wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Why should people who care for their health subsidize people who have behavioral issues such as overeating and not exercising?

Bananas are cheap! Walking is free! Can we please stop making EVERYONE into a victim. I feel like the concept of personal responsibility is rapidly disappearing from our cultural dialogue.

Yes, food policy is a factor, access to good food is a factor, but really the bottom line is making a personal choice.

I am not without sympathy, I have overweight friends, but they would be the first ones to tell you that they struggle with behavioral issues. That is why Overeaters Anonymous (also free)is far more effective than Jenny Craig.

This is really great news. I would only point out that the Bush-era DHS was willing to endorse a narrower set of gender-based asylum claims, though Obama's DHS is willing to go alot farther. I'm so happy to see that many of the cases I've seen denied over the last few years because the law remained so unclear might now be granted. Good work, Mr. Prez!

I don't understand the criticisms above. Hasn't more progress on domestic violence been made here than in many places abroad? And once you're here, you're separated from your abuser/
Also, if you look @ the DHS brief posted on the Times website, it certainly looks like it provides support for claims made based on gender role non-conformity, though its not specifically addressed.

What good is the law when there aren't adequate resources to protect people who press charges?

When with restraining orders get murdered and terrorized every day.

I am an immigrant here in the states and have been a victim of DV in this country by my american husband and had horrible experiences with the local police and courts. I had officers refuse to fill out a report when i called 911 and nobody in the courts told me about the protections that i later on found out are available. The story is long but the message i am trying to send is that it is very difficult to get help here as well.

Purvi, thank you so much for your incredibly articulate arguments and commitments to this absolutely vital cause. I commend all of your hard work!

Unless you specify countries where actual legal recourse does not exists, then you are just opening another avenue for a visa. I am not being an alarmist.
I am not sure why your speaker expressing about changing the world through with a narrow legal perspective.

I have to write anonymously due to client confidentiality but I have made a few referrals to domestic violence shelters lately and they were full! I had nowhere to send my client.

We have a substantial problem with DV in this country and our resources are already stretched to thin. It's sad to say but we do not have the resources to support more victims.

Also, often these immigrants find their own culture here in the US and are subject to the same sexism.

My ex-roommate brought his wife from back home (Pakistan). She married him even though the age difference was more than 20 years. Now that she is here, she verbally abuses him, spits at him and has already falsely accused him of torture and called police on him three times without any altercations. She and her cousins had already planned this before landing in US. They know that once she claims domestic abuse, she cannot be deported. What are my roommates options?

Why isn't the guest unwilling to name countries where this problem is prevalent? Is she afraid of offending people from those countries or societies?

This kind of overly sensitive approach simply isn't going to work to solve the problem.

Wouldn't it be better to begin by calling a spade a spade? The problem in the case of the Mexican woman was not that the authorities were unable to protect the survivor but that they were unwilling to do so. I think part of the solution to the broader problems faced by battered women is to avoid bureaucratic language that softens the tone of the accusation. We cannot afford to be disgusted with many Middle Eastern countries' treatment of women if we do not behave unforgivingly towards any abuser - including in the language we use to talk about the abusers.

Immigrant haters make up stories like that last caller, saying that the whole thing is a scam to get their husbands in. If immigration was such a huge problem, then haters wouldn't have to make up stories to justify their racism.

Does this include all gender-based violence? I.e. violence towards gays and lesbians or is it just for heterosexual women?

Didn't California just remove their domestic abuse programs entirely from their budget?

Not to sound insensitive but, how do we address this issue when we have not solved the problme of the violated women in the US?

Where does a woman in the US go? Please DO NOT say to the police department.

What I want to know is what did the do with that judge in Mexico who tried to seduce this already tortured woman? He should have been thrown off the bench forever and into jail! PIG!! (not you)