I'm sure you've heard about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound raid.

Police received a call from 'supposedly' a young girl of 16 who was trapped inside the compound, had a year old baby, and was repeated abused by her 50 year old husband, whom she was forced to marry.

Police have wanted to shut down this compound for years, they just didn't have a valid reason, but they had a plan in place.

They went to the ranch, took all the children (416), took the moms who wanted to stay with their children (139) and took them to a 'safe place'.

It's now been nearly two weeks, and these children have been in 'captivity' to the state.  The assumption is that they'll be wards of the state, taken from their parents and placed with foster families or adopted out.

The moms that went with their kids have had their cell phones taken and are not allowed to contact the 'outside world'.  The kids whose moms aren't there, are not allowed to contact their parents, and moms who didn't go (whether they were absent from the compound when their children were taken or not) are not allowed to see their children.

The 'girl' who called was either lying or didn't know her husband's name, as the man she claimed abused her lives in Arizona and has a very, very, solid alibi, and has been interviewed by police.  The 'girl' called at least four times, for a total of hours worth of phone time (45 minutes in one call).  The 'girl' has not been found.

So, without evidence, with one witness, and without reasonable cause, 565 people have been torn from their homes, from their family, from their life, because one man 'supposedly' abused one girl, and we now know that story is false.

But, you say, they are polygamists!

Then, say I, get them for their crimes, and follow the Law!

How long till Christians are 'raided' because we spank our children, or because we teach them Christian principles (many prominent psychologists feel this is abusive).  Do we want due process when they raid our houses?  Do we want to be able to stay together as a family, in our home, minus the purported offender?

So, no charges yet.  And it's been two stinking weeks!!!  You think you have freedom?  You think you are immune to unreasonable search and seizure because of the bill of rights?  Think again... DCFS can do whatever the heck it wants if they think that one child might be abused... they can imprison 565 people for two weeks without a single charge if they think one child might have been abused.

Since when did we stand for this?  Why don't we take a stand, and support the constitutional rights of these folks?

Why not?  Because they're heathens... that's what we tell ourselves.  They're different.  They're wrong.  Some of them do very bad things.

What happens when we're 'different'???

JS

"We must all hang together or we shall assuredly all hang separately."  - Benjamin Franklin