Article in Deleware paper on the Billboards

[dr e]

Not bad.  Not bad at all.  Keep in mind that this is dDeleawares only newspaper.    Biden continues in the turtle mode.  And so it goes.

Link to the article

Billboards criticize Biden's violence law
Group: Violence Against Women Act should include men
By ROBIN BROWN / The News Journal
04/29/2005

Men, too, can be - and are - victims of violence in their homes.

That's part of the message in a billboard campaign started Thursday by male victims' advocates, criticizing Sen. Joe Biden.

The criticism takes aim at an issue - domestic violence - in which even critics sponsoring the billboards say the Delaware Democrat is a national leader.

The billboards urge Biden, however, to change the landmark Violence Against Women Act, a federal domestic violence law he wrote in 1994.

They say it leaves out men.

Biden says it doesn't.

Men make up 15 percent to 36 percent of domestic violence victims, according to estimates.

Whether or not the law helps male victims enough, the billboards are good because they focus attention on domestic violence prevention, said Connie Linhart, 53, of Boston. The former Delaware resident, who now commutes here by train for work, saw one of the billboards at Wilmington's Amtrak station.

Wilmington visitor Christian Sansarique, 34, of Florida, agreed with her. But he said the law's name should include men.

"Men are much less likely to report the problem," Sansarique said.

Still, the law has won praise from victims' groups such as The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women for reducing domestic violence, improving victim services and addressing a long-hidden problem.

The law led to $3.8 billion in federal spending on prevention, education and victims' services. Programs in Delaware got 21 grants totaling $9.5 million. And the law has been credited for a drop of about 50 percent in reported cases of domestic violence and a 22 percent decline in women being killed by husbands or boyfriends since the measure was enacted.

But the law expires again this year and awaits revision, congressional discussion and possible renewal.

Hence, the billboards.

In addition to a sign on the train platform, others are near I-95 and on a stone wall near the Amtrak station.

The Safe Homes for Children and Families Coalition put them up along Biden's commuting route to Washington, D.C. "So he won't be able to avoid them," said David R. Burroughs, the coalition's legislative consultant and spokesman.

The signs - from 3-by-6 feet to 14-by-48 feet - urge Biden to make the Violence Against Women Act gender-neutral and to provide equal protection and services for male victims.

The male victims' advocacy coalition has 15 groups with thousands of members from Maine to California, said Burroughs, of Fair Hill, Md. Members paid $4,000 for the billboards, he said.

The disagreement between Burroughs and Biden is not new. They have talked about the issue over the years.

Before the law's last revision and readoption in 2000, Burroughs said he thought he convinced Biden to rework it to focus on men. But he didn't.

Biden said the law always was gender-neutral, despite its name including "women."

The National Domestic Violence Hotline set up by the law helps not only women and children, but men who want to stop abusing their partners, men being abused by partners in same-sex relationships and men abused by their wives, he said.

"The reality is that the vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women and children, and most outreach organizations take those demographics into consideration when providing services," Biden said.

"However, we do recognize that though not the norm, there are men abused by their wives and violence does occur in same-sex relationships," he said. "The bottom line is - violence is violence no matter what gender the victim. Because of that, the Violence Against Women Act applies to all victims of domestic violence, irrespective of their gender. Nothing in the act denies services, programs, funding or assistance to male victims of violence."

The train-platform billboard was lost Thursday on most Amtrak passengers, who stared down the tracks or talked on cell phones.

One man paused to read the billboard. Then he muttered "Politics!" and walked away.

Contact robin brown at 324-2856 or [email protected].

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[woof]

The National Domestic Violence Hotline set up by the law helps not only women and children, but men who want to stop abusing their partners

"The reality is that the vast majority of victims of domestic violence are women and children, and most outreach organizations take those demographics into consideration when providing services," Biden said.

It's this type of BS that make turning this bill into a gender-neutral one a waste of time.

Until people tell the truth about it, ie.- domestic violence is caused by a power struggle that both people engage in, men will be the ones held responsible no matter what the law says.

[contrarymary]

Does anyone have a sample of a letter written to the newspapers and/or representatives regarding this subject?  I'm still really under the weather, but would like to write something.  I promise not to plagiarize too blatantly.