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The New York Times is reporting that an all-Republican Texas appeals court has ruled that the 468 children taken from the Mormon fundamentalist compound in west Texas were taken and held illegally. The children were taken from the Yearning for Zion FLDS polygamist ranch outside of Eldorado, Texas.

The prosecutors for the state could not prove that the children were in any imminent danger of physical or sexual abuse and that the abuse previously reported was mostly unsubstantiated. Though the ruling only applied to the families who appealed, the burden of proof now lies with the state to prove that those remaining children are in immediate danger. Without such proof, all of the children will be returned from the foster families they’ve been living with in as soon as 10 days.

The call that prompted the decision, a call made by a supposed 16-year old girl who was being sexually abused by an older “husband,” is being called a hoax by many. The search for the girl who made the phone call came up empty, leading many to doubt that she actually existed in the first place.

The quick reaction to take away the community’s children was sanctioned by a lower court judge who was chastised in the appeals court’s ruling.

The quick reaction to take away the children, as I’ve said before, stinks of religious condemnation rather than genuine concern for the children. After all, the impetus for the raid was a single phone call and not the long, documented histories required for most children to be placed in the protective custody of a foster family.

Hopefully the state will now find a way to accurately find those children being abused and take them out of their family situations without widespread harm to the entire community.

You can read my previous posts on this subject here and here.

In a sudden and surprising turn of events, police in San Diego arrested nearly a hundred people, 75 of them college students, in a suspected drug ring. Only 20 of those arrested were detained because they were alleged dealers. The rest were arrested for possession.

Above is a picture of the stash seized. Police confiscated cocaine, along with, according to an AP report “350 Ecstasy pills, marijuana, psychedelic mushrooms, hash oil, methamphetamine, illicit prescription drugs, several guns and at least $60,000 in cash, authorities said.

The operation, called Operation Sudden Fall, first involved local police after a cocaine overdose by one student. The DEA joined the operation soon after and launched a full-on attack, including undercover buys by youthful-looking DEA agents.

Apparently a few fraternities on campus were actively selling and recruiting customers to which they could sell drugs. Six fraternities have now been suspended because of the bust according to a SDSU press release.

In a damning piece of evidence, one fraternity member sent a mass text message to his “loyal” customers discussing the selling of cocaine and listing a price for the drug. His name is Kenneth Ciaccio, who still has active MySpace and Facebook profiles online:

In a slight touch of irony, you can also read an article titled “Parents Guide to Fraternity and Sorority Life” about all the reasons your child should go Greek at San Diego State University.

This blogger’s tough questions have been nearly answered. Seems like the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch, the fundamentalist Mormon compound in west Texas near Eldorado, was systematically committing crimes against girls, some as young as 14. Recently officials in Texas announced that they’d found a bed within the large, white temple on the compound, which can be seen in the picture above. This bed may have been used for the sexual assault of young, underage girls. Officials aren’t releasing specific details, but we do know that long, female hairs were found on the bed.

As reported earlier on this blog, the YFZ ranch was a large ranch purchased by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a sect that broke away from traditional Mormons over the decision to no longer allow polygamy within the church. The FLDS claims to carry on the legacy of Joseph Smith and other founding Mormons and they do this on large, self-sufficient compounds.

Men on these compounds have been said to have up to 20 wives. Women aren’t permitted to wear red, cut their hair, or choose their own husbands. The raid on the compound is said to be related to the systematic abuse of young girls who were forced into marrying much older husbands. Officials also site concerns of physical child abuse against many children on the compound.

The sixteen year old girl who made the call that initiated the raid has still not been found, though officials claim that she complained not only of clear sexual abuse given her young age, but also physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

While I don’t much mind if a religious sect wants to practice polygamy as part of their religious tradition, I DO have a problem with community-wide abuse of children, both physically and sexually. My greatest concern, and I’m sure I share this sentiment with many others, is for the safety and wellbeing of the women and children who are currently in protective custody or living in alternate housing. I’m sure many of our thoughts and prayers are with these women and children.

In a surprising turn of events, two of the paintings recently stolen in Zurich, Switzerland were recently recovered. Van Gough’s “Blooming Chestnut Branches,” and Monet’s “Poppy Field at Vetheuil” were found in a car close to the crime scene. The four men who robbed the museum are still at large. The other two paintings, Degas’s “Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter” and Cezanne’s “Boy in the Red Waistcoat” are still missing.

An employee at a local mental hospital noticed a suspicious white vehicle in the hospital’s parking lot and called local police. Inside, police found the two paintings, unharmed.

There’s been plenty of speculation as to why the paintings were casually left in a stolen car so close to the private collection where the paintings were stolen. Some say the owner of the collection or the insurance company paid a ransom to recover the paintings. Others speculate that the nervous thieves had roused suspicion and were unable to sell or use the paintings on the black market.

If ransom was the reason for the theft of these paintings, this could explain the swift recovery of these priceless works of Impressionist art. Both the owners of the collection and the insurers of the paintings refused comment.

The most valuable painting of the four stolen, a work by Cezanne, is still at large and will likely fetch a hefty ransom for a safe return. Despite trouble moving and selling famous artwork on the black market, many priceless works of art remain lost for years, if at all.

Most recently, a copy of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” was recovered after two years of investigation by the police in Oslo. Most famously, Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen and spent two years in the home of the Italian man who stole it. The painting was, of course, recovered and returned to the Louvre where it sits today.

A rash of DUI arrests for the somewhat-famous have been going down in southern California these days, including Barron Hilton who was charged with a DUI at around 8:30 AM on Monday. Barron is the brother of Paris Hilton.

Barron blew a 0.14 on a Breathalyzer, nearly twice the legal limit for an of-age adult. Barron is only 18, and any level of intoxication is considered over the legal limit. Barron allegedly also hit a gas station attendant with his car while driving recklessly in a parking lot.

Josh Booty, a Fox sporstcaster, was arrested this morning, February 13th, and charged with a DUI. Apparently the sporstcaster was surly and uncooperative, meaning police had to tase him.

If that weren’t enough, Mel Gibson, famous for his anti-semitic run in with Malibu police, has now completed his probation and is once again a free and clear man.

Think of all the celebrities who have been in DUI trouble lately: Nick Nolte, Keifer Sutherland, Mischa Barton, Rebecca DeMornay, Gary Collins, Daniel Dae Kim of Lost, and the guy who co-wrote Pulp Fiction, Roger Avary. Avary’s crash involved two other passengers. His wife was injured. The other passenger in the car was killed.

All of these celebrity or near-celebrity arrests beg the question: at what point did these celebrities lose all sense? Can they not afford a taxi or car service? Don’t they realize the danger this puts on everyone else around them?

I know that, as a kid, I was often warned about the dangers of drinking and driving. Quite possibly the most immoral thing you could do in my house was drink and drive. My father was a rehab nurse for many years and saw the devastating consequences: broken spines, broken necks, and permanent wheelchair use was common.

I have no problem with people choosing to drink. Drinking is a personal choice for adults. Driving and drinking, however, is something entirely different. I hope that the likes of Barron Hilton and Mischa Barton will wise up and simply call a limo next time. God knows they can probably afford it.

An extremely high profile art theft in Zurich, Switzerland of valuable Impressionist artwork worth an estimated $164 million (U.S.) begs the question: what’s so valuable about artwork? The Zurich heist took famous works by Degas, Cezanne, van Gough, and Monet, a veritable who’s who of Impressionist art.

The paintings were from a collection of Emil Buehrle, a Swiss industrialist who was controversial for selling weapons to Nazi Germany during World War II.

Degas is famous for his paintings of ballerinas and his interesting use of subjects. The piece stolen was called “Viscount Lepic and His Daughters” and has Degas’ famous use of fabrics and red cheeked faces.

Cezanne is famous for his landscapes, though his stolen painting “The Boy in the Red Vest” uses his characteristic use of unexpected color, only on a human subject.

Monet, most famous for his paintings of the French countryside and for his water lillies, used his style of paint texture and unexpected lighting in his stolen painting “Poppies near Vetheuil,” a countryside scene.

Van Gough, famous for his various subjects, uses his characteristic brush motions in the beautiful but simple “Blossoming Chestnut Branches,” where the motion and unexpected forms compliment the seemingly simple subject.

This is not the only time high profile art as gone missing. In a 2006 article, Playboy magazine mentions the high profile theft of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” a famous work of expressionist painting and a worldwide favorite. These men entered the museum, also in broad daylight much like the Zurich thieves, and took the valued painting. Munch produced several copies and lithographs of “The Scream,” and all but one of those paintings are owned by the Oslo museum that housed the painting.

These thefts, coupled with the recent theft of two Picasso paintings, underscore that the world of black market fine art is alive and well, though their intentions are unclear. Selling these paintings on the market will garner police attention. Some speculate that these paintings are being used to buy drug, guns, or other black market contraband since there’s little movement for private collectors to buy stolen art.

A sizable reward is being offered for the recovery of the Zurich paintings. Unfortunately, only about 1 in 5 stolen paintings is ever recovered.

Last night at a council meeting in Kirkwood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, a lone gunman started firing at a city council meeting, killing five before turning the gun on himself. He killed two police officers and three city officials.

The city’s mayor, Mike Swoboda, is in critical condition at St. John’s mercy hospital.

Charles Lee Thornton, the alleged gunman, is said to have a long history of animosity toward the Kirkwood city council. He was repeatedly thrown out of city council meetings because of his antics.

Thornton had, in January of this year, lost a lawsuit against the city of Kirkwood, alleging a first amendment violation for preventing him from speaking during two city council meetings which resulted in him being dragged out in handcuffs.

Mr. Thornton, nicknamed “Cookie,” was a 1974 graduate of Kirkwood high school.