Senate Taking Care of Women

Tell it to Liz Warren and friends....

"Senate resets efforts on domestic violence" by Jim Abrams  |  Associated Press, February 05, 2013

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats, bolstered by Republican support, Monday launched a new attempt to broaden a law protecting victims of domestic abuse by expanding its provisions to cover gays, lesbians, and Native Americans.

The legislation to renew the Violence Against Women Act appeared on a smooth path toward passage in the Senate, possibly by the end of this week. Monday’s vote to make the bill the next order of business was 85 to 8.

Advocates hope that Republicans, smarting from election losses among female voters in November, won’t repeat their resistance last year to the Senate approach.

‘‘Allowing partisan delays to put women’s lives at risk is simply shameful,’’ Senate majority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said before the vote. He said he hoped convincing support for the legislation in the Senate would ‘‘send a strong message to House Republican leaders that further partisan delay is unacceptable.’’

House Republicans, including majority leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, say reauthorizing the 1994 act, which expired in 2011, is a priority.

Resolving partisan differences remains an obstacle: Last year the House and Senate passed bills but the House would not go along with Senate provisions that single out gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgenders for protection and give tribal authorities more power to prosecute non-Indians who attack Indian partners on tribal lands.

Kim Gandy, president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said that after last year’s election both parties are eager to demonstrate they are behind a pro-female agenda....

What doe that mean, a pro-female agenda? Does that mean no more bombing of innocent Muslim women?

Related: Healey Will Help Babson

See who is behind the agenda?

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Look, no one is for violence against women; I just wonder what is really in the bill. What other forms of tyranny were tucked deep into it?

Also see:

Lawmakers let tribes tackle abuse
House, Senate battle emerges on bill to protect women against violence
House GOP clears way to renew women’s act

On it's way to Obama:

"President signs expanded domestic violence legislation; Advocates for gay rights, others hail added protections" by Josh Lederman  |  Associated Press, March 08, 2013

WASHINGTON — President Obama signed expanded protections for domestic violence victims into law Thursday, renewing a measure credited with curbing attacks against women a year and a half after it lapsed amid partisan bickering.

Not to be a cynic, but how does it do anything to stop an attack? It might include tougher penalties and things, but that is reaction.

The revitalized Violence Against Women Act also marked an important win for gay rights advocates and Native Americans, who will see new protections under the law, and for Obama, whose attempts to push for a renewal failed last year after they became entangled in gender politics and the presidential election.

‘‘This is your day. This is the day of the advocates, the day of the survivors. This is your victory,’’ Obama said. ‘‘This victory shows that when the American people make their voices heard, Washington listens.’’

Pffft. Then why are you guys doing the exact opposite on most things?

As Obama prepared to put his pen to the new law, new government data underscored both the progress that has been made and the enduring need to do more.

Reminds me of the whole crime is down, crime is up game they got going on. 

Maybe you just ought to let women pack their own pieces.

The rate of sexual violence against women and girls age 12 or older fell 64 percent in a decade and has remained stable for five years, the Justice Department said in a survey released Thursday. In 2010, women and girls nationwide experienced about 270,000 rapes or sexual assaults, compared with 556,000 in 1995. 

So despite the laws lapse incidents of sexual violence have dropped? 

And yet we need a new and updated law again?

The survey also showed that rapes and sexual assault rates involving women have plateaued while violent crime rates overall have declined.

Boy, that sure isn't the impression you would get if you picked up an AmeriKan newspaper on any day of the week, or if you watched AmeriKan television. 

Women’s advocacy groups called the report proof that the Violence Against Women Act and heightened awareness by police has had a positive effect.

Still, 1 in 5 women will be raped during their lifetime, said Obama, asserting a continued need for action nearly two decades after the bill’s original passage in 1994.

Which makes all the false cries of rape even more insidious, because there are many cases out there where DNA has absolved men after decades in prison.

The law authorizes some $659 million a year over five years for programs that strengthen the criminal justice system’s response to crimes against women and some men, such as transitional housing, legal assistance, law enforcement training, and hot lines.

My first reaction was, that's it? A mere pittance of a few million? That's all you ladies are worth?

Then the word response sort of clashed with prevention, and I got that old mixed message feeling again.

One element of this year’s renewal focuses on ways to reduce sexual assault on college campuses. It also reauthorizes the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, adds stalking to the list of crimes that make immigrants eligible for protection and authorizes programs to reduce the backlog in rape investigations.

Oh, so the bill was a cover to insert special interest protections. And why would there be a backlog in a time of reduced incidents?

After twice being renewed with little resistance, it was something of a surprise in 2011 when lawmakers let the act expire. At the crux of the election-year clash were disagreements about expanded protections for gays and lesbians, Native Americans, and illegal immigrants.

Related:

"Indian country, where violent crime rates on some reservations are 20 times the national average. Women are especially vulnerable; federal statistics show that nearly half of all American Indian and Alaska Native women have experienced physical violence, sexual assault, or stalking by an intimate partner and 1 in 3 will be raped in her lifetime." 

The legacy of our treatment of Native Americans is abysmal.

Sensing a political advantage, Senate Democrats offered an expanded law that specifically protects gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender Americans and gives tribal authorities the power to prosecute non-Indians for abuse committed on tribal lands.

Just once I would like for them to do the RIGHT THING, not the POLITICAL THING!

Republicans saw the move to load a popular bill with controversial elements as a provocation and objected to the Native American provisions on constitutional grounds. Democrats rejected a Republican alternative, arguing it didn’t go far enough.

Continued resistance became less tenable for the GOP after its less-than-stellar performance among women voters in November’s election. In February, House Republicans capitulated — a clear sign that Republicans wanted to put the issue behind them....

Me, too.

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At least the administration takes care of its women:

"White House defends makeup of the Cabinet

WASHINGTON — Responding to criticism from a fellow Democrat, the White House said Tuesday that anyone unhappy with the level of diversity in President Obama’s second-term Cabinet should hold the criticism until he completes it.

White House spokesman Jay Carney commented about a letter to the president from Representative Marcia Fudge of Ohio, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, in which she worried that an African-American was not among the new members of Obama’s Cabinet....

Obama named white men and women to oversee the departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Energy, and Interior, as well as the CIA, EPA, and Office of Management and Budget. He was criticized for a lack of diversity at the start of his second term after he initially named no women to top posts.

What I resent, and what is never mentioned, is the outsized influence of Jews in the executive.

Carney said Tuesday that Obama is deeply committed to having a diverse Cabinet because he believes it makes for better decision-making. He encouraged critics to “assess the diversity of appointments once they’ve all been made.”

“There are obviously still appointments the president will be making,” Carney said. “The president is committed to diversity. He believes that having a diverse Cabinet and a diverse set of advisers enhances the decision-making and deliberation process”

Obama still must name new heads for the departments of Labor, Commerce, and Transportation, as well as a new US trade representative and head of the Small Business Administration. Labor was headed by a Latina, Hilda Solis, and Ron Kirk, the outgoing trade representative, is black.

Related: Obama expected to nominate Thomas Perez as next labor secretary

Some Republicans vow to oppose choice for Labor Dept.

Because he is a man, right? 

The Cabinet includes Attorney General Eric Holder and Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, both of whom are black and are continuing in the posts they held in the president’s first term.

Yeah, great. Holder is damn near a criminal for validating waterboarding, running guns to Mexican drug cartels, and refusing to prosecute big banks for laundering drug cartel cash, while Rice is still at the UN because Israel wanted Kerry as SecofState.

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