Story here. Excerpt:

'A federal court in Brazil has ruled that a New Jersey father should get custody of his 8-year-old son, whose mother took him to the South American nation after their divorce and died there, the man's lawyer said Monday.

Attorney Patricia Apy, who represents David Goldman, said she was notified of the decision Monday afternoon. The ruling calls for the boy to be turned over to his father on Wednesday, Apy said.

The boy's Brazilian mother took him to Brazil in 2004. She remarried and never returned to the United States. She died last year of complications from the birth of another child.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Researchers have for the first time found inherited genetic factors which raise the risk of testicular cancer.

A UK team found many testicular cancer patients shared common DNA variants on chromosomes five, six and 12 that healthy men did not have.

This finding was echoed in a separate US study in the same journal, Nature Genetics, which highlighted two of the same variations.

Both studies raise hopes of better treatments and diagnostic tests.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'PHILADELPHIA - It's an old lie, claiming that The Black Man Did It.

But it was trotted out again last week when a white mother from suburban Philadelphia said two black men snatched her and her 9-year-old daughter from their SUV and abducted them in the trunk of a black Cadillac.

Blacks across the country were outraged after Bonnie Sweeten was found in a luxury hotel at Disney World. Authorities quickly unraveled the hoax, but not before an Amber Alert, frantic searches and national news coverage that played into images of marauding black men.
...
Authorities discovered that Sweeten had made the call from miles away, in downtown Philadelphia. Their attention turned to the airport, and Sweeten was soon found. She is free on $1 million bail, facing misdemeanor charges of identity theft and false reporting.

During a news conference after the hoax was exposed, Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry explained the charge of filing a false police report.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Parents thinking about getting divorced, especially for the second or third time, should consider the impact of that decision on their children's schooling, new research from University of Alberta suggests.

The groundbreaking study -- believed to the first in Canada to look at the long-term impacts of household upheaval on academic success -- found children who experience changes to their family structure are much more likely to become high school dropouts than classmates whose parents stay together.

The findings were particularly grim for children who live through three or more parental changes: divorce or death, remarriage or another divorce. Such children have just a 40-per-cent chance of completing their high school diplomas, a success rate half that of children with no family shakeup.'

Story here.

'A Phoenix woman shot the father of her children at an apartment complex near 51st and Van Buren streets Friday afternoon, police said.

Just before 2 p.m., Phoenix police responded to the scene and found that the man had been shot, later determining the shooting was a domestic-violence case and taking the woman into custody, according to Luis Samudio of Phoenix police.

The children were in the apartment, though it was unclear how many children they have.

The condition of the man was not yet known.'

Article here. Excerpt:

Women marry for money all the time, so what's wrong with a man doing so?

Excerpt from Our Stolen Future here, reading in part:

'Several researchers, however, have reported apparent recent declines in the proportion of male births, in the US, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands. These declines have been very small but statistically significant. Fewer boys are being born than would be expected on the basis of the recent historical worldwide average.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined Sunday to concur with President Barack Obama’s claim that Supreme Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor believes she chose her words poorly in a 2001 speech where she said a “wise Latina” judge would reach better results than a white male.

“I don’t think anybody wants nine justices on the Supreme Court who have ice water in their veins,” Schumer said on ABC’s “This Week.”

However, when pressed by host George Stephanopoulos on whether Sotomayor planned to distance herself from the “wise Latina” comment during her confirmation hearings, Schumer, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, did not answer directly.

“I think she’ll stand by the entire speech,” Schumer said. “The specific sentence there is simply saying that people’s experiences matter and we ought to have some diversity of experience in the court.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'LONDON - TMW has produced a business-targeted campaign aimed at reducing the numbers of men who commit suicide due to work and economic pressures.

The direct marketing activity has been produced free of charge for the Campaign Against Living Miserably (Calm), which provides help and advice via phone and its website.
...
The campaign has been created in response to fears that the recession will lead to an increase in male suicide.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Returning a guilty verdict for child abuse in the second degree, an Oakland County Circuit Court jury believes a Royal Oak woman burned her 5-year-old son with a hair straightening iron the same day she turned 29.
...
“We are certainly hoping for leniency in light of the fact that Ms. Drew has no criminal record,” Youngs said. “Second-degree child abuse removes intent as an element and requires that the prosecutor only show recklessness. The sentence Ms. Drew receives may impact how we go forward. This case has been a nightmare for her.”
...
The third-degree burns to the child's lower right leg required skin grafts and plastic surgery, and the arrest came several months into the investigation, Swiatkowski said.

The boy has autism and limited verbal skills, which kept him from being able to tell police how he was burned, according to Swiatkowski.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'“We don’t often have that kind of sympathy for men in sexual abuse situations,” Casey said. “Our culture has a message to boys and men that any kind of sexual behavior is getting lucky.”

That attitude can translate into lighter sentences for female offenders. In 2006, Florida teacher Debra Lafave escaped charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a 14-year-old student with a sentence of house arrest and probation. Her attorney implied in court that she was too pretty to be sent to prison.

The illicit couple in question can even gain a kind of celebrity status. Mary Kay Letourneau, the former teacher imprisoned for having a sexual relationship with one of her sixth-grade students, recently hosted a “Hot for Teacher” night at a bar in Seattle with her former student and current husband as DJ, according to the Associated Press.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Feminists understandably have often shied away from scientific evidence that challenges this critique of sex roles. After all, because biology-based arguments about gender difference have historically been used to justify women's subjugation, women have been reluctant to concede any innate difference, lest it be used against them. But, in view of recent scientific discoveries, has feminist resistance to accepting any signs of innate gender difference only created new biases?

Latest entry in the on-going saga here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Friday personally sought to deflect criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, who finds herself under intensifying scrutiny for saying in 2001 that a female Hispanic judge would often reach a better decision than a white male judge. "I'm sure she would have restated it," Obama flatly told NBC News, without indicating how he knew that.

The quote in question from Sotomayor has emerged as a rallying call for conservative critics who fear she will offer opinions from the bench based less on the rule of law and more on her life experience, ethnicity and gender. That issue is likely to play a central role in her Senate confirmation process.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Job loss is traumatic. So is financial anxiety. But hands-on fathers who can juggle bath-time, playground jaunts and laundry duty are better equipped to deal with those than earlier generations of men, says the author of a new book on fatherhood.

In Daddy Shift, to be released next month, Jeremy Adam Smith explores how fathers' growing participation in childrearing and domestic duties is transforming modern families.'

Usually I ignore feminist blogs since they are so predictable. This particular entry though strikes me as especially venomous. FR groups are painted as being front organizations for batterers and, based on the language used to describe them, all but terrorist organizations. These kinds of defamations must be confronted and the accusers called to task for their mischaracterizations. Entry here. Excerpt:

'Lets begin with the infamous shared parenting bill brought about by fathers rights groups.
Campaign messages were:

* Fathers are committing suicide because they are not seeing their children.
* Single mothers are bad aka "fatherlessness"
* Mothers make false allegations for financial reasons or revenge
* Most Domestic Violence allegations are made to gain custody of the child