Women of polygamist retreat speak out

I am sure any civilized society would outlaw human/animal sacrifice. I am not sure where plural marriage would hurt anyone but the poor husband ;)And I agree who would want more than one wife. I sure wouldn’t if I was a guy but if our constitution really does mean what it says then they should be able to follow their religion. But again I think it’s fair not to allow violent behavior even if it is part of a religion.
All joking aside, polygamist marraiges often times come as a result of abuse to the women. Often women dont have a real choice in the matter.
But based on the argument that you made before based on the first amendment, human sacrafice should be legal as long as it falls within the guidelines of a religion. Rastafariansim is a reasonable example. Where a part of a the religion is outlawed in America.

When the Mormons split it was over the plural marriage. The union refused to let Utah in as a state unless they abandon the plural marriage. Their prophet had an instant prophecy that plural marriages were wrong, it broke up the group. The people who practice it today really believe its part of how they get to heaven.

The constitution says all men are created equal, yet they who wrote it had slaves and only some could vote. We have perfected (well made better) the constitution by insisting all men and women are equal. The founders were wrong when they said we had freedom of religion then insisted that the Mormons couldn’t practice theirs. As we changed the definition of all men are created equal we should also consider other religions who practice polygamy. Mormons are not the only ones. Islam practices it, Jewish people used to but put a 1000 year self ban on it.

But again I do not think the government as any rights or business in peoples relationships.
I would agree that government should play as small a role as possible in religion. Including taking into account a single sermon given by a certain candidates pastor, and blowing it out of proportion.;)

I will also certainly agree that the writers of the constitution wrote things they didnt practice, and probably had no intention of practicing.

The fact of the matter is that polygamy is illegal in every state in America. No matter if it is under the guise of a religion or a philandering spouse. There is not a single place in America where this is legally allowable. These people if the evidence shows they committed polygamy and probably child rape and sexual assault will be convicted and face whatever punishment that comes along with it.
 
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I will also point out that the age of consent in Texas is 17. The age for marraige is 18, or 16 with parents permission. IIRC, some of the girls in question were as young as 13.
I hear that the Texas prison system is not kind to child molesters.
 
I will also point out that the age of consent in Texas is 17. The age for marraige is 18, or 16 with parents permission. IIRC, some of the girls in question were as young as 13.
I hear that the Texas prison system is not kind to child molesters.

I agree completely about this particular sect and the child brides. I think the government should come in and take the kids away if the parents are unfit and abusing the kids. I only mean polygamy in general should not be illegal. I know that it is, I just think the government is wrong. I also think the government is wrong when it comes to hard liquor. In my state no one can buy hard liquor on a Sunday or holiday, and you can only buy it after 10 AM on the other days and no later than 7pm. I just get so tired of the government getting in the way. The Sunday law goes way back to when everyone was a Christian and believed in holy Sunday. Some people just don’t and would like a mai tai on Sunday.


One thing that should be pointed out that wasn’t. None of these couples are actually polygamists I don’t think. They are only legally (government standards) married to their first wife. The rest of the wives are (spiritual) but not legal relationships. There is no law in the books that says I can’t be married to Joe but have Fred and Tony on the side, as long as Joe was stupid enough to let me do it. I would have to seriously wonder if even the marriages to the first wives are legal. I don’t know that they were married by a minister that is approved by the state, or that they paid the normal fees, or that they sent off for their marriage licenses.


I don’t think that making polygamy legal for this religious group (who truly believes they wont go to their version of heaven without plural marriage) would open the door to animal sacrifice or human sacrifice. It seems you could write the law in a way that limited religious freedoms to self inflicted things rather than things that will hurt others.

In a way both animal and human sacrifices are already done in the USA. Both Islam and Judaism believe the animal must be slaughtered in a particular way for it to be kosher. And the Catholic Church drinks the blood and takes from the body who they fully believe to be Jesus Christ weekly.
 
I would agree that government should play as small a role as possible in religion. Including taking into account a single sermon given by a certain candidates pastor, and blowing it out of proportion.;)

Oh this is so cute

but but but

it is not the government who is up in arms about this certian candidates pastor, its the people :)
 
I agree completely about this particular sect and the child brides. I think the government should come in and take the kids away if the parents are unfit and abusing the kids. I only mean polygamy in general should not be illegal. I know that it is, I just think the government is wrong. I also think the government is wrong when it comes to hard liquor. In my state no one can buy hard liquor on a Sunday or holiday, and you can only buy it after 10 AM on the other days and no later than 7pm. I just get so tired of the government getting in the way. The Sunday law goes way back to when everyone was a Christian and believed in holy Sunday. Some people just don’t and would like a mai tai on Sunday.
I dont disagree with the dry sunday argument. In my community we have a no alcohol sales on Sunday. I am involved in local politics and granted it is a small town, but I tried unsuccessfully to make Sunday the same as any other. The main opposition...the liquor store and bar employees who enjoy that is a day off. I would have never thought....
As for the polygamists, I agree the horrendous outrage I have is not from a group of consenting adults living in a compoud as swingers under the guise of getting into heaven. I dont care about that. What I care about is the 13 year old girls who are forced into spiritual marraiges with pedophiles and are forced into child bearing before they fully understand thier actions. While being manipulated by thier own families.
 
Oh this is so cute

but but but

it is not the government who is up in arms about this certian candidates pastor, its the people :)

I am glad you caught that one:D. While Congress has not passed a resolution comdemning Rev Wright, there have certainly been things said by government officials blasting his comments. Which while objectionable to some, I dont think its fair to summarize 30 years of sermons and take just a few soundbites from those decades of sermons and compile the worst things he said. Its a low blow is all, and is a sign of desperation by his opponents.
First attack thier policies, when that doesnt work...
Attack thier personality and character, when that doesnt work...
Attack thier associates.
 
Firstly, it hasnt been legal to ship a firearm through the USPS since 1968 IIRC correctly. So merely shipping them is a federal crime number 1. We can probably throw in the materials for an explosive device with inert grenades and blackpowder.

You're confused - the shipment was UPS, not the post office. Here's UPS policy on firearms - they DO ship them:

http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/re...nes/firearms.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=firearm

Why did you leave out the part about illegally modified ARs and AKs? Because from the same article you sourced is where I got that info. Dozens of assault rifles with modified sears to make them fully auto capable. All of those are federal felonies.
Again, you fail to forget they had a search/arrest warrant for several members of the compound. It was based on having some pretty heavy firepower for a civilian group.

You are just brushing aside what I said about the the search/arrest warrants, based on a misleading affidavit - effectively making the first attempt at serving search/arrest warrants illegal.

The ATF went in with force and got 4 cops killed in the line of duty. They backed off and entered into negotiations for 51 days. 7 Weeks! For christ sake, wake up, these zealots had a death wish and it didnt matter how many kids got killed in the process.

Now you are just taking the government's side on the first warrant serving, which was actually an armed raid. Shooting started when the heavily-armed feds approached the compound, each side claimed the other fired first, and nobody has ever been able to prove the truth in this regard.

Why cant you just say this has little do with the tactics and strategy in the situation and you dont like the President who was in charge at the time. Your blind partisanship and dislike of Clinton shades your view of just how those criminals acted. They were given every benefit of the doubt. Over 7 weeks worth. They could have ended it at any time.

Ended? The whole thing would never have >>STARTED<< except for the stupidity of the feds on the scene, and their attitude which had been fostered by the fascist Janet Reno who wanted to let minority christians and militias know that "there was a new sherriff in town". Reno's attitude toward law enforcement was clear during her whole reign of terror - who could ever forget the infamous elian gonzalez affair, in which she launched a pre-dawn raid by 130 jack-booted thugs to make sure that a little boy whose mother died getting him out of Cuba was returned to Castro's clutches:

egonzalez1.jpg


And as far as your whole bigotry towards Christianity thing, I can do nothing but laugh. How many posts have you slammed Rev Wright and through him also Barak Obama? Bigotry, that is funny. The Christians run this country. Did you miss that memo?

Yaaaaaa - having a different theology like minority christians do is entirely equivalent to Rev. Wright telling people that the US government invented AIDS to kill black people. Right.
 
You're confused - the shipment was UPS, not the post office. Here's UPS policy on firearms - they DO ship them:
I will admit my mistake. But UPS does not ship firearms unless it is an FFL location. Of which there were none at that compound. That is what triggered the call to the FBI in the first place. I have used UPS to ship quite a few guns actually, they will not provide a point to point delivery.


You are just brushing aside what I said about the the search/arrest warrants, based on a misleading affidavit - effectively making the first attempt at serving search/arrest warrants illegal.
That is a claim, there seems to be quite a bit of mystery around this. Either way, a warrant was issued. Lets assume, that whatever mistakes happened in the issuance of the warrant, it was a result of a mistake and not malice.
You still fail to address the actual existance of contraband. Check this out.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/treasury.html
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigated David Koresh for conduct involving: the illegal manufacture of machine guns and the illegal manufacture and possession of destructive devices. The FBI report provides evidence that the Davidians' arsenal did indeed include weapons unlawfully manufactured. The weapons listed include semiautomatic firearms illegally modified to fire in full automatic mode, as well as grenades and silencers. All of these weapons were unlawfully possessed.

I hope you find these documents useful as you review Treasury's report on ATF's role in events at Waco.

_______________________________________________________________________________

WEAPONS RECOVERED FROM THE BRANCH DAVIDIAN COMPOUND: TREASURY SUMMARY OF REPORT PREPARED BY THE FBI FOR PROSECUTORS AND THE ILLEGAL WEAPONS RECOVERED

Machine Guns

The FBI determined that 46 semiautomatic firearms had been modified to fire in full automatic mode:

22 M-16 Type Rifles

20 AK-47 Type Rifles

2 Heckler and Koch SP-89

2 M-11/Nine

The FBI also determined that two AR-15 lower receivers had been modified to fire in full automatic mode.

Silencers

21 Sound suppressors or silencers

Hand Grenades

4 Live M-21 Practice Hand Grenades


The possession of lawfully manufactured machineguns, silencers, or grenades requires the owner to register the weapon with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms. None of the compound's residents were registered to own such a weapon, therefore it would have been illegal for them to possess these weapons.




Now you are just taking the government's side on the first warrant serving, which was actually an armed raid. Shooting started when the heavily-armed feds approached the compound, each side claimed the other fired first, and nobody has ever been able to prove the truth in this regard.
Now when faced with the evidence above, would you expect this to be anything less than an armed raid? Should we have had a couple of agents show up Miami Vice style?
I dont know who shot first, nobody does. At this rate it doesnt matter because both sides fired. Both sides took casualties. Nobody is innocent. These people were not puritans. They were child molesting terrorists.



Ended? The whole thing would never have >>STARTED<< except for the stupidity of the feds on the scene, and their attitude which had been fostered by the fascist Janet Reno who wanted to let minority christians and militias know that "there was a new sherriff in
town".
This is based entirely on hearsay and conjecture. That whole thing wouldnt have happened if they wouldnt have shot at federal agents. They wouldnt have burned to death if they would have at any moment during a 51 day standoff, come out with thier hands up. Koresh was a mad man. He had a death wish. He was willing to die and bring down all of his brainwashed followers with him, women and children included. Janet Reno, Bill Clinton, the Federal government didnt kill those people. David Koresh did.

Reno's attitude toward law enforcement was clear during her whole reign of terror - who could ever forget the infamous elian gonzalez affair, in which she launched a pre-dawn raid by 130 jack-booted thugs to make sure that a little boy whose mother died getting him out of Cuba was returned to Castro's clutches
So, yet we deviate once again from the original topic to grasp at more straws for a partisan attack that is holding less and less water.

You want to criticise Reno over this? Again, what did you want her to do?
A boy smuggled into the US, whose mother had kidnapped him and left the country illegally and died in route. The boy's father wants him returned. The family refused. US courts demand him returned to the family. They had been given a deadline, they didnt comply. This boy was being held hostage and had been more or less kidnapped. They negotiated for 10 days.

Lib, at the rate you are going, there would still be ATF in Waco, waiting them out. There would still be hundreds of protesters and police surrounding the Gonzalez house, WTF did you want the LE to do in those situations. The crooks in those cases were both given literally weeks and had leverage in any negotiations, but they choose to continue the standoffs. We cant expect the cops to simply pack up and go away in these situations do we?
 
I will admit my mistake. But UPS does not ship firearms unless it is an FFL location. Of which there were none at that compound. That is what triggered the call to the FBI in the first place. I have used UPS to ship quite a few guns actually, they will not provide a point to point delivery.

No, that's not what triggered the call. The package burst open while being delivered, revealing legal items, and the FBI was called.

That is a claim, there seems to be quite a bit of mystery around this. Either way, a warrant was issued. Lets assume, that whatever mistakes happened in the issuance of the warrant, it was a result of a mistake and not malice.

Ah, there you go - when the government makes an armed assault on a religious compound in a context of the government wanting to crackdown on "cults", it's an uh ... er ... ah ... "mistake". Maybe the Koresh people made a mistake about what guns were legal to have? Uh, no ..... no...they're a "cult", ie good for target practice.

You still fail to address the actual existance of contraband. Check this out.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/waco/treasury.html
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms investigated David Koresh for conduct involving: the illegal manufacture of machine guns and the illegal manufacture and possession of destructive devices. The FBI report provides evidence that the Davidians' arsenal did indeed include weapons unlawfully manufactured. The weapons listed include semiautomatic firearms illegally modified to fire in full automatic mode, as well as grenades and silencers. All of these weapons were unlawfully possessed.


You are confused. The list of weapons was turned up AFTER the final raid and burning down of the compound and death of its inhabitants - the fact remains that they raided the compound not knowing what was there and acting on an warrant obtained by misleading a magistrate, in wholesale violation of fourth amendment rights.

Now when faced with the evidence above, would you expect this to be anything less than an armed raid? Should we have had a couple of agents show up Miami Vice style?
I dont know who shot first, nobody does. At this rate it doesnt matter because both sides fired. Both sides took casualties. Nobody is innocent. These people were not puritans. They were child molesting terrorists.

Whoa, now you're inventing child molesting? You're starting to sound positively medieval - "The jews have poisoned the water supply! They're a cult, let's get 'em!" You continue to be confused - the list of guns was turned up >>AFTER<< the compound was burned down. In this country, you get >>LEGAL<< warrants >>BEFORE<< you search, not try to justify a an illegal search after the fact.

This is based entirely on hearsay and conjecture. That whole thing wouldnt have happened if they wouldnt have shot at federal agents. They wouldnt have burned to death if they would have at any moment during a 51 day standoff, come out with thier hands up. Koresh was a mad man. He had a death wish. He was willing to die and bring down all of his brainwashed followers with him, women and children included. Janet Reno, Bill Clinton, the Federal government didnt kill those people. David Koresh did.

Absolutely false - Koresh was a frequent vistor to downtown Waco, and they could have nabbed him any time. And now you're just once again brushing past the fact that it's not known who fired first in the attempted search.

So, yet we deviate once again from the original topic to grasp at more straws for a partisan attack that is holding less and less water.

It is watertight - you apparently don't want to confront the evidence of the attitude of the justice department under Clinton, so you just try to brush that off too, but facts are stubborn things.

You want to criticise Reno over this? Again, what did you want her to do?
A boy smuggled into the US, whose mother had kidnapped him and left the country illegally and died in route. The boy's father wants him returned. The family refused. US courts demand him returned to the family. They had been given a deadline, they didnt comply. This boy was being held hostage and had been more or less kidnapped. They negotiated for 10 days.

What a laugh. What a wildly warped view of events. During the Clinton administration, illegal aliens were coming in over the mexican border at full tilt with no particular interest from the Clinton administration. But a refugee from Cuba arrives here (not "smuggled"). The "kidnap" charge is totally ridiculous. A mother escaping communism and wishing a better life for her son is a KIDNAPPER?? I guess you'd call people escaping over the Berlin wall during the cold war "passport law violators".

Lib, at the rate you are going, there would still be ATF in Waco, waiting them out. There would still be hundreds of protesters and police surrounding the Gonzalez house, WTF did you want the LE to do in those situations. The crooks in those cases were both given literally weeks and had leverage in any negotiations, but they choose to continue the standoffs. We cant expect the cops to simply pack up and go away in these situations do we?

No, if I were in charge, you'd never even have heard of Waco - it's real chutzpah to say I'd prolong a seige that would never have happened. And the assault on a six-year old refuge from communism, when the whole country was being overrun with mexican illegal aliens, would have made a good Gilbert and Sullivan farce if it weren't so sick.
 
I agree King. Utah is a state unto themselves. So are others apparently if this occured in Texas. The believe the do not have to abide by the law. Those women act like programmed robots. The men are not much better. The children are all that is important. It was brought to our attention that not many men are coming in to claim their children. I think it will turn out to be horrible when they find out who fathered what child. It is amazing how people can live like this but then their is great concern about the Church of Scientology now also. The things that are done in the name of religion!
 
No, that's not what triggered the call. The package burst open while being delivered, revealing legal items, and the FBI was called.
Can we agree that someone from UPS called the authorities after a package holding some number and types of firearms was opened? Whatever was seen by that person concerned them enough to make the call. Most likely because it was potentially illegal in some way. It is not legal for someone to recieve shipment of a firearm(s). It can only be delivered through an FFL dealer. For instance it would be illegal for me to ship a gun to you personally unless you possess an FFL license. My understanding is that the package in question was a crate, not really declared as firearms. Of which there were quite a few guns of the assault rifle family. Our current government policies wouldnt require a warrant at all to undertake the same actions. And it would allow the military to partake.
Ah, there you go - when the government makes an armed assault on a religious compound in a context of the government wanting to crackdown on "cults", it's an uh ... er ... ah ... "mistake". Maybe the Koresh people made a mistake about what guns were legal to have? Uh, no ..... no...they're a "cult", ie good for target practice.
Oh give us all a break on the "good for target practice stuff", you wouldnt buy that garbage if someone said it about an American soldier in Iraq.
They were a religious group. I dont think anyone cares what was going on for the most part, until of course it comes to having a box full of guns and grenades break open, probably in violation of federal law...Enough to alarm a UPS delivery man to make a call. Enough to have a magistrate issue a warrant. Its not illegal to be a member of a cult. It is illegal, of course to violate federal law.
You are confused. The list of weapons was turned up AFTER the final raid and burning down of the compound and death of its inhabitants - the fact remains that they raided the compound not knowing what was there and acting on an warrant obtained by misleading a magistrate, in wholesale violation of fourth amendment rights.
That list of weapons is proof that they were justified in getting that warrant. Of course they didnt know what was in there prior to conducting the raid, that is why they conducted it. They had probable cause, that later turned out to be very true, which was that they were heavily armed.
Absolutely false - Koresh was a frequent vistor to downtown Waco, and they could have nabbed him any time. And now you're just once again brushing past the fact that it's not known who fired first in the attempted search.
OK, lets pick him up on the street. Then what? Did you expect for him to be toting around his M-16A-1 while checking the mail? Surely you can be objective enough to see they had to search the compound. Bringing Koresh down to the station doesnt resolve a thing.
As for who fired first. I dont know. But lets even assume it was the cops who fired first. The davidians participated in a firefight with law enforcement. Something would have caused the ATF to fire. If you point a gun at someone, especially a cop, you have shown by your actions a willingness to employ deadly force. Thereby making it justifable for someone to take similar actions to defend themselves.
What a laugh. What a wildly warped view of events. During the Clinton administration, illegal aliens were coming in over the mexican border at full tilt with no particular interest from the Clinton administration. But a refugee from Cuba arrives here (not "smuggled"). The "kidnap" charge is totally ridiculous. A mother escaping communism and wishing a better life for her son is a KIDNAPPER?? I guess you'd call people escaping over the Berlin wall during the cold war "passport law violators".
Bill Clinton this Janet Reno that...
Why even mention Mexico? Or Elian Gonzalez in the first place, to get some totally irrelevant dig into Clinton. But hey, Mexico, Clinton didnt do anything, Niether did Reagan, or Bush 41,43. So why mention him?
As for Elian, the mother took her son out of the country without permission or knowledge of the father. If someone did that in America, it would be called kidnapping.

So it is alright for someone to come to America from Cuba "wishing for a better life", but not ok if they are from Mexico? hmmmm thanks for that clarification.

You see Lib, you have no consistency when it comes to being so anti-liberal. You blame the libs for stuff that every does, and often times is even worse at.

In both of those cases, those people were given fair warning. They had ample opportunity to follow the demands of law enforcement. In both cases, an amazing amount of restraint was shown on thier parts, I think to thier own detriment.

Waco is a tragedy no doubt. There is plenty of blame to go around. But those people had 51 days to come out with thier hands up. I am appalled the parents there would subject thier children to those horrors.
 
Can we agree that someone from UPS called the authorities after a package holding some number and types of firearms was opened? Whatever was seen by that person concerned them enough to make the call. Most likely because it was potentially illegal in some way. It is not legal for someone to recieve shipment of a firearm(s). It can only be delivered through an FFL dealer. For instance it would be illegal for me to ship a gun to you personally unless you possess an FFL license. My understanding is that the package in question was a crate, not really declared as firearms. Of which there were quite a few guns of the assault rifle family. Our current government policies wouldnt require a warrant at all to undertake the same actions. And it would allow the military to partake.

Oh give us all a break on the "good for target practice stuff", you wouldnt buy that garbage if someone said it about an American soldier in Iraq.
They were a religious group. I dont think anyone cares what was going on for the most part, until of course it comes to having a box full of guns and grenades break open, probably in violation of federal law...Enough to alarm a UPS delivery man to make a call. Enough to have a magistrate issue a warrant. Its not illegal to be a member of a cult. It is illegal, of course to violate federal law.

You are just wrong about that, there were no grenades, it wasn't illegal. From the wiki section on the ATF investigation:

Tracing UPS invoices, Aguilera [an ATF investigator] learned that more than $43,000 worth of firearms (including AR-15 semiautomatics), firearms parts (including AR-15 lower receivers), grenade hulls, and black powder had been shipped to the Davidians' storage facility.[8] One of Koresh's neighbors, who had served in an Army artillery unit, told Aguilera that he had frequently heard the sound of automatic weapons fire--including .50- caliber fire--coming from the Davidian residence.[7]

In December 1992, after reviewing all of the available evidence associated with the Koresh investigation in ATF headquarters in Washington, ATF decided they did not yet have probable cause to support a warrant.

That list of weapons is proof that they were justified in getting that warrant. Of course they didnt know what was in there prior to conducting the raid, that is why they conducted it. They had probable cause, that later turned out to be very true, which was that they were heavily armed.

You have a FUNDAMENTAL misunderstanding of the U.S. constitution. Searches can't be done except with LEGAL warrants showing probable cause for a search. Finding something DURING the search can't be used to retroactively justify a search. Suppose the ATF raids YOUR house, without evidence, because people don't like your "type", and figure, well, duh, we've got no evidence, but he must be up to no good, because he's the "type". Get it yet? Get it? Blink twice if you get it. I am not going to write ten posts tutoring you about probable cause -look it up.

OK, lets pick him up on the street. Then what? Did you expect for him to be toting around his M-16A-1 while checking the mail? Surely you can be objective enough to see they had to search the compound. Bringing Koresh down to the station doesnt resolve a thing.
As for who fired first. I dont know. But lets even assume it was the cops who fired first. The davidians participated in a firefight with law enforcement. Something would have caused the ATF to fire. If you point a gun at someone, especially a cop, you have shown by your actions a willingness to employ deadly force. Thereby making it justifable for someone to take similar actions to defend themselves.

Lessee.....what could they do........what could they do......... I GOT IT! They could walk Koresh up to his front door and have him take them inside. Quantum mechanics for you???

Bill Clinton this Janet Reno that...

Great rebuttal - Bill Clinton this Janet Reno that

Why even mention Mexico? Or Elian Gonzalez in the first place, to get some totally irrelevant dig into Clinton
.

I carefully explained to you that the clinton administration came into power with a "get the right wing fringe" attitude - I cited that as an example of that attitude - what part don't you get?

As for Elian, the mother took her son out of the country without permission or knowledge of the father. If someone did that in America, it would be called kidnapping.

Yeah - escaping a communist hellhole - taking your kid from one suburb to another in the US - all the same thing - anyone can see that.

So it is alright for someone to come to America from Cuba "wishing for a better life", but not ok if they are from Mexico? hmmmm thanks for that clarification.

The US has long had a policy of welcoming refugees from totalitarian states, but not economic refugees from democratic countries - a REALLLLLLLLL difficult distinction for you to grasp?

Waco is a tragedy no doubt. There is plenty of blame to go around. But those people had 51 days to come out with thier hands up. I am appalled the parents there would subject thier children to those horrors.

Now you're just repeating stuff I already dealt with - the foolish government behavior and mistakes that needlessly cost the lives of dozens of people, ultimately fomented by the attitude of the Clinton administration, happened LONG before the "51 days".
 
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Back to the topic of the thread...

Thought I'd post this, see if stirs up any further debate.

31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch are pregnant or had baby

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO - More than half the teen girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday.

A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. Two of those are pregnant now, he said; it was unclear whether either of those two already have children.

"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," he said.

State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage "spiritual" marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect's children.

Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16, but none of these girls is believed to have a legal marriage under state law.

A call seeking comment from FLDS spokesman Rod Parker was not immediately returned. Church officials have denied that any children were abused at the ranch and say the state's actions are a form of religious persecution.

Civil-liberties groups and lawyers for the children have criticized the state for sweeping all the children, from nursing infants to teen boys, into foster care when only teen girls are alleged to have been sexually abused.

No one has been charged since the raid, which was prompted by a series of calls to a domestic abuse hotline, purportedly from a 16-year-old forced into a marriage recognized only by the sect with a man three times her age. That girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the call was a hoax.

On Monday, CPS also revised its total count of children in state custody to 463, up one from Friday. Azar said the change resulted from finally getting the children out of the San Angelo Coliseum and into foster facilities around the state, where they were able to get a more accurate count.

Of those 463 children, 250 are girls and 213 are boys.

The sect, which broke from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints more than a century ago, believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, is revered as a prophet. Jeffs was convicted last year in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl into marriage with an older cousin.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_re_us/polygamist_retreat;_ylt=AiOx59TYyHY2PNWDH6q1zUys0NUE
 
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