Jack Kammer, a men's issues author and ownerof the RulyMob.com web site, is sponsoring a contest to write a song, "If I Only Had a V", modeled after "If I Only Had a Heart" from The Wizard of Oz. The song is to be a parody of V-Day, and will by judged by its "(a) effectiveness in satirizing the idea that women in western societies are always virtuous, never committing violence themselves, (b) effectiveness in satirizing the idea that women in western societies are oppressed, (c) adherence to the original meter and tone of the song “If I Only Had a Heart,” (d) suitability for being reported verbatim by the mainstream media and (e) humor." Both men and women are welcome to submit entries. The deadline is February 6, 2003 - read the official rules here.

Marc Tolbert writes "I have been searching for the smoking gun on Whitney for a long time. She has a long history of violence towards others but I had not yet found solid evidence of violence against her husband. After reading the earlier posts about the interview (which I missed viewing), I went on a search for a transcript and finally located it here. I am just amazed that she was upfront about the issue. It is like she knew ahead of time that Diane Sawyer, Primetime and ABC would just gloss over the admission."

Severin writes "The St. Louis Post Dispatch has the following article about a father who chaperones elementary children. He also does so dressed in a traditionally female style (sweater, jeans, makeup, and a "woman's hairstyle"). Many parents are outraged and will not allow their children to go on any outings where he is a chaperone. Why is it that when a woman wears pants, she's considered "liberated", but if a man wears make-up, he's a danger to kids? I think it's important that we stand up for the rights of men to wear whatever they wish, since women are given that opportunity."

Uberganger writes "A new Australian study into the problems facing boys in education has arrived at a series of woolly-minded conclusions that seem to amount to very little. The study report itself can be found in PDF form here.
The study seems unduly concerned with attacking masculinity and blurring the issues by insisting that solutions benefit girls as well as boys. It is an unsettling document because it shows just how pervasive the feminist version of reality has become in academia."

During my daily travel around the web I happened to come across a book review
of Bernard Goldberg's book Bias. While I it found fairly short, it does make for some very interesting reading, proving the old lace curtain is still around, among other things. I've
also heard rumours that there's a section on men's lack of reproductive rights. Perhaps someone who has the book can tell us?

Serge writes "Scientists from Harvard University have uncovered evdience that exposure to the chemical, one of a group known as the phthalates, may lead to damage to the genetic material of human sperm.
"The correlation found in this study is extremely troubling" says Dr. Ted Schettler." These chemicals are used in cosmetics and fragrance products, so this is a really big deal.

Our friend Erin Pizzey has been out defending fatherhood, in Bermuda of all places. Her tone seems a bit more radical than normal, but since it's in defence of us, that's allright by me. There seems to be a bit of doublethink in the article, but I can't quite point it out. Have a read
about it and see what you think.

This Wednesday, 12/11, at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, join us for an on-line chat at the MANN chat room. The topic for discussion will be writing about men and men's issues, with a particular focus on how the "lace curtain" poses problems for writers on these issues. Anyone with experience writing about these issues is especially welcome to attend.

For those of you who were wondering about the direction of the Democratic Party, Ms. Magazine has selected Nancy Pelosi, House Minority (Democratic) Leader, as a woman of the year.

CJ writes "The Family Violence Prevention Fund's Judicial Education Project seeks to further erradicate the rights of men by teaching (forcing) judges and the courts' handling of cases involving alledged domestic violence. The FPVC is responsible for creating the statutes that permit probable cause misdemeanor arrest without a warrant in domestic violence cases under specified conditions in most states. These and other changes were prompted by one sided feminist studies that showed that ARREST is a more effective deterrent in domestic violence cases than mediation or other arrest alternatives."