|
 Responding to reports of soaring family violence in the armed forces, a military-civilian task force has called for an all-out war against such abuse, including better services, training and determined punishment of offenders. First of two parts. Cynthia Eng was married to a high-ranking Air Force missile launch officer. Within the first few years, he began beating and raping her. Soon he would also beat and molest their children. As they moved from base to base, she tried over and over to get help. One base commander told her, "No officer"s wife on my base is going to a shelter," while police departments from California to Ohio told her, "This is a military matter--we can"t interfere." The Family Service Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, she said, went so far as to blame her. how do I recover thunderbird email
|
The annual barrage of cutesy love stories is upon us. Fortunately, Sheila Gibbons offers antidotes: the Stupid Cupid awards, a book on the media"s love-industry machine and facts promoted during National Teen Dating Violence Awareness week. If you believe a little thinning of Valentine"s Day treacle is in order, a reality check is available in the form of the Stupid Cupid and Realistic Romance Awards, given each Valentine"s Day for media portrayals of sex, love and romance. Today"s top two awards go to feature films: "Failure to Launch," which received the overall Stupidest Cupid Award for perpetuating the most myths and stereotypes, while "Date Movie" won the Realistic Romance Grand Prize for spoofing unhealthy romantic messages. 
The phrase "sanctioned off" is now commonplace among those touched by the 1996 welfare law. It refers to a family losing its only source of revenue for infractions of welfare regulations, sometimes for as little as being 10 minutes late. BALTIMORE A mother who prefers to be known as Michelle first went on welfare 15 years ago. She had worked in a grocery chain for 16 years, but she was laid off during a recession. Her spell on welfare probably would have been brief had she not become involved in an abusive relationship: Her partner wouldn"t allow Michelle to work and spent her welfare grants on alcohol and cocaine. Finally free of her abusive partner, Michelle had new hope of reentering the workforce--only to find that her companion had given her AIDS. 
With her own sex-assault experience in mind, our commentator looks at the year"s most celebrated rape accusation. Lorraine Dusky concludes the ordeal that Kobe Bryant"s accuser suffered sows doubt about any rape victim"s chances in U.S. courts. As the Kobe Bryant I-didn"t-think-it-was-a-rape-but-she-did case stayed in the news over the past year, my heart went out to the 19-year-old at the center of the storm. The circumstances resonated with me--she was young, she flirted with a superstar, she ended up in his room--and he got his way. It almost happened to me. As a young reporterin upstate New York, I covered the speech a nationally-syndicated columnist gave to the local Kiwanis club. He was not of Kobe-Bryant fame, but he was well known enough.