Article here. The shooting attacks allegedly perpetrated by an Army psychologist at Fort Hood a few days ago should get people thinking about what our soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan go through. As an Army psychologist, the alleged perpetrator Maj. Nidal Malik, probably heard a lot of horror stories. Whatever his motives for killing 13 and wounding 42, I ask: Is our culture willing to consider that he may have just snapped given all the pressure our soldiers are under?

How can we MRAs leverage this incident, so that we help people to appreciate how difficult and painful it is to be a solider in the US Army today? How can we use this to publicize the PTSD, the brain trauma, the missing limbs, the recurrent terrifying nightmares, and other types of disability our soldiers (who are by far mostly men) are now suffering? How can we use this incident to underscore the multiple tours of duty, often soon right after another, that our men in uniform must go through?

Article here. No mention of men because, as we know, men don't matter, at least not to the UN. Excerpt:

'Unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age, with others including lack of access to contraceptives and iron deficiency, the WHO said. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex, according to the U.N. agency.

"Women who do not know how to protect themselves from such infections, or who are unable to do so, face increased risks of death or illness," WHO said in a 91-page report. "So do those who cannot protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy or control their fertility because of lack of access to contraception."
...
WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan noted that women enjoy a biological advantage because they tend to live six to eight years longer than men. But in many parts of the world they suffer serious disadvantages because of poverty, poorer access to health care and cultural norms that put a priority on the well-being of men, she said.'

Text and photos here. Notice the way that the media (CNN in this case) is characterizing George Clooney - as a "serial dater" (pic #8). They make it sound like he is more of a serial murderer because of it.

Clooney has said "he will not marry again or have children," (pic #2) which seems to be offensive to some. Guess it's criminal not to be interested in marrying a woman if you're a rich and famous heterosexual man. Sounds like Clooney is hip to divorce and child custody laws in America today. Perhaps his choice, against pursuing marriage and children, is fast becoming no longer newsworthy -- just a conclusion that any man who really understands what the current situation is, and how biased the laws are against men, would reach.

Video report here. Oh, they finally did stop her, after she had aggressively fouled almost every player on the other team.

What is of interest here is the reactions (or lack thereof) of the officials, her coach, and her team-mates. No one lifted a finger or called foul until it became so egregious that someone had to do something. "Girls don't behave that way," is the assumption, so cognitive dissonance kicks in and it takes her nearly having to start pummeling the other players openly to get someone to stop her.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Stress over alimony payments to her husband's ex-wife nearly drove Deborah Scanlan to divorce. Helping her husband make alimony payments to his ex forced Jeanie Hitner to take on a second job. Both Massachusetts women now say they wish they'd never gotten married.
...
The club, which claims 70 members and counting, consists mostly of married women who say that Massachusetts judges' rulings forced them to contribute to alimony payments for their partners' ex-wives. ...
...
"I was absolutely horrified that I was now responsible for a portion of the support of his first wife," she said. On the day of the judge's alimony ruling in her husband's case, Scanlan said, "I left the court house and just couldn't believe that such a thing was possible."'

Occasionally, Hell freezes over. Looks to me like that just happened. Article here. Excerpt:

'The classic cruelty experiment was conducted at Yale in the early '60s by psychology professor Stanley Milgram, PhD. Each subject was assigned the role of teacher and asked to test a student, who sat on the opposite side of a thin wall. Whenever the student answered a question incorrectly, the subjects were instructed by a man in a lab coat to deliver increasingly powerful electric shocks (in reality, the student was an actor who felt nothing). As the severity of the "shocks" increased, the student screamed and begged to be released, cried that he was in excessive pain, even that his heart was bothering him, and ultimately stopped responding. Still, 65 percent of the subjects continued to shock him to the maximum voltage.

Article here. Excerpt:

Via Marc A.: Statement here (.pdf file).

They actually talk about the HUMAN RIGHTS and medical ethics issues, which most are too hypocritical, ignorant or scared to do. Take a look at the bottom of the first page.

Nicely said, British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons! Thank you for joining your colleagues in Australia in saying NO to infant male circumcision and NO to hypocrisy! Excerpt:

'...Current consensus of medical opinion, including that of the Canadian and American Paediatric Societies and the American Urological Society, is that there is insufficient evidence that these benefits outweigh the potential risks. That is, routine infant male circumcision, i.e. routine removal of normal tissue in a healthy infant, is not recommended.'
...

The matter of infant male circumcision is particularly difficult in regards to human rights, as it involves consideration of the rights of the infant as well as the rights of the parents.

Story here. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- The maternal grandmother of a 7-month-old Florida girl found hidden in a small cedar box under her baby sitter's bed says her daughter, who was charged in the case, is troubled and needs help.

Police think Chrystina Lynn Mercer gave Shannon Lee Dedrick to the sitter -- who is the baby's paternal aunt, Susan Baker -- and 10 hours later reported the girl missing.

"As confused as Tina is, I have to tell you, she has emphatically stated that she did not and would not ever harm her child," Mercer's mother, Kandis Boyer, said Thursday on HLN's "Nancy Grace."

Without elaborating, Boyer said she thinks her daughter "was manipulated into this situation."

She said her daughter has had counseling over the years, and "she's going to get the help she needs now."
...
Shannon had been inside the box for about half a day before authorities found her late Wednesday, but she might have been in and out of the box for several days, investigators said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Washington Examiner recently reported that the public affairs television program 'Sharing Miracles' is featuring Major League Baseball (MLB) manager Joe Torre during the month of November. In this episode, the baseball legend discusses his career and his battle against prostate cancer.

'Sharing Miracles' is a 30-minute public affairs television program that tells the compelling and inspirational stories of real patients. The program is produced by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
...
However, his baseball career was almost ended by a foe more formidable than any he faced on the field when a routine check-up led to a prostate cancer diagnosis in 1999.

Story here. False rape accusations work so darn well for some women that even some police and prosecutors are using them to get what they want, be it some attention, money, or even just to close a case. Excerpt:

'Dillon, 50, walked out of the Brevard County jail last November after tests showed that DNA found on the killer's shirt — which investigators recovered, splattered with the victim's blood — wasn't his. A month later, prosecutors announced they wouldn't retry him for the 1981 bludgeoning death of James Dvorak, and his conviction was erased.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A woman who gave her two children rat poison before smothering them to death told them: "It's just a little bit of hurt".

The 31-year-old woman from Canley Vale in Sydney's west, who cannot be named, mixed the poison with sugar and water before feeding it to her four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter in February 2008.

Fearing this would not work, she then smothered her daughter with a pillow and suffocated her son using her hand.

Then, she slit her wrists in an attempt on her own life.

She later told a psychologist she had told her son: "It's just a little bit of hurt and we are out of this world".
...
Justice Clifford Hoeben found her guilty on the lesser charges of manslaughter in September, saying she had been suffering "substantial impairment by abnormality of the mind".

He told the court on Friday she had been angered by her husband's infidelity.'

Kathryn Joyce of Double X, Slate's feminist-oriented section has this article about MRA's. She discounts a lot of research done, but gives RADAR credit for:

"...blocked passage of four federal domestic-violence bills, among them an expansion of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to international scope and a grant to support lawyers in pro bono domestic-violence work. Members of this coalition have gotten themselves onto drafting committees for VAWA’s 2011 reauthorization. Local groups in West Virginia and California have also had important successes, criminalizing false claims of domestic violence in custody cases, and winning rulings that women-only shelters are discriminatory."

Interesting that the feminists view this as a threat.

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Relatedly, submitted by user "fibtastic":
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I used to read Salon religiously, and I still love Heather Havrilesky, but this online fish wrap became so smug and angry during the Bush years that even I (no fan of Bush) couldn't take it anymore. I still check them out occasionally, when I need the angry lefty party line on anything, which led me to this story on the scary fringe dangers of the MRM. It's from their resident feminist rant organ, Broadsheet.

The Men and Families Health Care Act of 2009 remains in committee with only 5 co-sponsors while a huge overhaul of the US health care system chocked with specific clauses and provisions directly benefiting only women is poised for a House vote by this week-end.

Undoubtedly this bill will die in committee. Maybe someone will reintroduce it next year. We can make sure that happens by contacting our various reps. Whether or not it passes is another matter. Bill summary:

For the first time in the Republic of Moldova, on November 19, 2009, groups of students from the State University of Moldova will be celebrated International Men's Day.