Election Diversity: We’ve Come a Long Way … or Have We?

With the four leading candidates in this year’s presidential contest having been an African-American, a female, a Mormon, and a 72 year-old, the diversity envelope was certainly stretched this year. A USA Today/Gallup poll reported last year on the willingness of present-day Americans to select a non-traditional candidate for the presidency compared to responses to [...]

Ferraro, Obama, and Mormonism

My last post, which dealt with misunderstandings about Mormons, made me think back to an article written after Gerarldine Ferraro commented that Obama was “lucky to be who he is” and that the country was “caught up in the concept.”
In a Newsweek/Washington Post article (“You’re Wrong, Ms. Ferraro”), Rev. Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite leaned toward judging [...]

Many Americans Mistakenly Think FLDS and LDS are Connected

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), a worldwide church that is headquartered in Salt Lake City and has over 13 million members, has released the results of a survey that indicate Americans confuse the FLDS Church (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) with the LDS Church.

36% mistakenly believe the YFZ [...]

CPS Advisory Committee Member Said Service Plans Abuse Parents

State of Texas 49, King George 28
49. An Advisory Committee Memory appointed by Governor Perry to advise the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said the approach outlined in the service plans represents an abuse of the FLDS parents.
KXAN reported that advisory committee member Tim Lambert said:
They say, “OK, we’ve got the kids [...]

FLDS Child Dehydrated and Malnourished while in State Care

State of Texas 48, King George 28
48. A two-year old FLDS girl became dehydrated and malnourished while in state custody.
As reported by the New York Times, Ruth Fischer faced a distressing sight when she visited her daughter in a hospital:
Hannah looked like a little orphan sitting on the couch. Her hair was stringy and she [...]

Service Plans Capable of Breaking up FLDS Church

State of Texas 47, King George 28
47. The service plans for the FLDS families were capable of breaking apart the FLDS Church in Texas.
The service plans allege that (link to example plan):
The adults have chosen to be members of a community that appears to support systemic [sic] abuse of children…. Sexual abuse has been confirmed [...]

Young FLDS Kids Who Suffered in State Care

State of Texas 46, King George 28
46. CPS employees admitted in court that Rulon and Amber Jessop fared poorly while in state protective custody.
The Deseret News reported that – according to CPS workers – Amber Jessop (age 3) and her younger brother Rulon (age 2) slept poorly, ate poorly, and became withdrawn while in foster [...]

Virtual FLDS Petition (Part II)

Here are some additional links for the Virtual Petition I assembled in a previous post. None of the below was actually written as a petition (except for the petition of writ of habeus corpus), but all of the below authors expressed significant concerns about the manner in which the FLDS case was handled by Texas, [...]

“We’re Not Going to Violate Their Civil Rights until We Get an Outcry”

State of Texas 45, King George 28
45. In what has to be one of the most notable quotes of the Eldorado fiasco, the Schleicher County Sheriff said, “This is the United States…. We’re not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry.”
Here’s a little more context for the quote, as reported by [...]

Initial Service Plans Didn’t Follow CPS Procedure

State of Texas 44, King George 28
44. A CPS worker admitted that CPS procedure calls for service plans to be based on evidence, even though that procedure wasn’t followed in dealing with the FLDS.

Mark Ticer represented three of Sarah Steed’s chidren (I’ve mentioned Sarah in two previous entries – one which mentioned her three year-old [...]