Story here. Excerpt:

'COVINA, Calif. (AP) - A ninth body was found Friday morning at the charred site of a Christmas Eve massacre where a recently divorced man dressed as Santa shot indiscriminately at partygoers and destroyed his former in-laws' house with a homemade blowtorch.

The attacker, Bruce Pardo, reached a Dec. 18 settlement with his ex-wife, who along with her parents was believed to be among the dead. His lawyer and a fellow church usher were among those who said they had never seen anything to indicate he was capable of such a brutal crime.
...

Pardo left the scene of the killings and was found dead Thursday, of a single bullet to the head, at his brother's house.
...
Court documents show Sylvia Pardo got the couple's dog, the wedding ring and $10,000 in the settlement agreement, while he got the house. In June, the court ordered Bruce Pardo to pay $1,785 a month in spousal support and put him on a payment plan of $450 a month for $3,570 that was unpaid.

Article here. Excerpt:

'It is the special child’s time because 2,000 years ago, the story tells us, a woman and a man had a baby together and though the man knew perfectly well he was not the child’s father he nonetheless loved him and his wife and raised him to be strong, independent, brave and loving.

Lucky kid, to have Joseph for a dad. Indeed, were Jesus alive today, to have any dad at all to raise him to be a good man.

For those divorced men with children, Christmas is a travesty, a repulsive contradiction of a family holiday, of a loving celebration, of a special children’s time.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'And while women's wages have soared, wages for men have declined.

'Men are not just getting poorer, they're also getting dumber,' he says. And he's right. Beneath the lip gloss of metrosexual modern male, men are in trouble.

Men of all ages are becoming increasingly 'angry, suspicious, reactionary and isolated' because women have treated the men's natural roles without respect.

Who wouldn't become reactionary when all that you knew had been demeaned, taken from you or chipped away?

Who wouldn't feel isolated when society had institutionalised fatherlessness, thus eradicating the most vital and enhancing role any man can play in his life?

Garcia goes so far as to argue that the roles have flipped so much from the way they were, say, 50 years ago - and that men have become so emasculated and feminised - that 'men are the new women'.

Article here. Excerpt:

'There are nearly 6,000 partners in 131 big law firm offices in Washington, the nation’s second-largest law market. Less than 5 percent of the partners are part-timers, but women make up nearly three-quarters of the part-time ranks, according to a new study published by the National Association for Law Placement, a D.C.-based nonprofit group that examines hiring trends in the legal profession.
...
Lawyers make their money on billable hours, which makes it hard to reward with partnership someone who is working part time.'

Merry Christmas from MANN! Have fun, guys, or, try to anyway.

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a survey of a random sample of U.S. emergency physicians, virtually all said they believed that law enforcement officers use excessive force to arrest and detain suspects.

The sample included 315 respondents. While 99.8 percent believed excessive force is used, almost as many (97.8 percent) reported that they had managed cases that they suspected or that the patient stated had involved excessive use of force by law enforcement officers.

Nearly two thirds (65.3 percent) estimated that they had treated two or more cases of suspected excessive use of force per year among their patients, according to a report of the survey published in the January 2009 issue of the Emergency Medicine Journal.
...
Blunt trauma inflicted by fists or feet was the most common type of injury cited in cases of suspected use of excessive force, followed by "overly tight" handcuffs.

Most emergency physicians (71.2 percent) admitted that they did not report cases of suspected use of excessive force by law enforcement officers.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"In college, Pultorak earned the opportunity to learn more about ob/gyn care at a midwifery clinic along the Texas-Mexico border. He was the fist male nurse to attend Maternidad La Luz in El Paso, TX, and was very well accepted.

'They had never let a male go down to Texas,' Pultorak said, 'because they said the attitudes of the women giving birth were not supportive of having a male in on a birth or in on any examinations.'
...
'I know some male nurses are alienated or outcast, but I've never had that problem,' Pultorak said. 'I plan on staying at this hospital for as long as I can because I'm seeing so much and learning so much. I'm also having a great experience with the people I work with and my managers and educators on the floor. It's been more than I could hope for.'"

Story here. Excerpt:

'A Muslim woman who knifed her husband to death 33 days after their wedding to escape from her arranged marriage has been jailed for life by the Old Bailey.
...
Khatun then tried to cover up the murder, repeatedly lying to police and persuading a friend to give her a false alibi for the night of the killing.

When her alibi was exposed she said her husband had attacked her and she struck out in self-defence.

But the jury found her guilty of murder yesterday by a 10-1 majority and she was sentenced to serve a minimum of 17 years.'

Article here. Excerpt:

"...In the 80 years before the Obama administration, only the Kennedys brought a boy into the White House.
...
So why no modern manlings in the east wing? I have a theory, born of careful historical analysis and solipsism: It's impossible to be elected to the White House if you have young sons, because that would mean you have to campaign with them.
...
The Obama campaign was noted for its discipline, its rigor and its self control: three things most young boys are not noted for."

This is another example of boy-bashing. Having girls are described as an "asset" which means having boys is a liability. The author has only good things to say about girls and nothing good to say about boys. She is obviously irritated that past US presidents ever had boys, and somehow more recent presidents not having male children is somehow an improvement.

Video report here. Details are scarce. Can anyone post more info?

Story here. Excerpt:

'INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - A suburban Kansas City woman pleaded guilty Monday to killing a woman whose sexual torture and suffocation were videotaped.

In a deal with prosecutors that allowed her to avoid the death penalty, Dena Riley, 42, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the May 2006 death of Marsha Spicer, who was suffocated during sex at an Independence apartment that Riley shared with her boyfriend.
...
As part of the deal, Riley was sentenced to life without parole for the murder charge and to eight additional life sentences and 239 years in prison for 25 other counts.

Earlier this year, Davis was convicted and sentenced to death for Spicer's slaying. He also is charged in the federal case.'

In 2008, the Violence Against Women Act was thrust into the national political arena. Selected as the vice presidential candidate, Sen. Joe Biden repeatedly highlighted his role in securing passage of the Violence Against Women Act. In addition, Republican nomination candidate Mitt Romney was asked at one campaign stop to state his views on bogus restraining orders.

By year's end, 2008 turned out to be a time of unprecedented success. Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting (RADAR), along with the VAWA Reform Coalition and other persons, notched impressive legislative victories, substantially expanded our media efforts, and broadened the coalition to reform the Violence Against Women Act.

This report is organized into three sections:

1. RADAR
2. VAWA Reform Coalition
3. Others' Activities

...

Please see http://mediaradar.org/alert20081222.php for the rest of the alert.

Via Marc A. Article here. Fred Sottile of Fathers4Justice Los Angeles, who is quoted, is also an officer of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Coalition of Free Men and a recipient of NCFM's Award of Honor for 2008. Nice going, Fred! -- Marc | Excerpt:

'A Task Force created to address alleged widespread problems in the state family courts system is taking flak from the same groups who have been calling for reforms.

As most of you know, we recently won the case of Woods v. Shewry, in which the California court of appeal recently held that excluding men from state-funded domestic violence services violates men's constitutional right to equal protection. Decision here (.pdf file). See also http://www.metnews.com/articles/2008/wood101508.htm

However, in the same case, we lost the part on the exclusion of inmate dads from inmate parenting programs. So we filed a request for California Supreme Court review of that portion of the decision.

There are over 85,000 fathers in prison in California, and they are automatically barred from even applying for the inmate parenting program solely because they're fathers. These programs including residential housing, alternative sentencing, pediatric services, etc. for mothers with kids under 6 years old.

Story here. Excerpt:

'On Tuesday, the council will vote on changing the rules for youth sports so that any girl younger than 12 will have the chance to play in all-boy leagues if she and her parents desire.

"If the girls can compete and they're willing to compete, why not let them?" said Byrd, who said she was not allowed to play on the boys football team at Bassett Middle School.

"I don't think it's enough to just say that we're not going to do it because it's a rule we have," she added. "Let's think about what we're doing and why we are doing it."

City sports officials, though, said they are just following state and federal guidelines for girls sports, and that the rule is meant to encourage more girls to play sports.'