The Politics Of The Domestic Violence Bill
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-04-30/politics-domestic-violence-bill
The Senate votes to extend the landmark domestic violence bill. But as it heads to the House, the additional provisions could fall victim to politics in an election year.
Guests
Terry O'Neill
president, National Organization for Women.
Naftali Bendavid
national correspondent, The Wall Street Journal.
Charlotte Hays
Senior fellow, Independent Women's Forum
Comments
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I hear your show at night on my local public radio station. I'm commenting tonight because of my frustration at hearing Ms. Hays from the Independent Women's Forum say over and over again:
"I'm against violence against women, but..."
It is no surprise that women and men alike alike identify a Republican campaign against women's rights, women's health, women's opportunity, and issues which have a direct impact on women. That's because there IS a war being waged against women, it is unmistakable, and appears naked in public with contrived arguments like these, or an all-male hearing on contraception.
ppaulito: Here's the connundrum: No one wants women to be harmed; but we need to have the same parallel concern: Men should not be presumed guilty of DV, just because they are accused of it.
When DV is charged and a custody/divorce proceeding is also ongoing, then the Court must look carefully if the DV charge is a tactical move (especially if the husband/male has never shown any evidence of a violent history); or whether the charge is in fact real.
It's that simple; but the broader the definition of DV; the more divorce lawyers will use it against men and men will continue to suffer the consequence of losing child custody and/or be required to pay unreasonable child support, because they have been denied full custody or 50/50 custody.
Jessie: Amen!
There are many good women in the world, like there are good men; but there are also many evil women in the world, as there are men. Are there more of one gender? Society would say yes, that men are more evil to women; that's the hurdle an innocent man faces, when charged with DV. A presumption that he is guilty unless he can prove otherwise.
Why has this happened? Because many women reported abuse and the police did not investigate and women were subsequently further abused and killed.
But without proper review and investigation (trust but verify); DV is increasingly used against fathers in child custody cases. That is why many her restate the obvious that no one supports a man abusing a woman, but that many good men are being denied the right to serve as either the primary custodial parent or to be allowed equal custody rights of their children because divorce lawyers have been effectively using these laws to the direct benefit women who were not abused, but use these broad definitional laws as a tactic against men.
Together with this concern is the link that if you get more custody and you are a woman, generally the husband/father will be required to pay a hefty child support payment. This has become a reality in middle and upper class income divorces; and it's an issue that has rarely been given an hour of radio or TV discussion time; I encourage your show to host a panel of father's rights advocates to outline the concerns over these DV laws. It is not a D or R issue, it's a human rights issue.
May 10th 2011 you had a show on abuse with 4 women as guests and no men. I sent a letter requesting that *****men**** be invited to present their side of this issue but mine and *many* other letters that said the same thing were ignored. My sympathy to all women who are abused but men are abused also by women. F&F should have been invited to present men's POV. So sad and sexist. I love Diane's show and I am on her political side 99% of the time but when it comes to shows like this Diane needs to have more than angry women on the show. Shame on you Diane and those who produce the show.
Terry O’Neil, President of the National Organization of Women, said (25:02). “This version of the VAWA has a Uniform Nondiscrimination Act should be no discrimination on the basis of race, religion, GENDER, gender-identity, sexual orientation or disability If so, then why call it the violence against “women” act? Why not “Violence Against People Act”, or “Violence Against Humans Act”?
34:38 Diane asked about whether we have any indication that false claims are being made. Of course we do. Charlotte is absolutely spot on. The way things work now, when a woman claims abuse, a man is guilty until proven innocent (if he possibly can). No presumption of innocence. No due process. No hard evidence necessary beyond her testimony. Diane, please interview someone from any number of Fatherhood organizations composed of men who have lost legal parental rights due to false allegations in divorce situations. Yet, Terry (35:38) boldly asserts without hesitation or doubt “THERE JUST ISN’T ANY EVIDENCE THAT WOMEN ARE GOING AROUND FALSELY ACCUSING MEN OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE” Excuse me? Terry, is there any evidence that the statement you just made is true? Or are you so certain that it doesn’t need a second look? Do you think there has never been one false allegation of abuse? I know of dozens of cases in my town, including my own. Where there’s a divorce and custody is at stake, there is a big temptation for some women who want to be dominant and in control and in power (its not exclusively a male vice) to play the abuse card. Doing so is a huge abuse of the system designed to protect women and insure justice yet it goes on a lot. I would think advocates for women victims would want to speak out against the abuse of these laws and would want to stand for justice and fairness and equality.
But notice what Terry says next (35:42) .”…IN FACT, MOST WOMEN WHO EXPERIENCE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EXPERIENCE AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF EMBARRASSMENT AND SHAME, ‘HOW DID I GET INVOLVED WITH THIS LOSER WHO GETS HIS WAY BY HITTING ME?’ AND IT IS A VERY DIFFICULT THING FOR WOMEN TO COME FORWARD AND SEEK HELP TO BEGIN WITH SO THE THOUGHT THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING FALSELY ACCUSED NEEDS TO BE BACKED UP BY EVIDENCE BUT, OOPS, THERE ISN’T ANY.” One second we're talking about the possibility of a woman lodging a false accusation and the next second she's talking about women who are actually abused. She combines the two. Why doesn't she keep them separate? Does she really believe it is impossible for a woman to lie and make a false allegation of abuse? And if it happens, does she care?
I would support VAWA if it was truly made universal to apply to all people equally, in which case it would not be VAWA but VIOLENCE AGAINST PEOPLE ACT. I write as a man who is a liberal Democrat, who voted and will again vote for President Obama, and who has four daughters for whom I fought with all my ability against a biased system and a dishonest ex-wife to remain an involved father to. I used to believe feminism was about equal rights. I seriously doubt that now. I hope for a time when humanism replaces both masculinism and feminism in this world. VAWA needs to be corrected.
libertarians r us on April 29, 2012 @ 9:06 pm wrote: “War on women, right!. Considering as a country our national debt for the first time ever now exceeds the Gross Domestic Product GDP. . . .”
First, none of what you spew has anything to do with the War on women. Even if your arguments were accurate or unbiased (more on that in a moment), as you point out the economy effects everyone. But the Republi-Con obsession with taking away women’s rights affects only them. Thanks for demonstrating the conservative ability to avoid the obvious.
Now, as to your economic nonsense. There have been many times when the debt exceeded GDP (World War II was the last time). More importantly, even before Bush the Second left office it was already 70% of the GDP, it’s gotten worse because of the Great Recession he bequeathed us. (In fact, when he left office the debt was over $10 Trillion!) Yet I don’t recall conservatives screaming about what a terrible job he did. (To the contrary, you’re screaming we should go back to the economic policies that caused the Recession!)
So, thanks for demonstrating conservative hypocrisy.
Sources:
· http://uspolitics.about.com/od/thefederalbudget/ig/Political-Economic-Me...
· http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd/2009/2009_jan.htm
“The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $3.96 billion per day since September 28, 2007!”
- And who was President then?