Alert here. Excerpt:

'Fathers & Families is often critical of family law judges. Given the anti-father bias in the system and the lack of respect many judges display towards fathers’ loving bonds with their children, this criticism is appropriate. However, we also feel it is important to comment judges when they do the right thing, and we’ve done so on countless occasions.

One of the many judges Fathers & Families has defended is conscientious Virginia judge James Michael Shull. It’s a long story, but it’s an instructive one, and we’d like your action on the matter.

n December, 2006 Shull smoked out a woman who sought to extend a restraining order based on false charges of domestic violence, and was removed from the bench for his actions in the case in 2007.

I have examined the evidence in this case and it is clear to me that Shull was railroaded. He was also the victim of widely-disseminated misleading reporting.'

The Violence Against Women Act was passed in 1994 with the laudable intention of solving the problem of domestic violence. Unfortunately the law has numerous flaws, including¹:

1. VAWA programs have been ineffective in reducing partner abuse, and in some ways have placed victims at greater risk of violence.
2. VAWA undermines basic notions of civil liberties and the presumption of innocence.
3. VAWA programs have had a disproportionate negative effect on minority and low-income populations.
4. VAWA undermines the family, escalates partner conflict, and discourages reconciliation.
5. VAWA fosters sex-based discrimination.
6. VAWA promotes half-truths, myths, and falsehoods about domestic violence.
7. VAWA encourages immigration fraud.
8. VAWA programs lack accountability and allow wasteful use of taxpayer dollars.

Story here.

'A Michigan sheriff says a Lansing-area woman apparently killed her two young sons before committing suicide.

Eaton County Sheriff Mike Raines says the woman's husband called 911 and said he returned to the family's home at Plum Tree Apartments Monday afternoon and found the three bodies. He says detectives were questioning the husband.

Raines didn't release the names or ages of the woman and her children or say how they died. He says the three were taken to Sparrow Hospital for autopsies.

The sheriff says the deaths appear to be a murder-suicide, but that the case is still under investigation.'

Exchange here. Excerpt:

'Dear Miriam,

I'm a 27-year-old married woman and a teacher. Last month, I had a one-night stand with a pupil. He's 18 and very mature for his age.
...
Now I hear there are rumours circulating around the school about us and I'm having kittens the head teacher will get wind of it. What can I do?
Erin

Dear Erin,
This is a serious breach of professional ethics as well as a betrayal of your husband, which is likely to have serious consequences for you.

Your drunken sex romp may well have sabotaged your professional future and your marriage. It seems likely you're living on borrowed time. Clearly, the boy has bragged to someone and it may only be a matter of time before the gossip spreads uncontrollably.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Springfield area has seen its share of high-profile police manhunts triggered by lies. Sadly, some of the false statements have also included claims of brutal sexual assault. Neighbors fret, innocent people get questioned, and police waste expensive time.

Yet, when the fraud is exposed, little or no penalty seems to come to the liar.

More should be done to try to combat this problem.

Obviously, it cannot be eradicated. But we encourage local criminal justice officials to discuss the possibility of advocating an increase in the penalty for false reports -- at least the kind that trigger a great expense or result in wrongful arrests.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'According to Judith Kleinfeld, boys get the raw deal. Compared with girls, American boys have lower rates of literacy, lower grades and engagement in school, higher drop-out from school, and dramatically higher rates of suicide, premature death, injuries, and arrests. Boys are also placed more often in special education. Girls on the other hand are more likely to have different problems including depression, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders.

The researcher argues that although there have been numerous federal, state, school district, and foundation programs aimed at addressing issues faced by girls, led in part by the strong feminist movement, the same cannot be said for the problems encountered by boys. In her view, they have been largely neglected.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'So is it good news or bad news that more women than men are going to university? The feminist approach is obvious: if it wasn't a problem when men outnumbered women in higher education, why should it be when it's the other way round?
...
Of course, you can have too much of a good thing, but I just don't believe people like Caroline Flint when they talk, as she did in a Sunday newspaper, about what a burden it is being female – and, sotto voce, good-looking – in the male-dominated world of politics. I bet she would not like it if we didn't look twice at her because she was in a majority of females, among commentators as well as MPs.
...
By rights this should put feminism out of business. But it won't. It would take too much of a shift in our prejudices to see boys as the problem, disadvantaged sex. Perhaps that's because it doesn't suit either men or women to do so.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- A 28-year-old Oregon woman has been charged with murder after the body of a new mother was found in the crawl space of her home.

Rescue crews first went to Korena Roberts' home in Washington County on Friday in response to a call of a newborn in distress. They found Roberts' boyfriend unsuccessfully trying to revive the baby using first-aid techniques.

Roberts told deputies the baby was hers, the county sheriff's office said. Medics noticed a lot of blood at the home, and sent Roberts and the baby to a hospital.

"Doctors at the hospital were not able to revive the baby," said Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff's Office in a news release. "They also discovered that Ms. Roberts had not delivered a child at anytime in the recent past."
...
An autopsy will now determine how the baby was delivered, and whether he died before or after birth, Thompson said.

The outcome could result in another murder charge for Roberts, deputies said.'

Read this for your daily dose of bizarre-o-writings from the Land of Feminist Bloggers. Excerpt:

'Feminism, real or imagined, has long been praised and blamed for a whole pile of societal developments, crises and trends. But it has emerged recently in unlikely quarters: as a major factor in the "intimate" murders of women and as a saving grace in the lives of abusive men. In a devastating twist, feminism, while improving women’s lives in many obvious ways, may also have made their lives more dangerous. At the same time, by offering escape and support to battered women, it has saved the lives of abusive men.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Tens of thousands of boys who ought to be capable of succeeding at university never make it because of school exams, according to a report today.

The Higher Education Policy Institute report suggests that GCSEs, introduced in 1988 in place of O-levels, appear to favour girls because of the style of teaching, content and types of question. The exams are the "most likely cause" of an achievement gap between the sexes that starts at school but carries on into adulthood, it concludes. The result is that men are less likely to go to university and less likely to do well when they get there.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Cambridge — The Cambridge Public Health Department and community partners will host a series of events in June to celebrate Men’s Health Month.

“American men are experiencing a silent health crisis,” said Claude-Alix Jacob, the city’s chief public health officer and director of the public health department. Jacob said men have higher rates of death than women for heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and HIV/AIDS. They are also more likely than women to die in a car crash, commit suicide, or suffer a fatal workplace injury.

“Despite the grim statistics, the good news is that men can take some simple actions — like eating better, exercising more, and making routine visits to the doctor — that can help improve their health,” Jacob said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'This family law system is a joke. It should have been called the Flawed Family Law System. In my opinion, this is a predatory system in which women use the divorce laws as a legalized vehicle for harassment against men. What gives me the right to have total power and control over his life until our children are no longer considered "children of marriage?"
...
I have been in touch with several men's groups in Canada and I am a proud member of Fathers 4 Justice Canada. I have read literally hundreds of e-mails from men reaching their hands out of the gutters of life to simply come up to a living standard that you and your other female activists would call hell on earth.

Where are the politicians? They fund women's rights groups but what about men's rights? This abuse of justice against men in Canada and around the world makes a mockery of everyone. How sad for our children.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Wilmington, N.C. — A former teacher in New Hanover and Pitt counties was arrested Thursday on sex charges involving a 15-year-old boy for the second time in two weeks.

According an arrest report, a police officer caught Jessica Bailey Wishnask, 27, having "intimate contact" with the boy in a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am parked at 200 N. Fifth St. in Wilmington at 3:49 a.m. May 23.

The officer arrested Wishnask and charged her with taking indecent liberties with a minor. Wishnask, who has addresses listed in Leland in New Hanover County and Oak City in Martin County, was released under a $40,000 secured bond.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'FALSIFICATION, RIDGE ROAD: A 45-year-old Ridge Road woman faces charges for filing a false police report after she told officers May 28 that an acquaintance raped her in her apartment. The woman was taken to Fairview Hospital where she later admitted that no attack occurred. Police interviewed the man who said the woman offered him sex in exchange for drugs and alcohol.

FELONY ASSAULT, WESTBROOK DRIVE: A 23-year-old Westbrook Drive woman faces felony assault charges after she sliced her boyfriend on the chin with a two-inch knife. The woman told police that her boyfriend had assaulted her and she used the knife in self defense. But investigators found no evidence to substantiate her claim. The boyfriend, a 24-year-old man, said the two were arguing over whether or not the woman would attend the Cleveland Cavaliers game that night. '

Article here. Excerpt:

'Cokie Roberts appeared on Friday's "Good Morning America" and agreed with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's 1994 comment that a wise woman would come to a better conclusion than a man. Roberts, cheered, "Of course, I would agree with her that they're better." Fellow ABC journalist Sam Donaldson empathized that if the judge made a mistake, "it was a Joe Biden problem. She blurted out the truth."
...
DIANE SAWYER: All right. Our thanks to you, Jan. A discussion to have around the breakfast table. And so, we're bringing in our two favorites, ABC's Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson, for just this discussion. Okay, Cokie. She didn't say women are different in making decisions. She said better. Can she get away with that?

COKIE ROBERTS: Well, she's having to backtrack on it. Of course, I would agree with her that they're better.
...

DAVID MUIR: Here we go.