Reader comments
Feds are stymied in probes of FLDS

they should look at multi state welfare fraud
i would guess that many woman are collecting from
Arizona or Utah and living in Texas

Leave these people alone

Rumor and innuendo do not establish probable cause for the feds, but hey, if you're the Texas CPS, rumor and innuendo work just fine.

I know they are justified by finding 30% of the teenage girls are or have been pregnant.They could find near to the same statistics in inner city high schools. Macciavelli couldn't be happier.

My prayers go out to those at the mercy of CPS everywhere. They are so used to operating outside of the rule of law they have become lazy, and individual rights, innocent until proven guilty, and probable cause are just inconviniences that can be ignored.

finally a voice of reason from FBI in SLC, vs. the lynch mob mentaity of Reid et. al. we live in a country of laws. the FLDS are entilted to protection of those laws. we may not approve of what they are doing but the claims of the bloggers on these pages have gone to the extreme. next we will hear that the FLDS have stolen 16 horses from the good people of texas. (these were the charges against the mormons in 1844, all over the state each town had lost 16 horses to the mormons.) tasks force needs to remain secrect so the work can be done. not anounced from the evening news.

Contrived rage at the moral turpitude of polygomous living is a convenient display when the people who are ostensibily aghast at the notion of early, plural marriage are themselves involved in extra-marital relations or regular pre-marital sexual activity.

Hum Reading between the lines here it seems even the Feds think texas blatently steped accross constitutional lines. This is a veiw I hold. If the mythical Sarah had called 911 or CPS their arguement that the warrents were legal would hold more water but as it stands CPS workers used rumor or hearsay to get the warrent and they knew that the person listed in the warrent wasn't even there before the raid was conducted. It's all fruit from a poisonous tree. It's cruel and heavy handed and unjust to punish the many for the actions of a few.

Want the real solution to the polygamy problem? De-criminalize it and hold those that practice it accountable for their actions. Underage wives? Go to jail. More than one family? No welfare services, since by having more families you are stating loud and clear that you can support them.

Bringing polygamy out in the open would expose it as a system that just won't work in today's world. At the same time it would remedy the problems that currently concern the government, as open societies are easier to monitor. Perhaps it would also relieve these groups of the abuse and in-breeding problems that occur in secret.

>>Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is urging the U.S. Justice Department to create a federal task force to look into polygamy and related crimes.<<

What Harry Reid should be looking into is prostitution and gambling in his home state of Nevada. Vile conduct that equals and far exceeds polygamy.

Hopefully, after Jeffs and the other FLDS ringleaders are tried and put away, the FLDS will find new leadership who will abandon this practice of forcing young girls to get married. Hopefully, they'll find some way to amend their belief that requires every man has to have at least 3 wives in order to get to the highest level of Heaven. Then, the FLDS won't have to manufacture excuses to kick 2/3 of the boys out of their community so that they can maintain a 3:1 ratio of girls to boys.

Otherwise, the abuse of children within the FLDS community will continue behind closed doors.

Letter to Feds: Harry needs your help to distract
the people from paying high prices on fuel ,food, etc. We need a "National Witch Hunt". We must find
witches, or the peasants might ask questions why
the Elites will not allow America to develope our
own oil and gas, and get away from OPEC. Go get em
Harry. And when you have exhausted the witch list,
go after the goblins.

Looks like Texas should have taken a few lessons from the Feds. imprisoning a whole community on the grounds that a few girls APPEARED to look pregnant. I sometimes look pregnant and I'm just a guy with a big gut. I"m gonna stay outta Texas Y'all.

...IN THE MEANTIME BIGAMY PERSISTS!
...IN THE MEANTIME PEDOPHILIA PERSISTS!
...IN THE MEANTIME CHILD ABUSE PERSISTS!
...IN THE MEANTIME WELFARE IS BEING ABUSED!

Isn't our legal sysem wonderful?

To "Libertarian Part 2": You solution is sensible! Why don't you run for office and replace those who are so devoid of common sense?

The difference with these 14-17 year olds being pregnant, is that they had no choice. They did not "hook-up" with the cute boy from gym class. They were "given" to dirty old men. People please..
Research! Look up lost boys, look up the stories of those who escaped FLDS. And please, read the Texas Family Code before you go spouting off about how Texas CPS disregarded the law. One of the girls who "appeared" to be pregnant just gave birth to what "appeared" to be an infant. Let us give these children a chance.

The FBI said they haven't been able to establish probable cause for a federal charge.

"Child abuse, rape and incest are all state-level crimes. So is bigamy."

Texas was fully justified in taking all the children into protective custody to stop further child abuse.

When is the task force and raid going to happen for the Jerry Springer show?

Libertarian, what if polgamy was de-criminalized and did work? All therories aside, there are quietly practicing polygomests who are not breaking any other law, who seem to be getting along just fine. On the other hand, if the practice were de-criminalized, HBO wold have to cancel one of their series and half of the Anti-mormon wed sites would have to find something else to complain about.

At what point do the feds step in when the Constitutional rights of citizens are trampled upon? There's far more than rumor and innuendo to go on. There are hard facts.

Educating the FLDS members of the concerns of being a young mother and then leaving them alone is the only real answer. The belief system says that plural marriage is necessary to reach the Celestial Kingdom. They are not about to stop practicing it because of some man-made law.
You can prosecute all you want...make all the age laws that you want...and it's not going to make one bit of difference. You CANNOT legislate peoples religious convictions....the more you try...the more convicted they are. Wake up folks. Kids and parents are suffering while we figure this out.

If the law is against you argue facts.
If the facts are against you argue law.
If the facts and the law are against you argue LOUD. Is this why you are yelling.. Remember its all just been allegations.

"I know they are justified by finding 30% of the teenage girls are or have been pregnant.They could find near to the same statistics in inner city high schools."

Actually, it was 60%, but that really doesn't matter to you because there's no significant difference between an inner-city high school and the FLDS ranch.

Of course for accurate comparision:

-The inner-city high school principal would have to have ultimate authority to institute any rule he saw fit.
-Every female student would be forced into a sexual relationship with a male teacher chosen by the principal as soon as she reached puberty.
-The parents would be fully supportive of every decision made by the principal.
-None of the students would be permitted to leave the school without the express permission of the principal.
-There would be a 3 to 1 ration of girls to boys in the school, since 2/3 of the boys would have been expelled from the school because the principal didn't like them.