Article here. I wonder if immigrant men who suffer domestic violence at the hands of women would also qualify for asylum? That's actually a rhetorical question because I suspect they wouldn't. I wonder how many women will lie about abuse just to gain asylum? Excerpt:

'The Obama administration has opened the way for foreign women who are victims of severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the United States. The action reverses a Bush administration stance in a protracted and passionate legal battle over the possibilities for battered women to become refugees.
...
The administration laid out its position in an immigration appeals court filing in the case of a woman from Mexico who requested asylum, saying she feared she would be murdered by her common-law husband there. According to court documents filed in San Francisco, the man repeatedly raped her at gunpoint, held her captive, stole from her and at one point tried to burn her alive when he learned she was pregnant.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The legislation focuses primarily on programs to benefit low income fathers and contains a number of positive provisions. For instance, low income fathers will be able to get a break on child support arrearages under certain circumstances. The entire bill is over 100 pages, here's a copy for those who enjoy this type of reading.

We believe the bill can go much further in addressing the issues faced by fathers in general, particularly providing relief for parents who have been separated from their children by the family courts.

There are a half dozen provisions that would improve the legislation and we need your help to get them implemented.'

Story here. I can hear it now: "Girls don't do this kind of thing! Her boyfriend must be behind it all!" Ugh... Excerpt:

'A heartless kitty killer hissed angrily at animal rights activists Wednesday, grinning widely as she took credit for stuffing the helpless pet into a 500-degree oven.

"It's dead, bitch!" snapped an unrepentant Cheyenne Cherry, sticking her tongue out after a plea bargain that will put her behind bars for a year in the May 6 killing of tiny Tiger Lily.

Cherry, 17, was confronted after her guilty plea in Bronx Supreme Court to charges of animal cruelty and attempted burglary in the May 6 killing at her former roommate's apartment.

Tiger Lily was left to die inside the blistering oven after Cherry and a 14-year-old friend trashed the apartment of Valerie Hernandez, destroying furniture before stealing DVDs and food.
...
Cherry is not new to animal crimes.

This time in Adel, Georgia. Story here. Excerpt:

'ADEL, Ga. – A Georgia man spent more than a year behind bars for failing to pay child support for a child that wasn't his, but he was released after DNA tests showed he wasn't the father.

Frank Hatley, 50, had been jailed since June 2008 for not making payments, but two separate DNA tests in the last nine years showed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.

Southern Center for Human Rights attorney Sarah Geraghty won Hatley's release at a hearing Wednesday in Superior Court. A court order has also relieved him of his financial obligation to the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

"State child support officials have shown extraordinarily poor judgment in Mr. Hatley's case," Geraghty said.'

Tonight during Jimmy Kimmel Live a Six Flags commercial was run featuring a boy hitting his father in the testicles with a baseball. This was intended to lure more customers into the Six Flags parks by comparing how much 'more fun' it is to ride a roller-coaster vs. hitting your father in the testicles with a baseball.

Six Flags, and all corporations who use sexual violence and degradation of men as an advertising gimmick, need to hear from us. Their website contact page is here (scroll to the bottom for an email form).

Like most corporations who use misandrist sexual violence in their ads, Six Flags doesn't really want to hear from you, but they must.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Many men aren't proactive when it comes to their personal health care needs. A Men's Health magazine and CNN survey found one-third of men would not go to the doctor, even if they were experiencing major health problems, such as severe chest pains or shortness of breath -- both of which are signs for heart disease.

But it's imperative that men receive regular medical exams because they can be life saving. "GMA" medical contributor Dr. Marie Savard explains the five tests men must get and why they're important.'

Article here.

'HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Maryland jurors have convicted a 16-year-old girl of soliciting the murder of her father who was stabbed to death outside the family's Hagerstown home on Halloween.

The Washington County Circuit Court deliberated about 90 minutes Wednesday before finding Danielle Black guilty of solicitation of first-degree murder.

She faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced.

The 20-year-old man charged in the death of 47-year-old Billie Lee Black is not the same friend she spoke to on a school bus about killing her father.

The girl contends she only wanted her father roughed up, not killed. She told police she had asked some friends to "take care of" him to end beatings she claimed she suffered. Police haven't been able to verify her claims of abuse.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Behind Washington's feverish debate over the $787 billion stimulus package is a question of why one gender is getting left behind--and it's not women.

No modern economic crisis has more disproportionately impacted men than today's Great Recession. Despite women constituting no more than a quarter of job losses, they are expected to receive more than 40 percent of the stimulus spending--and possibly significantly more
...
Men amount to a slim majority of the workforce but about 75 percent of all job losses, since the recession began in December 2007. Before the recession, there was no significant gender gap in the unemployment rate. Since then, men's unemployment rate has more than doubled.
...
Some respected media outlets have been quick to blame manhood for the bad guys who brought us to the brink. We are told an innately, and flawed, male quality has led us astray. This recession purportedly signifies more than economic decline, but the decline of American masculinity itself.

Article here. Is there any doubt this country values the health of women more so then that of a male? Excerpt:

'ST. LOUIS - A lot of amendments have been attached to the health care reform bills being finalized this month in Washington, and several of those amendments have concerned people on all sides watching closely. One in particular, known as the Women's Health Amendment, would increase access to primary preventive care and would support clinics that are often the only source of health care for low-income women, such as Planned Parenthood. The amendment does not include coverage for abortions, but critics claim that it would.

Paula Gianino with Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region says misinformation threatens to derail health care reform and to hurt women.

"We believe that health care reform must strengthen and protect women's health care. Certainly it must not weaken it. And we believe that women's health care has to be a priority."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Microsoft has made its second million-dollar grant to the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) to support the advancement of women in IT.

Founded in 2004, NCWIT is a coalition of over 170 corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to expand women's participation in IT. Members include Apple, AT&T, the Bank of America, Carnegie Mellon, Google, HP, Intel, MIT, Motorola, Pfizer, Princeton, Qualcomm, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, Wal-Mart, and others.
...
NCWIT cites a number of statistics (PDF) to support its assertion that women are underrepresented in IT:

•Although 57 per cent of US undergraduate degrees went to women 2008, only 18 per cent of computer and information sciences degrees were earned by women.

•Only 24 per cent of IT positions in the US are held by women.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Let's talk. If you're not someone like Sessions, Hatch, Graham etc. this is NOT directed to you.

I can imagine that it's really an adjustment for you to see so many changes taking place in our nation. We have our first non-white President and we are on the cusp of having only our third woman and first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice.

Article here

'A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not know that a gaggle of white Republican men afraid of extinction are out to trip her up.

After all, these guys have never needed to speak inspirational words to others like them, as Sotomayor has done. They’ve had codes, handshakes and clubs to do that
...
President Obama wants Sotomayor, naturally, to bring a fresh perspective to the court. It was a disgrace that W. appointed two white men to a court stocked with white men. And Sotomayor made it clear that she provides some spicy seasoning to a bench when she said in a speech: “I simply do not know exactly what the difference will be in my judging, but I accept there will be some based on gender and my Latina heritage.”
...
And then there’s the Supreme Court, of course, which gave up its claim to rational neutrality when the justices appointed by Republican presidents — including Bush Sr. — ignored what was fair to make a sentimental choice and throw the 2000 election to W.'

Video report here.

Apparently the accused rapist asked the boy's mother for her blessing to continue the 'relationship'.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Not torn up enough to make it her subject, alas. Yet Moore claims she was "startled" at the paucity of writing to come out of the tragedy. She notes to Laidlaw that a 1985 Royal Commission report revealed: "A lot of safety practises were ignored. The men weren't trained properly. There weren't enough survival suits. They didn't have a safe exit plan."

Story here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON (AP) - A woman accused of killing her four daughters told police in an interview that the girls were possessed by demons and that she got rid of most of the family's possessions to contain the evil spirits.

A District of Columbia Superior Court judge spent a second day Tuesday reviewing a recording of a police interrogation of Banita Jacks. The decomposing bodies of Jacks' daughters—ages 5 to 17—were discovered in January 2008 when U.S. marshals came to evict her from her southeast Washington home.

Judge Frederick Weisberg was to decide whether to admit the interview as evidence in her trial. Jacks' attorneys want it excluded. They say police were trying to get a confession from her before they had evidence that she was responsible.

Weisberg will decide the case without a jury at Jacks' request.

Jacks' lawyers have urged Jacks to use an insanity defense, but she has refused. Weisberg has found her competent to stand trial.