Obama’s Domestic Violence Initiative: Hope, Hype, and Hogwash
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So last Wednesday, Barack Obama pulled out all the stops to woo the fading female electorate, unveiling a multi-pronged effort to “end domestic violence against women,” as the president theatrically called it.
But will the president’s 5-point initiative live up to the high expectations? Can this Election Eve gambit deliver on the goods?
Let’s begin with Obama’s hope about “ending” domestic violence. Folks, let’s get real: the only way to put a stop to partner aggression — think Blondie chasing Dagwood with her rolling pin at the ready – would be to separate men and women at birth and ship them off to opposite corners of the universe.
But wait! It turns out domestic violence is twice as high among lesbians as among heterosexual married couples. Well, scratch that idea.
If the hopey-hopey routine doesn’t do the trick, let’s turn to the hype. And here, Tinker Bell’s magic wand sparkles with a wondrous gleam.
Because President Obama has taken to casting a spell on women with this abuse fairy tale: Take a piece of paper and inscribe the words, “Stay away, you big meanie!” Sprinkle Pixie Dust, and call it a restraining order.
And now the would-be ravisher of women will slink away, knowing her magical scroll has the amazing power to ward off bullets, knives, and any other conceivable weapon of mass destruction.
Seriously, there’s not a scrap of research that shows restraining orders deter violence, but this is what President Obama’s “fact sheet” claims with a straight face: “Protective orders are effective in reducing the level of violence.”
Once the woman comes to believe that piece of paper will ward off the abuse demons, the protector-in-chief will conjure up a copy of “A Woman’s Guide to Green Jobs.” According to the Department of Labor website, the guide will “aid in increasing women’s access to high-growth and emerging industry occupations in the green jobs section nationwide.”
That and the Jolly Green Giant.
Enough hype? Now on to the hogwash!
There is a fast way of stopping abuse of any spouse or partner. Put the offending party in jail. Don’t give them a slap on the wrist or a restraining order, give them jail time. The more they do it, the harsher the jail time. Domestic violence keeps getting worse because nobody is willing to enforce the laws that are already on the books for assault. If we had zero tolerance for really important issues, such as domestic violence or child abuse, instead of obsessing about drug arrests which seem to be accomplishing nothing, there would be a lot less domestic violence and child abuse. You can’t do much to stop a person who is determined to kill themselves with drugs. You CAN do a lot to protect people from abusing other, weaker, people.
There are alreasy laws against assault, battery and trespass. If convicted by a jury of ones peers these crimes result in jail time. These laws dont prejudge who the perpetrator is based upon sex.
Abuse is a relatively new law which often avoids juries and , quite often, evidence as well. If you like administrative “justice”, administered by modern PC feminists, and want it applied to criminal law then abuse is the ticket.
Because our overcrowded and overburdened prison system has the room, right?
The problem with that zero tolerance stuff is that it doesn’t take into account the fact women are charged with less severe versions of the same crime. Where a a man might get charged with murder, a woman would get charged with manslaughter. That sort of thing happens pretty regularly in this country.
What happens with court orders of restraint??? Women use them to give themselves the upper hand in divorce cases. No proof is necessary, no police report, you just go down to the court house and fill out a ‘report’ claiming abuse, whether it happens or not. Then you use it to keep your spouse out of his own house, claiming his own belongings and essentially cheat him out of anything he is rightfully due.
I’ve seen it over and over and in particular with my own family. A revengeful wife is not unusual and the courts use her false claims against him, all in the name of political correctness and certainly not relative to any justice. The reality was she was the abusive spouse…. was attempting to get a violent reaction for legal purposes. After all who is ALWAYS to blame in these cases?
I was a ‘feminist’ in the 70′s….I subscribed to Ms. magazine (had first issue) and thought Gloria Steinum was wonderful. I’ve since grown up and found that the ‘victimhood’ of women is promoted to justify women’s organizations and the financial gains of victimhood.
Yep. Same thing happened to my kind, loving, gentleman of a husband because his mentally-unstable first wife called the police. He was hauled away in handcuffs in front of his young son. For nothing!
And women’s magazines run articles about men are unwilling to commit to a relationship? We are slow, and sometimes cynical about the stories men tell, but when we hear enough stories about this and divorce court piracy, we start getting skittish.
Looks more like a way to get women dependant on government for security rather then allow them to be self reliant or *gasp* in some sort of mutually supporting relationship. I’ve seen first hand women abuse men until he finally decides to stop letting her hit him, and I’ve seen men hit women for no apparent reason. I’ve read police reports with even more backwards tales of abuse. A restraining order, like many other reliances of government, is a false sense of security and likley to get you hurt. It makes it easier to stop thinking and acting.
We’ll know the government is serious about protecting people when part of the proposal includes approving CCWs for victims of abuse.
Once again, the anointed one is counting on our stupidity or inattention. Restraining orders already exist. Their effectiveness are spotty at best.
Seattle Washington does a good job of it, but it doesn’t end with just a piece of paper.
From policeone.com
“Seattle, Washington is a city that provides one of the most complete and intensive community wide coordinated domestic violence intervention programs in the nation. It has been the recipient of a lot of money from Federal Grants. However, this single, stand alone does not demonstrate the effectiveness of restraining orders in any other city.”
But it also has this to say…
“The majority of domestic violence advocates proffer that court issued protection/restraining orders will protect the plaintiff on that order from the abuser. In fact many print that promise of protection right on the order. However, for those who work in the criminal justice system and many domestic violence advocates understand that a restraining order, in and of itself, is a piece of paper that can, in and of itself, provide little to no protection.
There is not a single empirical scientific methodological study that has provided data that has demonstrated that the use of a civil protection/restraining order, in and of itself, can protect a victim or deter repeat domestic violence abuse by an abuser. Further, there is no national systematic intervention or response by prosecutors and courts nationwide. Regardless of these facts, thousands of civil protection/restraining orders are being issued each day by the courts and they are available in all 50 states.”
The entire article can be found here…
http://www.policeone.com/columnists/PoliceMagazine/articles/77202-Will-a-restraining-order-protect-a-person-from-abuse/
Bakersfield California is just one example of a city where restraining orders are nothing more than a gesture.
From turnto23.com, a Kern County news channel website…
August 11, 2009
“In the case of the double homicide over the weekend in Oildale, there was a restraining order against the suspect, Robert Fuller, because of constant stalking and harassment, according to an attorney on the case.
“According to court documents , Fuller harassed the family, made abusive threats, left numerous abusive phone messages and came on the property many times causing vandalism. Fuller was arrested at least three times for violating that restraining order before he was accused of killing her last Saturday.”
Comments to this article left by the local readers were most disturbing…
I went through something similar here in with an “Ex” At one point the DA actually told me that the courts did not have time to deal with the problems of my ex. I had to fight and fight after repeated restraining order violations with him and write letters to outside agencies for help with my local law enforcement. The bottom line is DV is not easy to get law enforcement to do anything with, let alone the courts. And statically this article is wrong, more than just a few end up dead at the hands of an abuser who is violating a restraining order. If your are a victim of DV, lure them to the LA county line I can promise you they will do something fast, harsh, and protect you. Your still just a woman in kern county
And from another…
My daughter has a friend that is going through the same thing in Oildale, and one incident happened at my daughter’s house just recently. The victim has a restraining order and has multiple times has law enforcement been called, he’s been arrested and just to be released, ( that is what happens when you have a family member that works in the DA’s office)…… So, I ask myself, do I do something about it (maybe Sean Penn could help this matter with our DA) or am I supposed to just sit back and wait for the knock on my door, when an officer tells me that my daughter and two grandchildren and the victim are laying dead just like these people in the article above…..
These are just two examples of the comments left by folks in Kern County who are fed up with the lack of follow up on restraining orders there. You can read it all here…
http://www.turnto23.com/north_river_county/20364380/detail.html
“Protection Orders Do Not Protect” by Charles E. Corry, Ph.D is an online article found here…
http://www.dvmen.org/dv-14.htm#e4
It starts at example four, and goes through to eighteen.
I cannot in my lifetime recall a POTUS who has done more to distract and divert the attention of the American people. Keep reading PJM and other news sources you trust (not the MSM, of course) because something’s up. Most of America will be focused on this issue, debating, arguing, commending or whatever while behind closed doors and behind our backs something bigger and of greater consequences is going on.
You are right, watch what the other hand is doing.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/what-exactly-is-the-federal-reserve-up-to/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OTB+%28Outside+The+Beltway+|+OTB%29
Honestly, I would rather have been wrong…
“am I supposed to just sit back and wait for the knock on my door, when an officer tells me that my daughter and two grandchildren and the victim are laying dead just like these people in the article above…..”
The victim needs to get a CCW, buy a gun (revolver is best since they are just point and bang) and learn how to use it, and the next time this SOB is within 50 feet, put six bullets into him. With his history, there’s not a jury that would convict. That advice applies equally well to your daughter, and you.
Been there. I was the male target of a sick, abusive woman who used my kids to prevent me from escaping. When I appeared before a judge with facial-fractures, he laughed in my face and questioned my manhood before denying my request for a PO.
He didn’t hesitate one second before issuing one to HER, however.
As to their ability to “prevent violence” – I believe the true research would show they CAUSE IT – especially when they’re abused by mom and her Atty to gain the upper hand ina custody dispute.
This is their REAL use — they set up a status-quo wherein Mom has the house, kids, cars and cash. Months later – when Dad finally gets a custody hearing – the (hack-spit) judge is loath to change a “settled” situation. In over 99% of cases, the best the Dad can hope for is to keep whatever he got in the R.O.
When an innocent man is abused by The State — when he sees that the evil woman has the full power of the Government’s Guns backing up her legal abuse, and realizes he has no chance at justice for himself or his kids… well…
You want to make a good man violent? Take away everything that matters to him, and put him in a position where he feels he has nothing left to lose.
I’ve spent many hours trying to decide whether or not the gun would go in her mouth before mine.
Thanks to the grace of G*d, I survived the horror without succumbing to their evil, and eventually got my kids out of her hell as well. They’re nearly grown now, and are thriving, accomplished, impressive, incredible young women — IN SPITE OF their sick mother and her jackbooted enforcers.
Still, even when The Court itself noted “hundreds of counts of perjury” “false police reports” “false accusations of child sexual abuse” and labeled mom “a blatant perjurer who should never be granted any credibility as a witness or historian” his (hack-spit) honor refused to defer any charges to the DA saying “she’s been punished enough” because he “took away her children.”
If that’s punishment, then what are 99% of divorced men being punished for?
The real solution to this is simple: RO abuse brings mandatory loss of custody and imprisonment. Perjury brings automatic charges and mandatory sentencing. False accusations of crime bear the MANDATORY penalty of the crime falsely alleged.
When I was naive, I saw cases where a man snapped and shot his wife and/or her atty as “sick men.” Now I can’t help but ask “what did they do to that poor man to push him so far over the edge.”
It’s long past time for it to STOP.
DD
I wonder if he’s going to ask Jim Moran to introduce the bill.
There is a huge gaping hole here.
About 40% of all domestic violence is BY women AGAINST MEN.
Yes, men are the victims of women 40% of the time.
Yet, stupid laws like the Violence Against WOMEN Act (VAWA) outright claim that violence against women is somehow worse than against men.
Hogwash. The anti-male bigotry in America is absurd.
In non-reciprocal violent relaitonships, women in fact commit 70% of DV http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/97/5/941
The 40% figure comes from injury rates (38% of DV injuries are males) [Source: John Archer: Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 126, No. 5, pages 651-680]
You are right. Not pursuing punishment or restraint in a case where a woman is physically abusing a man makes as much sense as not pursuing a case where white voters are intimidated by minorities.
A violation is a violation no matter who the perp or victim is.
… with liberty and JUSTICE FOR ALL.
I have never, ever hit a woman. Never. Yet I have been hit on a number of occasions. True, they weren’t intended to be mean hits or hurting hits, but they were hits never the less (I won’t mention the bruised legs I received in 2nd grade after my female classmates kicked them). Did I deserve them? no more than a woman would deserve one by saying something I disagreed with or didn’t like. I was even hit in the shoulder shortly after breaking my collarbone by a female friend – it was an automatic reaction on her part (of course, there were a lot of “I’m sorries” after). Sure I’m stronger than her, and can take pretty much what she and others dish out (at least so far), but is it still right? I can imagine being in a relationship where the woman is constantly hitting the man and eventually he becomes fed up and pops her one or shoves her. Is he justified? No. Yet there is no thought to what went on before. Ideally he would just walk away, but how easy is that really.
I read a similar article about the MSM reporting on men from Iraq/Afghanistan coming home and abusing their partners. While that does happen, the truth, per the article, was that it happened a lot LESS than the original report/article/study suggested. Yet, the MSM and NOW and other organizations continue to spread the lies. Looks like the “Chief Prevaricator” strikes again.
My parents and particularly my mother schooled me that a gentleman never strikes a lady. I was taught if I were to do or say something untoward I should expect a deserved slap. There was a caveat, a woman that strikes you with out cause has surrendered her protection as a lady. My mother taught my sisters the same lessons.
“So in a sane world, we would get more help for stressed-out moms, teach conflict resolution skills to teenage girls, and provide drug and alcohol treatment for violence-prone women. We might even devise a few programs to help abused men.”
This paragraph highlights the reason Obama can get away with this. Even you, who argues that women perpetrate domestic violence more often than men, even you respond to female on male violence with the suggestion that the women who do this *need help*. The men who are victims and need support are only an afterthought.
Can you imagine if Obama went on the air and said that his top priority would be to get counseling for male abusers and only as a final statement said, “We might even devise a few programs to help abused women”? Preposterous.
In a society where women are valued over men, where men don’t matter and are blamed for all of society’s ills, even while women become more and more violent and out of control, what do you expect?
I haven’t seen my daughter for 10 years because of the judicial prejudice against men.
To all men married to crazy women: Get out. There is a life, and a darned good one available to you when you are safely separated (at least 2 states away) from your crazy former spouse.
It would be interesting to see a longitudinal study of domestic violence. But then, the data from just 20 yrs ago would not contain an impartial sampling. The question is has domestic violence escalated over time?
There will never be true equality, until men accept that women have the same capacity for evil.
You know I think Michelle could take him.
the real kicker here is that the restraining order works against a not bad man who respects laws. OTOH… with a serious bad guy or some kind of obsessed stalker they TRIGGER a violent attack. A sort of desperate response of either YOUR NOT THE BOSS OF ME, or I’LL SHOW YOU.
So its true, you can abuse a fairly decent man with one. But if the guy in question is a Real bad guy, you might as well not get it and just try to move away and start your life over. Concealed carry is much more useful, if the guys is, in fact, a scaring you to death weirdo.
Gramsci identified the family as one of the “societal pillars” that had to be destroyed.
“Destroy the family, and you destroy society,” Vladimir Lenin said.
Yes, I think we really do have the most transparent government ever, but not the way they think.
The best thing to do? Get the government out of the abuse business (and it IS a business – it’s welfare for social workers, LEOs, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, and journalists) and go back to the venerable principle of equal protection of the law. Laws against acts of violence should have the same penalties and require the same standards of proof, whether the victim and the perp are related to one another or not, and without regard to the sex of either. And that’s that!
This would also save us a ton of money at all levels of government, not to mention being in conformance with the US Constitution.
Obama only cares about female victims.
What about DV victims who are men?