http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/042408/let_196159.shtml
The images we have all seen of the families involved in the Texas polygamy case are disturbing. It doesn't matter where one's opinion lies -- the whole situation is simply disturbing.
I would not agree to live in a plural marriage, no matter how often my husband jokes about finding another wife. But I do believe that people should be able to choose their lifestyles. I am strongly in favor of changing our marriage laws to provide gays and lesbians the chance to marry. In my mind, polygamy is not all that different as long as the marriage partners are consenting adults.
Unfortunately, at issue in the Texas case is not only freedom of association, but accusations that children are forced into arranged marriages. It is interesting to note that Child Protective Services in Texas decided that accusations of teen girls being forced to marry justified the detention of more than 400 children, some of them infants . According to CPS' own information, 90 percent of the children detained were in no imminent danger. It is for this reason that I'm crying "foul."
Over the past decade, I have seen some extraordinary silliness in CPS cases, usually perpetrated on families who are ill-equipped to fight back. If you stand by and say nothing as multiple families are torn apart, then you may find yourself on the receiving end of the same bitter medicine with no one to speak out for you.
Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez, Augusta
At this point, no abuse has been proven in court. Child Protective Services (CPS) are using the "risk of harm" argument as justification for detaining all of the children.
Also, I disagree with your basic premise that all children are sexually abused just because a sibling is.
If you remove the victim and leave the others in the home, then there is a new victim. (The caps are for emphasis, not shouting).
As I stated above I disagree with your basic premise.
The Texas authorities have acted in the best interest of the children and have not only legally, but rightfully, removed any potential victim.
Actually, it is not lawful to remove a "potential" victim. Federal law requires that "reasonable efforts" (Congress's words, not mine) be made before detaining a child away from his or her home. Reasonable efforts must also be made to make it possible for a detained child to be released.
The reason the "parents" are lying is because they know and understand that they have broken the laws regarding overt sexual behavior towards a child.
Where have the parents lied?
Those "men" are nothing more than perverted pedophiles who, if living in any other city or town, would have been arrested and prosecuted. The men who fathered these children have left the area in order to circumvent the law. Arizona and Colorado would do well by raiding those FLDS compounds.
Then how do you explain the presence of all those men still at the ranch?
Also, are you saying that anyone who has sexual relations with a girl under the age of 18 is a pedophile? Young people have sex all the time, often VERY casually. It seems to me like you're taking a single kumquat and trying to split it in half and then call it an apple and an orange.
How would you like it if your 13 year old was impregnated by your pastor because he believed he is "spiritually authorized by God?" Some of these children are now products of incest, which is also against the law.l Imagine the medical problems they will develop in the future.
I don't think my just turned fourteen year old would sit still long enough for anybody to impregnate him.
Seriously, we are talking about arranged marriages as part of an alternative lifestyle. Sure, I'd take issue about ANYBODY being forced into any marriage. But as far as I understand the situation in Texas, we don't know for sure that this is the case.
Time will tell.
Tags: Dorothy Kernaghan-Baez, AFRA, family rights, twitter, cyber-dissident, tarot cards, psychic, DFACS, Georgia, politics, Texas, polygamy, CPS
