Ho should be enough! Do you hear me now Ho should be enough?

Another Rant by: Bettyjean Kling

Ho is enough- NOW is the time to say STOP- the statistics are staggering! Starting Today- we must say No More- Help me Pass Louisa’s Law. We can not tolerate the slaughter- strangling – beating and shooting of women. We can not. Women should be treated with respect! Men must fear raising a hand or  voice to a woman ! Men must fear using vile language to a woman. It was not Ho that got Imus fired it was nappy headed! Starting tomorrow – Ho should be enough! Do you hear me now – Ho should be enough?

In Delaware Co. PA, a small newspaper http://www.delcotimes.com is running stories today on page after page- stories about 4 assaulted women- 2 murdered.

Cops: Man terrorized girlfriend, kids with gun

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2008/12/26/news/doc49544fba0679d175936108.txt

A Collingdale man, allegedly armed with a .40-caliber semi-automatic handgun, broke into his girlfriend’s home and terrorized three young children while looking for their mother, according to police.

“Mr. John has a gun and is trying to kill my mom,” a frantic child told an emergency dispatcher Sunday morning as Jonathan Murray searched the Bennington Road home the children shared with their mother, according to the affidavit of probable cause.

Naked woman seeks refuge in church

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2008/12/23/news/doc49505f16cd436861521983.txt

The victim recalled waking up and being confronted by McNeila, who accused her of cheating, police said.“McNeila then began to beat her, striking her approximately 30 times in different areas of her body,” Erle wrote in the affidavit. “The victim was not allowed to leave the apartment and was kept contained in the bedroom, not able to seek medical help.”

Police said McNeila repeatedly threatened to “torture her and pull off her fingernails one by one.”

She managed to escape and ran out of the apartment toward St. Laurence Church. “Fortunately, the woman was able to seek refuge at the church,” police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. “The guy came after her and tried to grab her away from the priest who had put a blanket around her.”

Montco DA: Jumper strangled girlfriend before taking own life

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2008/12/30/news/doc495a496147370704748969.txt

The first murder tale tells the story of a poor guy who threw himself off a bridge after accidentally strangling his girlfriend during sex. Poor Guy? Accident? She was badly decomposed- the bastard didn’t want to rot in Jail so he killed himself the coward! 

Cops ID victim, suspect in brutal U.D. murder

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2008/12/31/news/doc495be53b6ded0835734609.txt

Next a 20 year old is butchered and slaughtered while her baby sister hides in the closet.  Cleveland confronted his ex-girlfriend on the porch of her parents’ home. She ran in and locked the door, but he broke in.

 

A Majority of Women Fear Domestic Violence

Women are waking up and we need to seize the moment! YWCA might be a great partner for us!

CONTACT:
NANCY LOVING
Office: 202.467.0801
Cell: 202.641.1845

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE”: YWCA SURVEY SHOWS A MAJORITY OF WOMEN FEAR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Washington, DC (Dec. 18) – Fully half (54%) of American women worry they or someone they know will be a victim of domestic violence. Younger women ages 18-29 are most worried, with more than two-thirds (68%) saying they are worried about this threat. Of these younger women, 36 percent say they are “very worried” and 32 percent say they are “somewhat worried.”

In contrast, half (50%) of older women ages 30-70 say they are worried about domestic violence, with 23 percent of them
saying they are “very worried” and 27 percent “somewhat worried.”

These results are reported in a recent YWCA USA survey report, What Women Want: a National Survey of Priorities and
Concerns, based on a telephone survey of 1,000 women ages 18-70 conducted on Oct. 28 – Nov. 2 by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

Race is another factor that influences women’s degree of concern about domestic violence. Six in 10 (60%) Black women say they worry about being a victim or knowing someone who is a victim of domestic violence, compared with 52 percent of White women.  Further, 34 percent of Black women say they are “very worried” about domestic violence, compared with 23 percent of White women.

“These are truly frightening survey findings,” said Lorraine Cole , PhD, YWCA USA ‘s CEO. “That so many women live in
such fear of domestic violence is shocking. I hope the new Obama administration will do everything to eliminate this scourge of domestic violence and work with us to make sure every woman is safe in her home and intimate relationships.”

Statistics help explain women’s anxiety. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 1.3 million American women are physically assaulted by an intimate partner each year and among women who are murdered, one-third is killed by a current or former husband or boyfriend. Further, 19% of women raped each year are victimized by a current or former intimate partner. One million women are stalked each year. And one in 12 women will be stalked during their lifetime.

Other YWCA survey findings:

Two-thirds (66%) of all women and 73 percent of younger women say that addressing violence against women should be a top priority for President-elect Obama and Congress in the first year of the new administration. Most significant, eight in 10 Black women (83%) say violence against women should be a top priority.

Nearly one in five women (19%) considers violence against women the nation’s most pressing public health issue. This health issue ranked third after access to affordable, quality health care (37%) and the number of women without health insurance (26%).

The YWCA USA is a national not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to social service, advocacy, education,
leadership development and racial justice. Established in the United States in 1858, the YWCA is the oldest and largest national organization dedicated to the empowerment of women and girls and the elimination of racism. Through nearly 300 local associations located across the nation, the YWCA serves 2.5 million women and girls each year. Globally, the YWCA USA is a member of World YWCA that works in 122 countries and serves 25 million women and girls. For more
information and to read the full survey report, visit www.ywca.org.

Louisa’s Law – we can change this!

A feminist woman philosopher once wrote this. It comes from the book, Destiny Charted. It seemed perfect for our cause~ Callie HOPE Some day, some way our binds will be loosened Heralding in a rising voice of bonded spirits in tumultuous joy Proclaiming and demanding our inherent rights ~ Maureen Gehrig This use of the phase ‘ gender based violence’ is a preferable turn the all too patsy ‘domestic violence’… which to me sounds like someone getting hit with a dish rag… It’s continued over use has helped to make something horrible sound trivial. Without re-inventing the wheel, we appear to have a universal term here at our disposal. This is a very good direction…  http://www.unfpa.org/gender/violence.htm Around the world, as many as one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way – most often by someone she knows, including by her husband or another male family member; one woman in four has been abused during pregnancy. Ending Widespread Violence Against Women   “Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms… In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture.” –Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, paragraph 112 Gender-based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health, and in some instances, results in death. Violence against women has been called “the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world.” Accordingly, the Vienna Human Rights Conference and the Fourth World Conference on Women gave priority to this issue, which jeopardizes women’s lives, bodies, psychological integrity and freedom. Violence may have profound effects, direct and indirect, on a woman’s reproductive health, including: Unwanted pregnancies and restricted access to family planning information and contraceptives Unsafe abortion or injuries sustained during a legal abortion after an unwanted pregnancy Complications from frequent, high-risk pregnancies and lack of follow-up care Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS Persistent gynaecological problems Psychological problems Gender-based violence also serves by intention or effect to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and denial of the seriousness of the health consequences of abuse. In addition to the harm they exact on the individual level, these consequences also exact a social toll and place a heavy and unnecessary burden on health services. UNFPA recognizes that violence against women is inextricably linked to gender-based inequalities. When women and girls are expected to be generally subservient, their behaviour in relation to their health, including reproductive health, is negatively affected at all stages of the life cycle. UNFPA puts every effort into breaking the silence and ensuring that the voices of women are heard. At the same time, the Fund works to change the paradigm of masculinity that allows for the resolution of conflict through violence. One strategy is to engage men – policy makers, parents and young boys in discourse about the dynamics and consequences of violence. As the chart below shows, women may face different forms of violence at different stages of their lives. Gender discrimination and violence throughout a woman’s life Phase Type Prenatal Prenatal sex selection, battering during pregnancy, coerced pregnancy (rape during war) Infancy Female infanticide, emotional and physical abuse, differential access to food and medical care Childhood Genital cutting; incest and sexual abuse; differential access to food, medical care, and education; child prostitution Adolescence Dating and courtship violence, economically coerced sex, sexual abuse in the workplace, rape, sexual harassment, forced prostitution Reproductive Abuse of women by intimate partners, marital rape, dowry abuse and murders, partner homicide, psychological abuse, sexual abuse in the workplace, sexual harassment, rape, abuse of women with disabilities Old Age Abuse of widows, elder abuse (which affects mostly women) Source: Heise, L. 1994. Violence Against Women: The Hidden Health Burden. World Bank Discussion Paper. Washington. D.C. The World Bank Violence at Home Most domestic violence involves male anger directed against their women partners. This gender difference appears to be rooted in the way boys and men are socialized — biological factors do not seem to account for the dramatic differences in behaviour in this regard between men and women. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to gender-based violence. Some husbands become more violent during the wife’s pregnancy, even kicking or hitting their wives in the belly. These women run twice the risk of miscarriage and four times the risk of having a low birth-weight baby. Cross-cultural studies of wife abuse have found that nearly a fifth of peasant and small-scale societies are essentially free of family violence. The existence of such cultures proves that male violence against women is not the inevitable result of male biology or sexuality, but more a matter of how society views masculinity. Gender and Violence Studies of very young boys and girls show only that, although boys may have a lower tolerance for frustration, and a tendency towards rough-and-tumble play, these tendencies are dwarfed by the importance of male socialization and peer pressure into gender roles. The prevalence of domestic violence in a given society, therefore, is the result of tacit acceptance by that society. The way men view themselves as men, and the way they view women, will determine whether they use violence or coercion against women. UNFPA recognizes that ending gender-based violence will mean changing cultural concepts about masculinity, and that process must actively engage men, whether they be policy makers, parents, spouses or young boys. Sexual Assault The majority of sexual assault victims are young. Women in positions of abject dependence on male authorities are also particularly subject to unwanted sexual coercion. Rape in time of war is still common. It has been extensively documented in recent civil conflicts, and has been used systematically as an instrument of torture or ethnic domination. Now, with precedents set at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Tanzania, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, at The Hague, for mass rape, other acts such as sexual assault, sexual slavery, forced prostitution, forced sterilization, forced abortion, and forced pregnancy may qualify as crimes of torture, crimes against humanity, and even some as crimes of genocide. UNFPA Responds Because gender-based violence is sustained by silence, women’s voices must be heard. UNFPA puts every effort into enabling women to speak out against gender-based violence, and to get help when they are victims of it. The Fund is also committed to keeping gender-based violence in the spotlight as a major health and human rights concern. UNFPA advocates for legislative reform and enforcement of laws for the promotion and the protection of women’s rights to reproductive health choices and informed consent, including promotion of women’s awareness of laws , regulations and policies that affect their rights and responsibilities in family life. The Fund promotes zero tolerance of all forms of violence against women and works for the eradication of traditional practices that are harmful to women’s reproductive and sexual health, such as rituals associated with puberty. Sixteen Days of Activism: Sixteen Days of Hope Gender-based violence is one of the most pervasive of human rights abuses. It covers a range of injustices from gender abuse to systematic rape and from pre-birth sex selection to female genital mutilation. In 2005, UNFPA took part in a worldwide campaign, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, that began on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and ended 10 December with International Human Rights Day. Find out more about the campaign as well as 16 ways that UNFPA addresses gender-based violence. more As part of its work to counter gender-based violence, UNFPA has supported training of medical professionals, to make them more sensitive towards women who may have experienced violence and to meet their health needs. Pilot interventions have been tested in 10 countries-Cape Verde, Ecuador, Guatemala, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mozambique, Nepal, Romania, Russia and Sri Lanka. Following consultations with health providers and clients, all women were screened for abuse in some pilot projects. Possible victims have been offered legal, medical and psychological support, and medical referrals when necessary. Attention has been paid to involving communities, and to creating support networks for gender-based violence victims that include both police and health-care providers, along with counselling services. UNFPA has also held workshops for health providers on recognizing the effects of gender-based violence on women’s health, and on how to detect and prevent abuse and assist victims. These have stressed the need for confidentiality and monitoring. Based on this experience, UNFPA has produced a manual, A Practical Approach to Gender-based Violence, which has been translated into seven languages. Additional strategies the Fund employs to address gender-based violence include: Ensuring that emergency contraception is available for victims of sexual violence Strengthening advocacy on gender-based violence in all country programmes, in conjunction with other United Nations partners and NGOs Advocating for women with parliamentarians and women’s national networks Integrating messages on the prevention of gender-based violence into information, education and communication projects Conducting more research on gender-based violence Learn More:   Programming to Address Violence Against Women: 10 Case Studies   Ending Violence Against Women: Programming for Prevention, Protection and Care   Indonesian NGO Works to Stop Violence against Women   Guidelines on Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings   Women, War, Peace   Addressing Violence Against Women: Piloting and Programming

Ok – let’s start from here- I have two daughters near death both vitims of 23 years of violence that we did not know how to stop!

 We need to stop it now so these statistics begin to change. Only we can affect the future. Are we ready? I am a mother – will you wait till it happens closer to home or has it already? I’ll stand with you and together we will stand with her and we ewill stand eith them till we win! Louisa’s law!

A PUMA Christmas

In a holiday letter, one of those newsy “this is what we did all year” things, a friend gave thanks that we now have a president coming who “really cares about people”.

I found that stunning. Does she think that Bush doesn’t care about people? Or that Clinton didn’t care about people? Or Bush Sr.? Reagan? Carter?

What I want for Christmas is for sanity to return to the Obama faithful. Obama is just a man, not the Savior, not someone special, different, or transcendent. Yet the expectations are beyond high – they are over the freakin’ top.

Until they can talk about him in something other than hushed and reverent tones, or strident assertions of his unique and dazzling (fill in the blank), the real problems we face can’t be addressed. They are so sure that by the end of his first day in office he will have rolled back the tide of economic disaster, unemployment, diminished stature in the world, and the escalating consequences of two wars of invasion.

I don’t share their confidence, yet I do hope Obama cares about regular Americans and looks out for our interests rather than the interests of Wall Street and Big Business that financed his campaign. Unfortunately, I’ve seen little evidence that he does. I’ve heard words. I’ve seen slogans and photo-ops. Only time will tell whether my starry-eyed friend knows something I don’t.

Merry Christmas to all of us in PUMA-land. Prayers go out to Betty Jean and her family. May the holiday season shine light upon the joy in your life and bring you peace.

Whose agenda is it anyway?

Yesterday Betty Jean asked me to access this blog and remove a picture link to “The New Agenda”. TNA had demanded that she do so. Some of you may have seen on other blogs emails that Amy Siskind has sent to other people, in which she says some very harsh things about Betty Jean. In one I saw, she called her “insane”. She had told Betty Jean not to contact her again, because of Betty Jean drawing attention to a post Amy had written about finding a way to overlook the actions of Jon Favreau. Many of us were outraged that she would suggest Favreau spend time at a battered woman’s shelter, as a way to teach him about women’s suffering. How appalling to ask women who have run for their lives to then take on the task of teaching a frat boy like Favreau what every person already knows in their hearts, even if they have also learned the lesson of society that yes, violence and sexual harassment are wrong but… but… wink wink it’s okay to grop a cardboard breast of the incoming Secretary of State. Boys will be boys.

Nonsense!

Below is the content of an email from Harriet Christian detailing why she, a founding member of The New Agenda, has resigned from TNA. It’s sad to see an organization which showed such promise has in the space of less than 6 months become a shadow of what it could have been…

Dear Friends,

On Friday, December 19th, two colleagues and I resigned as Founding members of The New Agenda. Due to a conflict of interest we professionally and politely tendered our resignation. Here is an excerpt from that letter:

This decision did not come easily and we wish you the best in all your efforts. It just doesn’t work for us to be told that we can’t speak with certain people. We would not work against the New Agenda but we have been a part of Puma from the beginning and need to feel free to support them as well. Also, quite frankly, deep down the narrative about BettyJean being dangerous or a stalker just didn’t feel right to be a part of. This whole situation started as a criticism to the New Agenda’s softening to the Favreau situation and snowballed out of control. The irony is that BJ was ultimately right – allowing a “boys will be boys” attitude to persist leaves the door open for worse behavior – but that’s a separate issue.

Since that time, it has come to my attention that Amy Siskind has told the remaining Founders that SHE does not want Blue Collar Women or PUMA “Screamers” in HER organization. I felt compelled to let members of the New Agenda know what the underlying agenda is – looking out for wealthy women and looking down on the rest of us.

Sincerely,

Harriet Christian
Original PUMA

Support for Betty Jean and Family

An open thread so that friends can leave encouragement for Betty Jean, Louisa, Dee, and the rest of the family.

Betty Jean on PUMA Radio 12/18/08

From “The Confluence”

Conflucians Say was pre-empted last night because Sheri Tag had a private interview with Betty Jean Kling, whose daughter Louisa was viciously shot in the face on Monday night. Sheri and Betty Jean would like to share this interview with you. You can find it here on NO WE WON’Ton PUMA United Radio.

Violence is Violence, and Murder is Murder

The term “domestic violence” has always angered me. It sounds like something kind of tame, domesticated, something that isn’t as serious as just plain old violence. Well folks, it is just as serious, and in fact, it is far more serious – and deadly – to those it affects. Women. And children.

Just because an attempt on our life comes at the hands of someone we know, someone we had been in a relationship with (before we found out what s psycho they were), or someone we had even been married to, it is still attempted murder. M U R D E R

Bettyjean’s daughters were both targets of murder attempts by the same man – someone they knew. He served three months for the first attack. Three months! What the hell kind of punishment befitting the crime is THAT?

Now that same man has shot her sister.

When a woman is savaged attacked with a hammer in her own home, she is not “battered”. She is the victim of ATTEMPTED MURDER. When another family member is shot by this man it is ATTEMPTED MURDER.

We must call these things what they are and deal with them as we deal with crimes against strangers.

Murder means take the life of another human being.

Attempted murder means an attack that could have taken the life of another human being.

Let’s get real:

– 85-95% of all domestic violence victims are female.
– Over 500,00 women are stalked by an intimate partner each year.
– 5.3 million women are abused each year.
– 1,232 women are killed each year by an intimate partner.
– Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women.
– Women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know rather than by a stranger.

It is past time for us to deal harshly with men who perpetuate these crimes. Stop calling it by a tame name. Call it what it is. Arrest them and treat them like the assailants and murderers they are.

Teach your male children that violence against ANYONE is wrong, and especially against women and children. Men need to let other men know that this behavior is heinous and disgusting.

I pray for Dee, Louisa, Bettyjean, and the rest of the family.

Statistics from American Institute on Domestic Violence.

Denise and Louisa

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The newspapers have  only published his smiling face

 

 From Birth to death – Females are not a joking matter anymore- help us make this a law- Zero Tolerance-

 

 

 

 

Denise and Louisa Christmas

They have faces too- this is what they looked like last Christmas –

Tomorrow I will bring you a picture of what they look like this hristmas!

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I may need assistance with figuring out Louisa’s law- Help wanted! I am splitting my time between two critical daughters. Help me find Greta and get this story on the air ASAP! Please – I have a call in to Cavuto asking them to connect me to Greta – anyone know how to get to Greta?

 

This is George Hartwig-  In June he took a hammer to my 88 Lb. daughter’s head for her pills. Monday Night he came looking for me – to blow my head off because I would not let him near my daughter . He found instead my other daughter and shot her in the head – My son and grandson stopped him just as he was about to blow denise’s head off. His plan was to masacre the entire family that night! He has a 23 year history of vilolence.

Look at this smiling face and know all 235 Lbs of him will live to keep smiling!

:

All that I ask is

1- Prayers for both Denise Richardson and Louisa Richardson-Rodas

2- Spread this story far and wide along with the pictures- this must stop- no more domestic violence

3-  Zero tolerance for disrespecting females in any way shape or form. never again will we tolerate laughing at our expense

4-We march if needed – We need lawa – Louisa law— a stricker law that offenders will be treated seriously and prevented from re offending

Let’s do some research on this Judge – George loving calls

“Let em go Lipton !”

 

More on her tomorrow – if anyone can find out some info on her please get it to me I would love to write that up along with the pictures of Denise’s stapled head and Louisa’s new face as a result of Judge Lipton’s failure to take Georg seriously after knowing he was a repeat offended. George was let out on an I am sorry without posting a penny.

 

Does anyone have a connection to Gretta van Susteren- this is a story that needs attention. Where are your connections now  for battered women TNA?

Slap em on the wrist till they blow her brains out

No laughing matter CNN, no slap on the wrist matter either! Who will join me?

Louisa’s law Maybe ? Keep the offenders away from these women not drive the women into shelters and away from their homes.

Do you have any idea how many women get their brains blown out daily in this country because we are too damned easy on men who abuse women? They abuse their wives and their families and the major reason they continue to do is because women have so little protection and because they are slapped on the wrist – they keep getting away with it till they finally blow someone’s brains out then they land in jail where a lot of them should have been kept in the first place.

Better yet – the first time they started to show disrespect for women and girls if we stood our ground- maybe it wouldn’t be a joke that that leaves me tonight looking at two daughters battling for their very lives! One from Cancer and the other from the gunshot wound to the head from the 23 year abuser who was left to become worse and worse till he finally  became a would be murderer!

It all started with blond jokes- that the guys in the locker rooms thought were funny at the girl’s expense. Unchecked it graduated to degrading language then to shoves, then to short stints for spousal abuse  which wound up sending the abuser right back home to abuse again.

Just On June 16th 2008 this man, attacked my sleeping cancer patient daughter with a hammer to the skull for her pain drugs. He spent 3 months in Jail then pled guilty to a lesser charge and they let him out ROR, and it ended up with her sister Louisa  my youngest daughter’s brains on the living room wall last night!

You bet the 180 degree turn-a-round from fire Favreau to maybe we should send him to a battered women’s shelter and fix the bastard was a bit personal! Now I am on a death watch for two daughters.

 

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

This has got to stop – too many innocent females are destroyed daily because we will not stand up and fight like hell. We want this stopped this was not a laughing matter CNN boys – come to Hackensack, Medical Center NJ and take a look at my daughter- Louisa Rodas. She has less than a 50/50 chance of surviving and if she does she will have one eye – one ear a half of a head and be paralyzed on one side – we have no idea how much brain damage. STOP THIS NOW – PLEASE! For all our daughters !