Article here. Excerpt:

'To encourage anyone who's feeling depressed to seek professional help is a primary objective of a Remembrance Open House being hosted by the Survivors of Suicide Grief at the ADAMH Board office, 142 S. Prospect St. at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Another goal is to promote awareness of the reality that men are more at risk to commit suicide because they aren't as likely as women to seek help, said Jody Demo-Hodgins, executive director for the ADAMH Board.

Three members of the support group have lost sons, boyfriends or husbands to suicide, Demo-Hodgins said.

"They're really concerned that men are more challenged to cope because society expects men to toughen up and live with it," she said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Meltdown. Collapse. Depression. Panic. The words would seem to apply equally to the global financial crisis and the effect of that crisis on the human psyche.

Of course, it is too soon to gauge the true psychiatric consequences of the economic debacle; it will be some time before epidemiologists can tell us for certain whether depression and suicide are on the rise. But there’s no question that the crisis is leaving its mark on individuals, especially men.
...
I have plenty of female patients who work in finance at high levels, but none of them has had this kind of psychological reaction. I can’t pretend this is a scientific survey, but I wonder if men are more likely than women to respond this way. At the risk of trading in gender stereotypes, do men rely disproportionately more on their work for their self-esteem than women do? Or are they just more vulnerable to the inevitable narcissistic injury that comes with performing poorly or losing one’s job?'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Men still significantly outnumber women at the state's prisons and county jails, but it's women whose incarceration rate is climbing the fastest, according to a study released yesterday by The New Hampshire Women's Policy Institute.

Drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and unemployment are behind the increase, the study found. But those factors - and child-care responsibilities - also complicate the treatment and rehabilitation needs for women, who more often than men are their children's main or only provider.

If the trend continues, the study said, six of the 10 county jails will have to add 52 beds just for female inmates by 2012. That's expensive, not just for taxpayers, but for children and families separated by jail and prison sentences, lawmakers and corrections officials said yesterday.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"We've seen huge, huge increases in test scores," said Kiner, who presented the data this fall at the National Association for Single Sex Public Education's international conference here.
...
"Boys like nonfiction. They like gory, bloody stories. They like protagonists who look like them, sound like them and act like them," she said. "We know from research that girls are more comfortable with other girls. That's why we all go to the bathroom together.
...
"We told the kids they could have dress-down days for every 20 days we went without a fight," Pointer said.

"The boys came to us and said they were losing their dress-down days because the girls were fighting."

Turner said it's possible the fight-free message was unconsciously directed to the boys.

So, he stepped up the message to the girls and now records school fights by grade and gender.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The media will be able to report legal proceedings in family courts as part of sweeping changes proposed by ministers.

Cases heard in family courts, such as divorce and custody, will be open to the media subject to some restrictions such as not identifying those involved.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw said the changes would help "lift the veil" on how the legal process worked.'

From Glenn Sacks' newsletter here. Excerpt:

'Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Executive Director of Fathers & Families, is a central figure in the new Newsweek article Not Your Dad's Divorce: How changes in child support laws, and a push by fathers for equal time, are transforming the way this generation of ex-spouses raise their children (12/15/08).'

Story here. Utterly shocking, almost beyond comment. Excerpt:

'Thirty-one crosses made of tubular steel and painted white line up unevenly in the grass and weeds of what used to be the grounds of a reform school in Marianna, Florida. The anonymous crosses are rusting away but their secrets may soon be exposed.

When boys disappeared from the school, administrators explained it away, said former student Roger Kiser.

They'd say, "Well, he ran away and the swamp got him," Kiser recalled. Or, "The gators got him." Or, 'Water moccasins got him."
...
Colon recalls his visits to the white house as if they were yesterday:

Video report here. And to think, if a Japanese woman wants a divorce she could simply say he is "never home" and that's good enough. It's even easieR than that; after WWII, the constitution the US gave Japan guaranteed the right of divorce for cause to Japanese women (that particular clause was inserted by a member of the constitutional scholar team Douglas MacArthur put together - it was added by, you guessed it, a feminist). So any time a mother wants to shed her "old man" and keep him paying anyway for the kids, she can do it. Meanwhile, Japanese men work themselves into an early grave under a legal system that views them as dispensible in every way except where money is concerned.

Story here. Excerpt:

'EAGLE POINT, Ore. -- Parents in a Southern Oregon school district submitted a petition seeking the removal of a bus driver accused of spanking a 6-year-old boy who wouldn't sit down.

The parents also contend the woman is a bad driver.
...
The alleged spanking occurred Oct. 30. The boy's 10-year-old sister submitted a statement saying the driver grabbed her brother's arm and "hit him on the thigh four to five times."
...
Parents also said they are unhappy with the way the driver handles disciplinary matters, including shouting and whistling loudly into the intercom.

"I don't feel it's safe with her as a driver, and I don't think the kids should be treated like this," Parent Leah Ferrell said.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'ASHEBORO, N.C. -- Police arrested a Randolph County girl who they said shot and killed a boy Friday night.

The girl, identified as Meredith Kandies, allegedly shot the 16-year-old boy in the stomach Friday at about 10:30 p.m.

Two boys were arguing at the Guy B. Teachey Elementary School playground in Asheboro when the Kandies shot one of them in the stomach with a pistol, police said.
...
Kandies was charged with involuntary manslaughter and was taken to the Randolph County Jail.

She was being held on a $30,000 bond.'

Via Jeremy Swanson:

We have lost another fighter for Fathers' Rights - Harry Braunschweiler Has Died

Long-time Quebec Fathers' Rights Activist Harry Braunschweiler of St. Adolphe d’Howard, Quebec who, with his comrade William Levy of Dorval, formed the "Council for the Status of Men Canada" Activist Group in Quebec, fought the system in that province for many years, died yesterday afternoon from a stroke which felled him late last week. In his final years Harry and his son Marc were reconciled and Harry became a "Hero Dad" to his son. William Levy fights on in his friend's name. More details on his life and death and tributes to his activism will be forthcoming in releases by SMC, William Levy and others.

Here's a new song you might be interested in. It's entitled "Judges in Family Court." Needless to say, you won't be hearing your local disc jockey playing this from your local "Top 40" chart anytime soon.

Not too bad for a first effort from this group. No, I'm not in this production, but was invited. I sing very poorly.

Story here. Excerpt:

'LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) -- A group of conservative Christian women is seeking 100,000 signatures on a "True Woman Manifesto" aimed at sparking a counter-revolution to the feminist movement of the 1960s.

Introduced at a gathering of more than 6,000 women in early October, the document calls not for equal rights, but instead proclaims that men and women are created to reflect God's image in "complementary and distinct ways."
...
Kassian said even Christian women have been influenced more by feminism more than they realize, including the idea that patriarchy -- the idea of submitting to male authority -- is the source of all their heartache and problems.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Western Illinois University is the first school to work publically with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to comply with Title IX via interest surveys. Schools were likely resistant to using surveys until this point because of the large backlash from interest groups who threatened to sue any school that attempted to rely on interest surveys to demonstrate Title IX compliance. But proponents of true gender equity should applaud WIU’s initiative. After all, the real goal should be equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes. It should be of no greater concern that there are fewer women playing sports than it is that there are fewer men taking part in campus theater or arts programs—so long as everyone is given equal opportunity to participate.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women have a growing influence on the fields of law and government. They represent half of law school students and one-third of lawyers. By 2050, they're projected to represent 60% of law school students. Women constitute half of medical school students and one-fourth of physicians. They're projected to constitute 70% of medical school students and the majority of physicians by 2050. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, women are starting businesses at twice the rate of men. They're also rapidly rising into managerial and administrative positions.

In short, women are becoming richer and more powerful - and this is a good thing for America. Fueling this trend is the growing number of women earning college degrees. More education pays off in a big way. Those with a bachelor's degree earn, on average, nearly twice what those with just a high school diploma earn in a year, and roughly $1 million more over a lifetime.