Story here. Excerpt:

'Half a million elderly men lead lonely lives with no friends and no contact from their families, a report warned yesterday.

It found that one person in five with an elderly father is no longer in touch with him. One in four claims to be too busy to maintain contact.

Divorce and family break-up has left millions of men without ties to their children and with few or no family links, said the charity Help the Aged.

Retirement deprives many of the company of work colleagues and others are left alone by bereavement or their own poor health.'

Mark Harris, one of the protesters who sat on the roof of Harriet Harman's house at the weekend, is profiled in this excellent article. He is the guy who was put in jail for waving at his own children in the street. Excerpt:

"No one condones invading private property, but read the moving story of the man on Harriet Harman's roof who spent years fighting for the right to see his daughters ... only to find THEY wanted to live with HIM

On Sunday morning, just hours before he scrambled on to the roof of Harriet Harman's home dressed as a superhero, Mark Harris kissed and hugged his daughter Lisa and set off from the South Devon home they share.

'I told him I was proud of him,' says Lisa, a 21-year-old wages clerk. 'I said that however long he managed to stay up there, I would be cheering him on and sending him my love.'"

Phyllis Schlafly's June 6, 2008 article at WorldNetDaily.com1 comments upon RADAR's recently released analysis2,3 of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence's flyer "10 Myths About Custody and Domestic Violence and How to Counter Them." It states "'10 Myths' denies the big problem that false allegations of domestic violence and child abuse are frequently used ... to win child custody, and ... ignores the problem that family courts regularly deny custody and issue restraining orders against men based on a woman's unsubstantiated say-so and without giving the man fundamental due process rights."

Article here. Excerpt:

'It’s the only way Tory Bowen knows to honestly describe what happened to her.

She was raped.

But a judge prohibited her from uttering the word “rape” in front of a jury. The term “sexual assault” also was taboo, and Bowen could not refer to herself as a victim or use the word “assailant” to describe the man who allegedly raped her.

The defendant’s presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial trumps Bowen’s right of free speech, said the Lincoln, Neb., judge who issued the order.'

More anecdotal evidence of a men's Marriage Strike? Story here. Excerpt:

“... for many women in their 30s - that decade of life in which we hope everything falls into place - being single feels nothing at all like choice. And it frustrates and angers them when it is suggested they are too picky to get a bloke. They say the truth is rather the reverse, and are likely to launch into tales of how the rare single men they meet are quick to bolt for the exit when things get within coo-ee of commitment. ...

There are downsides for a generation that has delayed committed partnering, whose members have remained unhooked - and the major one is the real possibility of ending up alone. … Whether or not you'd say there's a man drought depends ultimately on how you define a drought. But many single women have good reason for believing, as they look to the horizon, that it's not exactly raining men."

Take a look at this, off-linked from their main page today. Read through the decriptions of the various "animal dads" and ask yourself what kind of values were used to come up with this list. This is about as overt an exercise in anthropomorphization as any I have ever seen, valuable less for what it tells us about the natural world but more about what it tells us about how paternity is viewed. For example, in describing #9, the Antechinus, the text reads:

'The antechinus can spend up to 12 hours mating! In fact, this super mouse gets so distracted he forgets to eat, drink and sleep. Between that and the steroids that build up in his blood, he doesn't stand a chance. His mate makes the most of it, filling herself up with sperm until the end of the breeding season. But don't feel too sad about the passing of dear old dad. With him out of the picture, there's more food for those left behind -- plus he likely died a very happy mouse!'

Announcement here. Excerpt:

'8 June 2008

The Rudd Government will develop Australia’s first ever National Men’s Health Policy – in recognition of the fact that men often have poorer health than women, are likely to die earlier, and are at greater risk of suicide.

To mark the start of International Men’s Health Week, Minister for Health Nicola Roxon is launching the paper Setting the scene: developing a men’s health policy for Australia.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'One of Britain's most notorious female killers has been given her first taste of freedom 11 years after she was convicted of her fiance's shocking murder.

Tracie Andrews, given life in 1997 for stabbing her partner to death and then claiming he was the victim of a road rage attack, was allowed out of jail as she prepares for her permanent release.

Handcuffed to a prison guard, the 39-year-old murderess - who has had a string of passionate lesbian affairs behind bars and who now calls herself Tia Carter - enjoyed a day trip in the sunshine wearing smart new clothes and sporting a fashionable shoulder-length hairstyle.

The aim of her outing, say prison sources, is to help Andrews eventually reintegrate back into society and she could free as soon as July 2011

It was in December 1996 that Andrews murdered her fiance Lee Harvey, who bled to death from more than 30 wounds in a remote country lane.'

Story here. Bisexual actress Anne Heche (Ellen DeGeneres' ex-partner) has been ordered to make a one-time payment of $275,000 to her ex-husband, Hollywood cameraman Coleman Laffoon, as well as monthly child support payments of $3,700 for the care of their six-year old son. Laffoon filed for the divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Well, I guess there is a certain satisfaction in seeing a gender reversal in a divorce drama, where the wife was the higher earning partner and she now gets to pay. Still, I have to ask whether this case presents the truly ridiculous notion that it takes $3,700 a month to support a child. It has long been the case that the Family Court system requires no accountability or verification that child support in any way goes directly towards providing for the child’s needs.

$3,700 per month is an annual income of $44,400 – just about what the average American family of four lives on.

Story here. Two Fathers 4 Justice campaigners dressed as comic book heroes scaled the roof of Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman's house today.

The demonstration was intended as an "early Father's Day strike" against the Government over fathers' access to their children, the protesters said.

Another two campaigners are believed to be inside the building.

Story here. A 22-year-old civil engineer has accused his former girlfriend, Lucy Tate, who was made a JP at 19, of bombarding him with hundreds of phone calls and texts after he ended their relationship. (JP: 'Justice of the Peace', the lowest level of judge in the UK).

He also said she abused his new girlfriend, stalked him and hacked into his Friends Reunited entry and announced she had given birth to his baby. Excerpt:

"Police have been accused of an 'Orwellian' attempt to silence the man.

In what was viewed by politicians last night as an attack on the freedom of speech, detectives made him sign a statement promising not talk to the Press about the case - after details appeared in The Mail on Sunday.

Story here. Excerpt:

"A girl strapped with explosives approaches an Iraqi army captain, who dies in the suicide blast. A woman posing as a mother-to-be to disguise a bulging bomb belt strikes a wedding procession as part of a coordinated attack that kills nearly three dozen people.

The attacks last month were among the latest blows by female suicide bombers — and further evidence of shifting insurgent tactics amid an overall drop in bloodshed around Iraq.

U.S. military figures show the number of female suicide attacks has risen from eight in 2007 to at least 16 so far this year — not including a suicide bombing Friday near Ramadi that Iraqi police believe was carried out by a woman. That compares with a total of four in 2005 and 2006, according to the military."

Story here. Excerpt:

"A teacher who punished a student by putting him in a storage room without supervision has been fired by the Palm Beach County School Board.

Palm Beach Central High School teacher Rutha Scott lost her job Wednesday after an investigation found she placed a student in a closet for misbehaving, the second time the teacher had been accused of sending unruly students to a closet and the sixth time she had been accused of misconduct.

Scott sent the student to a classroom storage closet for as long as 15 minutes after she was interrupted during roll call in February. The student said the lights were off in the closet, which measured 16 feet by 6 feet."

Story here. Excerpt:

"A former all-women's college did not break a contract with female students when it decided to enroll men, a divided Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday.

In a 5-2 decision, the court rejected a claim by nine female students at Randolph College — formerly Randolph-Macon Woman's College — that promotional materials and other publications promised them four years at an all-female institution.

Chief Justice Leroy R. Hassell Sr. wrote in the majority opinion that the court could find nothing in marketing materials promising the school would stay single-sex."

Rebecca Walker is the founder of the Third Wave Foundation, a feminist group that works nationally to support young women and transgender activists. So I found it hard to believe she wrote this for an article at CNN:

'But with a Democratic house divided, now is the time for healing, and this can only happen if Hillary's staunch female supporters let go of the reverse-sexist ideology that women are inherently better, wiser, and more compassionate leaders.

They will have to acknowledge that sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man -- if it's the right man.

It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility.'

If "third wave" feminism emphasizes this kind of logic, halleluiah!