SHURTLEFF'S WAR

If I hyper-reacted every time somebody on the Internet was wrong about something, - - well, you know. . . .

I can't resist this one, though. Today I read a preview of a new book on the following website. The author is Debra Weyermann. I haven't seen the book yet, so I don't know whether to be glad that somebody finally exposed Shurtleff's blatant, self-serving agenda, or to laugh at the hysterical assertions purportedly made in the book. My two-bit comments are inserted in ALL CAPS and [ . . . . ] brackets.

"The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been notorious for more than a century. [NOT SURE HOW, SINCE IT WAS ONLY FOUNDED IN THE LATE 1980's.] Though its core tenant [IT'S "TENET", MY DEAR] of embracing multiple wives is illegal in every state [NO, IT'S NOT, YOU DIMWIT!], the sect flourished undeterred throughout the American west, Canada and Mexico [WHERE IN MEXICO?!], amassing enormous wealth even as its membership subsisted on tens of millions of welfare dollars [WHAT PROOF DOES SHE HAVE OF THIS?]. The public saw FLDS victims only sporadically when they escaped the sect with terrible stories of incest, rape, young girls battered bloody [NAME TWO BLOODY, BATTERED FLDS GIRLS, YOU IDIOT!!] for refusing to marry old men and even murder. Yet authorities intimidated by FLDS's substantial block[SIC] vote and fearful of becoming the target of religious bigotry accusations refused to act. It seemed FLDS was invincible, until Mark Shurtleff was elected Utah's attorney general in 2000. A Mormon himself, Shurtleff engaged in no hand wringing over the religious rights [NO, HE'S NOT A FAN OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT] of a sect he considered a criminal cult. Using dazzling [I'M NOT DAZZLED] legal maneuvers, audacious persuasion and plain brute force [NO KIDDING !!!], Shurtleff faced down FLDS "blood oath" death threats and the powers of the status quo as he took the group apart piece by piece [I MUST HAVE MISSED THE TAKING APART STUFF]. His victories convinced the authorities in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico [NEW MEXICO !!!???], Colorado, Nevada and even Canada that tackling FLDS did not have to be a pipe dream as they joined Shurtleff's innovative and mostly [YEAH, NOT-COMPLETELY-]legal crusade. Today FLDS's $120 million trust has been seized and liquidated [WHEN WAS IT LIQUIDATED?], its businesses auctioned off, its school districts and police forces dismantled, its property dispersed and its leaders jailed. In SHURTLEFF'S WAR, award-winning journalist and author Debra Weyermann reveals the powerful, unknown [YEP, I KNEW NOTHING BEFORE THIS BOOK!] story of a man who risked everything [EXCEPT HIS POLITICAL CAREER] to do what was right [HOW WAS IT RIGHT ???]. A legal thriller, a detective story and an action-laced gambit, SHURTLEFF'S WAR is also the portrait of a complicated [NOW, THAT'S A EUPHEMISM !!!] man who defied [DEFIED !!!! - YOU MEAN "OBEYED"] his own church and state government to put an end to a sect (WHERE DID IT END ???] that has dotted American history with murder [WHO MURDERED WHOM IN SHORT CREEK?] and scandal for 100 years."

I think Debra Weyermann's middle name must be Krakauer.

Finally, I am including this LINK to a video made by Mark Shurtleff, where he makes an impassioned plea for the release of Warren Jeffs, arguing that Warren is just as much a man, just as worthy of full citizenship as he, Shurtleff is. He urges the disadvantaged to come together and use "the system" to fight for justice. Maybe you'll see the irony, too.

I wish that when I get to the pearly gates I could bring with me a book detailing my war on the Saints and on the everlasting doctrines restored by Joseph Smith . . . . .