On April 3rd, 2008, police raided¹ the Yearn for Zion Ranch just outside of Eldorado, Texas, a compound owned by the polygamist cult Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.²

Of the children pulled from the compound, 31 girls aged 14 to 17 had children or were pregnant, and 41 children had a history of broken bones.³

Generally, I'm quite surprised at the reaction in general, and especially pleased. When I first heard of this, I was worried this would result in "Texas hick" jokes for the next decade. Seriously, non-Texans, thank you for the self-restraint.

One slightly annoying element of the story: when the Texas Rangers WAAAAY outside their jurisdiction arrested Rozita Swinton, who allegedly made up claims of sexual abuse, tipping off the whole raid. Weighing the pros and cons of the past month, I say just let her the fuck go. Save the jail space for the pedos.

UPDATE 5-12-08 Bishop Willie Jessop of the YFZ Ranch sent a letter to President Bush two days ago, accusing him of OMG TERRORISM! He goes further by weaving a conspiracy theory that the raid was hoaxed by "anti-FLDS crusaders" to provoke violence to justify deadly force, leading to another Waco.

So...where does the Illuminati come in?

UPDATE 6-2-08 On May 29th, a Texas court of appeals ruled that the raid on the pedo sect was based on insufficient evidence and ordered that all the children be returned.

My take: umm, okay, so being 14 and pregger isn't sufficient information.

Understandably, he cult didn't marry off and rape anyone before their teen years. I can see why babies and children should not have been separated from their mothers and father.⁴ They did however fail to provide a reason why the teen wives should be returned, citing a single case in which a mother believed to be 17 was really 22.⁵

UPDATE 6-4-08 The CPS has declared that about 30 of the 31 teenage mothers in custody weren't teenagers at all. The last one, underage, was never pregnant. That was an honest crap-up on part of the CPS.

Meanwhile, the FLDS promises to rewrite their rules concerning underaged marriage. Of course, men still need at least three wives to get into heaven's premium suites.

^{1 Since the release of this USATODAY article, the number of children removed jumped to 462.
2 Seriously, why do cults have such long names? Church of Scientology, Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Howabout something simple, like "Church?" Or "Cult?"
3 A FLDS lawyer claimed that many of the children suffered from the hereditary "brittle bone disease." If that's true, then they shouldn't have had sex with 14-year-old girls. Not sturdy enough.
4 Singular.
5 Source. The age of Louisa Jessop was confirmed with a driver's license. Since FLDS women generally never left the compound; why the fuck would she need a driver's license? Forgeries?}

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