Last week, NOW responded to comments made by Rush Limbaugh on domestic violence. Limbaugh stated:

"Remember when the NOW gang and all these other social interest groups started asking women if they'd ever been a victim of domestic violence? They didn't like the numbers they got initially. The numbers weren't high enough for the NOW gang. So they expanded the definition to include a man shouting at them. A man shouting at them equaled domestic violence. It didn't matter if the women shouted first."

Melody Drnach, Action Vice President of NOW, responded:

"It shows that NOW and other advocacy groups are on the right track spreading the message of domestic violence when even Rush Limbaugh agreed that domestic violence comes in all forms -- physical abuse, mental abuse and verbal abuse ... When Rush Limbaugh understands that shouting is a form of domestic violence, then we are on the right track. Then we did something right."

Story here.

'An education expert is being roped in to help boys shine as brightly as girls in the classroom.

Last week the Post revealed how primary schools in Neath, Port Talbot and the Swansea Valley had some of the lowest results in Wales.

The good news was that secondary education was among the best in the Principality. But at both levels there was a clear "must do better" message for boys, who were lagging way behind girls.

Now Professor David Egan, of the Cardiff School of Education, who acts as advisor to the Assembly on issues such as teacher education and the reform of 14-19 education policy, is being brought in to advise the county's education chiefs and put forward recommendations to engage boys more at primary and secondary level.

Cabinet member for education councillor John Roger said: "We are determined to help bridge the gender divide and look forward to working with Professor Egan to put a number of recommendations in place."'

This is the tragedy of a messed up mom who couldn't parent, a stable dad who wanted to but was overlooked and a troubled child who's been raised by the state. Our favorite misandrist columnist Mindelle (Mindy) Jacobs of the The Sun Media Group actually delivers a non misandrist column (albeit with a few backhanded swipes) of fathers.

I have sent an email to Ms. Jacobs to acknowledge the fact that she wrote a positive column on men (for once) but to also let her know we are still monitoring her scribblings. You can send e-mail to Ms. Jacobs mindy.jacobs-at-sunmedia.ca. Excerpt:

'This is the tragedy of a messed up mom who couldn't parent, a stable dad who wanted to but was overlooked and a troubled child who's been raised by the state.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Researchers found that women and men in countries like Britain tended to have the same number of children with the same number of partners.

The study of more than 10,000 people in 18 countries seems to throw on its head the generally accepted expectations that men tend naturally towards promiscuity and women are more particular when it comes to choosing a mate.

It also seemed to disprove the belief that some men are incredibly successful at mating while others fail altogether.
...
Dr Gillian Brown, of the University of St Andrews, said: "The study shows that women are just as likely to seek out just as many partners as men.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- For the poor who live in developing nations, repairing a cleft lip, cataracts, or severe burns is not an option. Most are forced to live with their condition and are shunned by their own communities. But some are finally getting the help they need at the hands of a tireless group of American women.

If you find this difficult to look at, imagine how hard it must be to live with. This is the reality for those in countries without the medical expertise or money for surgery. It's no surprise then that local clinics are swamped when Denise Cucurny and Amy Wandel, M.D., come to town. The anthropologist and plastic surgeon, with a team of female doctors and nurses, travel the world fixing cleft lips, cataracts, burns and cavities
...
Their gender, they say, opens doors and builds trust.

"We're accepted places where men might not be accepted because we tend to come as non-threatening, non-violent, nurturing, giving people," Dr. Wandel explained.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A walk around the Quad is normally a piece of cake, unless you were one of the several men that participated in “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” on Sunday afternoon.

The walk was in accordance with Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
...
The men donned the high heel footwear and walked one lap around the Quad. They were then assisted by the women in the crowd for another half lap. The walk was followed by a short speech by Ross Wantland, coordinator of sexual assault education for the Women’s Resources Center.'

Relatedly, Men in heels. Excerpt:

'CLARINGTON -- Councillor Willie Woo looked quite dapper in his black suit, white shirt, ruby tie and ... red stilettos?

Yes, the Clarington politician's footwear did, indeed, consist of a pair of size 13 red pumps as he helped promote the upcoming Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event being organized by Bowmanville's Bethesda house, a women's shelter and outreach centre.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Women on campus will be able to buy cookies, brownies and other bakery items for 75 cents, while men will have to pay $1 if they want a bite at a campus bake sale, a member of the TCU Women's Network said.

Megan O'Brien, president of the TCU Women's Network and senior art history major, said the Women's Network and Women's Studies Program will be hosting a bake sale to illustrate the gap between women's and men's wages on Thursday.
...
O'Brien said women on average get paid 77 cents to every dollar earned by men. The bake sale will sell cookies, brownies, cake and vegan options, she said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'All over the world, more men than women report a history of attempted suicide, with a gender ratio of 3:1, as revealed by many survey reports.

There is a lack of advocacy for men's rights and there are more social programs for women than for men indicating a gender bias favouring women.

Special government agencies for women's affairs have been set up recently in many nations with no corresponding agencies for men's affairs.

There is a general assumption of female innocence in sexual assault cases or sympathy for women, invariably there is a dismissal of female-on-male rape cases.'

Letter here. Excerpt:

'I personally believe that the Family Court system consistently and institutionally violates the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth amendments, regarding due process and equal treatment under the law.

My reasoning: When petitioners come to Family Court and file for a protection from abuse order, but cannot afford their own legal representation, they are immediately referred to the Delaware Legal Aid Society where they can receive a highly skilled and impassioned attorney. The petitioner will also be granted one and sometimes two court advocates.

The respondent, whom I will refer to as the accused (remember innocent until proven guilty), has no such recourse. In fact if a respondent contacts the Delaware Legal Aid Society, he will be told point-blank that the organization only represents the petitioner.

So when the day of the hearing arrives, the petitioner’s legal machine is ready to conquer.

Article here.

'COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—A former marshal with the Colorado Springs police department has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming he was discriminated against because he is a man.

Attorney Hollie Wieland said Friday that her client Philip McDonald received good evaluations but started having problems under a male supervisor who allegedly treated women better than men.

She says McDonald faced retaliation when he voiced concerns about what he thought were racist comments that a white female co-worker made to a black female co-worker, then was fired in 2007 over unfounded allegations that he left a courtroom unattended while court was in session.

Lori Miskel, a senior city attorney, says the city believes it acted appropriately. '

Truth again beats fiction with this story. No mention of what effect the revelation involved in this tale had on the one couple.

"A nice story, with surprising end:

In Stuttgart, Germany, a court judge must decide on a case of honorable intentions in a situation where a man hired his neighbor to get his wife pregnant.

It seems that Demetrius Soupolos, 29, and his former beauty queen wife, Traute, wanted a child badly, but Demetrius was told by a doctor that he was sterile.

So, Soupolos, after calming his wife’s protests, hired his neighbor, Frank Maus, 34, to impregnate her. Since Maus was already married and the father of two children, plus looked very much like Soupolos to boot, the plan seemed good.

Soupolos paid Maus $2,500 for the job and for three evenings a week for the next six months, Maus tried desperately, a total of 72 different times, to impregnate Traute.

Campaign page here. Excerpt:

'Lifetime TV announced the launch of its new, father-bashing reality show Deadbeat Dads last week. To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Deadbeat Dads, originally developed at Fox, follows National Child Support founder Jim Durham as he tracks down and confronts dads who don’t pay child support.” According to Reuters, Durham “functions as a sort of ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ for tracking deadbeats…It’s ambush reality TV.” Durham will target fathers who are behind on their child support by “making their lives miserable — foreclosing on their house, repossessing their car. He will squeeze them.”

Article here.

"Requiring firms to reveal the "pay gap" between their male and female staff will help, not hinder, Britain's recovery from recession, Equalities Minister Harriet Harman insisted today.
...

"The economies of the future that will prosper are the ones which are not blinkered, held back by old-fashioned hierarchies, by a sense of women knowing their place, by overlooking the talents and abilities of people on the basis of the colour of their skin," she told reporters.

"When times are difficult, actually fairness is at a premium and it does not cost anything to be fair. It is part of helping the economy prosper for the future by tackling what its market failure because it is market failure to treat people unfairly for any reason.

"We don't see this as anti-competitiveness - it actually underpins competitiveness.

"Equality and opportunity underpins a meritocracy. This does not hold business back, this helps business."

Article here. Excerpt:

'If so, it's time to dial back your behavior. Why? Well, for starters, a fight with you means a full-volume freak-fest. Sometimes you'll destroy things; other times, you'll fight until you're too exhausted to bark anymore. Not good! "Your flare-ups tend to be so unpredictable, you're virtually begging your partner to bury his own anger," explains Jeff Palitz, a licensed marriage and family therapist. "The more stunts you pull, the more your spouse will pull away and ignore you."

Tame-your-temper tricks:

The key is to delay your explosions. The next time you fight, take a walk, suggests Palitz. Once you've gotten a little more oxygen flow to your brain, you can approach the topic logically (like, Okay, maybe he doesn't want another wife...he just said my closet was messy). Another approach? Try opening up (about your family, your sex life, how you'd like to spend your joint money) when you two are actually getting along, Palitz says. He's much more likely to hear you when you aren't screaming.'

Story here.

'LUFKIN, Texas - A former nurse has pleaded not guilty to murdering five patients and injuring five others with bleach injections at a Texas dialysis clinic.

The Lufkin Daily News reports that 35-year-old Kimberly Saenz remains free on $500,000 bond after her Friday arraignment.

She's charged with five counts each of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

The indictment alleges she injected 10 patients with bleach last April at the Lufkin DaVita Dialysis clinic and that five of them died.

Federal records show 34 patients were taken by ambulance from the clinic that month, more than three times the March total.

DaVita fired Saenz a day after temporarily closing the clinic.'