Story here. This is why I don't bother reading fiction anymore. The actual news fulfills the role nicely, only it isn't fiction. The horror stories are actually real. Excerpt:

'A honeymoon turned into a child-support nightmare recently for one couple.

After returning from their three-day honeymoon cruise in the Bahamas in May, newlywed Joel Coursen was taken from his bride, Amy, in Cocoa, Fla., and arrested for nonsupport on a Buchanan County warrant.

The couple had remarried after being divorced for less than a year. Mr. Coursen said he fell behind on payments because of a discrepancy in the date of the court order. But he said that he got caught up enough to be eligible for a passport and had no knowledge there was any warrant for his arrest.

“It was never anywhere close to $5,000. After I was arrested, they just said it was for felony nonsupport,” Mr. Coursen said. “To my knowledge, I didn’t know there was a warrant issued. It was a big surprise.”'

Samantha Brett of the Sydney Morning Herald ponders whether George Clooney was right to dump his jabbering girlfriend, because research shows that women really do talk too much.

A few excerpts:

* "You talk too much!" is apparently the reason bachelor of the moment George Clooney gave the world for dumping his waitress-turned-model girlfriend Sarah Larson. … If only we could keep our chit-chat under stricter control, perhaps the men wouldn't be scared away ..."

* “Scientists have often proved what we've long suspected - that women talk a whopping amount more than men chalking up 20,000 words a day while men utter just 7000.”

* “When women talk, a rush of serotonin fills our brains, giving us emotions akin to what a heroin addict would feel on a high. (No wonder we like to do it so much!) And yet,when we do talk at the end of our day, it's not to find solutions but it's to discharge the problems. Hence making no sense to the men whatsoever.”

---

From Tom in London: "I am sure you are aware of the trumped up hysteria around 40,000 'sex trafficked' into Germany for the 2006 World Cup, whilst EU papers showed only 5 alleged cases of sex-trafficking in the event. For a reminder, see http://www.glennsacks.com/blog/?cat=57.

Well, despite this reality check, BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour continues to perpetuate the myths, with an 8 minute discussion (between three sex-trafficking myth peddlers, with no serious challenge to their waffle) - available here.

If you don't listen to Woman's Hour already, it is well worth downloading the necessary media player, as their shows are split into segments and archived on their website, going back 3 years.

I have called the BBC's complaints line, to have them write a letter to me explaining why they chose to put on three sex-slavery myth deniers, and I recommend MANN readers should do the same.

Thanks!

Tom, London.

Via Marc A. Article here. Excerpt:

'Some people will miss the daily blow-by-blow between Hillary Clinton and Obama. Some will miss the hopefulness of Hillary’s charge to be the first female president. And, still others will miss the shock value of the extent to which Hillary was willing to go to win.

However, there are a few things that I won’t miss about the primary campaign.
...
I won’t miss Hillary playing the gender card, even shedding crocodile tears over her alleged mistreatment. I wonder where those tears were when her husband’s cheating was played out on the world stage.

I won’t miss Clinton playing the “white woman in distress card,” with those same tears and hints of being attacked by a Black man.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A woman who took out a home-improvement loan to pay for a hitman to kill her husband was jailed for seven years today — but has already been forgiven by her partner.

Zoe Kenealy, 44, asked her lover, who lived next door, to hire the killer so that she could claim the life insurance money. But today her husband, Timothy, said he forgave her and would resume their relationship when she is released.'

And get this - she is a 'care worker'.

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.