In the face of a stinging indictment of Judge Barbara Walther and its own agents by a unanimous three-judge appellate panel, a bullheaded, small-hearted Texas CPS announced yesterday its intention to appeal its appellate humiliation to the Supreme Court of Texas. If Texas CPS really wanted to discourage the FLDS from practicing polygamy or marrying younger than other Americans, it could hardly pursue a worse strategy.
Repeatedly during their persecution of the FLDS, CPS has whined to courts and press about how the FLDS have viewed C
PS with suspicion and have been reluctant to share personal information. Little wonder, in light of the numerous times that CPS has lied and broken its promises to the FLDS and others in the course of the case.
CPS lied to the court to get the original search warrant; lied to the parents and children to get them to separate from each other; forced the children and mothers to live in horrendous conditions (described in writing by one mental health care professional as a “Nazi concentration camp”) for weeks before separating them; lied to public and the press with lurid stories about temple beds, broken bones, and “minor” pregnant mothers; and lied to FLDS parents about CPS’ very ability to keep FLDS sibling groups together, in some cases separating them by hundreds of miles in an brazen move prevent mothers and fathers from visiting all of their children in foster care captivity. Most recently — after the appellate court exposed CPS’ complete lack of evidence in support of the raid — CPS has continued to insist that the “evidence” it has presented is somehow sufficient.
The end result of this pattern of lying is that no one with any sense believes anything CPS has to say. If CPS doesn’t literally eradicate the FLDS now, they will never be able to do it because neither FLDS nor or members of the community will ever again be so compliant and gullible when CPS comes calling. It’s a classic tale of crying wolf. If a raid ever happens again, it will likely involve fatalities on both sides for no other reason than the rank dishonesty demonstrated in this case by Texas judges, police officers, social workers, CPS agents and neighbors. Yesterday, in a WSJ interview, FLDS attorney Rod Parker observed:
![[photo]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AQ563_POLYGA_20080522180014.jpg) |
| Associated Press |
| Mothers reacted to the court’s ruling that Texas didn’t have legal grounds to take their children into custody. |
“When I confirmed to them [FLDS parents] that it [the 3rd Appellate Court's decision] really did happen, they were stunned. It was a feeling of elation,” said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney who has been acting as a spokesman for the families.
Mr. Parker said he couldn’t speculate about whether the members of the church — a breakaway Mormon sect — would change their marriage practices.
“The one thing that I know is going to change is that they won’t be so willing to open up the gates the next time a tank rolls up,” he said.
No responsible parent would. And you Texans who whine about the FLDS staying to themselves have no one to blame but yourselves.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
KleigLights 05.24.08 at 6:47 pm
I have seen what they do elsewhere, and I have seen the tragic consequences of trusting them with defenseless children. If the CPS bastards ever show up at my door, they would not get in without force. I would rather be dead than turn over my children or grandchildren to them. I dread them more than ordinary thugs– because they are extraordinary thugs.
Who was it that said an unjust law is no law at all? (It was quoted by Martin Luther King, but he did not originate it.) The laws enabling these criminals to take children away without proof of risk to the child, as they do, are unjust, therefore they are no laws at all.
Apart from that, the laws are unConstitutional. No amendment was passed to make those laws an exception to its requirements. Why isn’t someone challenging them in court on that basis?
KELLI2L 05.25.08 at 8:10 am
I have to say, that in my opinion, had the court found impropieties with this LDS clan they would have brought charges. Instead they did not bring charges because of the obvious, nothing improper has occurred. These people seem to be thriving in their living the simple life and they look healthy. They seem to be more well adjusted than the rest of American society.
April38 05.25.08 at 5:20 pm
They do indeed. Their eyes are bright and clear; the twelve children who were returned to their parents lunged for the parents arms, not away from them.
Statistics reportedly show, across several ethnic groups for under-age pregnancies, the FLDS have a lower incidence than most. So where’s the beef? The answer may lie in the source of the buses that came to take the children away.
j. t. evans 05.25.08 at 5:45 pm
Baptists should be cringing in grief, embarrassment, and agonizing in repentance at their fellow Baptists’ role in kidnapping the FLDS children and delivering them to the gutter otherwise known as foster care, where study after study shows children are MORE likely to be abused, and more likely to die of abuse.
The photos show it was Baptist buses that hauled the children off. The First Baptist Church of El Dorado, TX not only consented to the kidnap, it facilitated it. Do they really speak for you? Do you REALLY approve of this religious pogrom? If so, would you also have approved of Krystalnacht? Of Waco? Of Herod’s slaughter of the innocents? Of Saddam gassing the Kurds?
Time to think about where such persecutions lead; not only because it is wrong, but because, as we all know, what goes around comes around.
gtroper 05.27.08 at 5:17 pm
CPS is the real sex predators. FDLS life is so much worse than that of your average welfare mother who has children by may different fathers NOT.
gravitas 05.29.08 at 6:00 pm
Well, today it is CPS that must doing the cringing. The Texas State Supreme Court came down on their heads. We are grateful for a clear majority of 6-3, although we’d like 7-2 or 9-0 better. So how long can CPS string out returning the children? What is a “reasonable” time? A year? Two years? … Or two days? They rounded them up in a few hours. Seems they could unwind it almost that fast.