Story here. Excerpt:

'When Ken Anderson was just 15, his mother, Shirley, made it clear: She didn't want him anymore.

Ken's father, a long-haul trucker, had been transferred from Osoyoos, B.C., to the province's Kootenay region. Although their marriage was rocky, Shirley followed, taking second-youngest son Darryl with her.

Ken was left behind. He had plenty of time to think about it as he wiped bug splatter off car windshields and pumped gas at the local station to make a buck. He says he can't even remember how many couches he slept on, or how he kept himself going. He just knows he never got to go to a prom, finish high school or even think about college.

The way he sees it, he never really had a mother.

On Aug. 3 and 4, Ken, now 46, will face off in B.C. Supreme Court against the woman who gave birth to him.

Blog entry here. Excerpt:

'Fathers and Families and its legislative allies have succeeded in killing one of the worst family law bills in modern history–California’s AB 612. The bill, put forward by the well-funded advocacy group Center for Judicial Excellence (and supported by the California National Organization for Women), would have banned Parental Alienation from being mentioned in any way, shape, or form in a California family court. Because of California’s tremendous influence in shaping the laws of other states, this loss would have led to a mushrooming of similarly damaging legislation in other states.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Nothing wrong with him that a Louisville Slugger couldn't fix
...
Wait. Is it the Year of the Pig? It feels that way, given Mel Gibson’s raging return to the public eye these last few months. His has been a comeback that will finally threaten to decertify the axiom that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

With his fifth obscene telephone rant to his comely partner, Oksana Grigorieva, the talk of the town, he appears to be starring in one of those films whose style he has always gravitated to – end-of-the-world tales of ragged heroism, fatal flaw firmly in place.
...
Gibson snarled that Grigorieva needed a bat to her head, as she held her baby, and, horribly, listened. I like real pigs. As for the Gibson kind, there’s nothing that a Louisville Slugger couldn’t improve in his gigantic, cruelty-riven head.'

Excerpt from their site:

"The Man MOT (Monday Opportunity to Talk) online surgery is here every Monday evening from 6pm-11pm to offer men a free and secure service where they can talk to a GP anonymously, and in confidence.

The fully qualified GPs can discuss specific aspects of your health but if you’d just like to find out more about general health matters, feel free to look around the site as lots of the information can be downloaded or printed.

The surgery will also be running a series of specialist sexual health and relationship clinics hosted by sexual health expert Tracey Cox and Relate counsellors. This follows recent research highlighting that two in five men (42%) would feel most confident turning to the internet for advice if they experienced any sexual performance problems.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Plans to change the law to grant anonymity to men charged with rape in England and Wales have apparently been dropped by the Ministry of Justice.

The ministry said it had not ruled out anonymity between arrest and charge.

But Justice Minister Crispin Blunt has said he would rather put pressure on the media not to name suspects than bring in a new law.

Labour welcomed the apparent U-turn but said the government's handling of the issue had been "lamentable".

The plan to grant anonymity to rape suspects was a surprise inclusion in the government's coalition agreement in May.

It had not been in the Conservative or Liberal Democrat election manifestos, although it had been Lib Dem policy since 2006.

The coalition agreement pledged to "extend anonymity in rape cases to defendants", with ministers stressing the need to "protect anyone who may be wrongly accused from harmful stigma".'

Article here. Excerpt:

"William Hague was last night plunged into a row over new ­Foreign Office rules which ban white males from gaining work experience at his department.

The Foreign Secretary was challenged to explain why his ­official work placement schemes specifically ban white, middle-class males from applying for the £367-a-week positions.

Under the tightly-drawn rules, only women, people from ethnic ­minorities and the ­disabled are ­entitled to apply for a chance to work at one of the great offices of state.

The placements give students a head start in the battle to win ­coveted jobs in the diplomatic service and possibly rise through the ranks to become an ambassador.Only one category of non-minority male applicants stand a chance – those whose families are poor enough to entitle them to qualify for a full student maintenance grant.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The number of British women going bankrupt has risen almost fivefold in the past 10 years, with new figures revealing a 28 per cent increase in the past year alone. In some cases, according to insolvency experts, the surge is down to the "irresponsible spending" of women trying to emulate glamorous celebrities, while others are being driven to financial ruin by unemployment, pay inequality and childcare costs.

New figures from the Insolvency Service show that women now account for 40 per cent of all bankruptcies, rising from 6,042 in 2000 to 29,680 in 2009.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Fathers who are not married to the mothers of their children could soon automatically have equal rights over their children, with Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger preparing to change the law in their favour.

The idea is to introduce a presumption of joint custody over children, rather than the current presumption of a mother’s right to sole custody, according to a report in the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.
...
“Children should have the right that their fathers taken on responsibility and make joint-decisions over important things in their lives,” Stephan Thomae, family rights expert from Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger’s Free Democratic Party.

He said unmarried parents would share custody unless the mother – or presumably, the father - convinces a court to grant her sole custody over the child.'

Undoubtedly, you'll get a good laugh from this. Excerpt:

'I recently participated in a TV discussion on why prostitution is on the rise in the country. I shared the panel with a closet feminist and a radical feminist, both of whom were of the opinion that prostitution was better than marriage since the house is unsafe for a woman, and she would at least get paid for her services if she were a prostitute.

I returned home thinking about their wise utterances and went to bed discussing the same with my husband.

Article here. Excerpt:

'To outsiders, an abusive relationship could seem like a black and white situation.

But, experts on domestic violence say those relationships are complicated, all shades of gray.

Someone may see a couple where one of the partners — statistically more often than not the man — is abusive and the other a victim as rocky, tumultuous, volatile or dysfunctional.

But, that’s not how experts define it. It goes well beyond the surface, well beyond the visible bruises and apparently petty arguments, and is about far more than what outsiders may think.

“The way we talk about domestic violence behaviorally is that we see it as a pattern of coercion and assaultive behaviors that one person uses to gain power and control over their intimate partner,” said Merril Cousin, executive director of the King County Coalition Against Domestic Violence.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'DALLAS (AP) - A suburban Dallas woman accused of killing her two young children told a 911 operator that she first tried to poison them because they were autistic and she wanted "normal kids," then choked them with a wire until they stopped moving, according to the recorded call.

Irving police on Wednesday released recordings of the 911 call after Saiqa Akhter was charged with capital murder in the death of her 5-year-old son, Zain Akhter. Police said the children were attacked at the family's apartment Monday night.

Another capital murder charge is pending in the slaying of her 2-year-old daughter, Faryaal Akhter, who died Tuesday night, police spokesman David Tull said.'

From Abusegate Bob:

Yesterday 12 people gathered on Capitol Hill (in advance of the Family Preservation Festival) to meet with staffers to put the kabosh on President Obama request to INCREASE federal funding for DV programs in 2011 by an additional $130 MILLION.

By the end of the day, we held 20 face-to-face meetings in the House, and distributed this flyer to all 435 Representatives and 100 Senators.

So please spread the word – call your elected officials at 1-202-224-3121 to say NO to extra funding for DV programs until the false allegations stop!

Article here. Excerpt:

'(NewsCore) - The actor who played geek Steve Urkel on TV sitcom “Family Matters” has been cleared of charges related to allegations he punched his baby’s mother in the breast in front of the child in California, TMZ reported Thursday.

Jaleel White, 33, was accused of punching Bridget Hardy in one of her breast implants while they were driving with their daughter in the car on Pacific Coast Highway three weeks ago, sources told the entertainment website.
...
However the LAPD said there was not enough evidence to pursue the case and White was cleared of charges.

A representative for White denied the allegations saying, "There was absolutely no battery ... no abuse ... and the incident never happened."

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Victorian County Court has heard a former primary school teacher molested two Grade 3 students in a backgarden tent while her family was at home.

After a three week trial, a jury found 59-year-old Josephine Greensill from Altona Meadows guilty of nine counts of indecent assault.

Yesterday, the Crown urged a judge to jail her for at least five years for the offences committed in the late 1970s.

She was a 29-year-old teacher at a school in Melbourne's outer east when she invited the 8-year-old boys to her home.

While her then husband and three children were inside the house, she had sex with the boys in a tent outside.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A recent 2008 Gallup poll in Great Britain finds that 33% of women "often or very often" feel resentful of men, compared to 14% of men who often feel resentful of women. So fully a third of women carry with them an ongoing resentment toward their opposites, as compared to about a sixth of men. By my own careful calculations, that is a truckload of anger.