We The People

I'm asking everyone who reads this blog to go to the following link and sign this petition to The White House asking them to put an end to organized stalking and related programs. Every signature is extremely important and will help save lives.

http://wh.gov/4j0


If you've always wanted to do something to help make the world a better place, now's your chance!

Links

Today I'm sharing a group of miscellaneous links that you might find of interest.

The first is an old U.S. Department of Justice site that allowed people to voice their opinions about the lack of enforcement of laws against organized stalking. Sadly, the site is now closed to voting, but it's still well worth your time to go there and look over the comments that were posted.

https://opendoj.ideascale.com/a/dtd/21694-7036


The next link is to a blog post by my friend Medawar that discusses organized crime in a global context (and manages to mention Texas in the process).

http://medawarscornflakes.blogspot.com/2011/06/gareth-williams-and-russian-texas.html


This last link is to a petition I have posted at Change.org. I'd appreciate it if you'd take the time to read it carefully and consider supporting it with your signature, because it's an important issue for crime victims.

http://www.change.org/petitions/demand-an-end-to-police-complaint-fraud?share_id=xPtKBNfzRV&pe=pce

Important Alternative Resources For Victims

Recently, my friend Michelle sent me this copy of an article from the Harvard Human Rights Journal. Written by the lead counsel, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, the article describes a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights filed on behalf of Jessica Gonzales against the United States Government.

Ms. Gonzales is a U.S. citizen whose three daughters were abducted by her estranged husband in June 1999. Despite having a restraining order against her husband because of previous incidents of domestic violence, local law enforcement officers ignored Ms. Gonzales' repeated calls for help. As a result, the Gonzales' girls were brutally murdered by their father.

Ms. Gonzales filed a lawsuit against the local police department in federal court, but her case was dismissed before discovery even began. The case went on to the Supreme Court, which decided that enforcement of protective orders was not manditory.

The Supreme Court's ruling shocked and outraged victims' rights and other groups across the country. Normally, Ms. Gonzales' case would have ended there, but she and her supporters decided to try an obscure legal remedy. They filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) claiming that the U.S. was responsible for human rights violations. Although the Commission has no enforcement authority, because it is an arm of the Organization of American States, its decisions "...carry significant moral and political weight and contribute to international standard setting" (p. 185).

Upon examination of Ms. Gonzales' petition by the Commission, it was upheld. This was the first time a domestic violence survivor had filed a case against the U.S. in an international court. The Gonzales case exposed serious human rights violations committed by a U.S. Government used to accusing other countries. For the first time, the U.S. was held accountable for its own actions at the international level and was shown to not be in compliance with international human rights standards.

At the same time, Ms. Gonzales also pursued other international avenues for relief. Although none of them offer any enforceable remedies, all of these have provided forums for exposing the violations of human rights involved and put pressure on the U.S. Government to fix their problems or risk being labeled a Third World country with regard to their stance on human rights.

As a result of the Gonzales case, various other victims and victims' rights groups have also filed petitions against the U.S. Government with the Commission. These petitions are designed to add to the pressure on the government to clean up its act with regard to human rights violations.

Victims of domestic abuse, organized crime, organized/gang stalking, police corruption, hate, and other crimes who are unable to obtain the justice or relief they are entitled to through normal means within the U.S. Government need to be aware that these international options are open to them. At the end of the article, I'm also posting contact and other basic information for victims from the IACHR's website, where additional information is available. Victims from countries other than the U.S. should check to see if they are also eligible to petition the IACHR. (For example, Canadian citizens also have this potential remedy.) Citizens of other countries should look into some of the other international possibilities mentioned in the article as well.

Unfortunately, for many of the most serious U.S. victims of human rights violations like myself and my children, these international remedies are not currently accessible due to the fact that some of the human rights violations being committed against us involve extensive conspiracies to deny us any sort of proper legal representation. We and many others are being victimized by persons with essentially unlimited legal and financial resources and contacts and associates at the highest levels of the U.S. Government. Until ALL American victims are able to obtain the legal help they desperately need, human rights violations in the U.S. are likely to continue and, sadly, expand.

TAJF Said

This is the reply I received from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation when I contacted them asking for help in finding proper legal representation. Texas RioGrande Legal Aid told me I didn't qualify financially for their help. My problems with the State Bar of Texas' referral services you already know about if you keep up with my blog.

This is one example of what domestic violence and abuse expert Alexis A. Moore calls "the domestic violence run-around": the passing of victims from one agency to another rather than providing them with actual assistance. Sadly, shockingly high percentages of victims experience this--often from agencies that accept public funds and contributions that are supposed to be used to help victims.

I have LOTS of these types of replies, and I will be posting more of them in the future in order to document what victims are subjected to. As Ms. Moore has said many times, what victims need are 1) individual advocacy, and 2) accountability from organizations accepting money to help them. If you agree, please go to Ms. Moore's website and sign the online petition she has posted there.

The Brush-Off

I have collected lots of letters like this one over the years that I've received in response to my requests for help for myself and my children. I can to some extent understand getting the brush-off from private individuals and smaller organizations, since it's clear we're up against very powerful people with unlimited legal and financial resources.

This letter, however, is from a national organization whose specificly stated purpose, as they freely admit here, is to help victims like my children and me. Although this letter is a bit more curt (and rude?) than most, I have received similar correspondence from numerous government agencies (both state and federal) that are also supposed to be helping victims of crime and/or domestic violence and abuse.

Now I'm learning from national victims' advocates that the problem of victims desperately turning to various agencies that are supposed to be helping them but instead give them the run-around or turn them away altogether is not only widespread but actually more common than not. Government agencies are in fact some of the worst offenders in this regard. (One of my own examples of a response from a government agency is posted below under "Response From DOJ".) Worse, I'm also learning that major corporations, private organizations, and individuals (including celebrities) are donating large amounts of money to these same agencies that are turning away desperate victims. I've been shocked to learn of countless victims wanting to leave critically dangerous situations being turned away from the very shelters that are supposed to protect them.

While it's an important and necessary resource in crisis situations, fleeing from an abuser these days often doesn't even result in significant relief for victims, given the prevalence of identify theft, stalking, harassment, computer hacking, illegal surveillance, cyberbullying and slander, private documents and information for sale openly, etc. Here in Central Texas, we victims also have to contend with the appalling corruption in law enforcement--see "Illegal Surveillance Summary", "What's The Buzz?", and "What's The Buzz Revisited" below for more information about this.

If you examine the comments my ex-husband has made all over this blog, you will quickly see that he is completely unafraid of being prosecuted or sued for any of his actions, slander/defamation, or abuse. I'm in contact with other ex-wives who are in similar situations and are also unable to get the help and support they desperately need from the same agencies that are accepting government funds and large private donations but continue to turn needy victims away. How many innocent lives have been wrecked or lost because victims couldn't get help from agencies that were supposed to protect them? (Do you even care?--when entire communities are actively involved together in stalking, harassment, slander, libel, and other criminal acts against innocent victims as is happening here, this question has to be asked.)

National victims' advocates are now using our case and others that are similar to try to educate donors about how to make better use of their money for assisting victims. Savvy, well-connected abusers who, in this age of easy information sharing and great wealth made from criminal enterprises (who therefore cross all socio-economic lines) are aware of the lack of help for victims, and they exploit this situation by deliberately and systematically overwhelming their victims. The violence and other abuse then escalate because abusers aren't facing any negative consequences of their actions. The experts say, and I concur, that there's already plenty of information and resources available for identifying abusive behaviors and convincing victims to leave. What's needed far more is individual, one-on-one advocacy for victims that will actively assist them in dealing with these overwhelming situations and enable them to obtain real, lasting relief from the abuse.

I'm requesting that those who do seriously care about helping victims prove it by going to http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/201?m=a3ecbdfa and signing the online Domestic Violence (DV) Reform petition there. Doing this won't take more than just a few seconds, and you'll be taking part in a critical effort to effect much-needed change. Texans in particular should welcome the provisions in this petition for insisting on detailed public audits of government agencies that are turning victims away in order to find out what their funds are being used for and holding them accountable. You can also contact National White House Advisor on Violence Against Women (aka Domestic Violence Czar) Lynn Rosenthal at lrosenthal@ovp.eop.gov and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden through the contact form on his website and insist that they support one-on-one advocacy for victims.

Finally, I'm also asking you to carefully examine your own behaviours and those of your family members, close friends, and associates in an effort to make sure you're part of the solution to domestic abuse, violence, and crime and not part of the problem. To paraphrase Mother Theresa, before you go to India to work for good, try looking for opportunities within a 2-mile radius of your own front door. Let's all work together to make the U.S. in general and Texas in particular a leader in real advocacy, assistance, and support for innocent victims instead of the national embarrassment the entire DV program currently is.