Just scream "abuse"

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard

Rep. Ted Poe

Carey RobertsLadies, Want Job Security? Just Scream ‘Abuse!’
2009-02-03 at 3:26 pm · Filed under Vox Populi

As lawmakers tediously debate the economic stimulus plan, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard of California is pushing for change that we can really believe in. It’s called the Security and Financial Empowerment Act – SAFE for short – a bill that she and Rep. Ted Poe of Texas introduced in the Congress this past week.

The concept is so simple, it’s amazing no one dreamed this up before.
Here’s how it works: All you have to do is trot down to the local courthouse and convince the judge your husband or boyfriend did something that caused “substantial emotional distress or psychological trauma” – those are the words from the SAFE bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-739

The bill never defines those words. So exactly what is emotional distress or trauma?
Remember during the Super Bowl when your heartthrob let loose a terrifying groan after Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner threw that boneheaded first-half interception? Or when he issued that blood-curdling whoop when the Steelers grabbed the lead in the final 35 seconds?
As we all know, watching professional football multiplies men’s proclivity to domestic violence, and any strange utterance signifies he may be teetering on the brink. Of course you were frightened and traumatized, weren’t you? Congratulations, you are now a victim of battering!

Don’t want to be bothered with a trip to the courthouse? Then all you have to do is sign a sworn statement. Perjury is never prosecuted in these cases, so nothing to worry about here.
So you’re a certified victim of domestic violence, you’re coming unglued about the economic crisis, and you don’t want to lose your job. Now what? Simple. Just tell the boss you were manhandled by your partner.

Now settle back and get ready for all the bennies! The list is pretty long, so you might want to take notes.

Most of all, you have lifelong job security — because the bill prohibits the employer from ever firing you! Maybe you think I’m exaggerating, but I’m not. Section 303 says: “An employer shall not…discharge…the individual [who is] a victim of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking.”

You don’t even have to prove the domestic violence caused your job performance to lag. Just being a certified victim will do.

That’s only for starters.

If passed, the bill will entitle you to take 30 days of emergency leave every year. That will allow you to obtain counseling, seek legal assistance, move to a new house, or, as explained by the bill, take “other actions to increase the safety of the employee.” Obviously a little vacation jaunt to Florida can do wonders to protect you from your abuser.
And what if you simply don’t want to work? Again, Rep. Roybal-Allard offers hope! Because Title II of the bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to grant you a new entitlement to unemployment compensation.

Most lawmakers won’t read every word of the proposed bill, so they probably won’t notice that Rep. Roybal-Allard has pulled the wool over their eyes. Because near the end of the bill, she cleverly switches from “domestic violence,” which implies physical harm, to “abuse,” which of course can mean anything. (You’ve heard about our national epidemic of plant abuse, right?)

So Roybal-Allard suitably calls Title IV of her bill the “Victims of Abuse Insurance Protection Act.”

That part of the bill prohibits the insurance company from canceling the health insurance for any victim of abuse. But the guarantee doesn’t just apply to persons who have already suffered abuse, the promise also extends to any person who “is, has been, or may be the subject of abuse.” Of course, “may be the subject of abuse” qualifies just about every living soul in the entire U.S. of A.

So there you have it, President Obama’s stealth plan for universal health coverage, neatly tucked away in Title IV of the Security and Financial Empowerment Act.

To top off the deal, any aggrieved person can sue the insurance company in state or federal court. She (or he) can be awarded compensation and punitive damages, based on the flimsiest “preponderance of evidence” standard. It doesn’t get any better than that.

So c’mon girls, what are we waiting for? As they like to say in south Texas, let’s git while the gitting is good!

Source:here

Business Opportunity

Carey Roberts
Looking to Make Good Money? Why not Abuse Shelters!
2009-02-16 at 4:54 pm · Filed under Vox Populi

In hard economic times, you have to be on the constant look-out for lucrative opportunities. So have you checked into the domestic violence industry?

This $4 billion-a-year industry has unlimited upside potential thanks to its irresistible message: “Help us protect the victims of battering and abuse.” Domestic violence entrepreneurs have proved to be adept at broadening the definition of abuse so it now encompasses anything a man does that a woman doesn’t like. That’s what we call an unparalleled growth opportunity.

These programs are no longer the back-alley operations you once imagined. Some shelters now resemble an upscale hotel, complete with internet access, a childcare center, beauty salon, and pet care facilities.

Shelters enjoy a variety of profit centers. One of their favorites is to drive down to the local courthouse to get a restraining order. For $300 a pop, it’s incredibly easy money. At the Bethany House of Northern Virginia, “Women with almost no marital problems are declared abused and are coached by the staff to go to court and get a protective order against their husbands,” recounts a former shelter volunteer.

As a result, many shelters have become multi-million dollar operations. In Florida, the average shelter income exceeds $1.9 million each year. In Bridgeport, Conn. the Center for Women and Families takes in well over $3 million.

With all that loose change floating around, it’s not surprising that shelter heads would want to cut loose every once in a while.

That got Florida shelter directors in trouble a few years ago when news leaked out of a retreat to be held on pricey Captiva Island where four-star resorts tout “beds with triple sheeting and 300-thread-count linens.” According to the Miami Herald article, a state manager had “instructed her staff last summer to ‘manipulate’ the agency’s contract with the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence to hide the costs of the retreat ‘so no one would know’” that Florida taxpayers were footing the bill.

Another attractive feature of the abuse industry is the near absence of regulatory hassles and paperwork demands. When you’ve dedicated your life’s work to helping battered women, why should anyone have to fret about time cards and expense reports?

But if you’re going to cut corners, just be sure you don’t get caught.

At the YWCA abuse shelter in Knoxville, Tenn., managers got so busy helping victims that they forgot to fill out their tax and audit reports. Last summer the local United Way cut off funding because of the facility’s slip-shod accounting practices.

At the South Central Region Domestic Violence Coalition in Oklahoma, staffers Cindy Lou Shores, Wenona Barnett, and Angela Camp were caught red-handed taking federal grant monies from the group’s account at the Payne County Bank. Last March Shores was sentenced to 17 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $170,000 in restitution.

A number of shelter scams have been reported. My investment advice: Steer clear of these flim-flam operations.

Many shelters are involved in immigrant running operations. Like the SHIELD Foundation in Phoenix, Ariz., which coaches Russian women to file restraining orders, gets their husbands or boyfriends thrown into jail, and then strips his house of anything that can be hawked on the Black Market.

In Milwaukee, engineering professor Michael Wnuk found himself caught up in a Green Card hustle when his new Polish wife cleverly staged a public confrontation scene and then ran off to a local abuse shelter. According to the police report, there were “no injuries in the spot where she reported she was hit.”

In Mountain View, Calif., a donate-your-car-for-a-worthy-cause operation started the Community Fellowship for Battered Women. In 2002, the donated cars were re-sold for $186,000, but only $10,000 went for program services. The shelter residents turned out to be drug addicts, not victims of battering. Women are welcomed with open arms “If they just tell a good story and they are very persistent,” admits shelter owner/car dealer Gary Kegel.

Just down the road in Palo Alto, Calif., the North American Islamic Shelter for the Abused bills itself as the “first Bay Area domestic violence program sensitive to the needs of Muslims.” But the Atlas watchdog group has a different story to tell — the shelter is actually a “bogus Islamic charity” that “has no shelter and offers no services other than referral to government shelters.”

There is no requirement that shelter workers take a vow of poverty, and many shelter directors are rewarded handsomely for their efforts. In Dallas, Family Place director Paige Flink lives the good life with $163,000 in salary and benefits.

In rural Lake City, Fla., Another Way head Donna Fagan receives $95,000 – that’s a bigger haul than area bank presidents. And shelter managers routinely pilfer donated toys, jewelry, and entertainment tickets, former employees reveal.

So who says you can’t do well by doing good?

Source:here

Green card scam

Carey Roberts
VAWA Subsidizes Green Card Scams
2009-02-23 at 2:54 pm · Filed under Vox Populi

The Violence Against Women Act underwrites Green Card lottery schemes, lures foreign women into prostitution, and tars innocent American men as abusers – all at taxpayer expense. Here’s how it works.

Green Card Girls – women who inveigle unsuspecting single men to bring them to the United States — are a well-known fixture in the international dating scene. An internet search on the term turns up chat room discussions, how-to books, X-rated videos, and more.

Green Card Girls may frequent entertainment clubs, operate out of translation agencies, or simply run an advertisement. In December 2007, immigration officials arrested Russian-born Yuliya Kalinina who placed an online solicitation stating, “Green Card Marriage — Will pay $300/month.”

The price of admission of enrolling in the Green Card lottery is a willingness to engage in a series of amorous flings. Gill, a teenage girl from China, explains it this way: “I know a few girls will kill to date a rich man, and of course they shall be more than willing to offer themselves in a sexual way.”

Prostitution comes next. A few years ago Shonda Werry interviewed female students at elite Russian universities and found many regarded prostitution as “their ticket to a better life,” according to a Times Higher Education article. And last July Hungarian-born Agnes Jeges, 35, was arrested in Van Nuys, California for her role in a prostitution-for-Green-Card deal.

Once she latches on to her Prince Charming, the Green Card Girl can look forward to life in the Land of Milk and Honey. Even if the relationship goes sour, no problem, she can dump the guy and accuse him of domestic violence.

Then she dashes to the local abuse shelter. Thanks to the Violence Against Women Act, she now qualifies for emergency housing and can bypass the usual two-year waiting period to land her coveted Green Card. And she’s entitled to free legal help.

All this is common knowledge. Do a Google search on “green card” and VAWA and you’ll turn up nearly 10,000 hits.

Immigration authorities are aware of the scam. One official explains the shake-down this way: “Beautiful young women…entice a poor, unsuspecting 40-50-year old into marrying them, and then methodically proceed to ruin his life: calling 911 to report a wife-beating…going to a domestic abuse shelter.”

One such man is Michael Wnuk, an engineering professor at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Diagnosed with cancer, he met one vivacious Lidiia Kolisnichenko of Poland who promised she could help – but first he would have to marry her.

Days after the wedding, her mood darkened. Her husband had never hit or harmed her, but that was beside the point.

Lidiia then staged a confrontation scene, ripping a phone from his hand, hysterically running from the house, and frantically imploring the neighbors for help. Now she had “witnesses” to her charge. Then she took a B-line to the local shelter, which welcomed her with open arms.

Over the ensuring months Wnuk spent thousands to clear his good name. “I am financially ruined and emotionally devastated,” the engineering professor laments.

Lidiia Kolisnichenko is just one of thousands of Green Card Girls who each year flee to abuse shelters to become “certified” victims of violence. According to a recent survey by Eleanor Lyon and Shannon Lane at the University of Connecticut, 15% of residents at abuse shelters are there to get help for their immigration problems.

That means a lawyer who is willing to tell the woman that merely raising your voice is the same as full-fledged physical violence. According to the Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago, “possessiveness” or needing to “walk on eggshells” are all signs of extreme cruelty. The attorney then coaches her how to complete the application for a restraining order.

I’m sure a few of these cases are legitimate and the ladies need our help.

No,these women do not need to come to this country in the first place since most are scams. The prostitution part is what women do naturally,whether through work or marriage.

But many of these shelters are flim-flam operations. When the director at the Community Fellowship for Battered Women in northern California admits that persons are admitted simply because “they tell a good story,” you know something fishy is going on.

So how do our billion-dollar-a-year federal domestic violence programs come into the picture?

First, they funnel money to immigrant aide organizations like ASISTA that openly advertise a Green Card can be had merely for the asking.

Second, they order the Citizenship and Immigration Service to give special deference to any woman who claims abuse – no proof needed. These petitions are rubber-stamped at an office in Vermont where the CIS adjudicator has little chance of verifying the petitioner’s story.

Third, they channel millions to abuse shelters around the country who help perjurers file false accusations of abuse so they can ruin men’s lives and qualify for government aid.

This is done in the name of protecting women and eradicating domestic violence.

Source:here

Let's go to a domestic violence shelter or your taxdollars at work

Carey Roberts

Another Way Shelter Headed for a Meltdown?

2008-07-27 at 7:14 pm · Filed under Vox Populi

Last week my column revealed the all-too-common mistreatment of children in abuse shelters around the country. The article highlighted two incidents involving a Florida shelter — a former director who was cited for contributing to the delinquency of minors, and the sexual assault of a 4-year-old girl. [www.ifeminists.net/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.360]

Following publication of that essay, several former employees of Another Way came forward to tell me there was much, much more to the story. What follows is an account of three Queen Bees, a demoralized and depleted staff, and a shelter in disarray. The sordid tale calls to mind the old saying, “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Another Way, located in the northern Florida town of Lake City, has a gleaming facility with 35 beds and is headed by a director paid the tidy sum of $95,000. The staff consists of 30 persons and up to 20 volunteers. Over the last 2 years, the shelter has been plagued by an epidemic of staff “resignations” — 150 employees, more or less.

The former staffers shared with me eye-witness accounts of prison camp-like working conditions, misappropriated shelter assets, falsified documents, sex discrimination, illicit drug activities, horrific child abuse, illegal cover-ups, complacent oversight agencies, and more.

The shell-shocked women told me many of their former co-workers are unqualified, untrained, and even under-age. Some employees are required to work overtime without pay. Many are subjected to random tongue-lashings and at-will terminations.

A few felt set up for failure. One staffer, ordered to pull together extensive tax records on short notice, recounted her ordeal: “Toward the end of my deadline, I felt like I was going to have a mental break down…There [are] no words that can express the mental anguish that I was made to feel throughout the day.”

There were widespread reports of management using the shelter van and other resources for personal use. Staff training records were known to be falsified. When state auditors came to town, the managers would pull all-nighters to make sure the records were brought up to snuff.

The Queen Bees went out of their way to avoid helping abused men. One employee revealed, “I was personally instructed to do everything possible to discourage males to report abuse.”

Oddly, fewer than 15% of residents came to the facility with any physical injuries. Some of the residents had been charged with beating up their boyfriends and thrown in the clink. So shelter staff worked their feminine charms to procure their release and hide the law-breakers from their probation officers.

Druggies openly plied their habit. “I, on numerous occasions reported illegal drug use that I had witnessed take place on Shelter property and often my complaints were ignored,” a former employee revealed. “We always knew not to call the law unless you were prepared to be unemployed.”

One appalled woman described the shelter’s cover-up this way: “We’re here to empower women, not teach them how to lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate the system.”

Most troubling were the recurring incidents of child neglect and abuse — all swept under the rug. These are just three examples:

– Returning to the 4-year-old who was sexually assaulted by the 9-year-old girl, it turned out her perpetrator had been involved in inappropriate sex acts with another child at the shelter just two months before. That was never reported to the authorities.

– A one-month-old was left unattended in a baby swing. Despite the infant sobbing all day, a shelter manager upbraided the concerned employee with the rebuke, “We don’t tell these women how to parent their children.”

– An 8-year-old boy became angry and started to cry. Someone stuck him in a closed van in the middle of summer. Advised of this barbaric punishment, the manager ordered the boy left in the vehicle until he “decided to stop throwing a fit.”

Some incidents were reported to the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence. But the group never saw reason to take action. Maybe that’s because the FCADV director, Tiffany Carr, is known to be buddy-buddy with the Another Way head.

After they were expelled like a worn-out pack mule, many former workers experienced post-traumatic stress syndrome. Some required psychiatric treatment.

One ex-worker revealed to me, “They took advantage of their knowledge of my history of being an abuse victim and my desperate circumstances to intimidate me into accepting the abuse that they heaped on me.”

Comparing her employer to a perp, another woman reflected, “I later realized that like a battered woman my loyalties were still to my abuser.”

No wonder so many victims of abuse would never dream of going to an abuse shelter.


Source: here