Story here. My prediction of 4/22 was wrong. I didn't think he'd tap a person already in his administration for the position. She's currently the US solicitor-general, who is the top lawyer for civil cases the United States is involved in either as a plaintiff, respondent, or appellant. But, he did. One part of the prediction I did get right though was that the nominee would be female. No man would even be considered under the current "paradigm of thinking" that pervades Washington at the moment.

Ms. Kagan's Wikipedia entry is here. As I mentioned in my comments of 4/22, there is nothing in the entry regarding her views on repro. rights, but Obama did say he would nominate someone with a strong history of supporting them. She has never been a presiding judge in her career, so it's unlikely she can have developed an "official record" one way or another.

Origins discussed here. Originally it seems it was meant as a way to unite mothers against war so their sons would not be killed (and what MRA wouldn't support that?), yet it fast morphed into what it is now: another commercialized holiday. In contrast, Father's Day remains just another typical day at the shop.

I can't include an excerpt from the MSNBC page since it's a Flash presentation, but the part of the Wikipedia entry on it referring to Julia Ward Howe is here. It says she was a feminist and indeed, maybe she was. I doubt she was quite the same type of feminist though as we see today (who cares nothing about what happens to men in war), given she was forming her new holiday around the idea of saving men from war. Excerpt:

From an IA email:

We thought America's baby girls were safe from genital cutting, until now...

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a new policy statement proposing changes to the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act, a law that has prohibited any form of FGM in the United States since 1996.

But now the AAP wants to change the law to allow a "ritual nick" of girls' genitals, so families whose cultures accept FGM don't send their daughters overseas for the full genital cutting procedure.

At Intact America, we know that any form of genital cutting of babies is wrong – ethically, morally, and medically.

We can't afford to allow our leaders to destroy the progress we've made in outlawing genital mutilation for our baby girls. We must act quickly – send a message demanding that the AAP revoke its policy statement IMMEDIATELY.

For years, we've been focused on male circumcision because we believed the horror of female genital mutilation had been outlawed forever in the United States.

Article here. Excerpt:

'It is my contention - based on a lifetime of academic research - that there is an explanation and I advance it all too aware of the howls of feminist outrage I am about to unleash. So, here goes: one of the main reasons why there are not more female science professors or chief executives or Cabinet ministers is that, on average, men are more intelligent than women. Nor do the shocks to the noisy advocates of equal opportunities stop there, I'm afraid.
...
For instance, at the near-genius level (an IQ of 145), brilliant men outnumber brilliant women by 8 to one. That's statistics, not sexism.

Article here. Excerpt:

'News of Sandra Bullock’s choice to have her adopted son circumcised has tickled the Jewish media: Isn’t it cool that non-Jews are getting their kids circumcised, too? And not just the snip-n-clip way, but the Jewish way, with a mohel.

What makes it more interesting, though, is that a high-profile celeb like Bullock is taking up the ritual during a period of sharp decline. According to a 2008 L.A. Times article, ritual circumcision of American boys dropped from 85% in 1965 to 56% in 2005. Unless performed for religious reasons, the story said, many parents chose to opt out because of questionable medical benefits and the stigma of genital mutilation. Then came a startling new development when a study out of Africa found that circumcised males were “51% to 60% less likely to acquire HIV from heterosexual vaginal sex with an infected woman.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The betting is that the Labor Department's Friday snapshot of the job market will show that employers added workers in April, perhaps even that the unemployment rate fell.

That would be good news, but not good enough. It's hard to exaggerate how bad the job market is. Here's one arresting fact: One of every five men 25 to 54 isn't working.

Even more alarming, the jobs that many of these men, or those like them, once had in construction, factories and offices aren't coming back. "A good guess...is that when the economy recovers five years from now, one in six men who are 25 to 54 will not be working," Lawrence Summers, the president's economic adviser, said the other day.
...
For 50 years, the fraction of men with jobs in what once were prime earning years has been trending down. Over the same decades, the share of women who work has been rising, a significant social change that lately has cushioned the blow of Dad's unemployment for many couples.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Kansas Athletics has reached an agreement with the government addressing a complaint that it discriminates against male athletes.

KU will have to submit documentation and a plan to ensure it is in full compliance with the law as part of the agreement, which resolves a Title IX complaint filed last November.

The agreement doesn’t mean KU is out of compliance with Title IX, but was a mutually agreed upon course of action to resolve the complaint between KU and the Office of Civil Rights, which oversees Title IX regulations.

Ron Neugent, a Wichita dentist and former KU swimmer who was a member of the 1980 Olympic team, filed the initial complaint against KU using the civil rights legislation long used to bring about equality for women.

At Kansas Athletics today, unlike many cases in the past, men are the under-represented gender. Though men and women are enrolled at KU in about equal rates, women comprise nearly 55 percent of the total student-athletes at the university.

Article here. Excerpt:

'eminism is a word that some people wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole. Though it is sometimes perceived as a unilateral campaign against men, women’s rights and gender equality groups are increasingly presenting it as a movement in which people of all genders can be involved. Many scholars, activists, and student leaders are coming to redefine the term. Many of these are men.

“As a guy, I’m happy to be a feminist,” says Hugo Van Vuuren ’07, a workshop leader at the Office of Sexual Response and Prevention and the co-founder of MenSpeakUp, a website that promotes gender equality. “All it means is that you believe in equal rights.”
...
Both Marine and Castro Samayoa suggest ways for men to become respectfully involved and supportive of feminism.

Marine says that men can be more effective by confronting other men about issues of gender equality.

“When a man addresses another man about a problem in society, he may be more likely to see it as something pertinent to his own life than if a woman brought it up,” she says.

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Harper government's latest showdown with women's rights groups, suggests the time has come for Canadian women -- and men -- to reclaim the word feminist. Bring it back to its mainstream roots.

A day after Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth warned aid groups that they risk a backlash if they don't "shut the f---up," news reports revealed Status of Women funding for at least 14 women's groups wasn't renewed for the current fiscal year.

According to the government, these organizations are victims of limited resources, even though they do valuable work that advances the cause of women's health, rights and equality.

So what does feminism have to do with it?

If the word were used properly, there would be less of a divide that occurs when programs rightly or wrongly get cut. Feminism simply means a belief that all people are equal, regardless of gender.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Two women are now facing felony charges after filing a false rape report this weekend in Fort Smith. Police arrested 19-year-old Heather Smith and her 21-year-old roommate Jeni Melton, after they claimed two unidentified men came into their apartment and raped Smith.
...
The women told police they had left Roosters around 3 a.m. and shortly after they arrived at their residents on Birnie Avenue, two men came into their home uninvited. According to the report, one suspect pinned Melton to the floor, while the second raped Smith in a back bedroom.
...
After several interviews and a 12-hour investigation, both men were released and will not face any charges. An additional witness to the incident came forward and police discovered major discrepancies in the initial allegations.

Smith and Melton were re-interviewed, arrested and charged with Filing a False Police Report, which is a felony. Both are being held in the Sebastian County Detention Center without bond.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Auckland, May 4 (IANS) A New Zealand teenager has admitted she falsely accused a man of raping her.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen Erber Tuesday told the 19-year-old student that her lies had “devalued the currency” for women who made genuine complaints of rape, New Zealand Herald reported.

Erber said that people may look at other women’s complaints sceptically because of her actions.

The teenager pleaded guilty in court to the charge of making a false statement.

“In explanation, she stated she did it because she liked the attention,” Constable Michael Tualii, the police prosecutor, was quoted as telling the court.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Latrobe woman, who allegedly instigated an attack on a man she accused of sexual assault, has been charged with falsely accusing another man of raping her weeks earlier.

Felisha Hardison, 24, of 14 W. Harrison Ave., was arraigned yesterday by District Judge Michael Mahady for allegedly filing a false report with Latrobe police on March 31.

Hardison told police she had been raped by a man with whom she has three children. Hardison claimed the man forced her to have sex with him, punched her and choked her, and videotaped the act with his cell phone camera.

The man denied the allegations and said Hardison made the accusations to get custody of one of their children. A review of the cell phone camera footage contradicted Hardison's claims of rape and showed the two had consensual sex, police said.

Hardison was arraigned on the charge yesterday, the same day she and five others faced a preliminary hearing on charges they assaulted another man Hardison had accused of sexual assault.'

Story here.

'(UALR Public Radio) - Police say the mother of a woman accused of filing a false rape accusation at Fort Smith now faces a charge as well.

A news release from Fort Smith police says 39-year-old Ericka Lee Church of Sallisaw, Okla., has been charged with harassing communications, a misdemeanor.

The release said Church made harassing phone calls and sent text messages and Face Book postings to Steven David, accusing him of raping her daughter.

David was one of two men accused by Church's daughter, Heather Smith also known as Heather Boss and another woman of raping Smith. Fort Smith police say they have cleared both men of the accusations, and have charged both women with filing a false police report, a felony.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'An Oakland University student admitted to police that she falsely reported she had been raped by two men to get attention and support from her boyfriend, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

Now Jessica Joe is facing a felony charge herself.

According to the sheriff’s office, the 21-year-old Detroit resident was arraigned Tuesday in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills on a count of filing a false report of a felony and was released on a $10,000 personal bond.

Joe, police said, reported on April 24 that she was walking out of the CVS Pharmacy at Adams and Walton, when she was grabbed by two men and dragged into a van parked next to her car. She told police that the men pulled her clothing off and one man drove around, while the other man raped her and was eventually pushed out of the van in the lot, according to the sheriff’s office.'

Abusegate Bob has penned a series of new articles covering the hearing and VAWA in general. Good news includes the fact that male DV victims were indeed brought up at the hearing. This is a start; they have been invisible and to government officials and unmentioned since VAWA started. Progress. See http://abusegate.mensnewsdaily.com/