This year’s lent fast

I didn’t want to repeat the problems with last year’s Lent fast, where I was enmeshed with legalism and others felt like they needed to accommodate me.

I made it simple: no snacks. I eat at meals and that’s it.

I allowed myself exceptions only to avoid creating a burden on others. Because of that, I did break the fast four times.

But the good thing is nobody realized I did a fast until it was over. Not even my wife. That’s a good Lent fast.

Maybe next year I’ll devise a better fast that needs no exceptions?

Case for FLDS raid keeps collapsing

Today, the Texas Supreme Court further proved that the Texas Child Protective Service‘s jihad against the FLDS church is phenomenal bureaucratic ineptitude.

The Supreme Court rightly ruled that CPS never had sufficient grounds to remove the kids from the compound.

This comes after weeks of curious revelations, including that the phone calls instigating this raid were fake and, unlike the original allegations, that the CPS remains unable to substantiate any current pregnancies are with underage girls.

It’s even worse.

So far the CPS only suspects that 1.25% of the seized kids may have been physically or sexually abused. Let’s put that in context. In 2002, 4.6 million children were checked for abuse in the USA. Of them, approximately:

  • 20% showed any sign of abuse.
  • 6% showed signs of sexual or physical abuse (either one or both).

1.25% of the FLDS population is 94% lower than the physical or sexual abuse rate of the general population of investigated children. (source of stats) The point here is that the FLDS raid was grossly overbroad in including so many children.

<digression>

The media adds a humorous element to this saga: they are fascinated at how the FLDS members aren’t cooperating with officials, intentionally making it difficult for the government to investigate them.

Why is that weird? Why are the FLDS members’ actions any different than normal citizens? When you see a cop doing revenue enhancement running a speed trap, do you 1. brake and take other reasonable steps to avoid a citation or 2. drive up to the cop and ask to pay the speed tax ask for a ticket? (And don’t respond and say you never do this; almost everyone drives slowly around cops.) Ladies and gentlemen of the media, it’s normal for people not to submit to government intervention. Big Brother is not our friend. The rest of us get it. When will you?

</digression>

Now, don’t get me wrong about the FLDS. That church is very strange. It has bizarre, weird, heretical beliefs. It comes close to a cult.

Their founder is a pederast. Here are pictures of him passionately kissing a 12 and 14 year old girls he may have “married”:

(source)

How would you feel if those were your daughters? Fortunately, he’s in jail. Which means he’s not in Texas.

Memo to the Texas CPS: It’s legal to be strange! And thank God for that right.

Unless things start changing quickly, heads must roll at the CPS. A failure to soundly scourge that agency will set a precedent that the government is the chief child abuser in Texas!

FLDS: illegal or just weird?

I’m getting a funny feeling about what Texas has done with the FLDS people in Eldorado.

Sure, the FLDS church is very, very weird. Their theology is heretical. Sometimes they have done bad things. E.g., their previous dictator, Warren Jeffs, is in jail for various sex-related crimes.

But the Texas clan, why the extremes? Where’s this 16 year old complainant? If they have such a good case, why did they not have grounds to arrest the supposed perp? (Yes, they met with him.) Why are most the captured children forcibly separated from mothers who are accused of no crimes? Why are no facts coming out? Why the delays?

Is something up? Does Texas have a real case? Are Texas taxpayers about to be soaked in a major civil suit?

Is weird now illegal?