Carolyn and Betty; It's A Strange Relationship

Well, I'm not up on everything, but I have a general idea of where things are. So it would seem that it would be a good idea to offer something here for people to comment on.
I just watched the Opera Show and Carolyn Jessop was on. I guess she was on as a response to the show last week where Opera interviewed Betty.
As a small note; Opera said she did not believe Betty when Betty said something about not being aware of the under-aged marriages. I think that Betty left when she was barely 14 yrs of age and did not return until she was eighteen and Warren Jeffs was in jail. So, all though she may have met a couple of them, for the most part, she was not aware of them.
Carolyn looked fat. I'm not saying that because I think there is anything wrong with being fat. I'm saying that as a comment on Carolyn herself. She also did not look like she wanted to be on television. She was trying to keep her words low key. She actually did not say allot. She made a few comments about the lost boys, but she did not say they were "lost'. She said while she was there Warren Jeffs told as many as 100 boys to leave at one time.
She also said several things about Betty that were pretty innocuous, and then it was over.
Any thoughts?

Who's a Mormon?

Okay, this post has nothing to do with the FLDS, or any of the controversies with their community. This is purely to help me in my own quest to understand and learn.

Apparently the series "Big Love" is going to air a segment that has a scene that takes place inside a Mormon Temple, showing an "Endowment Ceremony". This has the LDS Church folks all upset. They say their Temple ceremonies are private, etc. and should not be shown.
Okay.

But here's my question...all that was just to set the stage, so to speak...
In all of the articles I have seen about this, the LDS Church refers to the fictional family in "Big Love" as "Fundamentalists" but not Mormon.
All through this, as I have been learning, I thought that all of the different Fundamentalist groups, the independent Fundamentalists, and the members of the LDS Church, were all Mormon. Just different sects. Or individual believers without specific affiliation with a sect. But all Mormons. All followers and believers in the faith of Joseph Smith.

Where is my error? How can an enormous group of people who all believe basically the same doctrine not all be Mormons?

Edited Copy of Pliggy's, Now Edited, Blog

There is no need for me to write anything. I am simply copying Pliggy's blog to make sure as many people as possible read this.

Monday, March 9, 2009

How Texas Traced the Calls to Rozita Swinton
It must have been quite the day for ol Brooks Long, that Sunday, April 13th 2008. He had spent a week rounding up “victims” of “abuse” with his army of machine gun toting comrades, and just following orders by taking cell phones away from “guests” and breaking into buildings and confiscating children’s journals and computers, as well as breaking into a sacred Temple building safe and stealing the contents, all in his attempt to find Sarah Jessop Barlow, the victim who made all these desperate phone calls. Certainly he was enjoying his much needed day of rest. He was probably drinking his morning coffee when he realized that something was now troubling him, this tenth day after. Something he just needed to figure out that he had never thought about before.He probably thought along the lines of “Hmm, you know what, maybe those guys at the gate ten days ago might have been on to something. They did prove to my buddy Doran that Dale Evens Barlow was a long ways away, but I didn’t want to stop this wonderful force that George Bush would be proud of from invading the “dirty plig” paramilitary compound. So when they said we aught to check the phone number and trace it, they might have been on to something. But I certainly don’t want to give them credit. They are the bad guys”So he called up a perfect stranger in the Colorado Springs Police Department and asks him about it. Yes, it was no strange thing that he called the police department rather than the phone company; that is how all phone numbers are tracked down I am sure. If you want to know who is calling you on your phone, just call the police department of the area code on your phone silly.It was all only a coincidence that he just happened to speak to the very guy who knew about a crime using the exact phone number he gave him too. That is just fantastic, this guy he calls on Sunday the 13th actually recognizes one of the phone numbers, wow!It was a phone number that he was sure had been blocked ten days ago, but realized just that day, the 13th of April that it never had been blocked. It was just another fantastic coincidence that he was able to reach Sean on Sunday, as Sergeant Mandel was not even working out of the CSPD office, he was working for the FBI and was not associated with the rest of the force. But it was a coincidence for sure, for sure. Why would you doubt that?Well this was great, Long discovers that what the men at the gate of the YFZ ranch said was exactly right, the phone call was a hoax, ruining all he was hoping was true about the raid. But being the honorable Ranger he is, he asks CSPD to arrest this woman named Rozita Swinton so they could pretend to begin an investigation, certainly now on the 13th she was a person of interest, having the same phone number and all. So Long speaks to Mandel and he tells his coworker that he doesn’t work with, Sergeant Hugh Velasquez in the sex crimes department, and Velasquez passes the info on to Detective Terry Thurmston, all on Sunday, the 13th of April. Certainly this is standard procedure. Thurmston goes the next day, on Monday the 14th, calls Brooks and verifies Swintons phone number ect, and arranges for the arrest warrant. Which they serve two days later when a couple of the Texas Rangers fly in.Move along folks, nothing to see here…From the Affidavit in the arrest Warrant for Rozita Swinton:"On April 13, 2008, I [CSPD Detective Terry E. Thurmston] was contacted by [CSPD sex crimes division]Sergeant Hugh Velasquez (1514D) regarding information he had obtained from [CSPD, FBI task force] Sergeant Sean Mandel. Sergeant Mandel told Sergeant Velasquez he had been contacted by the Texas Rangers in regard to their investigation into the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch. Sergeant Mandel related Texas Ranger Brooks Long had advised he had two cellular telephone number listings from the Colorado Springs area (719-351-0913 and 719-243-2866). Sergeant Mandel was aware that the phone number, 719-351-0913, that was possibly related to the reporting party for the YFZ Ranch incident in Eldorado, Texas, was also identified in a prior CSPD case report.“On April 14, 2008 I [CSPD Detective Terry E. Thurmston] spoke with Texas Ranger Long and confirmed telephone number 719-351-0913 was in fact a local Colorado Springs telephone number associated with Rozita Swinton. I informed Ranger Long that Rozita Swinton was known to make false reports of sexual abuse to the police and other agencies. The Texas Rangers advised they would be responding to Colorado Springs to conduct further investigation.”P.S.The “only” [cough, cough] problem with our story, is Hugh McBryde spoke personally with Sergeant Sean Mandel, and Sean told him that he had never even spoken to Brooks Long at all, but rather he was contacted by his boss at the FBI in Colorado, Steven A Smith, who had been contacted by an FBI agent out of San Angelo TX. Hugh also spoke to Steven A. Smith, who did not know the name of the FBI agent he spoke to and couldnt pin a date, the dates too are uncertain as to when they were contacted he says and he did not open a case when he gave the assignment to Sean. Certainly the Rangers hadn't found this out earlier, certainly it was all done in the short time of one or two days. Certainly it wasn’t early enough for them to stop the raid. And Certainly this was not a manufactured story to cover up the fact that Texas ALREADY knew it was Rozita, as much as a ten days earlier right?Right?Right?
Posted by Pliggy at 11:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: Kidnapped children, Persecution, prank call

FLDS: Persecution or Persecution Complex?

Persecution Complex:
An unfounded feeling that others have evil designs against one's well-being.
Persecution:
Others have evil designs against one’s well-being.

Lot’s of people do not like the FLDS.
Well, that’s a pretty benign statement, unless, of course, you happen to be an FLDS member. The closer you get, geographically, to the FLDS, the more overt the dislike becomes.
If you’re a waitress, you take a bit longer to give slightly less service. If you’re a cop, you write a ticket instead of give a warning. If you’re in the area, you drive through town staring. If you’re a clerk in the municipal building, you make them wait just a tad longer…for everything. If you’re a school child, you call them “dirty plygs”.
And worse.
If you are an FLDS mother, you teach your children that it is important to love everyone, all the while shielding them from the stares of strangers. Rushing them inside when a car drives by a bit too slowly. Quickly diverting their attention when a scantily clad woman enters the store you’re in. Teaching them to say their brother is their cousin when they go to school, knowing if they say otherwise, they will be mocked and bullied.
If you’re a young person in the FLDS it makes the job of loving everyone terribly hard. And terribly inconsistent with your experiences. It makes the job of trusting anyone outside of your community a monumental task.

If the entire history of the Mormon people is full of legitimate stories of Mormons being persecuted, and if much of the persecution has taken place in the lifetimes of people you know and love, it serves only to compound the distrust.
If every time you open a newspaper or listen to the radio, there are reports of people you know, and love, being described as despicable criminals, it makes it both terribly confusing and terribly hurtful.

If this has been a person’s life experience, and now, suddenly, they are being asked to interact with outsiders, it is understandable that there is very real apprehension. That the distrust is natural and real, and founded in having been hurt and watching loved ones be hurt.
Compound this with having lived in a relatively closed community with a subtle yet important difference in language and its use, from mainstream society. Understand that the outside world uses language in ways that are completely alien to the FLDS’ entire experience, and there is no guide book to teach about it. Imagine that sarcasm and innuendo and double entendres are not a part of someone’s experience, and they have to come into our world and navigate without understanding these common twists in how we use everyday language. Understand that those permutations of language have either never been there, or have slowly devolved as individuals have, in following their teachings, worked harder and harder at being straight forward, saying what they mean, and not involving themselves in duplicitous everyday behaviors, so there is no need to have a language system reflective of that. That even humor is straightforward, clean, and not made at the expense of another in demeaning ways.

So now you have people who have lived their entire lives knowing they were generally disliked and/or grossly misunderstood by the outside world. They have individually all experienced that dislike in their interactions with outsiders. Some more than others, but it is inescapable, all together. And these same people now find themselves in a situation where they are choosing to interact in order to help change this paradigm. So they do little things like come on-line to the blogosphere to ask questions of some, and give answers to others. Navigating in a world of language.
Navigating in a world where they are outnumbered by their detractors by an enormous margin. Challenged to try to help shift the thinking of their detractors, using language. Detractors who have themselves used ugly language directed at them.

Those that interact more, obviously begin to pick up on the nuances faster. After awhile, they “get it”, for the most part. And they begin to use language in the same way. However, because we don’t ever, on either side, really acknowledge or understand, this language barrier, it is easy for mistakes to happen. It is easy for perceptions to be different than the writer intended. It is easy to react to what we think we are reading, based on our personal understanding of the language, all the while being completely wrong.

This perception/understanding dilemma is part of the downside of blogging for everyone. It is enormously compounded for people, like members of the FLDS community, who have unacknowledged cultural differences in language from the larger community of outsiders they are interacting with.
In a multi-dimensional interaction these differences would be far more quickly overcome. In the blogosphere that doesn’t happen so easily.
Rather than accuse members of the FLDS community of having persecution complexes, or getting angry at how they respond to what we are saying, and how we are saying ‘it’, perhaps we can each try to better understand the FLDS perspective and experience. If based on a person’s response, we know they have misunderstood our intent, perhaps it would further good communication, and foster a possible trust, to simply re-explain what we are trying to convey. If we are being humorous, using sarcasm, and it is not picked up, explain it. Don’t react to the reaction!

We can each only be responsible for our own behaviors. Even here, on line. But if our real purpose is to help reshape how we understand and interact with the FLDS community, then an excellent starting point is in understanding and overcoming language barriers. Let this be an experience that is a learning one for all of us.

Interesting Move From Judge Conn on Jeffs' Motion. Is it Kosher?

The Deseret News reported this afternoon that Judge Conn has decided to wait until after the Texas Court rules on the admissibility of items seized in the April YfZ raid before his ruling.
Deseret News article
The hearing challenging the warrants is scheduled in May in Judge Walther's Court.

I keep thinking there is some conflict in having the issuing judge be the judge to decide on the admissibility of the warrants. Seems like just a tad bit of a conflict, to me. I'm not familiar with the Texas system, but here in Pa., I'd petition the President Judge to assign the hearing to another judge who was not involved in the issuing stage of the warrant(s).

I'm also wondering what happens iof this Texas judge admits the evidence and there is a conviction, that is not upheld on appeal, what happens to anything that has gone forward in Arizona?
I'm also wondering if this is going to open a nasty can of worms in the Arizona Court? Will the state's attorneys now use "evidence" they otherwise would not have?

What does this decision to delay do to Jeffs' right to a speedy trial? Is this an undue delay?

Can a state trial court judge decide to defer to a ruling from the equivalent judiciary level ruling in another state?

Brooke and the Trib Have Sprinkled Salt in the Wounds of the FLDS

Brooke Adam's article on the front page of yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune may have been seen as fair and newsworthy by many, but for the FLDS community, it served no purpose save to rip the scab off a wound barely starting to heal, and pour salt directly on it.
While Brooke's note of explanation, and acknowledgement of the feelings of the community, that she posted on her blog is appreciated, it does little to assuage the terrific hurt felt by those who love Warren Jeffs. Perhaps this is the nature of being a reporter in the "big leagues".

Here is Brooke's blog post:
http://166.70.44.68/blogs/plurallife/2009/03/listening-to-the-lord/
(I don't know why, but I can't get it to show as a link. You'll have to cut and paste. Sorry.)

These words, written in a short note I received early yesterday begins to capture the general sentiment in the community;
"I didn't read the article, just the first couple lines and didn't want to read more. How can someone see such a different man in him than how I see him? He doesn't control me, he never has. He has, however, given me sweet and sound advice from time to time and if I chose to follow it, I do. How do Brooke and others think the flds have stood strong....and true.... lo these many years, but for the teachings and examples of the Prophets?"

I communicate, back and forth, with half a dozen or so women in the FLDS community, and these were the same kinds of words I heard all day, yesterday. As word of the article spread, so did the renewed anger and hurt.
For these people, the steadfast followers of Warren Jeffs the Prophet of the FLDS Faith, there is no need or desire to read his private writings. There is no need or desire to know his private thoughts or his business dealings on their behalf.
Their individual, and group, experiences with Warren Jeffs are the foundation for their abiding faith in his position as their Prophet. From that perspective they have experienced a gentle man. They have experienced a man who has given good, sound, caring advice to them. He is a man who has been humble in his carriage, calm in his approach to crisis and hardships, and giving of his time and belongings to those in need. He has had the capacity to draw people together, convey and teach the messages of God, and model the behavior of the righteous.

Each and every person knows full well Warren Jeffs is human. Each person knows that as a fellow human being he will sometimes falter. He will sometimes make mistakes. He will sometimes experience all of the frailties inherent in the human condition. This is the nature of a Prophet on this earth. To walk amongst us, with us, and be of us, the people. Some will recognize him as a Prophet of God. Some will not. Some will deny him. Some will accept him. And for those who accept him as their Prophet, there is no need to know the mundane or the earthly aspects of his person. There is the need to accept him as their guide to living a life of righteousness that will bring them closer to God, and the rewards of the afterlife.

To see his private thoughts, and the private interactions he had with their friends, family members, and fellow members of the faithful being picked over like the carcass of a jack rabbit who has died in the desert is extraordinarily painful. This picking and pandering does nothing but solidify their faith that this man is the true Prophet in their lives. That he, his life, and his loved ones, would be so subjected is yet another of the many trials that his faithful know God will bring before Zion is achieved. So they will bear this quietly, and with dignity.

But for those of us who have come to know and respect many of the individuals in this community, standing quietly by is not an option.
We each feel the need to speak out and tell you, our fellow gentiles and outsiders, that this salacious picking and devouring and souring of the private words of a respected and loved religious leader is ugly, demeaning , and speaks to our basest inclinations.

Rather than sit in judgment of a people who have made a choice each of us has not, and perhaps would not, make, we each need to understand that the faith of the FLDS community is so strong, and the fundamentals of their teachings so adamant about love and forgiveness as their constant guidance, that we need to respect that. We need to respect the fact that they are intelligent people. They have not been led blindly. They have made a choice to put their lives in the hands of God. If errors or mistakes have been made, they will work to correct them, strong in their faith that God, through the act of inspiring their leaders and Prophet, will show them the way to Him. That if God is paving the way for change in their community, it will be because He has inspired it. Not because anyone in the outside world has demanded it.

Irrespective of the opinions or writings of anyone outside the faithful, the FLDS will continue to love and respect a man that has constantly, and consistently, guided them in their journey toward Him. And irrespective of what any outsider, including Brooke Adams, says about their "intent", the faithful will shun all attempts to take them down a path that is not righteous. And that includes all attempts to demean their faith in, and respect for, Warren Jeffs as their Prophet and guide through their earthly journey.

Defining Decency, Happiness, and Success; Cultural Differences in the FLDS

To be a decent person. To be happy. Those are the two main things most people say when asked what they want for their child.
We then proceed to raise our children in such a way that constantly challenges the possibility of those two elements, at every juncture of our society. For better or worse, we raise our children to measure decency and happiness by standards of a world of consumerism run amok and competition built into every aspect of living. Double standards, duplicity, and deceit are so much a part of our daily lives we have lost all awareness of there existence and the insidious nature of how they erode the soul.

What most people really want for their children is for them to be successful in their own world. If they can eke out some happiness, and also manage to be reasonably decent in the doing, those are bonuses, but not requisites. So we raise our children with the tools and expectations of success. And those tools become paramount. Whether we mask them with other names or not is irrelevant. They are the tools for success in the world the parent identifies with. Everything from how we dress to how we look at sexuality to what classes we take and what sports we enjoy. We shape and mold our children in the image we want, or wanted, for ourselves.

Although physically located dead in the middle of America, the FLDS have maintained a culture that has not evolved in the same way as the rest of us. When they state a desire to raise their children as decent people, with the hope that they are happy it is a literal statement. It is unencumbered by the accoutrements of gearing for success in today’s larger world. That is an entirely foreign concept for most of us. We hear and interpret their words with our filters. We interpret what we hear with our subliminal understanding of what something means, and our own standards firmly in place in our thinking. Because the words are the same, we cannot seem to set aside our meaning for those words.

To the FLDS parent, there is a fundamental and unquestionable belief that with decency and happiness comes success. Not the other way around. If you are decent you will be happy. If you are happy, you will be successful. And all three words are defined very differently for everyday life than we commonly define them;
Decent = learning, understanding, believing, and following God’s word. Living in righteousness. Being kind, fair, loving, generous, non-judgmental, and all of the things knowing God’s word commands.
Happiness = The knowledge that you dedicate every day to achieving being a decent person. It allows you, no matter how difficult the work has been, to feel good. To feel your spirit fill with happiness.
Success = Walking in righteousness, that has come from working hard, everyday to live decently. And understanding that it is lifelong work to remain successful.

To begin to understand the FLDS culture, you have to shed away all your built in beliefs of what those three words mean and see them as defined this way. And see them as the primary guidance that each and every member of the FLDS community lives and measures their life by. Not by possessions, money, social standing, career choice, or anything else. And it is by these definitions their children are raised.

I want to share this beautiful, short video with everyone, if the link posts properly...

Amazing grace in Rome
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid271552717?bctid=1913313052

FLDS and the Amish, So Similar, So Different

I live in Pa. Home of the Eagles and the Steelers and the "Pennsylvania Dutch" and the Amish community in Lancaster County.
Often in the discussions about the FLDS community, I see parallels drawn to the Old Order Amish Communities across the country. And, there are many legitimate parallels to be drawn.
They are both relatively closed communities. They both have a dress code that stands out. They have both shunned many of the typical amenities of modern life. Both groups are known for being hard working, industrious people. Both groups have very strong patriarchal cultures. Both groups have very strict religious tenets and expectations of their followers. Both groups work toward self sufficiency.
The similarities go on and on....

I want to talk about one stark difference that came to my attention recently.

Lancaster County, and the surrounding area, is a hub of tourism. Particularly in the nicer weather months. It is rolling hills and family farms and small hamlets and towns. It is green and lush and dotted with old covered bridges. Horses and buggies from the Amish Community are regularly seen on the roads and in parking lots. Tourists are often family groups, full of happy children and smiling adults, out for a day in the country. There are many Amish and Mennonite run businesses, and Amish farms are easy to spot with their big windmills, and absence of electrical wires and cables going to their homes and barns.
At the big 'farmers market' and large flea markets, there are many Amish vendors and the tourists flock to them, happy to say hello and stare in a mix of curiosity and friendliness at the old fashioned clothing. They ask questions, full of admiration, about the 'simpler way of life'. There is no animosity.
There is a working replica of an Amish farm that tourists flock to and love. They treat the rooms and property with a great deal of respect. There is a waiting list to be allowed to be a volunteer helping with the care and maintenance of the farm.

Yesterday I had a note from a friend of mine who lives in the twin towns. In "Shortcreek". She was telling me how nice the spring weather they are having is. How all of the children have "Spring Fever". She was telling me about the big, tall, beautiful, but prickly, flowers she is planting all along the front of her yard. She told me they will help hide the fence and give better cover for her children from the staring eyes of the angry, hostile strangers that drive through their hometown.

It struck me square between the eyes and deep into my heart, that the comparison to the Amish had a very stark ending.

FLDS, DNA, CPS, Babies, Who's the Victim?

I had wanted to keep this blog limited to discussing specific aspects of life in the FLDS communities that have been misunderstood, or sensationalized by mainstream media. However, this "situation" has made it's way into the news in the last two days and it has me terribly confused. So I thought I'd reach out here for a little clarity.

Let me lay out what I understand to be "the facts", first;

1. Last April, when the children were taken from YfZ Ranch, this particular young lady was sixteen, almost 17 years old. (Her birthday is in August)
2. She was pregnant. Her baby was born, full term, (no one has said otherwise), in June.
3. The mother retained custody of the baby and they were released together with all of the other children.
4. So, since no one knows the precise length of gestation for this particular baby, it is a fair assumption that she became pregnant right around the time she turned 16.
5. Legal custody of this young lady has been retained by Texas CPS since last April.
6. I haven't seen a reason stated for having retained custody, although I am guessing it s because of her age when she got pregnant. CPS is probably making a claim that her parents failed to protect her.
7. CPS is alleging, apparently based on information from the "Bishop's list", that she was "married" at age 14.
8. The baby that was born has never been alleged to be a 'victim'. CPS did not retain custody of the baby. Since they publicly acknowledge having non-suited all but two of the children, including this young lady, and we know Merrianne is the other, there is no CPS involvement with the baby.
9. There is no basis for them getting involved. There has been no accusation of abuse or neglect. There has been no witnessing of abuse or neglect.
10. CPS retaining legal custody of this young lady is based on her alleged 'victim' status and the alleged inability of her parents to protect her. The baby's well being has never been an issue. Decisions this young lady chooses to make about, or for, her baby has never been the subject of CPS involvement.

So this is where I get confused. CPS want the DNA from the baby to use, potentially, as evidence that a crime has occurred. The mother of the baby refuses to allow CPS to have anything to do with her baby. There are no complaints or allegations concerning this baby's well being that would trigger an investigation. So now they are "creating" a need to investigate, based on them having not had access to the baby.
If a child welfare worker finds out that a young lady in a public high school, who is sixteen, years old, has a baby, and the worker is told the baby's father is much older than the mother, and there are no other complaints, no allegations of mistreatment or neglect, that worker does not have the right to demand to a. see the baby, and b. take a sample of the baby's DNA, for any purpose.
So where is their right to do this with this baby? How do they make the leap that says that not only is their concern and involvement based on the age, and alleged marital status of the young lady, but it now extends to the baby, shifting the mother from 'victim', to potential perpetrator, or 'abusive or neglectful parent'?
Then, because of the reasonable fear this young mother has, based on her own experiences, she defies CPS, and refuses them involvement in her baby's life, they somehow use this refusal as 'prima facia' evidence of neglect?
And they are still hell-bent on collecting DNA, which I can't figure out how they have a right to?

If, as a parent, I choose to allow one of my children to live with a responsible friend or relative, for whatever reasons, which are mine, and mine alone, I have a right to do so. I can send my child to live in Hong Kong or Istanbul, as long as the people I am giving permission to care for my child are responsible adults and are willing to provide parental care in my stead. The state has no jurisdiction in this private matter. Perhaps I am not capable of caring for my child. I have then made a reasonable alternative choice. It is my right to make that decision for my child.
The state only has the right to step in and investigate when there is an allegation that my child is being abused or neglected as a result of my parenting, or my allowing other circumstances to put my child at risk.

Now, I agree, the ruse of taking in another child for DNA testing was pretty silly, however, it is also, from the perspective of a young mother who herself was mistreated at the hands of CPS, a reasonable response to enormous fear. Perhaps the court needs to take a compassionate view of this young mother. Perhaps the court needs to recognize that, indeed, this young mother is a victim. Not of her lifestyle and community, but rather, of the system that invaded her life.

So, we have a young woman, who is under CPS supervision based on alleged actions of her parents, who has a baby, that is not under CPS care or supervision, that CPS wants to take DNA from, based on a 'suspicion', and the mother doesn't want to allow DNA to b taken, and has voluntarily, perhaps, which is her right, placed her child with a trusted adult for care, and now the court is being asked to evaluate the mental health of the young woman to determine if she is a fit mother?
None of this makes any sense!!!!!!

I've linked the article from 'gosanangelo' below...but it doesn't unmuddy the waters, either...I am really confused!!!!
If anyone can offer any clarity, I would greatly appreciate it!
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/mar/03/breaking-news-cps-seeks-psych-evaluation-for-mom/

Brooke Adams, The Plural Life, and the FLDS Community

Okay. I've had a gazillion emails about this. I've read about it. I've blogged about it. Mary Batchlor has gotten hammered about it. Bill Medvecky hammers about it.
As Mary Batchlor did last night, I am going to say my piece and then that's it.

Most of us have read reams and reams of reports and news articles about the FLDS, and their detractors. And Brooke has always been the blog author and reporter we have 'come back to'. Now that I have stopped posting on her site, and have a little distance, I have realized the reason I always gravitate back to Brooke, it is her lack of bias.
Even with the Jeffs' dictations, she did not publish them. She did not link to them. She took out small portions that directly related to topics she had written on in the past, and used the dictation information to "fill in the blanks".
As wrong as the release of the dictations was, and as personally offensive as their release is to the FLDS community, they were released, and they are part of the public collection of documents and information. They are newsworthy from that perspective.
Each of us has to decide for ourselves whether to read them, or not. Each reporter has to decide to what extent they will use, or post them.
Brooke doesn't write to make anyone happy. She doesn't write to make friends, or enemies. She writes the truth, as best as she can glean it from everything that is out there. She does her best to also write the "back story" on her blog about many of the aspects of this mess that make the news. For many of us she gave the FLDS community a personal face when all the rest of mainstream media made the community out to be a collection of robots in prairie dresses and blue jeans.
I am sorry she didn't write anything publicly about the angers and hurts that the papers' release has caused in the FLDS community. On the other hand, I don't get to tell Brooke, or anyone else what to write. And also on the other hand, she has been quite judicious in her use of the papers.

No one is going to be happy with everything she writes. This story is so big, and has so many twists and turns, she is going to displease everyone at one time or another....but for me, I'm glad there is a Brooke Adams writing. I'd hate to leave the telling to the Watkiss ilk....
Now this doesn't herald a return to her blog, for me...I will go and read the posts...probably not the comments...
Because as much as I have calmed down toward Brooke...and realized how much I value reading her "take" on things...I really, really dislike the nastiness and ugliness of the new 'regulars' on her blog...so I'll steer clear, thank you very much!

FLDS Women; What An Amazing Group!!!!!

A few days ago, when I started writing this blog in earnest, I asked my new friends in the FLDS community to suggest things I could write about. I asked them to tell me what things they would like to see people have a different than the popular perspective on.
Last evening I got a note from a friend. She said, tell people about our "brainwashing". Tell them how we are so lost without our husbands, that when most of them are gone from town working, for weeks at a time, we all just fall apart!
Of course, she was being sarcastic! Yet pointing out a very real truism, these days. Many of the men in the FLDS community work in various aspects of the building and construction industry. With the recession and decline in those industries, the men often have to travel long distances, for weeks at a time, to stay employed. That leaves the women at home, keeping things going...making sure that life is held together for the children. Making sure the small businesses some own and operate keep going. Making sure the groceries are bought, the bills are paid, the prayers are said, appointments are kept, schooling continues, the repairs are done....
And for many, this means helping with all of these things while keeping their own jobs amidst this awful recession. Many FLDS women have jobs outside the home, as well as their responsibilities in the home.
Their lives are not terribly different than the millions of other American families struggling and making changes, just to get through these hard times. And just as with the millions of the rest of us, these women are the backbone of the home. And just as the rest of us are being tested by these times, so are they. Stretching budgets and making do. Mending on top of mending, what would have been replaced, just a few months ago. Times are no easier for them, than for any of us. They are not robots, unaffected by the times.

My friend who wrote to me pointed out that with so many men out of town, "escaping" wouldn't be a problem. This is actually what she wrote: "We are so controlled that the men in general are never in town and if we wanted to we could escape at anytime and return unnoticed. =)"

Let me tell you a little about the women I have gotten to be friends with.....
Each of them are very bright. And each of them write wonderfully! Well, to be perfectly honest, one spells just like my son...it's in a sort of "new era shorthand"...she writes in the language of youth...an accommodation for the techno minded.....but she usually writes to me from her phone....and I'm resistant to this new language...so I usually have to have my son interpret what she is writing...
Each of them are funny! Oh my goodness, we write back and forth with tears running down our faces from laughing at our mutual stories of the vagaries of life in retrospect.....
And each of them reached out in friendship to me. When I began this journey, I didn't know these people, their names, and certainly not their email addresses. But they follow the news and the blogs, and they saw that I was struggling to learn without being judgmental, so they reached out...willing to befriend, share, learn, and teach....
And each of them are unique. Beautiful, smart, funny, unique women.
Some folks on other blogs would tell me these women I was getting to know and be friends with were actually FLDS men, creating a ruse. Pretending to be women to rope me in as a mouthpiece. Oh my goodness, did that ever make me laugh! A woman KNOWS another woman...just by the way we write, the topics we choose, the vantage point(s) we describe...the talk of children...it is subtle, sometimes even subliminal, but it is very definitely something men cannot fake!

Let me tell you a little about our sharing....
One woman was a truck driver, for years. Cross country trucking, not your local pick-up truck stuff. No way! We're talking big rig stuff...long trips, heavy work, wondrous adventures....
One woman helps run her family business. Two women I write back and forth with do not have biological children of their own, yet. They are mothering, and loving, and shedding tears over their children, yes, but they have not biologically had children. (Despite the common belief that all women are is 'baby makers') One woman can't stand cooking. Another loves gardening. Another loves teaching, creating wonderful learning projects.
Two pull out their hair finding ways to cope with boys with attention challenges. Another works at keeping up with her adolescent daughter who is a roller blade whiz!
A father has written to me about how proud he is of two of his daughters who both recently graduated from college and have promising careers on their horizons, along with the desire and intent of having wonderful, big families......
I don't know, I haven't asked, but somehow I don't think any of them place any importance on whether they have matching Tupperware in their kitchens, or not. They don't strike me as being in the market for Louis Vuitton (sp?) handbags. Although one mother and I shared the misery of the cost of Under Armor underwear for our men who work outside....
All of them keep up with national politics and issues, and discuss them with ease, and conviction!

Each of them have taken the time out of their very, very busy, full, gratifying lives to befriend me...and I'm not all that easy a person to befriend...*smile*...I've been known to be just a tad crotchety and abrasive, not to mention "intense"...but they have made time for me...and send me smiles and hugs when I need them....

These women are not robots! They work at "keeping sweet". They work at maintaining harmony and calm in their lives. All have some success and some failure at the equilibrium they strive toward.....
Each of them know full well that they have the choice to leave and live in the outside world. None of them feel they live a deprived or subjugated life. Each has chosen to live in their community, practice their faith the best that they can, love their children, love their neighbors, and even love their semi-heathen cyber-friend....
As saddened and angry as I am by the events of April 2008, I will always be grateful, too. Those events expanded my world. They brought wonderful new friends into my life. Those awful events actually opened many doors, for many people....As the saying goes;
The Lord works in strange and mysterious ways!


By the by...keep watching...my friends and I are collaborating on writing a piece about what "submitting" means for an FLDS woman. *smile* It's going to be an 'eye opener'! It isn't what you think!

"Marriage" and the FLDS

Okay, folks...
I'm going to take a stab at this. I know I'll get parts wrong. I know I'll miss some aspects.
However, the term "marriage" is as big and broad in the world of the FLDS as it is narrow and defined in the lexicon of the average person.
I think that the myriad of uses of a single word has caused considerable grief. Mainly because those persons in empowered positions have not taken the time to learn what the word actually is in the FLDS culture. They have assumed our simple meaning and superimposed that meaning over every instance they confront the word in the FLDS.
The other thing that confounds me is how "we" have assumed the term "sealed" to mean a conventional marriage, as we define marriage. And, conveniently, we pretend the difference between "time" and "all eternity" are negligible.
Anyway, here are the types of situations I have seen referred to as "marriage" within the FLDS.

1. The equivalent of a 'betrothal'. This seems to be infrequent, and usually involves a young adolescent girl, who is sealed to an older, 'elder' in the church. It is presumed that the marriage will not be consummated until much later, when the girl herself wants to, and comes to her husband. This assures a place in the afterlife as part of the family of the husband.
2. A 'sealing' of a widow to a man in the community, for 'time'. Her husband has died in good standing, and she is already assured her place with him in the afterlife, but a sealing for 'time' to another man assures her needs and care in this life are met. This may or may not, be a consummated sealing. That would be up to the woman.
3. A 'sealing' of a woman whose husband has lost his priesthood. A woman's path to eternal life is through her husband. If her husband has lost his priesthood, a woman can ask to be sealed to another in order to attain heaven in the next life. This is the choice of the woman, who also makes this choice on behalf of her young children who are unmarried, and boys who have not reached the age and requirements of priesthood. Some women choose to be sealed to another shortly after their husband has lost his priesthood. Some choose to wait and see if their husband repents and returns to the community. It is considered the woman's choice to make.
4. A conventional sealing., for time and eternity, between two individuals who have each decided they are ready for this union. This is the beginning of the journey, together. After being sealed, the couple get to know one another. They work at loving one another. When they are both ready, particularly the woman, the marriage is consummated, and the aspect of becoming a family together begins. There is no set time for this. It is when they have both decided that they are ready for this next step. And, importantly, the woman must be the one to come to her husband and declare herself ready for this step.

Now I may have over simplified these types of "marriages". And there may be types of relationships I have missed. And I didn't discuss the individual experiences aspect. And I didn't discuss the times when things have gone awry from the doctrinal definitions and expectations.

What I wanted to show is that "marriage" has many permutations within the FLDS community. Without understanding that, all sorts of assumptions of wrongdoing can happen. The differences in how we conventionally use language, and the variations within the specific culture of the FLDS are of tremendous importance. Over the last few months I have seen ugly judgments being rendered without any real understanding.
The judgments have been based on the use of the same word without accommodation for the very different meanings applied to the word.

In our "outside" world, marriage comes after two people have gotten to know one another, and have decided they want to spend their lives together, as a married couple. They have already determined that there is physical attraction and emotional commitment. Often, even if the relationship has not been consummated, there has been some degree of sexual intimacy and exploration.
In the FLDS culture, when an individual feels they are ready to begin the journey with another person, they let their parents know. And the Prophet is told. Or, for a man who has a family, the Prophet, through divine inspiration, will know that he is ready to expand his family.
Through the Prophet, who is inspired through prayer, two people are brought together. If both of them agree, they are sealed. Sometimes they have never met. Rarely do they know each other well.
For these two people, this is the beginning, there is a time of getting to know one another. Of working on love and commitment and building a relationship. It is a time for all of those things that have usually taken place in an "outside" relationship, before marriage. Here it happens after marriage. It is very, very different.
And, importantly, one only acts on one's sexuality within their marriage. Period. No exceptions. It is sacred. It is a gift from God, between two people.

FLDS and Racism

Racism.
Probably one of the ugliest words in the English language.
Hating someone, or disliking someone, or simply looking down on someone, or thinking they are a lesser person, for no reason save the color of their skin. It absolutely goes beyond my ability to conceptualize. I know it's real. I know it is an integral part of some folk's being. I have seen it. I have watched it. I have felt it. I am the parent, friend, coworker, ally, of many people of many colors, so I am always tuned in to any undercurrents of "isms". They are so ugly and senseless, they make no sense to me.
And, racism is something I constantly see ascribed to the FLDS.
On the other hand, it is not something I have experienced from the FLDS individuals I have come to know. Those persons I have come to know are as offended by racism, and all of the isms, and all their awful permutations, as I am.
So, just because I feel I need to try and articulate what I've learned, I'm going to take a stab at writing about it. I may be completely off target. I may have completely not understood what I think I have learned. But here goes;

God loves everyone. Plain and simple. EVERYONE. Everyone is born with the opportunity to live a good life, and to make their way to heaven. What a good and righteous life is, is determined by the knowledge and beliefs of the group you are born into, or raised with, or have consciously adopted. (If you're born and raised in a Muslim country, as a Muslim, obviously then, living the best life you can, by the standards you are taught, is what makes you righteous. And so on, for other ways and places.) Thing is, no matter who you are, where you're born, etc., if you do the best you can to live a good life, God will know that, and your reward will be heaven. With every opportunity to work toward the highest levels.

Now, we get to the specifics....

The FLDS believe that they are the direct line of the Priesthood that Jesus will return through, or to...(I'm not sure on that one.) They also believe that the line that persons of color are of, is the line Satan will return through. They absolutely do not believe every person of color is Satan.
So, they abjectly do not believe in misogyny for FLDS faithful. That's not to say that others cannot make the choice to inter-marry. As far as making one's way to heaven, a righteous person of color has the same opportunity as does any of the rest of us.

There may be individuals within the FLDS who are racist. There are racists everywhere. And if someone harbors those kinds of feelings, it is considered wrong, by the FLDS beliefs. Their beliefs teach that they are to love all of God's children. Period. I've never heard of any exceptions where hate is allowed.
That is true of every religion I know of. But purporting to be Christian never seemed to stop the KKK. Purporting to be Christian didn't have much effect on George Wallace
& Co.. Purporting to be Muslim doesn't seem to have much effect on the Taliban. Purporting to be Buddhists didn't have a lot of effect on the Khmer Rouge.

To address the comments about Warren Jeffs comments, before they even start; the tape that is so widely circulated is one of Jeffs, when he was a teacher, long before he became Prphet, reading the words of a long passed Prophet. And in his dictations were of a dream.....and, how he interpreted the dream was about Wisan and his cohorts....none of whom are persons of color.
Also, despite his many travels, Jeffs is a small town person with limited experiences in the larger world. When he was out of town, his interactions were still with those from his community, so his actual experiences were limited. One's way of framing lessons can only be as big and open as one's world.

Since Pliggy is often the "face of the FLDS", rather than defend him in a thread post, I want to say here, that he is the person who has given me this understanding. Not just through discussions, because we have had many, but also through observing him. He has been in my home. He has interacted with my sons and friends. He has shaken hands, and laughed and talked and shared stories, with all sorts of people. He has never shown anything but grace, humor, and goodwill. Period. There are no exceptions to this. He is an extremely likable young man, who exemplifies his religion through his living.
I am not a follower of any specific religion, but my God is the same God of everyone. And the God I am coming to know, wouldn't ask any more of anyone, than this young man gives in his life, today. So folks who read this, and read Pliggy's comments to various things may take exception to what he has to say. Folks may vehemently disagree with his positions on things. But no one has any room to ever call him racist. If he writes something you might interpret as 'racist', ask for clarification. Remember, we do have cultural differences that alter how we use language. So get clarity. Don't sling names around.
And, just for the record, those others in the FLDS community that I have had the privilege of having discussions with, have shared the same explanation and beliefs about God and the color of folk's skin.

Note: Pliggy has left a more accurate and complete description of the FLDS beliefs under comments. His is the tenth comment down. Mine above is "approaching" accuracy, but I missed the mark...I appologize.

"Keep Sweet", A Mantra for Good Living

Much ado has been made about the FLDS term "keep sweet".
More often than not, the ado is very pejorative. There is a belief that "keep sweet" applies only to women, and that women are expected to be sweet and docile all of the time, without ever showing emotions.
Nothing could be further from the reality of the expression and it's intent. Nothing could be further from the way that the expression is used by the FLDS people.
"Keep sweet" is a cue. An easy reminder. A phrase that can be internalized and become part of the subliminal set of coping skills we all have.
"Keep sweet" is as big and comprehensive and important as it is simple.
It is a reminder to stay calm. It is a reminder to stay in prayer. It is a reminder that allowing angers and negative emotions to erupt without control usually has bad consequences.
The positive effects are also huge. It allows individuals who are in disagreement to talk, not shout. It allows children to have consistency. It allows parents to discipline their children without having anger at an action overshadow the need to be firm, yet loving. It allows the individual to move from instant, emotional reactions, to cognitive thinking, quickly.
It allows a smile to return to your face, even when something has gone awfully wrong. It helps you to fall asleep faster, more soundly, more restfully. It allows you to let go of angers and hostilities before they ferment and begin to erode your thinking.
In short, "keeping sweet" encompasses all of the foundations of good mental health. It ties together mind, body, spirit. It is a mantra. It is a goal. It is a way of being. It is for young and old. It is for men and women. It is for everyone.
It keeps blood pressure down. It keeps children secure. It keeps marriages from crumbling. It keeps friendships strong. It fosters talking instead of arguing. It turns swords into plow shears.
It is the equivalent of "taking a deep breath". It is the equivalent of "count to ten". And it is more.
It is a prayer of "Lord, give me strength.". It is a prayer of "Thank-you Lord, for all that I have". It is a prayer of "Please Lord, help this other person."
It is a reminder of "Lord, I love this person." It is the classic, "You catch more bees with honey." It is classic, "Slow and steady wins the race."

It is consciously giving over to trust in the Lord, through every thought and deed of our lives.
In essence, it is a psychiatrist's dream come true. For those who understand it, and work toward it, it brings balance and a calm way of dealing with life, people, and all the joys and vagaries that are inherent to the human condition.

It is something we should admire and learn from and embrace in our own lives. It is so simple. It is so brilliant. It is so misunderstood. The FLDS have given us an amazing gift in "keep sweet" that we don't even recognize, much less avail ourselves of.

Leaving Brooke's Blog, The Plural Life

I've stopped posting on Brooke Adam's "The Plural Life" blog, for a number of reasons.
And now, I have stopped even reading it.

First and foremost, I stopped posting because of the personal toll the constant barage of meanness and hatred was taking on me. I was finding myself getting really depressed and unable to perform the functions of my own job in a way that adequately served parents and families. I was too distracted and upset.

Secondly, posters were personalizing their attacks more and more, with a vicious, "I want to hurt you, personally" tone. I find that repugnant. In my worst battles, with the most difficult of adversaries, I never see it as personal. It is idealogical. It is philosophical. It is plain old unrelenting loyalty to old ideas. It is many things, but it is never personal. And at the change of topic, or the end of the meeting, it is always cordial.
The posters on Brooke's blog fail to follow the most basic rules of civil discourse. Too often I found myself sinking to their level. Of either wanting to, or actually, attacking another poster, on a personal level.
I don't like that behavior. I abhor that behavior in myself.

And my third reason for leaving is the new "regulars". They seem to have appeared from out of the blue with no purpose save to attack the FLDS. They do not want to engage in discussion. They do not want to share ideas. They want to bash, slam, villify, and spread hate and ugly rumors. And worst of all they take unabshed pleasure inthe pain of the people of the FLDS faith. I find them to be the worst kind of internet "trolls". Some call them the "Kindred Spirits" because they seem to know one another from another place on the net and have banded together to be ugly and hurtful toward the FLDS, all the while chit-chatting with one another and sharing recipes, etc.. All as though their behavior is prefectly fine and acceptable. I want nothing to do with them.
The old group has always had posters on all sides of the issues raised. And some considerable ugliness, at times, but never this kind of abject hatred and total disregard for the feelings of those reading. Ron, Laurie, and Txbluesman, at their worst, cannot hold a candle to these creeps!

The final straw in deciding to not only not post, but to not even bother reading, is the kinds of blogs Brooke has been writing since her return from vacation. Brooke has developed a reputation as a reporter who deliberately tries to show the FLDS fairly, and has not joined the mob of journalists who play to the sensational. For that reason, Brooke has begun to enjoy the trust of the people in the FLDS community. Her blogs were basically unbiased and often showed a very human side of the FLDS people that regular news stories are not able to.
Many members of the community follow Brooke's blog. Some post to it. Some regularly. Not anymore.

When the personal writings of Warren Jeffs were made public, I wrote to Brooke and told her how disturbing this public viewing of what they consider very private writings of their Prophet is, to them. I know others conveyed the same sentiment to her. One by one the members of the FLDS community have dropped away from her blog. Yet Brooke continues to post items that are sensational and hurtful to people she claims to care for. I imagine she hasn't even noticed that she has lost Pliggy, Cheese, yuthehay, Rose, and others.
She has made no attempt to write anything about the sentiments of the FLDS people on this topic. She has made no appology for her topic choices. She has done nothing to mitigate the hurt she is furthering.

She has lost my respect, and following, for this, and the above reasons. I'll check in, from time to time, hoping she changes. But I'm not holding out any hope!

This Is MY Blog. I Can Rant and Rave If I Want To!

I am exhausted.
I am depressed.
I am so completely tired of having to deal with cry babies who cannot let go of their childhood demons.
People who explain every crappy thing they do, or comment they make that is hurtful, or misjudgement they make, by saying it must be the influence of the rotten childhood they had.
I want to just shake them and tell them to get over it!
For crying out loud, I had a really crappy childhood, too. Probably crappier than most. So did my sister. And we have both moved on to have full lives, with people we love and who love us. Tomorrow holds all the promise of wonder and joy that it always does. Yesterday can never return.
My gosh! We were beaten, mentally tortured, deprived of love, locked up for long periods, subjected to terrible indignities, molested by an older family member, institutionalized, disowned, raped....you name it, it probably happened to one or both of us. We've both had periods of alcohol and drug abuse, promiscuity, suicidal ideations, abusive relationships, running away.... Our father failed to protect us. He was even an abuser, at times. The nuns failed to protect us. Counselors failed to protect us.
You know what? Life goes on. With or without us, life goes on. And you know what else? Life can be full of really good things! You have to decide that you want your life filled with good things in order for there to be room for them. It has to be a conscious decision.
You can dwell on the past, constantly reliving the horrors and pains, or you can put them aside and make room for good things and great joy to take up the space.

And I am really, really tired of the FLDS being put under a microscope. I'm tired of them being held to a higher standard than we hold ourselves and our own communities to. And I am tired of people asking intrusive, personal questions of Pliggy and others, as though they are entitled to that information.
And I am tired of the nastiness. The abject meanspiritedness of the questioners and those who feel they have the right to sit in judgment. I want them to all just go away and stop being so damn ugly!
I am a tough old bird, yet I find myself in tears at the end of a day on the blogs.
I can be ruthless when I need to get something accomplished. But even in my ruthlessness, I respect certain boundaries. These people don't even have a sense of boundaries!
Laurie and her ilk don't bother me anywhere nearly as much as the pseudo-inquisitive, 'I'm curious and want to learn', bunch. Laurie, et al, are at least up front with their hatred and agenda.
It's the 'rebeckah' types who make me want to slap the bejesus out of them. She's just the most recent of that type....and to think I went out of my way for her. I connected her with a mother from Shortcreek who was very, very kind to her! She says things that are so judgemental and condescending, as though the folks reading her posts are less than human, ergo not deserving of courteous language. And when confronted she uses her very tired crap about 'just wanting to be objective'. Crap! And she seems to believe she is rather intelligent. Makes me laugh when people do that...I'm guessing she's 120, maybe 125....not a lick over! And she is the worst of the using her childhood as an excuse types! Oh my gosh is that getting lame!

And the whole damn bunch get to me with their abject refusal to even acknowledge cultural differences. Never mind understanding the huge impact those differences have on perceptions.
There is a language difference. Both in the use of words and terms and understandings, and in the seeming literalness of the FLDS speech. For the most part their speech is devoid of inuendo or sarcasm. And they don't seem to look for it, or recognize it in others. Some, like "pliggy", "cheese", "rose", and a few others, who are regulars on the blogs seem to be picking it up, and even using it, from time to time...but overall, it is clearly a cultural difference that needs to be acknowledged by anyone who intends to enter into any serious dialogue with the group.

This standard setting is really getting to me...
Yesterday there were comments about what the twin towns look like...nasty comments....It makes me wonder if some of these folks who are posting live in some sort of Ozzie and Harriet, white picket fence bubble, that they never leave. Obviously they have never driven through rural Pennsylvania's small towns....
And I guess they've never seen the devastation to "Main St." in small towns all across the country...the shuttered store fronts and run down buildings, with no people and no businesses...
And they've never seen the sun dried lawns of even the affluent neighborhoods of Southern California...

But mostly I get hurt, not angry, just hurt when folks like Laurie tell me that the women I have become friends with are not real. That they are men posing as women to rope me in....that is the biggest pile of crap I've heard in a long time....but others read that and wonder...they already are ready to believe the worst about this community...then they read that kind of garbage...
And, I know it isn't true...I know that I have become friends with these wonderful women...and that they aren't stupid, or brainwashed, or trapped...no more so than anyone else is...
Hell, everyone feels trapped by their own lives from time to time...
Everyone feels subservient to others, from time to time....Everyone feels stupid, from time to time...
And we're all brainwashed, to some degree...it's called differential association....It's part of living the human condition....

I wish I could fix things. I wish I had pixie dust. I'd use some of it in my own life, for sure. But mostly I would share it....
I think, in some ways, all that has happened has caused some good things to happen. It has certainly opened up the communication between the community and the rest of the world. And I do think there are some folks who have learned that it is a good community. And I have made new friends...and to me, that is laways good....
But my growing knowledge has made me sad, too....and sometimes I just want to scream that I already have enough sad stories and people I am responsible for understanding and caring for in my life....
When I'm being all sorts of rational and intelligent, I tell myself, and others, I am an agnostic...but when I am feeling so overburdened, I become God-believing very quickly!!!! I start remembering the lessons of my childhood, that God never gives anyone more to bear than they are capable of carrying...that everything has a purpose....
I just can't figure out what my purpose in this saga is...it keeps escaping my understanding...but I seem to get in deeper and deeper...
And right now, I just want to throttle all these people who are so hurtful.....

God, Can't We Slow This Show Down A Bit?

I've intended to blog so many times....

Intended, of course, being the key word here. Life just gets in the way. Just when you think there might be five minutes to breathe, something new comes up, demanding one's attention.

So this is going to be a quick update...

1. The porch is 'almost' completed...still have to do the ceiling...and then plant the front yard over...grass...flowers, etc...

This isn't the best picture....probably because I haven't yet taken 'the best' picture...sorry. But at least there is a new deck, new posts and rails, it's painted...and you can't see, but there is a new roof on it...ah..this is good!

2. The fish...oh what a mess....we have another koi that is probably going to die today or tomorrow. We did, however, finally discover what was/is killing them. We have a case of "hole in side" disease. Honestly! That is the name of it. And it is awful. Apparently it is a direct translation from the Japanese....

Our vet gave us a prescription of strong antibiotics to use, but for this last fish, it was too late. Hopefully, however, it has imunized the others....we also treated the water, again, this time with an antiparasitic. Hole in the side disease apparently often starts with a microbe and invades susceptible fish...

Right now, anyway, all the rest look healthy. And it is time for their systems to slow down for winter...so keep your fingers crossed for us. We have switched them to a wheatgerm based food for winter. That's what we used to introduce the antibiotics with.

Funny story about that...in order to get the antibiotic powder to stick to the food, you have to mix it with grain alcohol. You shake the powder and food till it is mixed and then sprinkle on about an ounce of grain alcohol and shake it all up. You leave it open for the alcohol to evaporate for 24 hours and then use it as you would regular feed. Well, the alcohol mostly dries...*smile*...but not completely...I can smell it when I open the jar it is in...and the fish love it!!!!...Ohmygod! If you could see them come to the top and scarf this 'new' food down...it is hysterical....so we have a pond full of drunks...

On the up side, when I was putting plants back in the pond after the last treatment, I found several small fish in the wading pool we had the plants in. I rescued them and have them in a tank inside. We have no idea what kind of fish they are. Very strange looking. Actually, three are plain silver looking and are probably comets. The others are really odd. Mixed colors and black, black eyes. I read somewhere that Sarasas start out with black eyes so these may be Sarasa/Koi mixes....or Sarasa/Shebunkin mixes...either way, they are strange....

3. Josh....

What can I say...he's still in love...he's been going down to Florida every other weekend, lately....

Although he now tells me he is going down there for Thanksgiving. i may have to kill him. I'll just prop his dead body up at our Thanksgiving table! This better be seious if I am expected to give up one of my children for a family holiday! He'll be home this weekend so I plan to grill him...which is apt to do no good. I grill...they clamp up....You'd think I'd learn, no?....oh well....

4. Me..

I'm still struggling, everyday...

The more I learn about the FLDS, the more sure I am that hey have been seriously persecuted and targeted by law enforcment and others.

The more sure I am that mass media feeds this ugly, wrong picture of them....

And the more sure I am that we each have an obligation to speak out when we see wrongs...no matter the personal cost. No matter how great we may think our personal cost is, it is nothing compared to the cost we all pay when we leave wrongs unchecked.....

I'll try to write more, soon...there are so many topics I would like to explore....

For now...this'll have to do....

Hate is the Ugliest Emotion.....

I've never understood abject hatred.
I see it all the time. One person hating another, or a group. Usually for something really stupid. Like how they dress, or what color they are. Or their religion.

I learned about how awful hate is along time ago....

My step-mother was extremely abusive to my sister and I. My father failed to protect us. It really was pretty awful . And I was so full of hate.....but after awhile I realized that there wasn't anything but the hate. It took up so much room. So I consciously worked at remembering some of the good things that came out of my childhood. and then I looked at 'why' my parents behaved the way they did...and as wrong as it was, I started to understand how they came to be who they were. Their make-up was inevitable....and I stopped hating them and just felt sorry for how limited their lives were....
And what a release it was for me. I had so much room for good stuff in myself....I'd never realized how holding on to so much hatred affected everything I was.....until it was gone!!!!

I see this kind of senseless, irrational hatred on the blogs. There are people who simply want to hate the FLDS. Doesn't matter How often you present them with corrections to popular beliefs, they have just decided to hate.
It makes no sense to me. It just always seems to me easier to like people than dislike them. People aren't perfect. Everyone I know makes mistakes from time to time. But mistakes aren't the end of the world...and most people, if they find that something they are doing hurts someone else, they find ways to change what they're doing.
It just makes good sense. And most people have pretty good sense.

But these haters....boy, I just don't get it...
They say the ugliest, cruelest things. Without care for the readers. They ignore the fact that real live human beings are behind these posts. I've watched them write the most hateful things....things they would never say in "real life", to anyone....so why is it okay to type this crap in a blog?
Because they choose to be anonymous? Does that make them any less responsible when they hurt another person? How miserable these people must be in their own souls....how empty....

I can't imagine going through life without empathy and sympathy....and the joys of having friends....and the good feeling that comes with knowing I am trustworthy....
And the friends I have made in life because I tried very hard to not judge....and it does take lots of effort, sometimes...but the effort is so worth it....my life is so much richer for it....
I can only hope I have passed this on to my boys......

Nightmares, Friends, and Bad Choices

I woke up this morning with an overwhelming sense of saddness and discontent. Perhaps it's the dreary, gray weather. More likely it is that the last thing I heard before I went to bed last night was the report of the indictments out of Texas and the FLDS.
I don't remember the details of my dreams. At least not often. I do remember the general 'theme' , most mornings. Last night I dreamt of dentists and the FLDS.
Don't ask me why....I know it's a weird combo...but I'm guessing it's because I have some really major dental work coming up and I was so upset about the indictments......But I awoke in a sweat...and feeling as though I hadn't slept. Tremors in my stomach from the monsters in the dark. I'm still feeling all sorts of discombobulated.

I'm not sure why, but for a long time I've felt a strong connection to these distant folks...long before the Texas debacle I began 'following' them. I would check in on the site of the local guy who took all the arial photos...and I would peer and peer at the pictures, trying to catch a glimpse of the people. And marveling at the steady growth of the community. I knew the photographer was no friend of the community's, but I felt grateful to him for the pictures...I knew they were invasive yet I felt they gave me something tangible to attach to my gut feelings....

As much as I loathe my step-mother, and as loathe as I am to give her any credit, for anything, I am, and always will be, thankful to her for instilling in me a strong sense of "I can do anything". Had my grandmother continued and completed raising me, I would probably have been far more retiring in my character and personality. Nana was, afterall, a southern lady. Very gentile in her demeanor. I am all that good southern women are taught is unholy and wrong.....

As much as I admire the FLDS women, and the Amish women, too, I am exactly opposite of them....
I am very much an "in your face" kinda person....right in there in the middle of the scuffle....I can cuss with the best of 'em....I can throw a straight, hard punch, when need be......I countenance very little b.s. in my life.....although, in my work, I have learned to sit through all sorts of b.s. and move forward, as it is part of the 'process' for folks. People have to get past vomiting garbage before they can come together to develop plans and concensus....but it has taken me years to do that...to even see the importance of that aspect of 'process'.....

And I have learned to hate 'process'....at the same time recognizing it is one of those 'necessary evils'....It is the only way that major change can occur and be real and sustainable. All of the stakeholders must feel ownership in identifying the need and the path to achieve the necessary change.
It is this 'process' stuff that has me so vexed and angry at the Texas mess. Process is fine for systemic changes....developing long range goals and work plans, mission statements, and guiding philosophies....but not in the dealings of everyday people...families and children and daily life.
Sometimes we need to just stop in our tracks and take account. We need to check ourselves. Make sure our goals are what they should be and our path to achievement is the right one.
You can't do that 'check' while in motion.
Mistakes are what they are. And we all make them. For a variety of reasons. And mistakes can have devastating consequences.....both personally and societally....that is why it is so important to build into our 'systems', whether it's our personal operating system, or a larger societal 'system', a set of measurements and balances...and a 'process' for accountability...without that, we are in constant motion without knowing if we are accomplishing anything, much less our goals....
Texas seems to be in constant motion without any checks or balances. Operating willy nilly. Operating without dialogue or concensus, on anything...operating without goals...
Seems like Texas had one big. visceral reaction to something strange and unknown and painted in the colors of 'the enemy'....seems like Texas, perhaps unwittingly, allowed itself to become a tool for a few angry, disenfranchised, extremely goal oriented, individuals....

I don't blame these individuals. They are simply doing what they have deigned necessary to attain their goals....they are only as successful as those they connect with allow. Texas gave them, and continues to give them, a huge boost..... and that is really scary....It's one thing when individuals buy their books and wring their hands...it may not be right, but it doesn't have any direct impact on the FLDS, or whomever the target is.....but when an entire state government buys into their agenda, well, that's scary....people get hurt....
Individuals wringing their hands and feeding thier own personal lust for the sensational can't empower armies, they can't manipulate the laws, or make new laws based on expedience, they can't set agenda's for governmental bodies......but empowered individuals in government can....and in Texas they did. And, based on watching Texas, empowered individuals in other states are following suit.....and that scares me to death....

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ADMITTING TO MAKING A MISTAKE!!!!!!!!
No one can unring a bell. But if the bell is out of tune, you know it the minute the vclapper hits....so you don't ring it a second time...certainly not a third time....
You stop ringing the damn thing, you take it down, you take it apart, and you start over...you essentially make a new bell...you ring the new bell and if it is true, wonderful...but if it still sounds crappy, you start all over...again, and again....until you get it right, or until you decide you don't really need the bell...all of which is predicated on constant examination of your original purpose for having a bell.....was that purpose a necessity or a luxury???...was it a bell to warn of fire or a bell to simply please the ear????
Can the original need for the bell be met in some other way? Does the need still exist? Was there really a need? or just a desire?
Texas needs to take stock.....
What was their original need? Why was it determined to be a need? What was the foundation for determining need? Was that a solid foundation? Does the need still exist. What are alternatives for addressing the need? Have we elected the 'right' alternative? Why? Why not? Who are the stakeholders? Were all of the stakeholders at the table? How can we bring all of the stakeholders to the table?
Etc., etc., etc.........
Acknowledge the mistake and move forward...don't let ego and false pride get in the way of doing what is right...don't let it get in the way of efficacy....
With efficacy comes the claim to real pride...and that is always sweet.....to know when you look in the mirror that you have done good....

People I have come to know....not personally....but in other ways, very, very personally, are being hurt.....
And, they are being hurt by a process that can be super-imposed over any set of folks or circumstances...this is just a prototype....and that is not just frightening, but mind boggling.....this is something antithesis to everything this country stands for.....
I am hurting for those who are being hurt, and I am scared for myself and others yet to be targeted....
I am all sorts of upset.....
And frustrated...
and feeling terribly impotent.....
My instinct to nurture...to cradle the hurt person and give them a lollipop, and make things all better is kicking in and I know it is impossible.....
This is worse than watching your child go through growing pains....this is a Stephen King movie where the ending hasn't been written and Stephen King has died......

Having One's Identity Challenged Is Tough

Some twit, on some blog, keeps asserting that I don't know what I am saying and that I am, at best, a rookie.....
She doesn't use those descriptors, but that's what she implies....She challenges me in very dismissive and demeaning ways.....And I bite....
I get pissed, and defensive...and I know I shouldn't.....
Thing is, I'm really good at what I do....one of the best.....
Hell, there are so many things I can't do...that I wish I could do...so many things I've tried and failed at...or had only marginal success....but family advocacy is my baliwick...I am good at it!
I know the laws and regulations and people involved....I spend lots of energy clearing away the 'ca-ca' and finding the crux of issues...I see the big picture....I see how the parts fit....
And I present good, solid reasoning 'at the table'.....

I know my ego isn't so fragile that I should take an attack from some venemous, anonymous blogger seriously.....so why do I feel so defensive??????....why do I feel some compelling reason to justify who I am, what I do, and that I do it well to a group of people I do not know, have nothing to do with me personally, or professionally, and don't give a tinker's damn about any of this crap?????

I think I am getting too, too upset about all that is happening in Texas and with the FLDS, in general....My heart is being torn over a group of people three thousand miles from here and there are plenty of folks in my own backyard who need my energies.....

I get on the blogs and phrases come to mind like "We're not in Kansas, anymore..."
The one thing it has done is help me put in perspective, once again, how much better Pa. is than a great number of other places....Lord knows we have our problems.....we have a long way to go...but we are moving in the right direction...sometimes the 'crisis of the moment' makes one forget how far we've come....but this Texas mess brings it home!!!!!!!!

It's scary to think that there are folks who actually believe what they are doing is a good thing....
I can't believe that the bureaucrats involved in the Texas mess deliberately want to hurt people...I believe they believe what they are doing is right....but how scary is that??????? How totally screwed up and damaged is the thinking of a group of people empowered to ruin lives???????????