Story here. Excerpt:

'It used to be that the definition of hutzpah was a man who had murdered his parents pleading for mercy from the court because he was an orphan.

We have for our delectation an update on this definition out of Sacramento, California, in a story about a woman – the wife of a police detective, to add spice to the narrative — who, disgruntled over the loss of custody of her children to the husband (and going by the stats on this subject, she must be a piece of work to begin with to have lost custody in today’s mother-friendly courts) hires a motorcycle gang hit man to off her husband.

Or she thinks she did. Members of the hit man’s gang tape damning conversations with her and alert the police, who arrest her and eventually convict her for solicitation to murder. The story doesn’t say why, but I’m thinking the gang probably has enough problems with the police, and don’t need the aggravation of a furious vendetta from their proposed victim’s colleagues.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 12-year-old Calgary boy is back on Canadian soil after being shuffled through a series of foster homes in the U.S. for nearly two years.

The boy, who cannot be named now that he has returned to Canada, has been in foster care in Oregon since he was picked up by police for biking without a helmet while on a summer vacation with his stepfather in 2008.

U.S. officials didn't recognize the boy's stepfather as his legal guardian, so the boy was sent to a foster home.

After a lengthy legal battle, a U.S. judge ruled in May the boy would be allowed to return to Canada.

He arrived at Calgary airport on Friday afternoon, where he was reunited with his mother.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'THE LATEST Sarah Palin controversy has to do with feminism. In a recent article in the Washington Post, feminist author and blogger Jessica Valenti blasted the former vice presidential candidate for “adopting the feminist label.’’ Valenti believes that any talk of a conservative version of feminism is a cynical right-wing ploy to fool women into supporting reactionary antiwoman policies. But while Palin may be far from the best spokeswoman for conservative feminism, the idea itself is essential to feminism’s health.

Article here. Excerpt:

"Police bodyguards protecting the Royals and the Prime Minister are being armed with 'baby' guns in a bid to recruit more women officers to the role.
...
In a report to the Metropolitan Police Authority, John Bunn, a senior detective in the Yard’s counter-terrorism command described 'considerable improvements' in the work of SO1, the specialist protection unit.

He wrote: 'A diversity forum and work strands following best Metropolitan police service practice have been established, for example changing the type of firearm used to accommodate smaller hands, changes in recruit[ment] advertising, female-only insight days and mentoring under-represented groups expressing an interest in SO1.'
...
Patrick Mercer, former chairman of the Commons sub-committee on counterterrorism, told the Sunday Times: 'I hope the judgment has been made on effectiveness and not on some contorted view of equality.'

The following link is the first official Call for Papers for the First Annual Conference on Male Studies to be held in October, 2010 at Wagner College on Staten Island, New York:

http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/37177

Wagner College will host the first annual Conference on Male Studies, on Friday and Saturday, October 1-2, 2010. Six themes representing several disciplines will be addressed by panels and individual presenters:

▪ The deep biology of the experience of being male (genetics, biology, psychoneuroendocrinology, paleoanthropology);

▪ Literacy and education of boys and college males (pedagogy, sociology);

▪ Socioeconomic factors leading to males' over-involvement in the criminal justice system, underemployment and limited opportunities as fathers, resulting from changes in child custody law (economics, forensics, law, public policy);

▪ Misandric representations of boys and mature males in the media and advertising (media studies including cinema, television and internet, and advertising);

Article here. Excerpt:

'It is a scientific fact that children do ENORMOUSLY better in joint custody arrangements. The only reason this is resisted by the existing for-profit divorce industry is there are easily $50 billion in annual legal fees in custody battles and also the states are paid billions more annually in matching child support funds under The Social Security Act Title 4d. This has the perverse incentive of making it profitable to force either parent out of a child's life.

Article here. Excerpt:

Story here.

'In an ongoing effort to track the dissemination of information about Abusegate, we periodically do a Google search on the word “abusegate.”

For the first time, “abusegate” has exceeded the 100,000 milestone. As of today, “abusegate” has 102,000 hits on Google.

Keep spreading the word, Abusegate, Investigate! One of these days, Congress will take the hint.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'When Hillary Clinton ran for Senate in 2000, her Republican rival, Rick Lazio, walked over to Clinton during a debate waving a pledge he demanded she sign; the subsequent outrage over what was seen as an invasion of Clinton's personal space both solidified Clinton's support among women and underlined that gender remained very much an issue in politics.

"...you can't make a point forcefully if you're a man and the person you are making a point with is a woman," Lazio said at the time in response to the anger directed towards him. He added: ''I just think that that's sexist."

Yet in the 2010 races, male politicians had no problems aggressively challenging their female opponents, and the female candidates were more likely to highlight their business experience than their gender.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Contrary to popular belief, men are more affected by a rocky relationship than their female counterparts, according to new research from Wake Forest University.

Research shows that women have a harder time coping with a breakup, but the guys are the ones who feel more stress and strain when the relationship hits a rough patch, researchers found. On the upside, men also get more of a psychological and emotional boost when the relationship is healthy.

"Common wisdom says that women are more hurt by problems in a relationship," says Robin Simon, lead researcher on the study and a sociologist at Wake Forest, "but we found that the benefits of support [in a relationship] and the disadvantages of strain are exaggerated for the men."

"Men are more sensitive than we often think they are," she says.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'With the World Cup approaching, an organization that advocates Title IX reform released a report lamenting the lack of growth in men's soccer at top athletic programs.

Only 59 percent of Division I programs offer men's soccer, according to the College Sports Council's study. That's a far cry from the 93 percent that offer women's soccer and the CSC says the disparity is because of Title IX and the way schools try to comply with it.

That conclusion was met with a stern rebuttal from both the NCAA and the Women's Sports Foundation, with the latter group saying the law tries to create equal opportunities for male and female athletes but does not force schools to forsake certain sports or offer others.

The CSC's report, released Thursday, points out that there were 197 men's soccer teams in Division I in 2008-09, the same number as in 1995-96. Over that same period, the number of women's teams increased from 189 to 310.

The rise in domestic violence on Super Bowl Sunday was proved a hoax. Not to be outdone, a female professor in England has warned women are at risk during the World Cup. See article here. Excerpt:

'ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010) — An expert at Royal Holloway, University of London is urging victims of domestic violence to have a plan in place should their partners turn violent during the World Cup, and to avoid the temptation of turning to drink themselves.

The World Cup can be a time of fear and worry for victims of domestic abuse as heightened emotions fuelled by alcohol come into play and instances of domestic violence attacks increase. Figures from the Home Office report that during the 2006 Football World Cup there was a 25% average increase in domestic violence on the five England match days in the tournament.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The Alberta government is spending $2.4 million on programs to fight domestic violence in the province, the province's justice minister said Thursday.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General Alison Redford made the announcement at a conference in Calgary — a city that saw nine domestic homicides last year, well above the national average.

"Last spring a young woman was murdered in the home that she shared with her children and her common-law husband," Redford said.

"To know that women have died and that children are impacted is a tragedy. And it's not a tragedy that we can let happen. We need to make sure that there is a consistent message out there that if kids or parents need help — even if it's someone who is abusing — that they are able to reach out and get that help."'

Article here. Excerpt:

"Women on the dole are being offered a £1,150 fashion and beauty makeover and membership to a dating agency to help them find a wealthy husband.

Dutch jobseekers are being given a new hairstyle and outfit and tips from a lifecoach on how to attract a new partner.

The scheme has been slammed by local politicians who criticised the deal as unethical and a waste of taxpayers money.

Under the scheme, the women will be given instructions on how to present themselves socially and offered a place on an exclusive matchmaking website called Mens & Relatie (People and Relationships).

They will have professional photographs of their new image to boost their dating profile.

The scheme is being offered by three councils in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands.

They estimate that if 70 women find a solvent husband, the council can save £330,000 on welfare payments."

Blog entry here. Excerpt:

'The Northern California-based advocacy group the Center for Judicial Excellence is one of Fathers and Families’ main legislative opponents. This increasingly powerful and well-funded group has been the prime mover behind California AB 612, a bill that would exclude evidence of Parental Alienation from family law proceedings and prevent target parents of Parental Alienation from raising PA as an issue in their cases. Last year Fathers and Families’ legislative representative Michael Robinson helped build a professional coalition to scuttle AB 612.

The CJE claims that there’s a “crisis” in family courts, and that courts are handing over custody of children to physically and sexually abusive fathers. They promote reforms which will make it easier to deny parents shared custody or visitation rights based on unsubstantiated abuse claims.