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3 FLDS men indicted by grand jury surrender in Texas
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Just guessing here, but perhaps Texas thought the grand jury would be less likely to indict men who were closer in age to the victims and so these indictments came down toward the end.
The power structure within the FLDS seems to favor the older male leaders, so the first men indicted would be seen as the main perpetrators. These last men would be viewed by the law as perpetrators as ignorance of the law is not a defense, however, they may have had no way of knowing they were breaking the law and they may have been indoctrinated into doing this.
One could argue that these men have been victimized too as their parents and leaders set them up to commit illegal acts and have turned them into alleged criminals. Obviously, this argument doesn't fly in court. Nevertheless, it important to realize that some criminals are criminals merely due to the way they were raised.
"What are they going to do, start indicting women and children next? "
Yes, Hopefully....the women are just as guilty for allowing this to happen to their children. It's called child endangerment and negligence.
Joey...noone will leave these guys alone. If Texas doesn't get some vengence the whole half baked mess would not be worth the 30+ million that they have wasted so far.
We would prefer these 16 year olds to be sluts than get married. We have a generation of STD-ridden teenage girls, a good portion of whom have had abortions. But we won't allow them to get married to a man who can support them. We look down on cultures that celebrate life.
No wonder our culture and our economy are stagnant and dying.
SO much better than just impregnating them and letting the State support all their unclaimed and unwanted babies.
If it weren't so sad, I'd laugh myself sick.
All you self-righteous hypocrites...how many unwed mothers do you know?
Call CPS on THEM. Oh...they're your daughters...so that's okay then. Cause it's you and your family.
Hypcrites.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. At least the FLDS WANT their babies. They're not the ones flocking to the abortion clinics behind their parents backs.
Nice bunch of kids you've raised there.
Judgemental, self-righteous, critical "Christians".
Nice.
And these silly and irrational attacks on Angie Voss are getting nowhere. No one is convinced when the perpetrators of crimes attack those who are trying to stop them. I applaud Angie Voss for trying to help these victims.
These men are being indicted because they have committed crimes against children. Unfortunately, they are victims, too. They have been brainwashed and controlled since they were children. Like Elissa Wall's first "husband," they have been forced into committing these crimes by, Warren Jeffs, a false prophet who has since PUBLICLY admitted he is a fraud.
Both Men AND women need to be brought to justice.
These people are being given all the legal rights of any American citizen. They have legal representation and their day in court the same as anyone. They are just running up against the brick wall of the law in which they are finally being held to account for crimes they have been committing for generations.
If the FLDS are unhappy with their current legal situation, they have no one to blame but themselves. One can't flaunt the law and victimize others forever. Eventually you have to face the music. It's time for some justice.
The FLDS violated the laws. Girls under the age of 16 were married and forced to have sex. The state went in to the compound with good intentions. They did go over board by taking all the kids with out investigating but their intentions were good. The FLDS has the right to practice their own religion but Freedom of Religion dose not give them the right to violate laws. The laws that were violated were the age of consent law, age of marriage, and the various laws against having more then one wife.
Our world is not perfect, girls to have sex at a young age and many do get pregnant. The state of Texas and other states like Utah do investigate these cases and do sometimes take the children away. The cases dont make it onto the news but it dose happen. The parents can and sometimes are charged with failure to protect their children because they allowed them to have sex.
The difference is, when normal teen pregnancies happen the fathers of these babies are teens themselves and the sex is consensual. In the case of the FLDS, teenagers are raped by men much older than the girls.
A man in Texas CAN legally marry a 16 year old girl with parental consent but they can only have one wife. And since these "spiritual" marriages are not legal these men are now statutory rapists and child molesters. And since you mention it, the state IS also taking care of many of these "wanted" FLDS babies as many of the legally un-wed mothers are collecting welfare. Ever heard of "Bleeding the Beast"?
A so called "marriage" does not make it OK to rape and molest children.
Still laughing?
Isn't it a lot of fun to bash a religion from the safety of each bloggers individual religious perspective.
When the State of Texas is thru meddling in the affairs of the FLDs we just may have a new State Police division in Texas. THe Department of Religious Norms........DRN.
FLDS are not a religion. FLDS are nothing more then a sex cult. They hide behind God. Facts are facts!
The money would be better spent going after the corruption in the government... and wall street.
You've got to be kidding, right? No one can think that every underage, pregnant, and/or sexually active girl has had CONSENSUAL sex....
Oh my...every time a boy says, "IF you love me...." it's not consensual - it's forced/manipulated.
Have none of you heard of DATE RAPE? Anyone want to guess how much of that goes unreported?
If these underage FLDS girls are SO victimized, why did not even ONE of them voice their desire to leave the FLDS?
Because they're safe and happy there.
Just keep telling yourself that you're saviors. But start in your own backyards where the teens are promiscuous and immoral, and lewd.
Yes, girls get pregnant by date rape, and it's just that...rape. They are a victim, should the date rape victims not be cared for? And date rape is not consensual. How does that make them immoral? And men that commit date rape should wind up in jail, it's not reported for the same reasons these girls haven't spoken up, shame and seclusion.
The victimized girls at the YFZ ranch have not spoken up because they are bred to believe that these men are doing nothing wrong. And they would be shunned by their family and community and end up on the streets.
Your generalization that teens are all promiscuous and immoral is completely off base. And your defense of men raping and molesting children is disgusting. How can you defend people that have openly said they've had sex with underage girls, then have the gall to call teenagers immoral.
So, by your own rationale, you are admitting that the girls in relationships with men that say things like "IF you love me...."? or "It's part of God's plan" are "forced/manipulated" to have sex? If you end up on trial you'd better plead the 5th because your going to incriminate yourself and everybody else. And it still doesn't matter if it's consensual or not. They're breaking the law by having sex with underage girls that they are not legally married to.
This issue isn't about promiscuous teens in Utah, it's about child molesters in Texas, raping children in the name of God, and hiding behind Freedom of Religion.
You DON'T think today's teens are immoral and promiscuous?
What rock do you live under?
Re: Laughing | 6:16 p.m
Obviously the point of the discussion just isn't sinking in with these two.
Teens having sex with other teens is not against the law. Immoral? Maybe by your stringent standards, yes.
Men over the age of 18 having sex with children under the age of eighteen IS against the law. Immoral? Absolutely.
Teens having "immoral" sex with other teens is not a legitimate defense for men over the age of 18, having sex with children under the age of 18. Consensual or not, by law, they are Statutory Rapists. It doesn't matter that other teens are having sex all over the world. Its apples and oranges.
Wouldn't you agree that men having sex with under age girls should be arrested?
What don't you get about that?
When a State goes out of its' way to change laws to persecute a religious body there is a problem.
The author of the law stated that it was his intention to get flds thru the new laws.
Consent in Texas was 16 before 9-01-05 and good enough for every Texan.
This whole mess revolves around persecution of a religion.
When the Supreme Court ruled that sex between adults is a private matter the bigamy and polygamy laws went out the window.
When Texas changed the laws to get flds those laws went out the window.
Texas blew it again......the morality police crossed the lines of consent and moved the line to target religious practice.
I hope Scalia has fun with this one.
What a bunch of silly nonsense! This is very sad blog indeed. It's very hard to believe that there are so many people out there who are so darn ignorant.
__________________________________________________
The state is not persecuting the religion. It is persecuting the criminal act of child rape, welfare fraud, and child slave labor as well as bigamy. Can you please at least TRY to say something with some real essense and reason to it and not just your emotional mindless blogging?
Start with addressing the behavior of Warren Jeffs? Why did he encourage young girls to give up their youth and freedom to get impregnated by old men they never met? How can that be good for them? Why is Jeffs now saying he is not the prophet and never was? Why do the FLDS blindly follow him even though he has admitted he is a just a perv with some nerve? Why did he molest his young male family memebers?
If it was about mindless bloggers repeating mindless phrases over and over they would elect Nosugraf.
P.S. Try this one, it's just as relevant but funnier:
"I am Elmer J. Fudd, Millionaire.
I own a mansion and a yacht."
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