Story here. Excerpt:

'When California police discovered an abused girl covered with scars nearly six years ago, they had no idea that the woman allegedly responsible for inflicting the torture was her mother — the friendly cashier they'd encountered at their local fast-food restaurant.

Greisy Valencia, a smiling Colombian immigrant who greeted law enforcement for years at fast-food drive-thrus in Hayward, Calif., hid a horrible secret, police said.
...
The children have been permanently placed in a home and are doing well, investigators said, but the trail to their mother, who is wanted on charges of torture, has run cold. Officials believe she may have fled the country.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'HOUSTON — A woman accused of kidnapping five children says she did so because their biological mother had threatened her life but now says she plans to surrender to police.

The Houston Chronicle reports 44-year-old Rhonda Tavey says she'll surrender today but no additional details were provided about the possible surrender.

Tavey and the children's mother Erica Alphonse tell different versions of events that led to police issuing an Amber Alert for the Houston children.

Tavey, who is white, said all she ever wanted was to do God's will and that she also took the children, who are black, for their own safety.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Authorities launched a manhunt and issued an amber alert Wednesday for a pregnant woman who allegedly kidnapped her six children from her estranged husband's San Leandro, Calif., home and stole his van during a supervised visit.

The search is on for Enja Moore, 33, who is homeless and living in the Hayward, Calif., area, according to Alameda County Sheriffs Sgt. J.D. Nelson.

Just before midnight during a supervised visit, the father found that his estranged wife, six kids and van were all missing, Nelson told FOX News. He'd been in another part of the house when the children and his wife disappeared.'

MANN admins have been contacted by the producer of a widely-syndicated talk show asking for a possible interview candidate for their show *tomorrow*. This is very short notice indeed, but if you live in the New York City area or can get there by tomorrow and would like the chance to be interviewed on this topic, send an email note to MANN admins at admin-at-mensactivism.org, but you have to act fast!

Story here. Excerpt:

'Manji Yamada was born last month after eggs from an Indian donor were fertilised using the Japanese man's sperm and implanted in the womb of the surrogate Indian mother.

Her biological father split from his wife after the fertilisation process, and his former spouse no longer wants the baby.

In the absence of a surrogacy law in India, the child -- who is an Indian citizen -- will have to be adopted by her Japanese father Ikufumi Yamada, 45.

But Indian law does not allow the adoption of a girl by a single father, lawyers and doctors said.

"There is a legal complication as the father is alone and Indian adoption law says a single male can't adopt a girl," Sanjay Arya, the doctor who is looking after the baby, told AFP by phone from western Jaipur city.'

Anyone from India, do you know if single women are allowed to adopt children, in particular boys?

Video report here. Caption: "I was robbed up here of my right. My dignity was taken. My dignity. How would you feel if it happened to you?"

Her honor allegedly had her bailiff rub her feet, make her meals and spy on other court employees.

Video report here. Caption: "What the (bleep) are you doing in my apartment?"

Should there be an IQ test before people reproduce? I am beginning to wonder.

Story here. Excerpt:

"The supermum who holds down a demanding career while running the family home is falling out of favour, a high-powered academic report said yesterday.
...
Currently, most of the 2.9million children who live below the Government's poverty line come from two-parent families in which only the father works.

At the same time, Labour's flagship tax credits favour single parents over two-parent families in which the mother stays at home.

Professor Jacqueline Scott compared studies of attitudes to working mothers over the past 25 years and found that disillusionment has been escalating since the mid-1990s.'

Here's a real tragic story. Man, this is just stupidity compounded by negligence compounded with nothing short of evil. Excerpt:

"Katelynn Sampson, 7, looked as though she might have been abused for some time, police said Tuesday.
...
Ryan said when emergency workers found Katelynn's body in an apartment in the west-end neighbourhood of Parkdale, there was evidence the Grade 3 student had been sleeping on the floor and had been subject to poor living conditions that he did not want to discuss.
...
Katelynn's legal guardian, 29-year-old Donna Irving, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the girl's slaying. Ryan confirmed that Irving has been charged and convicted of violent crimes in the past.
...
According to Ryan, Irving was granted sole custody of Katelynn in January, although she has had contact with the girl since May 2007.
...
Child services agencies are investigating whether they played any role in placing Katelynn in Irving's care, Ryan said."

Story here. Excerpt:

'Dr. Scott Haltzman, author of "The Secrets of Happily Married Women," says stay-at-home wives constitute a growing niche. "In the past few years, many women who are well educated and trained for career tracks have decided instead to stay at home," he says. While his research is ongoing, he estimates that more than 10 percent of the 650 women he's interviewed who choose to stay home are childless.
...
Davis says her life isn't luxurious. "Tuesdays are my laundry day," she says. "I go grocery shopping on Wednesdays and clean house on Thursdays." Mondays and Fridays are reserved for appointments and other errands.

But her schedule also allows for charity work and leisure: reading, creative writing and exploring new hobbies, like sewing.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK - Doctors should stop routine prostate cancer screening of men over age 75 because there is more evidence of harm than benefit, a federal task force advised on a hotly debated topic.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which made the recommendation Monday, reported finding evidence that the benefits of treatment based on routine screening of this age group "are small to none." However, treatment often causes "moderate-to-substantial harms," including erectile dysfunction and bladder control and bowel problems, the task force said.'

Two weeks ago, we asked you to e-mail the president of the ABA to tell him (as nicely as possible) to get his facts straight. This week, we are asking you to do the same thing with the ABA Section of Family Law.

We said, two weeks ago:

On June 2, 2008, RADAR released two special reports, Myths of ABA Commission on Domestic Violence[1,2] that analyzed the 19 statements made in the flyer put out by the American Bar Association (ABA) Commission on Domestic Violence, "10 Myths about Custody and Domestic Violence and How to Counter Them."

Among the flyer's 19 claims, 11 were found to be false, three misleading, and three unsupported by existing research. Only two claims were found to be correct. And some errors are egregious.

For example, the flyer states that "False allegations are no more common in divorce or custody disputes than at any time." But this claim, which flies in the face of common sense, is debunked by research showing that false allegations increase four-fold during custody and access disputes.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A trainee GP has told of his "year of hell" after an allegation of rape made against him by a patient was thrown out.

Dr Steven Ashenford said he had "lost everything", including his marriage and home, after the false claim.

He has been suspended by the GMC and said the ordeal had put him off working as a doctor forever. He said he was desperate now to "just get my life back on track".

Dr Ashenford, 33, was working at the Sutton Hill medical practice in Telford, Shrops, when he was arrested last October after the female patient made the allegation.

He said: "The police were in the house searching it. My belongings were taken away, my computer and my diary. I felt really violated."'

Note: His accuser remains anonymous, and has faced no punishment.

March discussed here. Excerpt:

'To raise awareness for the City of Hope cancer center’s The Underwear Affair 10K Run/ 5K Walk, presenting sponsor Jockey recently activated with a promo event in Los Angeles.

The brand last month donated underwear to hang on a clothesline spanning three blocks along the Third Street Promenade in L.A. Passersby could take a pair of underwear ornamented with a branded tag informing them about the race.

“The whole idea behind The Underwear Affair is to raise funds and awareness of cancers below the waste,” Mo Moorman, director-public relations at Jockey International told Buzz. “So it was a good fit for Jockey since we have a certain specialty in that regard. For us it’s brand awareness and brand relevance.”'

Also see: http://www.uncoverthecure.org/

The Atlanta March passed right by our roommate's place of work.

Gunner Retired

I recently submitted an article speculating about this custody case, now its official. Excerpt:

'MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Mary Winkler, the woman convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 2006 shooting death of her minister husband, has taken custody of her three daughters, one of her lawyers said Monday.

Rachael Putnam, a custody attorney, said the former minister's wife picked the girls up Friday from the slain man's parents, Dan and Diane Winkler.
...
The grandparents had tried to stop the supervised visits with Winkler, but the state's Court of Appeals upheld the order by a county judge. The Tennessee Supreme Court also rejected the grandparents' appeal.

Winkler was tried for murder after her husband was found slain by shotgun blast to the back, but a jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter after she testified about suffering from years of physical and emotional abuse by her husband.'