Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Children: Elian Gonzales times 437

Sending the 437 Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints children off to foster care is downright awful and reminds me of shipping Gonzales back to Cuba.

That is already a verdict rendered against them and without justice.

This has nothing to do with child abuse and everything to do with the production of uniformity and conformity. It has everything to do with a lack of respect for the children and their elders and their way of life.

Freedom and rights may as well be flushed down the drain.It's happened before in America. The State has deported people for their beliefs, rousted them, jailed them for taking substances, sent them to camps because they were the wrong race, and of course made them slaves.

It is still heartbreaking to see innocents steamrollered by the State.

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This little article by Michael S. Rozeff is the only sensible thing I have read since big government, on a tip that may turn out to be fabricated, invaded the homes and holy spaces of the members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

As a former practicing Mormon, having been raised in an LDS family, I have been questioned about this by many colleagues and friends who know of my religious upbringing. My take is pretty straight forward and goes like this:

1. There are plenty of allegations, but as of now there have been no trials or convictions.
2. If some one has done something illegal, arrest the wrong-doer, put him or her on trial, and let the cards fall where they may. There is no reason, however, to disrupt a whole community.
3. The allegations are currently being made against the MEN of the sect and not the WOMEN, nevertheless, the women are not being allowed by the government to see their own children. Do they pose a danger to the children? If so, how?
4. Even with the alleged abuse, what do you think is going to happen to these children-- ripped from their families and thrust into a world about which they know nothing and for which they are not equipped to adapt? I shudder to think!
5. Does anyone really believe that these children will be better off in the care of THE STATE!?!?

Have doubts about the monstrosity of this action, listen to the story of this ordeal as told by some of the mothers.

I find it odd that we have recently exposed elected officials engaged in bathroom-stall sexual escapades, solicitation and employment of prostitutes, and engagement in all kinds of extra-marital sexual activities while married to one woman, and no one has raided their homes, taken their children into "protective custody," separated mothers from their children, or even suggest such a thing ought to be done.

YET, these paragons of righteousness and their colleagues think they know better than these religious folks (strange as they may seem) how best to raise their children?

Let me be clear, child abuse is a serious crime and-- if properly charged and convicted-- should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

However, until that happens, these people ought to be able to collect their children and go home while they await their trial.

If there be any women who do not wish to return with their children, there is no one who is going to make them return. They are free to go. BUT, those who do and have chosen this life should be allowed to live their lives free from molestation by the government UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY!

Making Saints of Monsters

...[O]ne can find the facts of history if one looks for them. But when it comes to the War for Southern Independence, one will also discover pages and pages of spin, excuse-making, and rhetorical cover-ups. History may be "well reported" in academic treatises and government documents, it rarely makes it into government schools.

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Invasion, Conquest, and Subjugation

No, this post is not about the war in Iraq, but it could be. All acts of aggression against a sovereign people might be described thus.

This post is about Liberty.

On the day in 1865, she was raped, robbed, and murdered on the streets of my hometown, Columbia, South Carolina.

On that day, non-combatant residents in Columbia - black & white, slave & free, rich & poor - were terrorized, plundered, abused, ravished, and their homes and private property put to the torch by Federal troops.

This was not an act of war in the pejorative sense of the word. This was not collateral damage resulting from a heated battle between two opposing armies. This was a military invasion of an unarmed city and the conquest of a people — a war crime without precedence in our country’s history!

The responsibility for the burning of Columbia rests squarely on the shoulders of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Federal forces.

Sherman's official report on the burning placed the blame on Lt. Gen. Wade Hampton III, who Sherman said had ordered the burning of cotton in the streets. Sherman later recanted this allegation and admitted lying in his Memoirs, Volume 11 page 287. He said, "In my official report of this conflagration I distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and confess I did so pointedly to shake the faith of his people in him, for he was in my opinion a braggart and professed to be the special champion of South Carolina."

In 1867 a chance meeting of former combatants occurred in Federal Governor Orr's office in Columbia. Gen. Howard, commander of the US 15th Corps of Sherman's army during the burning, was to be introduced to Gen. Hampton in the presence of many dignitaries. Gen. Hampton said, "Before I take your hand General Howard, tell me who burnt Columbia?" Gen. Howard replied, "It is useless to deny that our troops burnt Columbia, for I saw them in the act." (See Edwin J. Scott, Random Recollections of a Long Life. page 185; The Burning of Columbia, Charleston, SC, 1888, page 11.)

While some historians and other Northern apologist may dispute that Sherman was really responsible for the atrocity, those who were in the city during the invasion knew exactly who was responsible.

William Gilmore Simms, the world renowned Southern antebellum writer and father of Southern Literature, was in Columbia on those fateful days and recorded his own experience along with several other first hand accounts from the survivors.

Simms’s account was first published in the Columbia Phoenix, an aptly named newspaper that rose from the ashes of the beleaguered city. This account was later sanitized and toned down by Simms and subsequently published in book form as The Sack and Destruction of Columbia, South Carolina after the war.

Happily, the original, unvarnished newspaper installments by Simms became available for the first time since the war through the efforts of Dr. David Aiken of Charleston. Published as A City Laid Waste: The Capture, Sack, and Destruction of the City of Columbia by the University of South Carolina Press in 2005, these original accounts are primary documents, unequalled in war-time narritave in both content and style.

I believe Simms's account is important for many reasons. Primarily it is important because these installments were written before the end of the war when Columbia was still had freedom of the press - Appomattox would not occur for another couple of months and Reconstruction had not yet reared its ugly head. Simms was free to write the event without having to worry about being censored. Furthermore, because it was written and published where the events transpired and published for the residents of the city, he could not embelish without losing his credibility. In short, this account is the real deal and can be collaborated in other sources, including Federal soldier who where present.

This book is, in my opinion, one of the most important works published during the war. One cannot read it and remain unscathed. One cannot read it and come away with anything other than shame regarding the conduct of the Grand Army of the Republic and the cause for which they fought.

I urge you, nay, I dare you to get this book and read it. It will explain everything you need to know about the Southern point of view with regards to the War for Southern Independence.

Yes, Libery was murdered on the streets of Columbia. The crime occured right here in the heart of Dixie, February 17, 1865. As Americans, we should remeber what was won and what was lost on that day. I think of it often with tears in my eyes...

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For further information, you might consider visiting the following sites:

http://www.shermansmarch.com/

http://www.wadehamptoncamp.org/bfc-boc-a.html

http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/HomeFront/burningofcolumbia.html

http://www.lewrockwell.com/jarvis/jarvis19.html

http://www.geocities.com/cmp_csa/BurningColumbia.html

http://sclos.org/News-BOC.htm