Talk is cheap, polygamy isn’t

[SecularMotion]

OPINION – We can shake our heads in disgust all we wish, and complain about the travesty that is going on along the state line we share with Arizona, but until we actually do something to make people aware of the abuses – physically, mentally, and financially – out in the area they call Short Creek (Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.), we must share the blame.

We tune in to watch the abomination that TLC airs every Sunday night called “Sister Wives” and follow the soap opera that it has created as we follow Kody Brown, and his family, and wonder how they get away with it all, but does it go any farther than that?

Buster Johnson, who is in his fifth term as a Mohave County Supervisor, recently released some figures accumulated by the Arizona Department of Economic Security that reveal that millions of taxpayer dollars continue to pour into Colorado City for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance and Medicaid.

We have written about this abuse before, here and in my book ‘plygs,’ describing how the fundamentalist Mormon polygamists practice not only The Principle – the practice of plural marriage – but also something they call “bleeding the beast,” which translates into welfare fraud.

http://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2013/09/24/on-the-edge-talk-is-cheap-polygamy-isnt/

[cbayer]

1. This needs more exposure. Warren Jeffs is a monster who belongs in prison.

[cbayer]

2. Wait, Warren Jeffs is in prison.

[AtheistCrusader]

3. A lot more where that came from.

And throwing the guy in prison doesn't actually solve much of the problem, unfortunately.

[SecularMotion]

4. He belongs in solitary and no contact with the outside world

Warren Jeffs Still Calling the Shots From Prison?

Five years have passed since hundreds of women and children were herded onto buses during the raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas. The charge against Warren Jeffs – the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – was sexual abuse of underage girls.

After an intensive trial, Jeffs, a man who married more than 80 women, was convicted on two counts of sexual assault against two girls, ages 12 and 15, and sentenced to life in prison.

But despite his conviction and subsequent incarceration, 8,000 people who reside in the Yearning for Zion Ranch still call him their prophet and are wary of outsiders.

From behind prison walls, Jeffs continues to issue edicts.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/04/warren-jeffs-still-calling-the-shots-from-prison/

[hrmjustin]

5. I agree no contact with his group. This whole thing is so sad and they get away with it too much.

[cbayer]

7. Agree. I didn't realize that he was still controlling things from prison.

This story is outrageous.

[SecularMotion]

9. From the article linked in the OP

Johnson said that those who have escaped from the community have revealed that imprisoned sect leader, Warren Jeffs, is giving orders that women and children are only allowed meals consisting of beans and water.

“Why are taxpayers shelling out over $8 million for women and children to eat just beans? Where is this money really going?” an outraged Johnson asked. “Warren believes they deserve to suffer, because his philosophy is that if his followers’ faith in him was stronger he wouldn’t be there.”

[cbayer]

10. I missed that on my first read.

[dem in texas]

6. Jeffs is in prison

Jeffs made a bad move and decided to set up shop in Texas. Didn't take long for Texas to close him and his group down. Jeffs and his major henchmen are now in prison.

[cbayer]

8. But it appears, at least in this case, that they continue to exert a great deal of control.

Sickening.

[Squinch]

12. Isn't the Yearning for Zion ranch still in operation? Didn't they take over the local government

in order to ensure their ability to continue with their abuses in Texas?

Not to mention settlements in North Dakota and Canada and Nevada?

[Squinch]

11. Even if Jeffs is put into solitary, there are plenty of his inner circle

who would be fully able to step into his shoes and take over with the same abuse of women and children, and the same embezzlement of public assistance, that go on there now and for the last couple of generations.

Jeffs took over by simply saying that he was performing the will of his own father, who was elderly and senile. All the followers believed it, and will follow whatever they are told are the wishes of their current "prophet" to the death.

All a replacement would have to do is convince the followers that he is aware of the wishes of Jeffs, and take the reins. He can eliminate any means the people have of disproving his words, so they believe him.