5/10 thread, with articles on:

Discussions on legalizing polygamy, lives of children sent to Corpus Christi, Texas says ranch is one dwelling for legal purposes, UT & AZ reject polygamy prosecutions, research on effects of polygamy, fLDS beliefs 101, effects of a federal probe on traffic of celestial brides from Canada to US

5/9 thread, with articles on:

Contents of the church records, Utah, Arizona prosecutors vow not to raid polygamists in their states, polygamy town hall, interviews with some still living on the ranch, UT seeking facts on TX raid, AGs defend TX raid, polygamists meet the world, sentiments in Eldorado TX, Canada the next polygamy capital, mothers who refuse to id selves & children can't challenge children's removal, YFZ children at risk, Jeffs seeks dismissal of incest charges.

5/8 thread, with articles on:

TX making plans for fLDS children, work on the case taking toll on social workers, town hall on polygamy, update on Lost Boys, report from former plural wife, "army" of attorneys in case, San Angelo mayor's report, federal prosecutor assigned to look into polygamy crimes, interview with publisher of Eldorado Success, letter from fLDS mother, next hearings set for 5/19, "Sects are About Sex" column, burden of case on area's courts, lawyer representing fLDS children speaks, church records speak volumes, state must immunize children.

5/7 thread, with articles on:

TX AG handling the case, laws that come into play, former fLDS member speaks out, legal experts talk about case, 80 year old has 21 wives, incest next issue with Jeffs case, seized records show polygamous unions, the Lost Boys, DA preparing criminal cases against fLDS, AGs meet to discuss how to help polygamists (link only), UT AG's political contributers, ACLU weighs in (of course), state increases security at kids housing.

5/6 thread, with articles on:

TX AG to prosecute any fLDS cases, Canadians urge crackdown on border (to prevent celestial bride traffic to US), more on DOD probe of fLDS, Lost Boys interview

5/5 thread, with articles on:

Canadian parents want Ottawa's help in getting daughter back from TX, attorneys complain about confusion with hearings, polygamous dad speaks out, mothers leave children while courts sort out case, Carolyn Jessop's "Escape" no. 5 on NYT bestseller list, deport's excellent list of links, Warren Jeffs under suicide watch, man has 21 wives, 35 children, town hall set for media, law discussions on polygamy .

5/4 thread, with articles on:

Recollections of life in the cult, polygamy summit in St. George, Utah AG reluctant to judge Tx action, UT, AZ polygamists retreated to TX, children adapt to new homes, states divided on approach to polygamy

5/3 thread, with articles on:

Colorado woman's (Laura Chapman) story of abuse in fLDS, letter from fLDS mothers to Utah governor, more on fashion, according to UT, "few answers in Texas", how families are torn apart by fLDS, Utah gives TX hints on handling of fLDS kids, reprint of TX law professor's assertion that raid was correct and legal, discussion on blood atonement with links, Polygamy's undergrond railroad, "Mormon Manson," comparisons between YFZ and Cold Creek, fairly complete listing of child child custody legal procedure, common pediatric fractures, look at how fLDS acquired land for compound using fraud in 2004

Entire contents of the Daily Threads (4/24 - present) can be accessed here, along with many links to documents, picture galleries and other material related to this case.

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As always, for the sake of orderliness (and to prevent the pulling of threads and/or messages), let's do try to stay on topic and polite. You can't have a flame war if you don't take the bait.

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I do not run a pinglist, but you can freepmail Politicalmom and request that you be added to her FLDS Eldorado Legal Case Ping List.

Daily thread ping!

Yahweh sect may be Texas test case

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, May 11, 2008

By PAUL MEYER / The Dallas Morning News
pmeyer@dallasnews.com

CALLAHAN COUNTY – In his first sermon after leaving jail, Yisrayl "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins was in classic form: folksy, paternal and apocalyptic.

"No, we're not getting ready to kill ourselves," said the prophet of the House of Yahweh, a barbed wire kingdom of brimstone prophecies and abject poverty 15 miles southeast of Abilene.

"We're getting ready to live through the greatest tribulation that ever will be."

The troubles facing Mr. Hawkins may soon provide Texas' first major test of strengthened anti-polygamy laws, just 150 miles from the national spotlight on Eldorado and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The 73-year-old was arrested and indicted in February – less than two months before raids on the Eldorado compound – charged with four counts of promoting bigamy, made a felony in 2005 after the unrelated FLDS group arrived from Utah.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: Denton Record-Chronicle.

Interesting article, worth the click to read it especially if you're interested in the legalities of these cases. This case, while not related to the Eldorado case at all, also involves the same kind of nastiness--incest, abuse of child labor laws, plural wives, and characters right out of an Elmore Leonard book.

Letter asks Bush to help FLDS kids

By Nancy Perkins
Deseret News

Published: May 11, 2008

A hand-delivered letter to President Bush at his Crawford, Texas, ranch asks the new father-in-law to intervene in the plight of hundreds of FLDS children and their parents.

The 10-page letter was written and delivered on Saturday by FLDS member Willie Jessop to staff members at Bush's ranch. The president and his family were at the ranch for daughter Jenna's wedding to Henry Hager.

"I was not there to make a political statement or to detract in any way from the wedding," said Jessop. "I just wanted to deliver the letter. Staff members for the president took the letter, read it, and we talked about its contents. It was a cordial, sensitive meeting. They were great and said they would get back to me."

The letter, which is also posted on the FLDS Web site — captivefldschildren.org — refers to the "current crisis in Texas" and outlines the actions Texas authorities recently took against 464 FLDS children and young adults living at or visiting the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: Deseret News.

FLDS issue could hurt Romney's VP chances

By Lisa Riley Roche
Deseret News

Published: May 11, 2008

Last month's raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church in Texas could prevent Mitt Romney from being picked as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, one of his longtime supporters says.

"Unfortunately, the FLDS issue has probably elevated considerations about what Romney's faith would do to the ticket," said Kirk Jowers, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and an early backer of Romney's failed presidential bid.

Now, Jowers said, Romney has to once again confront concerns about his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because the faith is so often confused with that practiced by followers of the FLDS Church.

Romney, who ended his race for the White House earlier this year, is seen as being on the shortlist of possible running mates for the presumptive GOP nominee, Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain.

McCain has said he is considering a number of unnamed candidates for the No. 2 spot on the party ticket. His decision is not expected until after Democrats finally choose their nominee from between Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.

The timing of the Texas raid couldn't be worse for Romney's chances, Jowers said.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: Deseret News.

From the NYT bestseller list (hardcover, non-fiction)

2. Escape by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer. (Broadway, $24.95.) A former member of a fundamentalist polygamous sect describes her forced marriage to a much older man.

Source.

Well, they need to think about the popularity of this book, and what most of Americans think about this. What they're doing might fly in Utah and portions of Arizona, but this push to legalize polygamy nationally--given the particulars in this case and others that we know about--is just not likely to fly. I hope it's a career ender for these people.

Support it and then work dilligently, shrilly, and in some historical cases violently, to prevent folks from telling others about it.

“The 10-page letter was written and delivered on Saturday by FLDS member Willie Jessop to staff members at Bush’s ranch”

If TMZ couldn’t get in there, how did Jessop?

It would appear the massive spamming of LDS threads on FR is an intentional attempt at misdirection. There is nothing Christian about this cult.

Does someone here have the capability of posting this complete letter as an html file? I’d like to see it in its entirety without having to deal with pdf files...I HATE pdf files.

"Support it and then work dilligently, shrilly, and in some historical cases violently, to prevent folks from telling others about it.">

That's exactly what's happening on FR, too. I'm really hating what I'm seeing here.

Children had to be removed from polygamist ranch, CPS tells court

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, May 10, 2008

By ROBERT T. GARRETT / The Dallas Morning News
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – Child Protective Services didn't overstep its bounds by yanking hundreds of children – even toddlers – from parents who belong to a polygamist sect, the state told an appeals court Friday.

CPS had no choice but to remove youngsters because of a risk that their parents would take them to other states, a state lawyer said in a filing with Texas' 3rd Court of Appeals.

Excerpt. Read the rest at source: Denton Record-Chronicle.

They’re calling this *genocide* on their website

The massive spamming of LDS threads is, IMO an attempt to censor opposition to proselytizing by mormons on FR, hoping for the banning of rebuttal posts and/or, those posting in opposition. This is just the latest tactic employed here in the past few months.

For some reason, there seems to be a belief that this spamming will win support by the general FR membership for censorship of ANY opposition or rebuttal to the mormon message.

It's coincidental that this is happening during JR's illness, I'm sure.

LETTER FROM WASHINGTON:

After public misfire on polygamy, Reid acts to help those he blasted

By Lisa Mascaro

Sun, May 11, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Washington — It wasn’t his appearance on “The Daily Show” last week that tripped up Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

No, the heartburn came from his comments the previous week on college radio station KUER-FM at the University of Utah.

Reid told the interviewer he was embarrassed by the lax approach authorities in Utah and Arizona took toward polygamy, suggesting they should operate more like those in Texas who raided a polygamous compound after being tipped to alleged child abuse.

“I am a cheerleader for what is going on in Texas,” Reid said on KUER’s RadioWest, according to a report in The Salt Lake Tribune.

“To have what goes on in Arizona and in Utah go on year after year after year and people turn a blind eye to it, I think it is a travesty,” Reid went on. “I am embarrassed for the two states ... Utah politicians are afraid to do anything about it, and I think that’s wrong.”

What follows next is straight from the Salt Lake paper:

“Reid’s comments brought a swift reaction from an ‘outraged’ Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and an equally incensed Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard,” the Tribune reported.

“ ‘To have him come in, without any knowledge whatsoever, and to accuse Utah of doing nothing, is unacceptable,’ Shurtleff said in an interview. ‘He ought to get educated before he opens his trap, frankly.’ ”

“Arizona’s Goddard, a Democrat, called Reid’s remarks ‘ignorant posturing,’ ” the paper continued. “ ‘The man has no idea what he’s talking about,’ Goddard said. ‘The senator certainly doesn’t understand Utah and Arizona.’ ”

Whew. No wonder Reid was so quiet on Jon Stewart’s show. It’s one thing to get tangled on an irreverent late-night comedy show angling for a laugh. It’s another to spend two weeks backtracking from comments made on the relatively friendlier turf of public radio.

Reid’s history shows that he is at his best when he’s letting his unvarnished thoughts fly instead of relying on the poll-tested caution of so many politicians.

But the flip side of that is Reid often gets himself in trouble. It always seems worrisome at the time, but as his new autobiography “The Good Fight” shows, that brashness also makes for some interesting stories over time.

In the subsequent days Reid got a phone call from Goddard and made one to Shurtleff. They discussed ways the federal and local governments could work together.

Reid also contacted U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to remind him of his interest in forming a Justice Department polygamy task force, a topic he had raised when Mukasey was undergoing confirmation hearings. Reid had also broached the issue with Mukasey’s predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

Justice responded by assigning a senior prosecutor to review how the federal government could help local authorities combat polygamy.

On Monday, Reid wrote to both the Utah and Arizona officials to share the news of the federal action. He wrote that Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto would be joining Utah and Arizona officials in consultation, and U.S. Attorney Greg Brower was enlisted to provide additional help.

Reid also wrote, in response to their previous back-and-forth, that he was “pleased to learn more about the good work you both have undertaken” to combat domestic crimes in polygamous communities.

Hours later, Reid made his inaugural appearance on “The Daily Show.” His appearance was friendly and mild, a nice visit, but probably not one to add to the history books.

Source: Las Vegas Sun.

No but this is America, and their First Amendment rights are being violated, assuming areas no longer under control of those still answering to the incarcerated Warren Jeffs have no problems with child abuse, this is a Serious violation of religious liberties. I’m a Catholic, so I’m obviously NO great fan of Mormonism and all their asinine doctrines (no toe stepping intended), but I first and foremost an American. Being a Catholic doesn’t give me the right to be an American, but being an American gives me the right to be Catholic. And being an American gives them the right to be Mormon....

There is software that will do that, but I don’t have it. If someone else does, perhaps they’ll post the letter here. I’m not fond of pdf files either.

These two links are well worth the click--I can't post so much as an excerpt here because of copyright concerns.

1. Woman learns to be a mother outside FLDS, this one by Carolyn Jessop.

2. Marvin Wyler's family has abandoned him. Refer people whining about the Texas Rangers "separating families" to this article.

Sorry, friend, but the 1st Amendment does not protect the rights of child abusers to rape young girls in the name of religion.

Plural marriage has Utah promise

Yahweh sect may be Texas test case

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, May 11, 2008

Letter asks Bush to help FLDS kids

FLDS issue could hurt Romney's VP chances

Children had to be removed from polygamist ranch, CPS tells court

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, May 10, 2008

After public misfire on polygamy, Reid acts to help those he blasted