Pray for Trey and Tyler...

Two of my cousins were is a serious wreck 5/18. Trey has recovered enough to leave the hospital after several surgeries. He should make a full recovery, but if titanium ever becomes really valuable he may be able to sell himself by the pound. Tyler had some serious burns, he has had on skin graft surgery and will have another on Monday. He is fighting an infection that is starting to wear him down. Please pray for an end to the infection and successful surgery on Monday. He is a fighter(just ask the ICU nurses), but this will be a long fight. Here is a website some friends have set up to track their progress.

FLDS update

Good news for the parents of the children kidnapped from the FLDS compound near Eldorado. A state appeals court judge has rule that Judge Walther exceed her discretion when she order the state to take custody of the children. Judge Walther has 10 days to vacate her order.

"The Department (CPS) did not present any evidence of danger to the
physical health or safety of any male children or any female children
who had not reached puberty," the panel wrote in its order.

Here is a link to the Houston Chronicle article and some comments by Tim Lambert from the Texas HomeSchool Coalition
Update on Parental Rights Challenge: FLDS vs CPS

The law says that the state must show that the children are in imminent danger. That was clearly not true of all the children that were removed. Although it could be true of girls near puberty IF the state has proof of a pattern of underage marriages.

With regard to underage marriages. Up until several years ago, Texas law allowed 14 and older to be married with parental permission. After the FLDS group moved to Eldorado, the law was changed to make 16 the youngest age of marriage with parental consent. While it is hard for me to imagine my soon to be 14 year old daughter being married, if you look at history it is fairly normal for girls to marry soon after puberty. If it was okay in Texas in 1908, or 1988, why is it not okay in 2008? It would be interesting for most of us to research our great grandparents and older to see what age they married at. It might put this whole "underage" marriage issue in a different light.

The ultimate question is does that state of Texas have to follow their own laws about the burden of proof that is required before seizing children. The appeals court has said they do. But the court system and CPS got away with disobeying the law for 60 days. Who will repair the trauma caused to the children by the state's illegal actions? Will CPS or Judge Walther be disciplined in any way for the refusal to follow Texas law?

Another good summary article.

The state supreme court slapped CPS and Judge Walther today(5/29). They affirmed the appeals court decision that the children were in no immediate danger and should be returned to their parents within a reasonable time period. The ruling technically applied to only 124 children and 38 parents, but the rest of the parents are attempting to be added and Judge Walther may reverse her ruling. A victory for justice, but not until after the families had been abused by the CPS and the legal system for over 60 days.

It will be very interesting to see if any charges are filed against any of the men who were supposedly abusing children.

(5/31) Apparently Judge Walther doesn't like being slapped by the Texas Supreme Court for not following the law. In this article she is setting requirements on the parents getting their children back. The can't leave the state(this one I think is reasonable), they can't travel more than 60 miles from home without her permission, they must take parenting classes(state approved), and the must allow CPS on the ranch to interview the children and continue their witch hunt(clearly unconstitutional). If the parents don't sign these agreements they won't get their kids back. She also said she would only sign the document after all of the 38 mothers signed it(not individual decisions as the law requires). This should continue to be interesting. But I think the tide of public opinion is turning.

Also, interestingly the Supreme Court decision referenced 5 girls who the state says have been abused. That is 5 out of 460 something. And that is only if the state is right about the ages and the abuse(their story changes daily). Still no arrests of child abusers or molesters.

Lawyers cry foul in FLDS seizures

Cycle of Abuse: The FLDS Raid

FLDS Update: Judge-Attorney conference ends in confusion

Free the Texas children now!

Impeach Judge Walther

FLDS Eldorado

I had a friend email me wondering about my thoughts on the FLDS kidnappings in Eldorado. Here are some bullet points.

• 
  
  
  
  
  Govt kidnaps 460 kids because they have unusual religious beliefs.
• 
  After 60 days no men have been arrested for abuse.
• 
  All of the supposed underage mothers are actually of legal consent
  age. They had provided documents proving ages, but CPS didn't believe their documents.
  
• 
  Stupid judges say parents can have their kids back after psychiatric
  evaluations, parenting classes, and training.
• 
  It looks like the phone call was just an excuse to get an overly broad
  warrant. The person who made the phone call was not a member of the
  group, faked the phone call, and has been arrested. However no one
  checked out her story before issuing a warrant.
• 
  Absolutely no publicly available evidence of abuse, but everyone
  "knows" they abuse them.
• 
  Children were almost all very healthy prior to the kidnapping.
  Afterwards many are unhealthy.
• 
  Even state MHMR agencies are saying CPS lied, manipulated, and treated
  the mothers and children abusively.
• 
  All in all the most clear govt abuse of power in the US in recent
  memory(possibly ever).
• The judge that issued the warrants and took the children from their parents is a Republican. I thought they were on our side.
  

There is an article in the Ft Worth Star Telegram that talks about a state senator proposing that the state seize FLDS assets to pay for the costs of "taking care" of the children(housing, legal, CPS costs). Here the state with accusations of abuse, but no legal proof, has kidnapped 460 kids and now wants to steal the parents assets to pay for the costs of keeping them. It is a clear legal violation to keep them without proof of abuse, but very few are complaining about it. It really reminds me of the quote

First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the Communists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

What is next? Who is next? What if you have more children than normal, can they be taken? What if you homeschool? What if you choose not to have your children immunized with dangerous drugs to prevent minor illnesses? What if you don't let your children date and have sexual relations before marriage?

This could be a test to see how much outcry there is, they started with a group that is somewhat odd and very secretive. But will they stop there? Who do the children belong to? How do we stop them?

Social Security

I had not gotten social security numbers on children 4-9. I figured that they were neither paying or collecting social security so why did they need them. I had not been able to claim them as dependents on my taxes(it had not made much difference), but other than that I had no problems with SS#s until recently. This year the tax difference was fairly large so I decided to get the numbers. I found out later that you can not get individual health insurance on people without SS#s. I knew Birth Certificates would be required so I got all of them($23 each), then I diligently go to the SS website and got the forms I thought I needed. I missed the comment about

We may use one document for two purposes. For example, we may use your U.S. passport as proof of both citizenship and identity. However, you must provide at least two separate documents.

All documents must be either originals or copies certified by the issuing agency. We cannot accept photocopies or notarized copies of documents.

I took in the birth certificates and they told me they had to have another form of identification. Here is the list from the website

Your child: We can accept only certain documents as proof of your child’s identity. An acceptable document must be current (not expired) and show your child’s name, identifying information and preferably a recent photograph. We generally can accept a non-photo identity document if it has enough information to identify the child (such as the child’s name and age, date of birth or parents’ names). We prefer to see the child’s U.S. passport. If that document is not available, we may accept the child’s:

• Adoption decree;
• Doctor, clinic or hospital record;
• Religious record (e.g., baptismal record);
• Daycare center or school record; or
• School identification card.

The first thing they request is the childs passport. You can not get a passport without a SS# so that is impossible.

The children are not adopted so the first bullet point wouldn't work.

4 of the 6 had been to the doctor, so I could get medical records on them. But it would be a pain, so I decided to try other things.

Bullet 3 looked like a good choice, so I got together dedication certificates on 7, 8, and 9. Signed by third party ministers.

Since Homeschools are private schools in Texas I did school records for 4, 5, and 6(below compulsory attendance age, but schooling).

Guess what piece of information you have to have to enter a Govt school and get a school ID. If you guessed SS# go to the front of the line.

I go back in with these documents. They tell me none of the documents are acceptable because they don't have date of birth(have you ever seen a religious document with date of birth). I tell them I can add a date of birth to the school records, which is not required information on the list above. Then they tell me they have no probative value since they are done by the parents. After arguing for a while they agree to send them to the regional office for approval. They promise to call back when they get an answer(this was 4 pm on Friday).

On Wednesday I go in since I haven't heard from them. They tell me that none of the documents are acceptable. I ask what would be acceptable, they tell me medical records with date of birth. I ask what about the ones who have never seen a doctor, they tell me again that all they will accept is medical records with date of birth. I call HSLDA for help and they offer to send me third party verification letters.

I go to the local congressional office and tell Joanne Powell who runs the local office the story. She seems amazed that they won't take what I have. She calls the manager and talks to him for 30 minutes and then says there is nothing she can do, he is following the procedures. Of course this is all the democrats fault this they are the majority. The republicans would fix this if they were in the majority.

The following Monday I take the HSLDA letters in(in the meantime I have gotten medical records on 4, 5, and 6 from the pediatrician, but I don't tell them that). They first tell me it isn't acceptable. I ask them why and they said they would refer it to regional again, but it probably would not be acceptable. I ask them to get me explanation of why they are not acceptable and why the religious records are not acceptable. They promise to call when they get an answer from regional.To be continued so far two weeks and no SS numbers. But at least they didn't kidnap my kids because they aren't govt schooled and have wierd ideas like they have the FLDS kids from Eldorado. I think I might have to take 2 or 3 healthy kids and pay for a doctors visit so I have medical records on them to get a SS#.

Update #1(5-25-08) The SS office called me Friday to tell me that they haven't heard back from the regional office if the HSLDA letters are acceptable. I took them in on Monday. I have medical records on 4-6 and letters from a doctor friend for 7-9. So if they refuse the HSLDA letters, I will try those.

Update #2(5-29-08) Went into SS office today because I hadn't heard an answer on the HSLDA letters and because I had all the medical records. I had tried to call and their phone is always busy. They showed me an email from regional that explained that they refused the Church documents because they were based on parents statements and had not probative value(not true since they were signed by third party ministers). They had no answer on the HSLDA letters, he said they were not school records so he couldn't use them. I said that they were a third party verification of the school records(which he had refused because they came from the parents). Then I gave them the medical documents I had, he said I think we can use these. He checked with his boss and said they were okay and he could do 4 of them today. The other two were born in Concho County and he has to call and verify them because they don't report to the Bureau of Vital Statistics. He hadn't verified them in the past 4 weeks. He said I should have cards on the 4 in about 7 to 10 days(I assume he means working days). He will(supposedly)call if there are any problems with the other 2.

Update #3(6/13/08) We received cards on 4 and 6 on 6/6, we received the cards for 3 and 7 on 6/10, 9 came on 6/13 and 8 came in on 6/16/08, so we have them all now.