ABC Blog entry here.

If Obama is so concerned with the state of father participation, why doesn't he help men gain some equality during child custody hearings? Why doesn't he mention paternity fraud? He also failed to mention that many women today choose to have children out of wedlock. Many of those same women might decide they don't want the father around. Why not ask Barak if he plans to reauthorize the anti-male VAWA in 2009.

"Obama told reporters aboard his plane to San Diego that Americans need to recognize that there is a problem when more than a half of African American children are growing up without a father in the house.

“That is a problem and I won’t back up one bit in asserting that that’s a problem that we have to be honest about," he said.

Obama's tough love message to African American fathers came most notably in a Fathers Day speech last month in which he told fathers that “any ol' fool” could conceive a child –- but it takes a man to be father."

A Vonage TV advertisement, now blanketing the air waves, is annoying because it is gender biased. In the ad, "The Telephone Company" portrayed by a male is gradually pushed off the screen by Vonage, portrayed by a woman, each time a point is made in favor of Vonage. In this ad, the male is made to look stupid and weak compared to the woman and the company he represents as inferior. Imagine if the roles were reversed on this spot and the woman were pushed off the screen because she was inadequate, inferior, or second-rate. There would be all kinds of outcry from women's groups. I am appalled by this kind of male abuse in TV advertising. The TV is loaded with commercials in which men are portrayed as being stupid, weak, and inadequate. What can I do to stop this?

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As a mother of two young boys, photographer and author Nancy Bruno is spearheading a movement to address the need for positive male role models in today’s society. Bruno has launched The Genuine Men Project to celebrate everyday men who define what it means to be a person of character, strength and authenticity. The project includes a photography exhibition and book, Genuine Men: Journeys in Stories and Stills (Bridgeway Books, May 2008) which feature candid black-and-white photographs and lifedefining stories of 35 men from the community. “Men today continue to be judged by their jobs, bank accounts, cars, homes and outward appearance,” says Bruno, who holds bachelor’s degrees in historical sociology and literature/rhetoric. “Powerful role models should not be defined by material gain and physical perfection but by the way the face and live through their life experiences

The Genuine Men Project captures the essence of what it means to be a man worth emulating.

At least one judge has some cajones. Read it here. The contention was that the woman's supervisor who had her get him coffee regularly was engaging in sexually discriminatory behavior. The judge ruled that such requests may be annoying but are not inherently sexually discriminatory. Good for him.

Literally, a federal case was made out of this. How much do you suppose this case cost to bring?

But I have heard tell of female executives who hire male secretaries specifically because they get a kick out of sending the fellow off on coffee runs and so on. Wonder why no one ever seems to make much ado about that? Excerpt:

'Nine minutes after receptionist Tamara Klopfenstein complained - for the second time - about getting her bosses coffee, she was fired.

"I don't expect to serve and wait on you by making and serving you coffee every day," Klopfenstein e-mailed to her boss at National Sales & Supply L.L.C., of Bensalem.

Dove has a series of TV ads intended to improve the self esteem of girls and women.

While they may have a point about unrealistic body image expectations for girls and women, they seem to imply that boys and men have no such similar issues.

Does that seem right to you?

What about the unrealistic and often unattainable body image expectations for boys and men? The image of being muscular (as in men's bodybuilder magazines) or handsome (as in magazines like GQ). The pressure to turn to illegal and dangerous methods of attaining a muscular body (i.e. steroids). Or the complete opposite of this (i.e. what not to look like) as shown all too often in commercials and sitcoms portraying men as obese slobs, or otherwise unattractive.

Think about it.

Article here. Excerpt:

"Sexual abuse involving older women and teen boys is an underreported crime, one that experts say has been largely ignored by the public, legal system and academic researchers for reasons including sexual double standards and evidence suggesting teen boys often are willing participants.
...
Prosecutions of women for sex abuse have risen nationwide in the past several years, law enforcement experts say. Locally, last week two women from Bucks County were charged with sexual crimes involving teenage boys.
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The report also found among children ages 7 to 11 and 15 to 17, boy victims outnumbered girls. On average, female molesters were nine years older than their male victims, compared with a six-year age gap between male offenders and teen girl victims.

Other research agencies like Child Trends in Washington, D.C., are starting to collect data that also suggest sexual relationships between teen boys and older women are more common than many believe."

Gender-baiting and pandering know no political parties, it seems, when it comes to the all-important, all-powerful voting bloc known as "WOMEN". Wonder when we'll see a national political candidate or office-holder speak about the importance of addressing men's issues? Story here. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

'A divorcee has been found guilty of plotting to murder her multi-millionaire partner after she hired an "assassin" on a website called www.Hitman.us.com

Sharon Collins, 45, a divorced mother-of-two, is said to have hatched a conspiracy with a man from the site, an Egyptian poker player who called himself Tony Luciano, to murder PJ Howard, a property tycoon worth £10 million and his two sons.
...
Yesterday Collins was found guilty of conspiring to hire a hitman at Dublin central Criminal Court and Eid of demanding money.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"She gambled and she won. Taking this divorce into a public courtroom was a risk for Christie Brinkley, but at the end of the day she got everything she wanted - and then some.

Kids? Check. Property? Check. Revenge? Oh, check, check and check.

So Brinkley ended up shelling out $2.1 million to her dirtbag of an ex. It's a small price to pay for serenity.
...
Nope, next stop on the Peter Cook train is a sad and lonely middle age in the valley of fallen men. He can rub elbows with Eliot Spitzer there."

Story here. You don't need the victim's statement and cooperation to pursue legal action against the adult. Overzealous DAs have been pursuing cases against men EVEN when the female recants her story or says "she was in love". If the victim is under-age that's all that counts.

The sheriff's office, Dpt. of Social Services, media and DA's office have been caught with their pants down. The man claims any "any boy who had an older woman coming up to him would have done the exact same thing." Girls desire the attention of older men also. They charged her w/ rape 2 yrs after the fact. She EVEN gave the young boy ALCOHOL.

This is OUTLANDISH. I want to hear what the court case will reveal later this month.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Not only did Aido announce a telephone hotline to help men adapt to a "new model of masculinity" and wife batterers to "channel their aggressivity" before resorting to violence.

She went as far as tackling the structures of the Spanish language, proposing that the masculine-gendered word "miembro" (member) be given a feminine equivalent, "miembra."
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"All the fields are adequate for waging the battle in favour of equality," said Zapatero, who wants his Socialist government to play a ground-breaking role in promoting women's rights worldwide.
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A "telephone for men" initially planned for wife batterers will also help other men "solve their doubts, because many of them feel lost" as the "patriarchal system" begins to crumble, Aido explained."'

Story here. Excerpt:

"A former prosecutor was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison for having sex with boys, after her 16-year-old daughter told the judge she and her mother had competed for the same 15-year-old boy.

Beth Modica, 44, wept as her daughter Danielle told the judge she banged on the bathroom door at the family home in Sloatsburg one day last year as her mother and her boyfriend engaged in oral sex.
...
Modica told her children to lie to their father — the Spring Valley police chief — about the marijuana and alcohol she gave to them and their friends, Danielle Modica said. She urged Rockland County Judge Catherine Bartlett to send her mother to state prison."

Story here, actual report here (.pdf file).

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Ed note: The report reiterates the oft-debunked 77-cents-on-the-dollar myth.

Two-click activism: fix VAWA now link here.

I got this heads-up from RADAR. It seems this link was sent out in an emailing from RightMarch.com and that it reaches upwards of 800,000 people. Go to town!

Article here. I'm just so sick of this bull. It's just plain everywhere. Excerpt:

'Johnson is one of 28 female convicts working the front lines of the nine-day-old wildfire roaring through Los Padres National Forest in Southern California's Santa Barbara County.
...
Wildfire-plagued states such as California and Arizona have long tapped minimum-security prisoners as firefighting labor during the intense summer fire season. Arizona also has a female inmate crew.

It's work that more than a few men would shy from.
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"Women are more supportive of each other, sort of a buddy system," Alexander said.

"They're more appreciative of small things. They like shampoo, lotion, soap. They were ecstatic the other day because their clothes came back from the laundry with the smell of Downy. Do you think men would notice that?"'

Well, a man who doesn't get clean clothes too often I am sure appreciates the smell of freshly-laundered duds. Maybe the author doesn't know because she never bothered asking him?