the Psych/Pharmas. May as well enforce “treatment” on the parents as well, as they must be “mentally ill” for not allowing their kids to have socialization.(by homeschooling them instead of sending them to the public school cesspool.)
Honestly, if we allow this to continue, we will all wind up as slaves to the State in our own country.
Germany today, as Max stated, California tomorrow: http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3262&Itemid=48
As California is our most “progressive” (read, “anti-Constitutional”) state, trends there affect the entire U. S..
I must ask: Where do my evangelical Christian co-religionists stand on this outrage? Perhaps some have responded here. But I think if that evangelicals placed the same energy into defeating this usurpation of Constitutional rights that many put into supporting Mike Huckabee, they would be a force to be reckoned with at the national level.
[If only our errant friends shared your mindset.–IM]
“Is’t it wonderful that those kids will now be able to attend spring break and watch MTV all day?”
Would you prefer them being sold to old men and used as sex chattel? Or told they can have as many women as they want?
Ron, I’d save your comments about “bastards”, “propaganda”, and “brainwashing” to address the cult that the government is dealing with. I’ve seen people scream at the top of their lungs about the so-called government abuses here, but with almost every person who does this, something about sympathy for the cult and hatred for the secular leaks out. In short, is it really just the government actions you’re protesting? Or are you ticked that the secular world has given a royal punch to a twisted “Christian” one? Keep in mind what you’re defending here, please. I sympathize with the mourning mothers, since there’s nothing else I can do for the brainwashed and spiritually ignorant anyway, but “kidnapping” isn’t a word I’d use for action that removes children from a situation that’s as good as rot anyhow. I agree: the raids should have been done years ago. Only, the women should have been taken too. Let the multi-partner men fend for themselves
Until I read Ms. Corry’s comment, above, I was uncertain why many of the correspondents here prefaced their remarks on a strictly Constitutional issue with disclaimers against polygamy or the tenets of the FLDS. Now I get it. Statist apologists like Ms. Corry apparently have no problem using the power of the state to kidnap or otherwise do away with people they don’t like. Particularly appalling was her (apparently heartfelt) desire that “Only, the women should have been taken too.” Yes, that’s right, Ms. Corry: Round up and incarcerate all Americans whose lifestyles you find offensive, because your dislike is indeed evidence that they are “brainwashed and spiritually ignorant,” surely a “crime” deserving the harshest of government penalties.
Unless or until people such as Ms. Corry can be persuaded that there is a difference between their personal feelings and Constitutional principles, I fear that there will be many more of these state-sponsored “roundups.”
“Keep in mind what you’re defending here, please.
Jennifer Corry, This advice cuts both ways. From your comments it’s clear you don’t understand that it’s you personally that’s in danger from ignoring due process, not some so-called “cult” whose views you don’t subscribe to. What kind of wonders do you think awaits these kids in Foster care? I’ve seen enough of Foster Care to last a life time and if that’s the solution then (for your secular ears) an [unnamed] deity help them. The abuses they will now suffer will pale in comparison to what’s taken place before. How many were pregnant when taken at the end of the gun barrel? How many molested girls would you find in a similar group from any neighborhood in America? It’s a sad day when so many Americans think government force, secular or otherwise, is the solution to any social problem, particularly on trumped up evidence. Where’s the crime and where’s the charges? I’ve seen none so far and yet the families were broken up on the orders of one judges “edict”.
Ms. Mercer, thank you so very much for writing the article about the polygamist sect raid in Texas. The spine chilling and horrible events taking place in Texas are, indeed, a warning to all of us. Sadly, most people do not realize that this bell tolls for them too. I cannot understand how can any human being do this to mothers and their children. My heart goes out to them and the feeling of utter helplessness to do anything about it is keeping me awake nights. What happened to judicial process? If, as the authorities claim, these women and children are “victims”, then how do they justify victimizing them further? In fact, there is no greater torture and abuse that can be inflicted on a loving mother or her child than a forcible separation. The clips of the women and children that were periodically shown on TV always showed children well behaved, well fed, wholesome and seemingly happy, clean and chaste. I guess that could not be tolerated by those who attacked them! Removing nursing babies from their mothers is a breathtaking cruelty as well as physical, psychological and emotional abuse of high order. Where are all the voices that constantly clamour for human rights observation and justify any social arrangement? I am skeptical too about the abuse, underage sex etc., that the authorities and the mainstream media keep parroting over and over. The officials lied just about everything and there is no reason to believe they tell the truth now. Did they present any proof in a court of law that can be scrutinized and cross examined? In every one of the 460 cases they claim are involved? So how do they justify 460 abductions?
The only other such examples of abuse of power that I know of are the ancient stories of king Herod and the innocents of Ephratah and in our times, the horrors and child-mother separations practiced by the tyrants of Soviet Russia, nazi Germany, communist China and such. This should not be happening in a “free land”. Yet, in all these examples of human bestiality, there seems to be one common thread: the fear of a loss of power over certain sections of population. The frustration of not being able to control minds and hearts of certain people and the all consuming love of POWER. Still there have always, through history been people who refused to take any part in such activities and I only regret there are not more of such. Thank you again for being one.
Just a little reminder as to what kind of government seizes children and separates them from mothers. Are we in good company or what?!:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3822569.ece
I am sure the explantions there are also quite convincing.
I would suggest anyone who thinks the government action is wise read this article on what did and did not happen. This is akin to arresting all children of Catholics because priests have been known to be molesters… which may in fact be the eventual goal here.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080425/D9095CA81.html
“There was a systematic process going on to groom these young girls to become brides,” said CPS spokesman Darrell Azar, noting that the state had no way to protect from possible future abuse if they stayed on the ranch.
“Removal is always the last option,” he said. “In this case, there was no other choice.”
“CPS officials have conceded there is no evidence the youngest children were abused, and about 130 of the children are under 5. Teenage boys were not physically or sexually abused either, according to evidence presented in a custody hearing earlier last week, but more than two dozen teenage boys are also in state custody, now staying at a boys’ ranch that might typically house troubled or abandoned teens.
Two teenage girls are pregnant, and although identities and ages have been difficult to nail down, CPS officials say no more than 30 minor girls in state custody have children. It’s not clear how many other adolescent girls may be among the children shipped to foster facilities.”
All this for two pregnant girls who are under age? On any urban block in America the numbers will likely be higher. They are putting these teenage boys in homes for troubled teens? Well, I guess sodomy of cult members, which is going to happen to many of these innocents, is OK as long as it’s done under government supervision. The disgust I feel for anyone supporting these actions knows no limits. Sacrificing fifty (or more) children to (possibly) save one doesn’t make much sense.
“it’s you personally that’s in danger from ignoring due process, not some so-called “cult””
Here we are again: accusations of ignoring governmental rights and due process are being laid at everyone’s feet except the cult themselves. And yes, they are a cult; if you say they are “so-called”, you clearly haven’t been aware of their full practices.
“I’ve seen enough of Foster Care to last a life time and if that’s the solution then (for your secular ears) an [unnamed] deity help them.”
Some of you seem to have a real habit of assuming what I’m defending; I don’t recall even mentioning foster care. Addressing problems in one area won’t erase the problems in another; the fact that there are problems in some foster care areas doesn’t lessen by any means the huge problems in the cultish groups. Furthermore, I’m not secular, I’m a Christian. Rather than assuming what I want, try focusing on the cold hard facts of what the parents of these children want and what they’d raise them to be. You like the pictures of chaste, innocent children? They won’t last; they’ll grow up to either be Christianized concubines to men or cold-hearted men who fornicate with multiple women without giving them any promise of even emotional security in return.
In case there’s still any doubt, I’ll make it very clear what I’d like: I want for these women to have a free choice, to get their babies back and to teach THEM free choice as well. I do not wish for them to be “done away with”, as I’ve been accused of. I hope this clears things up
Great article, Ilana. I am really surprised that more libertarians aren’t going crazy over this. Is it because they are personally ambivalent, or because they are afraid of stating their views on the matter?
I think this is a really tough case, in terms of, “OK what should the authorities have done?” But I’m quite confident that taking 400+ kids with the help of an armored personnel carrier, and then forcing the mothers to prove they are fit to get their kids back, is nuts.
As I pointed out in my blog post, suppose the girl “Sarah” had called and said her husband just killed somebody, and that murder was common in the community. Would the police be justified in locking up every adult for homicide, and only letting them go until they had somehow proved they never killed anyone?
Of course not. So by the same token, there ought to be a serious procedure that is followed before the government is allowed to take somebody’s kids. My understanding is that the legal rule being used here is to consider the compound one giant household, but I think that’s ridiculous.
Fundamentalist Christians should be alarmed by this; fortunately I’ve seen at least some who are voicing concerns. The dominant media in the US thinks they are nutjobs too (for doubting Darwin etc.). If people don’t object when the FDLS compound is basically conquered by the government, they won’t object down the road when more mainstream (though still “wacko” to most Americans) churches are raided at gunpoint.
[Brilliant points; thanks, Bob.–IM]
This isn’t the first time we have seen the “Government” step in. Janet Reno’s henchmen who were truly “jack booted thugs” proved this. I will never forget the terror on the face of Elian Gonzalez in Miami when they were so concerned for Elian’s welfare. What a haunting picture of a precious little cuban boy with a H&K MP-5 machine 12″ from his face held by a goon with a gas mask on and full swat regalia. It takes a village. Martin Berrow