List here, courtesy of Marc Rudov. Bookmark and send it around!

This story is amazing! Excerpt:

'A US man who says he learned of his wife's affair by reading her e-mail on their computer faces trial on felony computer misuse charges. Leon Walker, 33, of Michigan, used his wife's password to get into her Gmail account. Clara Walker filed for a divorce, which was granted this month.
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Mr Walker told The Oakland Press of Pontiac that he was trying to protect the couple's children from neglect and calls the case a "miscarriage of justice." Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Sydney Turner says the charge is justified and the case will go ahead on February 7.
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Privacy law writer Frederick Lane told the Detroit Free Press the law typically is used to prosecute identity theft and stealing trade secrets. He says he questions if a wife can expect privacy on a computer she shares with her husband.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'The new report from AVAC and ATHENA Network’s Women’s HIV Prevention Tracking Project is an unprecedented collection of voices from Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda, documents women’s perspectives on male circumcision for HIV prevention.

The report is based on the input of approximately 500 women in HIV-affected communities who were reached by WHiPT country teams with questionnaires and focus groups designed to elicit knowledge, opinions and recommendations. The teams worked in urban and rural settings and sought out communities with and without traditional circumcision practices. There was a specific focus on perceptions in settings where female genital mutilation is also practiced.

The report provides reason for the cautious rollout of medical male circumcision (MMC) while offering recommendations on how to program its scale-up to ensure MMC is safe and beneficial to whole communities—including men and women.'

Here is an article reporting on a recent study by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Texas at Austin. I found this article interesting as it purports that a father's environmental history impacts the health of his offspring, and seems to be an evolutionary adaptive strategy.

Based on animal studies and limited human studies it appears that fathers are passing on environmental information to their offspring and that this is impacting the expression of their child's genes. Most talks about environmental experiences of the parent having a direct impact of the child's health have revolved around pregnant mothers. In short, fathers pass on more than just their genes at conception and this should be taken into account when considering people's health. It will be interesting to see what future research yields and the possibilities of health-related interventions with fathers-to-be. Typically, I only see them being targeted at mothers, which I believe has larger societal implications.

Article here. Excerpt:

HOLLYWOOD film-makers have been recruited by the Royal Marines to attract more young men to the elite fighting corps. Two successful big-screen ­talents have produced a series of advertisements to sell the excitement and adventure of wearing the Marines’ Green Beret. Shane Hurlbut, the director of photography on last year’s ­Terminator Salvation, has teamed up with Nanny McPhee director Susanna White to shoot the four 30-second commercials which are being screened on ­television and in cinemas.
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A senior source said: “We have seen a lot of young men, both Marines and officers, quit in the past couple of years and the pressure to maintain manpower within the units has increased. In addition, we went through a phase this year when every week we were looking for men to replace injured soldiers with 40 Commando in Helmand.

“These men are known as Battle Casualty Replacements and are vital to any operation.

I was surprised to see a good article article about some of the bad lessons unilateral (I mean, "no-fault") divorce teaches children written by a woman. However, if in college educated households 90% of all divorces are initiated by women, that means there are still 10% of them where the woman did not initiate. I guess the author is one of those 10%. Regardless, it's refreshing to see an article that examines the harm no-fault divorce is causing and why it needs to be reformed.

See this story here on the Sydney Morning Herald, and further footage for anyone not following this story.

This is an interesting story, mostly for the way the worm has turned. A couple of days ago a story blew up that seemed relatively normal (for Australia, at least) - nude photos turn up of a pro footballer, in this case released by a teenager. At first the stories were what you'd normally expect here - gee, another footballer messing up, why can't they keep it in their pants, etc.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Single fathers lose more than the stereotypical house, car and bank account.

They lose their families, their confidence, and in some cases, even their means of making a living. What's more, any success they have is garnished without prejudice.

The stigma of the deadbeat dad, the father that is never there for his kids, still remains as strong as ever, though a large part of what perpetuates it is a social justice system that assumes fathers as providers, breadwinners and supporters, without needing support themselves.

But what happens when, in order to meet those obligations, the father's standard of living suffers greatly? What happens when failing to meet those obligations results in not only punitive family law measures, but the degradation of the individual who is suffering to make ends meet?'

Story here.

'UTICA — Suspended Utica attorney Leon Koziol filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asking it to hear his case challenging New York’s custody and support laws.

The case, if heard, will address the constitutional limits affecting domestic relations litigation, whether the state promotes “institutional discrimination on account of gender” in custody cases, and whether the state has retaliated against Koziol for his criticism of the custody system, a news release stated.

Koziol, an outspoken advocate for fathers’ rights, had his law license suspended indefinitely earlier this year for failure to pay child support. He also recently filed a civil lawsuit against the New York State Unified Court System and more than 20 other defendants relating to his ongoing custody battle.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the country and hears only a fraction of the cases submitted each year.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The European Court of Human Rights granted a Nigerian man access to his children on Tuesday, overturning a series of German court rulings and potentially strengthening unmarried fathers’ rights.

The court, based in Strasbourg, France, was ruling on a case in which successive German courts had denied the man the right to see his twin daughters, who were born after the man had a relationship with a married German woman.

It found that the decisions by the courts had breached the man’s rights. Germany must now pay the man €5,000 for damages and a further €4,000 in legal costs. The ruling also establishes a precedent that unmarried fathers in Germany have a right to see their children even after a relationship breaks down.

While the father had not established a relationship with the girls, he had nevertheless shown a “serious interest” in them, the court decided.'

Article here.

'Durban, Dec 22 (IANS) Believe it or not, men are allowed to take part in a South Africa harvest festival only if they are circumcised. This is an effort to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The annual 'first fruit ceremony' involves a bull that is beaten to death in a sacrificial ritual. This year some 10,000 males participated and all of them were circumcised. The men came from the KwaZulu-Natal region.

This year's event marks 20 years since the ceremony was revived by King Goodwill Zwelithini and one year since male medical circumcision was introduced in the province, government news agency BuaNews reported.

The king lays stress on medical circumcision as part of efforts to address the HIV/AIDS cases. Zwelithini again urged young men to live responsibly and continue the fight against HIV, poverty, drugs and alcoholism.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Conventional wisdom holds that boys excel in math and girls in reading. Truth be told, boys excel in neither, according to a report released this month by the Center for Education Policy. The report, which analyzes test results from 40 states, reveals that boys lag well behind girls in literacy skills - while only tying them in math.

That gap is why many colleges are overflowing with women, while guys are becoming scarcer and scarcer on campus.

American boys, we tell ourselves, must be falling victim to anti-academic influences: hip hop, mind-numbing video games and too much time watching SportsCenter.

But the issue is far more complicated. Earlier this month, results of 65-country comparison called the Program for International Student Assessment revealed that girls tie boys in math while soaring ahead of them by an astounding 39 points on reading skills. SportsCenter, last time we checked, has a limited audience in Albania, the country with the largest gender gap in reading.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The public watches the weather forecast everyday to see if we need a coat or an umbrella and we tend to believe what the forecaster tell us. But WABC weather girl, Heidi Jones, told police that she was a victim of rape as she was jogging in Central Park in September. Jones reported the rape because the same Hispanic man reappeared in November and sexually assaulted her. The police think that this weather forecaster should not be believed.

When she reported the two attacks the police found discrepancies in her accounts. Eventually, the 37-year-old Good Morning America weather girl allegedly admitted that she made the stories up.
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A false rape claim is very serious and anyone who falsely accuses someone of this deserves whatever the law feels they should get.'

Report here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON -- Employers are looking for more highly educated workers, and the bulk of available jobs are in nursing and retail. One American demographic fits that bill.

Women will drive economic recovery in the U.S., according to a new Bank of America Merrill Lynch report. They tend to be better educated than men, and women tend to dominate the industries that are hiring the most workers.

Unemployment rates for last month show there are more out of work men, at 10.6 percent, than women, at 8.9 percent. However, the employment gender gap should disappear once the economy revs up, according to other economists.

"Men saw disproportionate job loss, so it makes sense they would have disproportionate gain," Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute tells the Huffington Post.

Shierholz says men dominate jobs related to construction and manufacturing, which took a hard hit during the recession.'

More from the it's-illegal-to-be-a-boy dept, here. Excerpt:

'DECEMBER 22--A 13-year-old boy was arrested Friday for using a permanent marker while in class at his Oklahoma City middle school, a violation of an obscure city ordinance.

According to an Oklahoma City Police Department report, the boy was spotted “in possession of a permanent marker” by Roosevelt Middle School teacher DeLynn Woodside. The 50-year-old educator told cop Miguel Campos that the student was “writing on a piece of paper, which caused it to bleed over onto the desk.”
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Campos reported that he allowed Woodside, a seventh grade math teacher, to “sign a citation” against the boy, who was then transported to the Community Intervention Center, a juvenile holding facility. A police sergeant subsequently “booked the marker into the property room.”

A police spokesman referred to the student’s bust as a “citizen’s arrest” effectuated by Woodside.'