Polygamy meeting crowded

The last time I was in St. George, the big controversy over polygamy was over how a guy is only legally married to the first wife so his extra wives all get to be on state welfare with their kids, food stamps and the works. The question was about whether the Utah taxpayer should foot the bill for one man's excess.

ST. GEORGE, Utah -- Attorneys general of Utah and Arizona told a two-state town hall meeting they would not target polygamists solely for practicing plural marriage.

However, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard told the crowd of about 350 Thursday they would pursue criminal charges against those involved in forced or underage marriages, sexual abuse and welfare and tax fraud.

That drew an angry reaction from polygamy opponents, who said the practice is against the law and the law should be enforced.

The meeting drew polygamous families and those who oppose the practice.

Polygamists contend they have a First Amendment right to practice plural marriage, because it's part of their religion. They also claim they've been targeted by prosecutors because they're different.

"It's never been about religion, but we certainly won't sit back and let people commit crimes," Shurtleff said.

Goddard said work still needs to be done in "breaking down decades of suspicion that have existed" between those who believe polygamy is the height of religious exhalation and those in the law enforcement communities and beyond.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Mar-04-Fri-2005/news/25994311.html

(Damn, second time this week I forgot the link! Sorry!)

thanks

Same sex marriage is taboo, many-sex marriage is not. We define, you obey!

system to support THEIR LIFESTYLE!!! Yet these very same people would slam down hard on a homosexual. These people drove around with BUSH/CHENEY stickers on their pick up trucks last fall. I'll bet they still have the stickers on.

Yep, hypocrites.

holding an equally crowed polyandry meeting down the hall. :P

Oh, that's right, Republicans are patriarchal. Perhaps these folks should relocate to Saudi Arabia where that "kind of action" is the norm.

Most of the young men are driven out of the community. They become drifters, drug users, hustlers and criminals. They've been taught absolutely no useful life skills and have very little education (same as the girls).
Unless you are one of the very few "lucky" ones who is allowed to marry, you're stuck with either being a servant to your father all your life, or trying to make it in the outside world.

And of course, if you are a young woman, you are pretty much a sex-slave/baby-making machine.

On edit: changed subject line because of stupidity. What was I thinking?

women and girls, forced marriages, beatings, etc. There is a small group of "escaped" wives from polygamous marriages who are helping other women get out.

" Polygamists contend they have a First Amendment right to practice plural marriage, because it's part of their religion. They also claim they've been targeted by prosecutors because they're different. "

Oh please, please..... let this go to the Supreme Court!
I would love to see Thomas, Scalia and Oconnor try to side step this.
This won't bear up under scrutiny.

which has been a part of their religion forever, then these guys can't have two or more wives at once just because they think it's part of theirs.

do they ?

human sacrifice, because of his first amendment rights?

maybe the SCOTUS would uphold the right to sexually abuse minors and support polygamists claims to social services and welfare.

I don't think so either.

But if the worshippers of quexecoatl would sacrifice NEOCONS.... hey I am all for that.

My rights end where yours begin. or Your rights end where others' rights begin. However you like to say it. I have no problem with polygamy as long as all parties consent. Now human sacrifice is a little trickier. Assuming the one being sacrificed is doing so against his/her will, that sacrificer's right to practice his/her religion ends at the sacrificee's right to life. And, don't misinterpret 'right to life.'

I spent 1985-1987 in St. George.

Personally knew 3 "crick'er girls." At their request, we cut their hair, gave them modern clothes and drove them to Las Vegas to a safehouse. There IS an underground railroad to get young women out of the polygamous communities. It's tough though - Once they hit 14 or 15 they vanish from public life until their will to leave "the church" has been beaten or bred out of them.

What you don't see mentioned is that nearly all of the female polygamists in southern utah look like they stepped out of the 19th century. Long gingham dresses, elaborately braided hair that signifies matrilinial family lines, and headscarves or prairie bonnets.

:puke:

Is this the opposite of "I didn't inhale"?

After consummating the plural marriage act, the husband is to say "I did perhaps exhale, but I didn't enjoy it."

Perhaps the word the writer was looking for was "exaltation."

http://www.shire.net/mormon/exalt.html

For example, Islam permits up to four wives but states explicitly that the husband must be in a financial position to support them.

If the Mormon-fundie common-law wives are on welfare, their husbands don't meet that standard. I think it's a sensible strategy to go after this kind of welfare freeloading.

aside from the other....ugh! Sick!:puke:

I'm glad they're doing this.
It really irks me when people take advantage of the system for their own selfish gain and in the process screw others who really need it.

I'm beginning to think that this kind of rampant system abuse is what has unfortunately made for so many more Repukes than their used to be.:(

Or, if you don't read the whole book, just read the section that talks about how much money the polygamist communities take from U.S. taxpayers.

They proudly call it "Bleeding the Beast."

Your taxes are supporting underage and forced marriages in a brutally-controlled community.

20/20 did a good expose a couple of years ago with a woman who escaped the community almost 20 years ago. John Quinones (sp) did the story. Very scary when the police chief stopped them as they filmed in Colorado City and alluded to how they would like her dead, when she was sitting in the car with a disguise on!

besides all the other ick!

From page 12 in Under the Banner of Heaven, Krakauer writes:

"Despite the fact the Uncle Rulon (married to an estimate 75 women and father to at least 65 children) and his followers regard the governments of Arizona, Utah, and the United States as Satanic forces out to destroy (them), their polygamous community receives more than $6 million a year in public funds. . . . snip . . .

Thirty-three percent of the town's residents receive food stanmps---compared to the state average of 4.7 percent. Currently the residents of Colorado City receive eight dollars in government services for every dollar they pay in taxes . . . "



I used to live 40 miles from there and whenever I drove from Kanab to St. George, I was amazed at the size of the never-finished homes. In the book, Jon Krakauer mentions one man's house stating that it has sixteen thousand square feet of living space.

Plus the emotional and mental abuse this puts on women.

seriously!

never mind..

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