From MANN reader Ed:

DV Reformers –

Thought you’d be interested to see this report on media coverage of Reidgate. This information has also been posted at http://abusegate.mensnewsdaily.com/

Cheers,

Ed

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On February 22, Sen. Harry Reid stood on the Senate floor and declared, “Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive.”

Sen. Reid miscalculated in making his remarks on a Monday, allowing the ensuing firestorm of ridicule and protest to rage for an entire week. Following is a summary of what happened, by the numbers:

In December, The McGill Tribune, published by the McGill University Students' Society, printed an article (found here) that made false statements about RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting). A few days later, the Tribune's editor promised to retract the most offensive claim. But even with that claim retracted, the article still paints a misleading portrait of RADAR. So he also said he might consider publishing an op-ed by RADAR to correct the other misinformation about the reasons RADAR exists.

RADAR did submit a response, but of necessity it was much longer than the Tribune's length limit for an op-ed. That's because the information RADAR knows about is not common knowledge, so for us to simply state a position without backing it up with facts would not make a credible case. After weeks of inquiries as to whether or not the Tribune will be publishing our response, we learned just recently that they will not.

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON (AFP) – US commanders are taking a second look at policies that bar women from ground combat, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thrust female soldiers into the thick of the fight.
...
Despite a policy designed to keep women away from units engaged in ground combat, the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed women in battle with insurgents who do not operate along defined front lines.

As a result, women have earned medals for valor and praise for their mettle.
...
More than 220,000 women have fought in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 120 of them have been killed in the conflicts, according to the Pentagon.

Ending the ban on ground combat will come sooner or later, Nagl said, as it is "simply recognizing a truth that's already been written in blood and sweat on the battlefield."'

Aside from nymphotropism/chivalry, I don't see the rationale (and these are not rationales in any case) for the current policies. There's just no justification.

This opinion piece in the NY Daily News, complete with the usual cliches and femstats, is just the type of nonsense we should attack in a timely manner. The author is CEO of Safe Horizon, which runs NYC's DV Hotline. Needless to say, no men need apply for help.

Any letters to the News should be no longer than 100 words (preferably 50) and not contain web addresses. As of now (2/28 @1:30pm EST), the comment section on the website is empty. Bon appetit. Excerpt:

'For those of us who have been reading the papers the last couple of days, there are a lot of questions about what actually happened with David Johnson, the aide to Gov. Paterson who has been accused of assaulting his girlfriend. There are questions about contact that state officials had with his ex-girlfriend, who had initiated court proceedings to obtain an order of protection against him.

Despite some very serious and disturbing allegations, we don't yet know exactly what happened.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women cannot be rapists. This is not only a feminist agenda, but a hard legal fact in the Israeli Criminal Law, which defines rape as a male-only offense. Say a 40 years old woman who works as a school teacher, seduces a 13 years old pupil, it might be impossible to file criminal charges against her. She might lose her job, but legally there is no much you can do about it.

Israeli legislators now wants to change the rape definition in the Israeli Criminal Law so that it includes women as well. Feminists has already launched a very noisy campaign in the Israeli media, opposing the proposed changes to Israeli Criminal Law.

Their arguments are silly and stupid as always. Israeli feminists claim that making it possible to file rape charges against women might lead to situations where "Male rapists will accuse the women of being the rapists". As always, the Israeli media is at the feminist side, and we only need to wait and see whether the proposed law change will pass or be buried in the parliament.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'When Elise Rierson walks into Latin class, the door is held open for her. When she arrives at her desk, her chair is pulled out for her.

It's not the kind of treatment most 14-year-old freshman expect. But Elise and the rest of her female classmates have gotten used to the chivalrous gestures -- and rather enjoy it.
...
Among Ivanyi's other rules, boys are not allowed to sit at their desks until the girls have been seated first. And if a girl should stand in the middle of class, the boys must stand with her to show respect.
...
"If my daughter's dating boys who are polite in that way and show respect in that way," she said, "then I have no problem with it."

For their part, the girls only need to say "thank you."

But Erin Matson, acting vice president of the National Organization for Women, said she wonders if singling out the boys for good manners is the way to go, even though she called the idea of old-fashioned manners "adorable."

Article here. Excerpt:

'When it comes to violence against women, “Australia Says No”. But what happens when women are the ones committing these crimes against other women?

Tuesday night’s armed assault against a 35-year-old woman at Glenroy Railway Station in Melbourne by two young females highlights the rapid growth of crimes in Australia committed by women against women.

This incident occurred only months after a woman pleaded guilty to charges around encouraging her daughter and three friends to violently attack a 16-year-old mentally disabled girl at St Albans and posted footage of the violence on YouTube. Other female crimes committed against women during the preceding year include the alleged murder of a legally blind 65-year-old woman by 25-year-old Amber Cooper in Bairnsdale.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Men seen as likely to be violent towards their wives could be forced to wear an electronic tag under a law being debated by the French parliament.

The tag would have to be worn by men who have received a court order to stay away from their partner.

The proposal is part of a draft law on conjugal violence. It has cross-party support and is expected to pass easily.

According to the government, around 160 women in France are murdered by their husbands or partners every year.

Parliament is also considering outlawing psychological violence in the home, because it is seen by many as a precursor to physical violence.

It is rare for the left and the right in France to agree on anything, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield, so the near unanimity in parliament behind this law comes as something of a novelty.

Everyone agrees that domestic violence is bad and getting worse.'

From the Colas Family:

This is about what it happening to our kids who are being held in Haiti because of some insane policy.

Evens & Sue Colas

Article here. Excerpt:

5:32 P.M. — PALM BAY — Born in Haiti but a naturalized U.S. citizen, Evens Colas said he fell in love with his two children the moments they came into the world 15 and 13 years ago in Port-au-Prince.

He split his time between Haiti and the United States as he and his Haitian wife raised them. And he cared for them through her illness and death in 2004, even though a DNA test taken as part of the process to bring them to the United States showed he wasn't their biological father.

At the time, Colas didn't believe it.

A later test, however, confirmed the shocking news. And the fact of their fatherhood continues to haunt the 49-year-old Palm Bay musician who believes he is at a dead end in rescuing the children from the earthquake-ravaged capital city where they live with his mother and their maternal grandmother.
...

Seems she wasn't just learning to clean the trusty old family shotgun after all (which we already knew). Read more here. Excerpt:

'Amy Bishop shot her teenage brother in the chest in 1986, Braintree police Chief Paul Frazier said at a news conference. Bishop fired at least three shots, hitting her brother in the chest, and then fled with the shotgun before police took her into custody at gunpoint, he said.

Before Bishop, who was 19 at the time, could be booked the police chief back then called officers and told them to release her to her mother, Frazier said. The shooting of the brother, Seth Bishop, an 18-year-old accomplished violinist, was logged that day as a "sudden death" and later considered accidental, but detailed records of the shooting have disappeared, Frazier said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Imagine the following scenario: A girl goes to a frat party, drinks too much and has sex with a guy she just met. The next day she does not remember anything. When she finally realizes what occurred, she wants her partner charged with rape.

Though she was conscious, yet drunk, during the act, everybody agrees that what happened is not her fault. But is this really the right way to approach this problem?

When I first found out that something like this happened to one of my friends at another college, I immediately remembered the somewhat cliche play “Sex on a Saturday Night” from freshman week. Showing this play to freshmen might at first seem pointless, since it just reiterates for the nth time well-known “rules” for college students: Don’t have sex when drunk, don’t be ashamed of your sexual orientation, and other facts which we have heard too many times already.
...

From an IA email:

It could all start to change in Massachusetts. On March 2, the Massachusetts State Senate will consider the Male Genital Mutilation Bill, legislation that would outlaw genital mutilation of both young girls AND boys in Massachusetts.

The deadline is rapidly approaching and we urgently need your help to show Massachusetts legislators why passing this bill is the right thing to do.

Submit your own personal story about why you oppose infant circumcision before March 2 – and we'll make sure your testimony is heard by the Massachusetts State Senate Joint Committee.

Time and again, Intact America has seen just how powerful stories like yours can be.

More than statistics, policy papers, or even medical information, first-hand accounts from people's real life experiences are what change the way even the most skeptical person thinks about circumcision.

Congress banned female genital mutilation in the U.S. in 1996. But no one has ever considered extending the same protection to baby boys – until now!

Sen. Harry Reid is being hammered in the polls, with only 40% of Nevada voters saying they plan to vote for him in November.

Back in Washington, Reid’s staffers were deluged with a blizzard of phone calls, emails, and faxes demanding an apology from the good senator. Things got so bad that staff couldn’t keep with all the calls and the answering machine got backed up. No coffee breaks today, folks!

Reid’s staff confidently insisted the senator’s comments on domestic violence were backed up by a 2004 Department of Justice study. But when asked to provide the name of said study, staffers suddenly became tongue-tied. And some callers reported Reid’s staff became downright testy – imagine that!

Obviously, Mr. Reid needs a little educatin’. So let’s re-double our efforts and send him a message on Wednesday that he can’t ignore!

Telephone: 1-202-224-3542
Internet: http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
Fax: 1-202-224-7327

Article here. Excerpt:

'As one who has long followed the career of the late radical feminist theologian Mary Daly, I was disappointed by her obituary in the New York Times a couple weeks ago. As a summation of Daly's outsize life and work, it was inexplicably drab.

A pioneering figure of "eco-feminism" and a major draw on the campus lecture circuit in the 1980s and '90s, Daly was probably best known in the secular world for her long-standing refusal to admit men to some of her undergrad courses at Boston College. This unilateral deviation from coeducational policy made national headlines in the late 90s, when a libertarian-conservative "public interest law firm" threatened to sue the college on behalf of an undergrad who felt his Title IX rights were being violated. In what Daly termed an instance of "rapism," the college administration used the threat of litigation to maneuver her into retirement in 1999.

Via email:

"My name is Joseph Goldberg and I am the Founder of The Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome (C.S.P.A.S.). I am also a consultant advising parents and Family Law lawyers in the matters that pertain to Parental Alienation child abuse.

I just finished a Radio Show on the Divorce Source Radio Network. I would like to know if you could post the interview on your website. The hyperlink below will take you to the website that will enable you to listen to this important program."

The interview .mp3 file is at http://media.libsyn.com/media/steve2256/Uload23PAS.mp3. Right click the link and download the file, then play it in whatever media player you choose.