Posted on 04/23/2008 6:08:04 PM PDT by Utah Girl
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has asked U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to review the federal efforts to stop child abuse or other criminal activity in polygamous communities.
Reid said the raid earlier this month at the Fundamentalist LDS Church ranch in Eldorado, Texas, "illustrates the depth of the problem and the pressing need for federal leadership to combat this problem."
Two years ago, Reid wrote former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that the federal government needs to work with state officials to look at the "broader pattern of serious criminal conduct by all those who use multiple marriages to abuse women and children."
Reid wanted a federal task force to specifically investigate interstate crimes by polygamist communities, but told Mukasey in an April 18 letter that he is "not satisfied that a comprehensive federal strategy has been implemented."
"Federal assistance is vital," Reid wrote, noting that the local governments of small towns containing polygamist communities are often dominated by polygamists.
"The recent raid of one polygamist compound in Texas uncovered many of the problems," Reid wrote. "But Texas may be the tip of the iceberg. The existence of such communities elsewhere in the United States is well known."
Reid, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, included the personal note "this deserves your personal attention" on the letter.
What is your problem?
The reason the children were removed from the compound is because the mothers were unable to protect their children from abuse.
Way to go, Texas!
And Texas did the correct thing. But there are plenty of other girls in this situation who are not in the FLDS church. Is Texas doing anything to help them?
I'm certainly not shilling for child abuse, but this is a state crime, unless someone crosses state lines or an international border, there is no reason for the Federal government to get involved here.
Here in Texas, if someone makes a report to Child Protective Services, that a child is being abused, molested, statutory rape, etc., CPS investigates and DOES REMOVE the child from the home if sufficient proof is found. Sometimes the child is removed while the family is under investigation.
What planet are you from?
Should be ..... in polygamous and homosexual communities.
I would like to see law enforcement concentrate on the abuse of children aspect of this case rathr than adult men impregnating numerous adult women. I’m personally against adultery and fornication—any sex outside of marriage is perverse in my interpretation of God’s Law—but legally we as a society of varied believers need to protect the interests of minors.
I am posting from San Angelo. Not the average yahoo, I have been posting updates to other threads on the FLDS case. The last thing anybody here needs is Reid jumping on this with bad law, aimed at the wrong offense, for the wrong reason.
Our little case here has to do with at least 20-some underage girls either pregnant or already having one or more kids on the ground, ie sexual abuse/assault. Births are unregistered, parentage is uncertain, and it appears there is a generationally growing problem with a usually VERY rare genetic disorder engendered by 70 years of inbreeding.
Yes there are several polygamist sects, estimates run up to 70,000 members total among many fundamentalist groups. The pattern is no more than one state sanctioned marriage license, the rest are “spiritual unions” recognised by the church(es). As to those who restrict such games to 18 or older, my reaction is, “And your point is?”.
the extra “marriages” are, legally, no different from any other shack-up. Sen. Reid, you want to recriminalize extra-marital co-habitation, get ready to spend the money to double America’s prison space, we ain’t got near enough beds. Check with Pelosi before you proceed, between the gays and the liberals, half of San Francisco would probably be subject to arrest for a “polygamy” statute.
“Perhaps the federal government should go after non-FLDS adult males who sire babies with minors and then flee across state lines as well. Child abusers who cross state lines are not unique only to the FLDS church. “
Maybe so, but these FLDS people are a sick cult and their behavior should never be condoned.
I just don’t understand people’s comments on this board that somehow excuse or minimize what they have done.
I’m not 100% sure that Dirty Harry should be talking about anybody else’s transgressions.
Ping
How can our society charge somebody with polygamy when we do not charge people with adultery? Polygamist’s do not go down to the county courthouse for 5 marriage certificates. These “marriages” are not legal in any state. Are they not just long lasting/committed adulterous relationships? Therefore, if we as society turn a blind eye to adultery (which I am sure is illegal in Texas) how can we not do the same for polygamy?
Also, how do you clarvoyant types out there seem to know that all of these women are brainwashed? Nobody accuses Elliot Spitzer’s wife of being brainwashed yet she was sharing her husband — worse yet, she was sharing him with a whore (more like a concubine prostitute since we know he liked to do repeats with the same 18/19 year old girl). I have know women who stayed married to nasty gentlemen for all sorts of reasons — however they were far from brainwashed.
Also, some people have been throwing around 20 underage girls in these forums. Yet the CPS bureaucrat Angie Voss testified of 5 girls under 18 (pregnant or with babies). Can anybody give a proper reference for where the 20 number comes from — or is it just made up by some flunking wanting to make a point without the facts?
Hey barkeep,
Where do you get the 20-something underage girls pregnant? Can you give us a source? This is a far different number then CPS used in court.
But...but...but....LOL Excellent post.
Where do you think these people came from, all of the cult members at the Texas compound were the handpicked elites brought in in many cases individually from various other state compounds, including maybe fifteen kids from the compound in Canada.
This was the cults very special compound, it was only for the least corrupted children and for the adults that were least likely to be turned by the law.
You keep trying to deflect from the purpose of the raid, the state believes that they found enough evidence to investigate if this branch was also following the illegal practices of the cult, mainly raping young women by assigning them to illegal “marriages”.
The man in the pictures hanging over the children’s bed was sentenced only months ago for conducting that practice.
Jeffs isn’t the only one convicted for that practice and other trials are coming up, including more for Jeffs in a second state for the same practices.
Exactly. Texas is doing just fine. The last thing I want to see is some freaking congressional action cooked up by Pelosi and Reid to “fix” this.
I didn't know that, thanks for the heads up.
If you noted the sudden jump from the 416 children number to 437, this took place after the hearing. A lot of mothers had been “coy” about everything from their last names to their ages, to exactly which children belonged to whom.
The jump of 21 was composed of mothers who fessed up to being underage themselves, apparantly to avoid possible separation from their children. Source would be Shari Pulliam of CPS, as reported in Tuesday San Angelo Standard-Times.
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