My Three Wives

Doctor Drew Gets Into Polygamy!

This week on his nightly HLN tabloid show, Dr. Drew Pinsky got heavily into polygamy.  Above is what I believe may be a picture of Pinsky with his three "wives".  Jealous of the attention given to notorious pedophile, Warren Jeffs, Dr. Drew has apparently decided to expand his own family.

Like many impulsive, skirt-chasing men, Drew has no idea what he is getting himself into.  The above picture shows his wives taking him to task.  He does not yet realize that he may be looking forward to many years of stuttering, lying and exaggerating.  He will likely eventually wish he were in the Huntsville penitentiary with Jeffs.

More Fodder

Brighter Days

What Happened ???

"I am not the prophet."

I happened to notice today that the Warren Jeffs sexual assault trial was wrapping up in Texas.  Apparently, there were audio recordings of Jeffs allegedly schooling young adolescent girls in the practice of human intimacy (shudder !!!!!!).

I saw some of the hater-nasties spouting their outrageous exaggerations on the Headline News network again.  It was a veritable "cult"-bashing fest.  In the absence of any counterbalancing voice, they were able to spout unchecked - - - water-boarding, dead-babies, incest, child abuse, abandoned boys, forced marriages - the list goes on.  With the shocking revelations emerging from the Jeffs trial, the hater-harpies appear now to have more fodder to call for the eradication of an entire culture.  If the allegations against Jeffs are true, he should do prison time.  If he had accomplices, then they should be prosecuted, too.  One anchor said that with the "cult's" leader now gone, perhaps this whole FLDS "cult" can be shut down - whatever that means.  I mean, what does she want to do with 10,000 people who have just discovered the human failings of their once-revered leader?  Should we nuke the whole town, kids and all (Waco-style)?

I am reminded of those "War of the Worlds"-type movies from the sixties - the ones where the army fires on the aliens before the aliens can even voice the words, "Take me to your leader".  If it looks like a Martian, kill it, then ask questions later.  - - - Or the Frankenstein ones with the frantic mob of Transylvanian townsfolk with torches and pitchforks, itching for a bloodbath.

Hopefully now, the long-overdue epiphany can occur in FLDS-ville - where the faithful congregants can see past the deceit of "divine infallibility" of their corruptible human leaders.  Meanwhile, the State, with all its fangs, can call off the dogs and realize that, just because one maniac went kooky and destroyed precious lives, the innocent people around him don't have to be guilty by association.  Perhaps the hater-hags can think seriously about providing sincere support instead of spreading lies and exaggerations all over the television - more fodder or not.  Sadly, the truth is still not as sexy as wild fabrications.  What motivates you - money, fame, notoriety, political ascendancy, revenge, lust, power?  Are you not as corrupt as the one at whom you are throwing stones?

Dirty Pool

Today in West Jordan's Third District Court, Warren Jeffs' attorney, Walter F. Bugden argued before Judge Terry Christiansen that his client should be protected from extradition for the following three reasons:

1. The two states' (Utah's and Texas') governors made an extradition agreement which was unconstitutional on its face (it promised to deny Jeffs bail forever).

2. The Utah ("rape-as-an-accomplice") case is still hanging over Jeffs' head as prosecutors waffle around over whether they will seek to re-try him (you know they won't, because Elissa Wall has been found out as a liar and a fraud). Jeffs is entitled to a speedy trial and an opportunity to clear his name.

3. Jeffs has already served 50 months in jail for alleged crimes for which he has not been found to be guilty. Those alleged crimes are now a decade old and, if Jeffs is whisked off to Texas, then his defense team will be foreclosed from using the power of the litigation process to investigate the deceit perpetrated on the court by Elissa Wall - and who knows how many more years will pass by before he can return to Utah to have his day in court?

Judge Christiansen ruled against Jeffs, saying that it was not his province to overrule the discretion of the two Governors. Bugden told the judge that, if he did not reverse the extradition or at least grant a stay, Bugden would file an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court court to prevent the state from putting Jeffs on a plane tonight.

Reports just came in that (before the state could whisk Jeffs to Barbieland) the Utah Supreme Court instructed the (lower) appellate court to address the appeal. Apparently the appeals court has just ruled that the extradition must be stayed, so that it can hear the case against extradition - which case (I believe) is a strong one. We'll see.

This whole deal smells rotten to me. The hatred for Jeffs is so pervasive in some quarters that the prosecutors are resorting to dirty pool. It will be interesting to see what will happen if the appeals court rules against Jeffs. Would the Utah Supreme Court then review it? I hope so.

Thank God the goons were not able to stick him on a plane. Who knows how much more difficult it would have been for even the Utah Supreme Court to force Texas to fly him back here?

"The best laid plans . . . . . "

My Two Bits

Time for Renn's two bits:

I have noticed a couple of other websites/blogs opining that a judge's recent decision to allow Allen Steed's rape trial to proceed is a victory for the State of Utah, and that a conviction is likely. One site says, "Who wants to bet?"

I will bet my wives that no trial of Allen Steed will happen. Why? Because the star witness, Elissa Wall, will never again dare to get on the witness stand. Oh, yes, she has been pretty glib on TV news interviews, but those interviewers didn't ask the tough questions.

Elissa Wall's entire case was choreographed by some not-so-clandestine figures behind the scenes. Sadly, there is also so much dirt behind those scenes that their house of cards is at risk of tumbling. A conviction of Allen Steed was never what they wanted. It would be a thin victory even now; a victory whose potential cost to them would be catastrophic.

As I suggested in my last post, this circus has been almost entirely about politics. People in powerful positions are posturing for political gain. Having Elissa Wall crack under moderately probing questioning would be about as beneficial to those political exploits as having Reszinda Swinetown get on the stand and admit that her YFZ Ranch phone call was scripted and orchestrated by the same band of dark characters.

So, when Rozslutta gets on the stand to admit the hoax, I'll believe that Elissa will get up on the stand and stand up for the truth, too.

Would You Lie?

Every one of us has lied at some point in our lives. It's unavoidable. We want to avoid getting in trouble. "I'm sorry, officer, I didn't see the 35 mph sign." "Sorry, sir, my dog ate my homework."

Would you lie to your wife about where you were till 1 a.m.? Would you lie to the IRS about how much cash income you received last year?

Would you lie in a court of law?
Would you give false testimony to get a lighter sentence for yourself?
Would you lie about a defendant out of mere spite?
Would you falsify medical records to mislead a jury (see the movie, "The Verdict", [with Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling and James Mason])?

I get the feeling that a decent sized group of people really despises Warren Jeffs - maybe for his religion or maybe for his leadership or personality. Either way, I think certain individuals hate him so much that they have staked their careers and reputations and self-worth on destroying him. They wish him harm. They would dance on his grave. They would relish hurting or annihilating him. They would conspire to cook up an elaborate scheme of lies and deceit if it could bring sorrow and torment upon him. This can perhaps be attributed to their lust for revenge for things they (or their friends) allege he has done to them, or is it simply because they have an uncontrollable hatred for POLYGAMY (the marriage model that gave them life)?

If enough time goes by, even the most stalwart haters will realize they have gone too far. Hopefully, the pangs of conscience have stricken midwife, Jane Blackmore, and, after years of not being able to sleep, she will fess up that she and her posse, the Hooligans and their puppet plaintiffs, cooked up phony miscarriages and a miscarriage of justice.

The A.G.'s Office said it learned of the development from the Arizona county attorney prosecuting Jeffs, noting that according to his report "it is possible that Elissa -- either wittingly or unwittingly -- helped the midwife in re-creating the records." (from a SL Tribune article by Brooke Adams)
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14891690

Now, as I have said before, I am not perfect, and, presumably, neither is Warren Jeffs. However, nobody should lie in a trial to get any person imprisoned for life just to further a campaign of spite or revenge.

I am gratified that Utah A.G., Mark Shurtleff has had the (C.Y.A.) fortitude to come forward and face up to the new developments:

" . . . . given the potential exculpatory—impeachment—nature of the information, if Jeffs requests it, the State would not oppose a stay of the appeal and a remand to the trial court for the purpose of developing a factual record on these allegations, and thereafter to further briefing and argument as warranted."
(from a notice filed by deputy A.G., Laura DuPaix)
http://166.70.44.68/blogs/plurallife/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/JeffsNotice-1.pdf

Oh boy! This house of cards smells like it is about to tumble down spectacularly. Can you say "N-E-W T-R-I-A-L"? I can see it now - ELIESsa Wall on the witness stand - - - -

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Elissa, did you have sex with other boys before your wedding with Allen?

ELISSA: Uh, Um, Uh, I don't remember, I was too innocent to understand what was happening to me.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did you claim (to Jane Blackmore) that you had had miscarriages during your marriage to Allen that really did not happen?

ELISSA: Uh, Um, Uh, I don't remember, I'm too innocent to know what a miscarriage is.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did you fabricate your story so that you and the Hooles could extort a large amount of money from the FLDS people?

ELISSA: Uh, Um, Uh, I don't remember, I'm too innocent to know what money is.

So here is Renn's prayer:

I pray that all the legal officials, A.G.s, lawyers, attorneys, judges, jurors, witnesses, accusers, clerks, sheriffs, police officers, and everyone who had or has anything to do with Warren Jeffs' court cases will realize that, even though our President and the Congress have in their bag "diverse weights and measures", we should all tell the truth and not distort it, especially when these charges involve lengthy prison terms. I pray that Warren Jeffs will have the opportunity to be vindicated - especially since he had NOTHING WHATSOEVER with arranging Allen Steed's marriage to Elissa Wall.

Pick me, Renn, to be on the jury for the new trial, because I will acquit him faster than you can say "Brute Wisass".

Would you lie?

Supreme Questions

A friend of mine attended the Utah Supreme Court appeal hearing yesterday regarding Warren Jeffs' rape-as-an-accomplice conviction. Apparently, Wally Bugden made some compelling arguments against the legitimacy of the charges and convictions. Before I elucidate, I want to make a comment about our sense of justice in America.

I don't really like Shaquille O'Neal. I don't know him at all, although I saw him in a bad movie once. Truth is - I dislike him because he never played for my favorite team. I think that a lot of Americans can build up a similar, simmering hatred for people on the opposing team, or for people who are different. I think that we Americans like to be polarized, and to see things as black-or-white. There is no gray. It is this social phenomenon that makes it easier for us to throw our consciences out of the window and let the end justify the means. We violate our own principles due to our desperate need for victory. It is the necessary drawback of the Jeffersonian polemic model.

Tom Green's unlawful-sex-with-a-minor trial was a media circus. His "wife", Linda (of 17 years), had borne him seven children, and is presumably happily still with him to this day. The complexity of Tom's case was that Linda was "married" to him and impregnated with her first child when she was 13 1/2 years old. Now, back then (circa 1986), marriage in several states was perfectly tolerated at 13, so the question of propriety depends on how you view things and on local history and traditions.

The prosecutors (David Leavitt and Monte Stewart) faced the challenge that so many years had passed since the time of the alleged offense that the statute of limitations had already run. In 1986, the statute was 'eight years from the date of the offense'. At the time of the trial the statute had already been changed to 'four years from the date the offense was reported to law enforcement'. Neither provision could catch Tom, but, since the prosecution was hell-bent on a conviction, it brought in a string of witnesses to testify that they "didn't report the crime" (so that Tom couldn't claim that the statute of limitations clock had already started to run in 1986). The judge cooperated, and, through an amazingly creative contortion of the statutes, Tom was convicted and incarcerated. Today, he his back with his family, even perhaps continuing to do some of the things that got him arrested in the first place. So why won't the prosecutors arrest him again? You already know the answer - POLITICS.

So Wally Bugden argued yesterday that Warren Jeffs was charged with the wrong crime. Instead of arresting him for solemnizing the (void) marriage of a minor to a young man, they arrested him for aiding and abetting a rapist and for abusing his special position of trust as a minister. Bugden made the interesting point that the prosecution had completely omitted at trial to introduce any evidence that Jeffs had coaxed Allen Steed to have non-consensual sex with Elissa Wall. He only encouraged the alleged "victim" to follow through consensually with her marital duties. Based on this, Jeffs cannot be charged either as the rape's actor or as the aider and abettor. Further, Bugden argued that, since no rape conviction was achieved for Steed, the presumed 'rapist', it is absurd to convict Jeffs for having been an accomplice to a rape that has not legally been shown to have occurred.

Now, if it is true that Elissa was coerced against her will at the tender age of fourteen into a monogamous (and non-legal) "marriage" with a young man she did not love, then that is sad. Whoever did the coercing should acknowledge his or her error and make amends. This is one of the many accusations leveled at Warren Jeffs. Bugden apparently also asked if Elissa's family was not eminently more implicated in choreographing the wedding - and why are they not in prison instead?

My point is this - Utah politicians have made great publicity out of demonizing Warren Jeffs and painting him as a perverse, megalomaniacal despot. This was enough to get him on the FBI's 10-most-wanted list. Mormon politicians = good; Polygamists = evil. I wonder if it is that simple. Even if Warren Jeffs is different or eccentric, or even an iron-fisted leader, why does that excuse society in locking him in the stocks and throwing rotten vegetables at him for days? Why is it okay to charge him with a laundry-list of crimes that do not fit his actions? Is he so vile that we must throw truth and justice to the wind and punish him by any means available to us?

I believe that the State's attorneys don't care. I believe that they hate the FLDS and Warren Jeffs so much, that they don't care about following the spirit of the Constitution and good laws. They just want to "get them" at all costs. Why else would they try to get Texas to change its laws just so that it could ensnare the residents of the YFZ Ranch? Why else would they side with the angry enemies of the FLDS and condone Wisan and Lindberg's shameless plundering of the UEP? Maybe we all sleep easily because a reportedly evil man was crucified or tarred and feathered. That is not justice - it is brutality.

Addam Swapp blew up an LDS chapel in 1987. 22 years later, he still sits in a prison with no hope of a parole date. Ironic, wouldn't you say, when the average murderer serves nine years? This all stems from Utah's intense animus against Fundamentalist Mormons and polygamists. Why does the legal system tolerate such barbarism? You already know the answer - POLITICS. I am reminded of the state-sponsored raids and massacres of the early Mormons.

In yesterday's hearing, Chief Justice Christine Durham asked deputy A.G. Laura DuPaix if a Baptist minister should be incarcerated for counseling a member of his congregation to stay with her husband after complaining that she doesn't love or desire him anymore. Bugden wondered if parents who take their 15-year-old daughter in for contraceptives should not also be prosecuted for aiding and abetting non-consensual sex for a minor who legally cannot consent to it.

I pray that the Utah Supremes will see the State's naked malice and bad faith inherent in the Jeffs prosecutions and overturn them. If he really did commit a crime, then charge him with the crimes he truly committed - not some craftily twisted contortion of a wildly inapplicable statute because you hate him. This nation is fixing to undergo a dramatic metamorphosis (see Isaiah's "marvelous work and a wonder"), and such heavy-handed abuses of power might just bite some of the rest of us if we don't look out.

I am sickened when I think back to the remarks of Justice Nehring when he concurred in the Rodney Holm decision. In one of the most pathetic, milque-toast utterances I have ever read, he wrote:

I also suspect that I have not been alone in speculating what the consequences might be, were the highest court in the State of Utah the first in the nation to proclaim that polygamy enjoys constitutional protection. . . . . .

It would be a violation of my oath of office to permit my apprehensions about the public reaction to any ruling of this court to participate in my decision-making effort or to influence in any way my vote on a case. Moreover, I do not intend to suggest that the majority opinion is in any way shaped by fears of a public backlash against sanctioning polygamy.

If this kind of waffling is indicative of how Nehring will rule in Jeffs' case, I fear the worst. I fear also that, if Warren is forced to take his case to the next higher Court, it won't be around by the time he gets there.

Warren Jeffs - Innocent?

Okay - I know this post is going to be controversial. It's okay, I've been thinking about this issue for a while, and somebody has to say it. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been said before and better, but I guess it's my turn.

Warren Jeffs currently sits in prison on a charge of "accomplice to rape". The jury was, I guess, unanimous in its vote to convict. Sometimes I wonder if it was the same set of BYU jurors who voted to convict Tom Green for bigamy even though he was single and not married to anybody. I know Tom Green pretty well, and I'd have to say that he is a fascinating character - eccentric perhaps - but then so am I. I don't know him well enough to know if he has committed any sins, but, like myself, I think he must have committed some in his long life. Perhaps his worst sin was to go on TV before the 2002 Winter Olympics and embarrass the State of Utah. David Leavitt made up his mind to "get" Tom Green and bolster his own political career. Tom did a few years in prison for religious cohabitational bigamy, and now he's home with his "wives", and everybody can feel cleansed again. I think that what bugs me the most about Utah's legal contortionism is that it is so hypocritical.

In Utah, if you are unpopular or challenge the establishment, you need to be silenced or "made an example of". The charges against Tom Green were all grossly manipulated. You may not like Tom Green. Maybe you think he has a preference for "underage" girls. Nevertheless, his bigamy charge was absurd because he was single; his "criminal non-support" charge was ludicrous because he was faithfully complying with his ORS repayment plan; and, lastly, the rape-of-a-child charge was disingenuous and mean-spirited, because the girl, Linda, had been happily mothering seven of his children for 17 years, and the statute of limitations had long since run.

I closely followed Tom's trial, and I know they had to concoct the most convoluted legal reasoning to assert his guilt. The outcome was already decided, like in a rigged basketball game where a player has agreed to manipulate the result for fraudulent reasons. It may make some people happy, but it isn't right, and it makes our legal system crooked (if it isn't already).

So let's look at the Warren Jeffs prosecution. Maybe you like Warren Jeffs as much as you like Tom Green. It's all about popularity. O.J. Simpson killed his ex-wife, but millions wanted him acquitted. His evident guilt was not relevant. Perhaps we should abandon the jury system in favor of an American-Idol-style voting system. Warren Jeffs is vilified as if he were the reincarnated Adolf Hitler. Why? What do we know about him beyond rumors and leaked journal entries. I'm not saying he's good or bad. I don't know, and I've seen as many of the news reports as you have. Some people despise him, while thousands who know him personally view him as a true saint. What I'm saying is that, just because he may not seem to be a sympathetic person, or is perhaps not thought of as being as good-looking as O.J. Simpson, we cannot simply assume that he is a criminal and then try to charge him with any statute we can find or bend which distantly relates to his rumored misconduct.

In the case of Elissa Wall, she clearly did not really love her partner, Allen Steed. She has a litany of impassioned resentments over her stormy and failed relationship with him. She went to the clergyman of her congregation and complained about the problems in her marriage. He counseled her to stick with it and try harder to make the marriage work. Now, I don't know if that was great advice or terrible advice. All I know is that that does not satisfy the standard of an "accomplice to rape" charge. If clergymen can be incarcerated for rape for merely encouraging their parishioners to remain in their marriages, the Constitution is finished. Granted, Elissa was coaxed into the relationship at a rather young age. She appears to have lacked the maturity to cope with the day-to-day rigors of a marriage. Perhaps the union was not a good idea. However, you and I both know that an "accomplice to rape" has to be proximally involved in the rape act - either by physically holding the victim down, or by barring the door so as to prevent his or her escape. Warren Jeffs did neither of those things. The only reason the State elected to charge Allen Steed after the Jeffs verdict was that it appeared so blatantly biased to have charged Warren as an accomplice while not addressing the purported "rapist".

State officials believed that by elevating Warren to the "most-wanted" status and mercilessly vilifying him, they could effectively turn the tide of public opinion and taint any jury pool. Polygamists are already demonized like Nazi war criminals, so why not go out and get one of the noted leaders and teach him a lesson? Well, it worked. I don't know Warren enough to know whether he would be my friend. I know some people who wish they could destroy him. However, I do know that, as a patriotic American citizen, - had I been on that jury - I would have hung that jury so fast your head would spin - not out of any special affection for Warren, but because his actions did not satisfy the definition of the crime in the statute. What baffles me is that no other person on that jury reached the same conclusion as mine. What were they sniffing?

I believe that some people have pinned their career financial and/or political aspirations on annihilating the FLDS community and its leaders - not unlike the actions of many against the Mormons in the 1880's. This is consummate hypocrisy, when no community is without failings. Kidnapping was for many years a grave offense, so I know some would ask, "Why should the masterminds of the raid on the YFZ ranch who fought so bloodthirstily long and hard to take and keep those innocent children be spared a similarly grave punishment, simply because they committed their crimes under the color of executive power?"

The Constitution requires statutes to be narrowly-tailored and not over-broad. In Utah, that guideline is worthless because, despite the narrow language of a statute, the prosecutors and a poorly educated jury will gladly change the definition of the statutory language to convict an unpopular defendant whenever it is politically expedient.

I pray that an appellate court will recognize the mob mentality manifested in the Jeffs conviction and reverse it. If he has committed other crimes, they should be addressed on their own merits and not with bigotry and religious discrimination. I fear that the day is fast approaching where Americans will be imprisoned for thought crimes (just like the content of this post).

FOR MORE - go to this LINK
http://messengerandadvocate.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/warren-jeffs-an-deserves-acquittal/