Article here. Excerpt:

'I asked some friends to share their thoughts on gifts they received from their fathers:

A social worker: "My father cared about others and was always doing things for people. He believed in the importance of family, not just in the immediate sense but in the larger sense of all of humanity. My father taught me what is important in life."

A political activist and employment agency founder: "My father's ability to beat the odds in the face of adversity and his zest for life are the things I remember most about him. He suffered congestive heart failure in 1981 and in 1982 ... the doctors told us he wouldn't survive. He changed his diet, lost 30 pounds, stopped smoking and drinking, and lived an additional 11 years. Sometime later I was the Democratic candidate for representative in my state and he became one of my most enthusiastic supporters. He died suddenly at 81 in the midst of my campaign. I miss him every day."

Article here. Excerpt:

'The benefits of having a positive, involved father are well-documented by decades of research.

Now, scholars are focusing their microscopes on an obstacle to fathers' involvement: "gatekeeping" by mothers who control or hamper fathers' interactions with their children.

The findings reveal how women and men alike can trigger gatekeeping, which can cause tension between partners and dissatisfaction with parenting routines. As Father's Day nears, the research also sheds light on how dads can play a bigger role.

"The more we understand these patterns, the more parents will be able to make conscious and deliberate choices" about parenting, says Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, assistant professor of human development at the Ohio State University.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Father's Day 2009 is being celebrated with a renewed sense of vigour and excitement. Fathers and children are appearing in more advertisements. The media are running father-friendly stories. Restaurants are booked out for Father's Day as well as Mother's Day.
...
The renovation of fatherhood and the renewal of masculinity have been heralded by writers like Ed Cole, author of Maximised Manhood; Gordon Dalby, Healing the Masculine Soul; Robert Bly, Iron John; and Warren Farrell, Father and Child Reunion and even by feminist authors such as Adrienne Burgess, Fatherhood Reclaimed and Susan Falundi, Stiffed. Australian author Steve Biddulph has been a trailblazer for the Australian fatherhood and men's movement for many years. His books sell very smartly overseas as well.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The role of the father is increasingly problematic in the context of modern American culture. Fatherhood has been marginalized and the rule and authority of fathers has been depreciated, ridiculed, and continuously redefined. From the Berenstain Bears to The Simpsons, fathers are all too often the object of ridicule or this subject of the laugh line.
...
The marginalization of fatherhood can be traced to many developments, but one prime source of this marginalization is the intellectual class and its radical commitment to ideological feminism. Fatherhood is now an ideological category that is inescapably linked to everything from patriarchy (considered to be the original sin) to popular culture (where the intellectual elites exert a very significant, if indirect influence).'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fathers matter more than ever, and anyone who doubts their importance has inevitably endured life without one.

Even feminist Gloria Steinem said, "Most American children suffer too much mother and too little father."

The politically correct modern notion is that as long as a child is healthy and loved, it doesn't matter who they are raised and nurtured by. And of course if there is no father, any loving parent is integral for a child's well being.

But the male influence in a child's life is invaluable, irreplaceable and necessary for most of us. There, I said it.

As politically incorrect as it may sound, fathers are important, and it would do us all good to reflect on where we might be without the great male influence that our fathers have bestowed on our lives.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'As a candidate and now president, he's been telling men what sort of father they should be. It's become his Father's Day ritual and he's not shy about it.
...
'His finger-wagging is most pointed when addressing other black men, reflecting years of worry about the fabric of black families and single mothers, but it applies to everyone.

Father's Day 2007: "Let's admit to ourselves that there are a lot of men out there that need to stop acting like boys; who need to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; who need to know that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise a child."

Father's Day 2008: "Any fool can have a child. That doesn't make you a father. It's the courage to raise a child that makes you a father."'

You have to suspect any woman who wants to work with children. They're almost certainly paedophiles... Oh, sorry! That's the attitude that men have to put up with isn't it? Women, of course, can be trusted to look after children without abusing them in any way... er, wait a minute: Second woman charged over nursery 'child porn' probe. Excerpt:

"A woman arrested as part of an inquiry into child abuse allegedly committed by a female nursery worker has appeared in court.

"Angela Allen, 39, is charged with four counts of sexual assault, four counts of taking indecent photographs, four counts of possessing indecent photographs and four counts of distributing indecent photographs."

Story here. Excerpt:

'BOWMANVILLE -- Gentlemen, it's not too late to don your favourite pair of women's shoes and take to the streets.

The first-ever Walk A Mile in Her Shoes event, to raise awareness about violence against women, is set for Saturday in downtown Bowmanville, as part of the Fabulous Fifties Festival.

The event is organized by Bowmanville's Bethesda House, a women's shelter and outreach centre. The organization paired with a similar group in Northumberland and ordered a number of pairs of ruby-red stilettos, specially sized for men's feet, to be worn during events in both areas.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In commercial after commercial on TV, the image of the modern husband and father is one of the buffoon - trapped in a shed he built without doors, staring blankly at spilled juice, gorging on dog cookies until his ever-capable wife comes to the rescue.

Such ads are a mainstay because they work: They make viewers laugh, and they sell. And, also, critics argue, because such stereotyping remains socially acceptable.

"WASP men are the greatest target in advertising. The reason I say that is they are the only safe target in advertising," said Terry O'Reilly of Pirate Toronto, a leading audio advertising firm, and host of The Age of Persuasion, a CBC radio show.
...
"It reinforces for women and men alike the idea that this really isn't men's normal home turf, that they're not able to be good at it, and therefore, why bother?" Prof. Thomas said.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Every so often, she said, her youngster’s mind drifts back to the morning of Oct. 16, 2007 when a 24-year-old city woman — in a fit of supposed rage — forced his tiny hands into a pot of boiling water in the Applewood Drive apartment she shared with her then-boyfriend, Damon's father.

Damon, who was two at the time, sustained serious burns and will require several surgeries, skin grafts and therapy to treat the wounds.
...
The first half of Muir’s sentence is being spent under house arrest, while during the remaining nine months she will be allowed out into the community under certain conditions.

Like many others in the community, the boy’s mother remains outraged at the sentence, charging her son was shortchanged by the criminal justice system.
...

To date, more than 8,200 people are members of her group ‘Where is the justice?’ — an element that Reddom hopes to harness into a special event to raise awareness about abused children and the “failings of the justice system” in the hopes of initiating change.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A YOUNG Russian woman, a devoted collector of horror films and spiders, is on trial for sedating and raping 10 men.

The police were shocked that 32-year-old Valeria K., a quiet good-looking woman from the city of Tambov, was the mysterious rapist who abused 10 local men after poisoning them with clonidine, Life.ru reports.

Valeria, who has already been nicknamed the Black Widow for her love of spiders, would get acquainted with men and invite them to her place.
...
Waking up in hospital with clonidine poisoning and penis trauma, all the victims could remember was a friendly brunette who gave them drinks.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday from an elite all-women's club after Republicans questioned her participation in it. Sotomayor said she resigned from the Belizean Grove to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction in her confirmation hearings.

In a letter to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the federal appeals court judge said she is convinced that the club does not practice "invidious discrimination" and that her membership in it did not violate judicial ethics.

But she said she didn't want questions about it to "distract anyone from my qualifications and record."

Federal judges are bound by a code that says they shouldn't join any organization that discriminates by race, sex, religion or nationality.

Story here. Excerpt:

'The federal government is spending $423,500 to find out why men don't like to wear condoms, a project government watchdogs say is a nearly-half-a-million-dollar waste of taxpayer money.
...
"The project aims to understand the relationship between condom application and loss of erections and decreased sensation, including the role of condom skills and performance anxiety, and to find new ways to improve condom use among those who experience such problems."
...
"This government is so out of whack with what the priorities are that this actually makes sense that we'd be wasting money on a condom study rather than the real problems facing the country," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste, which tracks wasteful spending in the federal budget.

For American men -- many of whom have already undergone years of awkward sex ed in the care of gym teachers -- the study might not offer much of a boost, Williams said.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 10-year-old girl conceived from the frozen sperm of a dead man cannot receive his Social Security benefits, a federal appeals court ruled.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower court's rejection of child survivor benefits for Brandalynn Vernoff, who was born nearly four years after her father's death in 1995.

The case involved sperm that Bruce Vernoff's widow, Gabriela, had a doctor extract after he died unexpectedly from an allergic reaction. In 1998, she used it for in vitro fertilization and gave birth to Brandalynn in a Los Angeles hospital on March 17, 1999.

Gabriela Vernoff later applied for child survivor benefits from the Social Security Administration but was rejected. A federal judge in Santa Ana also rejected her claims.'

Story here.

'A 23-year-old woman who got a friend to kill her Jack Russell terrier was charged with skinning the puppy to make a belt out of its hide.

Krystal Lynn Lewis and Austin Michael Mullins, 26, were being held Friday in the Muskogee County jail on $25,000 bail each. They were charged with one felony count of cruelty to animals.

A Muskogee County judge ordered a mental competency hearing for Lewis.

Lewis wanted the puppy, named Poplin, killed because it was a gift from a female ex-lover with whom she doesn't get along, said Muskogee County sheriff's deputy George Roberson.'

Roberson said Mullins shot the terrier 10 times with a .22-caliber pistol. Lewis skinned the animal at her apartment and nailed the hide to a board.'