Why bother reading fiction when you have the news? It's just sad. So, it's come to this. Excerpt:

'A Japanese firm has produced a 15-inch tall robotic girlfriend that kisses on command, to go on sale in September for around $175, with a target market of lonely adult men.

Using her infrared sensors and battery power, the diminutive damsel named "EMA" puckers up for nearby human heads, entering what designers call its "love mode."'

This is only the beginning, a test-marketing of sorts, as if they needed to do one. In a few decades, assuming the world doesn't implode on itself, a life-sized "fully-functional, 99% passable" android will be available. Think I'm kidding? Look how far electronics and robotics have already come in just 10 years!

Can relations between the sexes generally get any worse? Robotic replacements for one another is about as bad I think it can get short of gunfights in the streets.

Story here. Excerpt:

"The first British woman was killed in action in Afghanistan in a blast that also claimed the lives of three other soldiers.
...
Three of the soldiers were killed in the blast, while the fourth was pronounced dead on arrival at Camp Bastion, the Ministry of Defence said.

It is understood that the woman was serving with the Army's Intelligence Corps."

---

Ed. note: Note that her gender makes her death headline news. Meanwhile, thousands of men from allied countries have been killed and at best, they get numbered.

Soldiers are soldiers, casualties all tragic. A person's sex should not matter a whit how the press treats them. Either the press needs to treat all casualties as numbers or as actual people with lives lost (I prefer that second approach), but not either-or based on the dead person's sex.

Story here. Excerpt:

"A 15-year-old girl was set on fire using white spirit in a street ambush by a love rival who was jealous over a kiss.

Schoolfriends have said she turned up to a meet a friend when her attacker allegedly leapt from the bushes and doused her in the highly flammable liquid hidden in a Coca-Cola bottle.

Police say that as she flicked a lighter, the attacker said: 'You won't look pretty anymore.'"

Story here. Excerpt:

"Kelly Forbes collapsed and let out a guttural wail as the jury foreman read the verdict yesterday in Nassau County Court: guilty of manslaughter in the first degree.

Jurors deliberated for just two hours before reaching their verdict, rejecting Forbes' claims that she was defending herself when she strangled her new husband, Michael, with an electrical cord last November.

In a courtroom divided between the bride's family on one side and the groom's family on the other, a jolting shout of "Yes" came from one of Michael Forbes' supporters. As court officers quieted the man, Kelly Forbes' parents sat stone-faced, then bolted from the courthouse immediately after the verdict.

Forbes, 29, faces a maximum 25 years in prison when Judge Jerald Carter sentences her July 18."

Article here. Excerpt:

"So how was Father's Day for you? Did you get a new tie and a Sinatra record? Oh, you got a game for your Wii and the new Death Cab for Cutie? Cool. Pretty great to be treated like a king after a long week at the office, right? What, your wife's got the full-time job? No, it's your partner, Fred, who does? Still, family's first and it's a great day for . . . Your ex got full custody and you spent the day pretending it was any other Sunday? Sorry to bring up a sore subject. So remind me again: What exactly was it we were celebrating a couple of days ago?

Submitted by "C D" over email: "This study looks very bogus, particularly the 63% face sexual harassment claim. How was sexual harassment defined? How were questions worded? Did participants know what the study was about and its intended consequences before being questioned? Were males asked about sexual harassment using the same definition (for a control group)?"

Check out the comments!

vol·un·teer1 (noun): "a person who performs a service willingly and without pay"

Here's a riddle: When do volunteers get paid $55 million dollars?

Answer: When the "volunteers" are lawyers paid by Congress with your money.

Under the guise of combating domestic violence, House bill HR 6088, the misleadingly-named "National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network Act" would funnel your tax dollars to lawyers. It would be bad enough if the intent of this bill were merely Congressional pork for lawyers. But the intent of this bill is to place Congress' thumb firmly on the scales of justice to guarantee the conviction of the innocent along with the guilty.

Part of Glenn Sacks' most recent newsletter, the issue is detailed here. Glenn's newsletters always have great stuff, but some things stand out as important to underscore because of their value as resources for reference. This is one of them. Excerpt:

"I recently discussed the way that the research showing that women are just as complicit in family violence as men has been suppressed and obscured in this blog post. In the blog posts below, researcher after researcher details the impediments they faced in conducting and/or publicizing scientifically sound and honest research on women's family violence..."

Tragic indeed, and on Father's Day. This is the state of things here in the west. Excerpt:

"A father found gassed with his two children had been in despair over a bitter divorce battle.

Security guard Brian Philcox, 53, had lost his job and feared he would have to hand over his house to his estranged wife Evelyn, 37.
...
The pressure group Fathers 4 Justice confirmed that he had been in touch last week telling of his desperation. He had also told neighbours that the divorce had left him at the end of his tether and would leave him penniless.

He told one friend: 'I've lost my wife, I've lost my kids and I've lost my job. Now I'm going to lose my house. But I'd rather burn it down than see that bitch get it.'
...
Matt O'Connor, founder of Fathers 4 Justice, said: 'From time to time we get calls from people in an extremely agitated state. He called last week and was in some distress.

Article here. A new perspective on the pay gap. Excerpt:

"When Bill and I got married his relaxed attitude to money amused me. He's a teacher and enjoys his job. I work in medical sales: more stressful, but it pays well. I have, however, become secretly, overwhelmingly, envious of my friends, who can rely on their husbands as the breadwinners.
...
I feel resentful, especially as it's the men who bring in the money; and even if Bill were a head teacher, he wouldn't come close... Feminism's fine, but there's a lot to be said for having your bills paid."

---

Ed. note: An off-link to this story should come as no surprise. But note the blame for the separation is shifted now to the man.

Story here. Excerpt:

"A lawyer in line for a record £19 million payout over claims that a sexist bullying campaign ended her career was yesterday described as a liar.

Gillian Switalski, 51, said harassment and sexual discrimination at a finance company had left her 'mentally disabled' and effectively unable to work.
...
Monica Carss-Frisk QC, for F&C, told an employment tribunal: 'The new evidence shows that she simply did not tell the truth, and was a very plausible liar.'

The tribunal had been told at an earlier hearing that Mrs Switalski's treatment at the City firm had left the self-confessed workaholic suffering from depression and unable to concentrate enough to even read a newspaper.

But yesterday's hearing was told she had applied for three jobs, including a demanding role on the organising committee of the 2012 London Olympic Games, while on sick leave.

Story here. Excerpt:

"Sian Simpson, 17, was found dying in the street surrounded by a crowd of girls shouting at each other after a knife had been used 'all too depressingly' to settle a row, the court heard.

The A-level student collapsed after being stabbed in the chest by 18-year-old Chelsea Bennett, jurors were told.
...
...her death by stabbing was the culmination of an afternoon and evening of an escalating fight between two groups of young females."

We all know about this, but I thought it may be interesting.

Here is footage from the Sacramento rally of the National Fatherless Day. There were also rallies planned in the capitols of all 50 states. This one was from the California capitol.

The video may appear grainy at first (it was captured via a cell phone). To improve the viewing quality, in the lower right corner of the video, click on the "Google Video" button. Select "Original Size" and it will no longer be grainy.

Fred Hayward
Men's Rights Inc.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1447184631954907767&hl=en

Donald Tenn
Fathers 4 Justice
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2873327521476125063&hl=en

Larry Kerkman
Children's Rights Initiative for Sharing Parents Equally (CRISPE)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4775576415756315926&hl=en

Story here. Excerpt:

'An all-female Buffalo law firm is getting a mix of cheers and boos for a series of ads that tout its woman power. “Ever Argue with a Woman?” reads the headline of one of the ads for Schroder Joseph & Associates LLP.
...
A Buffalo attorney who served on the New York State Bar Association’s task force to establish lawyer ad guidelines that went into effect in 2007 said he’s “a little uncomfortable” with the tone of the Schroder Joseph ads.
...
A State Bar spokesman said the Buffalo law firm’s ad have not resulted in any formal action against the firm tied to its year-old advertising guidelines. Those rules were put in place to govern misleading and inappropriate attorney ads, with particular focus on embellished testimonials, silly nicknames and inaccurate fee information.

Schroder Joseph employs four female attorneys and an all-woman support staff at its Ellicott Street offices.'