Story here. Excerpt:

'Feminist critic Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers sparked a lively discussion about the effects of gender feminism on young men Thursday night in Baxter 101.

Dr. Sommers’ lecture was based on her 2000 book, The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism is Harming our Young Men, in which she utilizes extensive social data to challenge the notion of the shortchanged female and the emotionally repressed male. Her talk Thursday focused primarily on what Sommers described as the hypocrisy and false information perpetuated by some gender feminists.

Story here. Excerpt:

"Police and staff at the Nevis Range ski resort had been on high alert after plans for a protest on Aonach Mor by the Fathers 4 Justice group were leaked to the LN last week, but protesters failed to show up as the Lochaber News went to press yesterday (Wednesday).

A document outlined plans for the stunt which sought to disrupt the gondola system at Nevis Range, with protesters encouraged to conform to a St George and English flag dress code.

The memo alluded to one group member's intention to attempt to paint a flag of St George on the side of Aonach Mor.

The protest appeared to be linked to the English local elections. Founder of Fathers 4 Justice, Matt O'Connor is a candidate in the London Mayoral election, while another leading member of the group is seeking election to the London Assembly."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Whenever the term "single parent" comes to mind many of us automatically assume it means a household run by a woman, a mother. And yes, in Israel – as in many countries around the world, the person heading the single-parent-household is, in many cases, a woman, but many of them are headed by fathers.
...
When mothers petition to have their children removed from their fathers' custody on grounds of violent behavior, mental defect or just an overall negative attitude, we all feel for them; and most of us would like to see the courts remove the untoward father from the presence of his vulnerable children.

But when the shoe is on the other foot – when it is the father who claims the mother is abusive, indifferent or mentally impaired, and wants the court to give him sole custody of his children, then what? He is put through the proverbial ringer and is usually forced to hire a roomful of lawyers to prove his case, and worse – he has to prove that does not prove him to be an unfit father.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"Ranchi, April 20 (IANS) A woman in Jharkhand killed her husband with an axe after he complained about the stale dinner, police said Sunday. According to the police, Chamni and her husband, Buran Munda, residents of Harbul village located around 25 km from Ranchi, together drank `hadia’ (local liquor) Friday night.

She served dinner to her husband, who complained that the food was stale. Irked, Chamni picked up an axe and hacked her husband to death. Her four children witnessed the crime."

Story here. Excerpt:

"A Greenwood County woman is facing up to five years in prison after she admitted filing a false police report claiming that she had been raped.

Deputies said that at about 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Regina Murray Medlock drove to the rear of the sheriff's department and told a deputy that she had been raped. The deputy said Medlock told him that while she was stopped at a red light, a man climbed into her car, held her at gunpoint, and forced her to drive to the area of a train yard. She said she was forced to undress and was raped three times on the ground outside the car.
...
Both the Greenwood Police Department and the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office charged Medlock with filing a false police report.

In addition to jail time, Medford could be fined up to $1,000 if convicted."

Story here. Excerpt:

'Senate Republicans killed legislation Wednesday aimed at removing limits on how long workers can wait before suing their employers for pay discrimination.

Democrats, speaking to key constituencies of women, minorities and swing voters this election year, said they weren't finished trying to pass the bill.

"Women of America: Put your lipstick on, square your shoulders, suit up" and get ready to fight, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said moments after the bill's opponents denied supporters the 60 votes needed to proceed to full debate and a vote on passage. "The revolution starts tonight."
...
Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama swung through Washington to speak from short, prepared statements in favor of the legislation. It was the first time in months that both candidates spoke on the Senate floor, an indication of the bill's importance to voters the two are fighting for in their ongoing battle for their party's nomination.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Erin Toughill, a new star for "American Gladiators," allegedly beat husband Clark Bevans on their honeymoon. Always a bad sign.

Bevans, who filed a restraining order against Toughill last week, claims Toughill went "insane" with jealously, and accused him of being "a pedophile, sociopath and homosexual." Aside from allegedly beating him on several occasions, Bevans claims Toughill smashed the windshield of his RV. He also says Toughill "bodychecked, hockey style" a trainer at Gold's Gym he had dated years before.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"The first evidence that women can influence the sex of their child by what they eat before they become pregnant is published today.

The study, which links higher energy intake around conception to the birth of sons, provides the first explanation of why the number of boy babies is in decline in the west, suggesting it is the result of women consuming low fat foods and skipping breakfast, among other things.

...Dr Mathews says this could explain why over the last 40 years there has been a small but consistent decline, of about one per 1000 births annually, in the proportion of boys being born in industrialised countries, including the UK, the US and Canada.

..."This research may help to explain why in developed countries, where many young women choose to have low calorie diets, the proportion of boys born is falling," says Dr Mathews, adding that there is also a link between higher national incomes and fewer boys."

Remember this case? She was convicted for murdering her husband, a Marine, with arsenic. Well, they've let her out of jail after the D.A. retroactively dismissed the charges against her, thereby vacating the conviction. Story here. Excerpt:

'Sommer, 34, was first accused of poisoning her Marine husband, Sgt. Todd Sommer, with arsenic in order to cash in on his $250,000 life insurance policy.
...
After jurors heard the scientific evidence and stories about her frolicking with her husband’s Marine buddies on the night of his funeral, Sommer was convicted of first-degree murder last year and sentenced to life in prison.

But last Thursday, after Sommer had served 876 days, San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis unexpectedly moved to dismiss the murder charges.

Over the past three weeks, a notable public faceoff occurred in the Washington Post.

An editorial (1) by David Levy, Executive Director of the Children's Rights Council, commenting on a recent tragic incident in Maryland, pointed out that child custody battles can incite domestic violence by driving parents "nuts."

The following week the Post ran an opposing editorial (2) by Joan S. Meier, faculty member at George Washington University Law School. The op-ed contains numerous one-sided statements and fabrications about child abuse. She repeatedly uses the phrase "dangerous fathers" and "violent and abusive fathers," without ever mentioning the problem of "violent and abusive mothers."

According to the US Administration for Children and Families:

Story here. And I thought we'd never see an interview with any of the adult male suspects in this case, much less one that doesn't immediately call for their executions. It does fall short of the highly sympathetic tone interviewers are giving "the mothers" in this whole thing. And predictably, the interview quickly turns to the subject of sex. Excerpt:

'Rodriguez conducted the interview Sunday night with three men whose children were among more than 400 removed by authorities from the sect's compound in a raid earlier this month.

It was the first time since the raid that any male members of the sect spoke with a member of the media.

In the wide-ranging interview, Rodriguez asked, “After all this, can you see why society looks upon you and says, ‘A girl who's younger than 18 shouldn't be married and having sex?’ Has this forced you to reconsider?”'

Story here. Excerpt:

"The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn't doing enough to prevent suicide and provide adequate medical care for Americans who have served in the armed forces, a class-action lawsuit that goes to trial this week charges.

The lawsuit, filed in July by two nonprofit groups representing military veterans, accuses the agency of inadequately addressing a "rising tide" of mental health problems, especially post-traumatic stress disorder.

But government lawyers say the VA has been devoting more resources to mental health and making suicide prevention a top priority. They also argue that the courts don't have the authority to tell the department how it should operate.
...
An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day, and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide, according to a December e-mail between top VA officials that was filed as part of the federal lawsuit.

"That failure to provide care is manifesting itself in an epidemic of suicides," the veterans groups wrote in court papers filed Thursday."

Chores for two: Why men don't pitch in. From the article:

"The fact that guys, when left to their own devices, rarely rush to offer more toilet-scrubbing and diaper-changing is not in itself surprising. As Martin Luther King Jr. once observed, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
...
"Yes, dear readers, it’s true: Maintaining some semblance of parity in your marriage requires you to deploy the same kinds of nasty tactics you swore you would never stoop to as a parent but nonetheless found yourself using the minute you actually had a kid. Bribery and punishment work; so do yelling and complaining. Threats are also effective, as long as everyone knows you mean business. With husbands, tender blandishments and nooky are particularly useful, as is the withholding of the aforementioned.
...
...Unfortunately, all too many women are still teaching their children that “woman is the nigger of the world,” as John Lennon and Yoko Ono put it so memorably in a song lyric years ago."

Article here. Excerpt:

"Picture a scenario where the male breadwinner of a family has lost his job but is so afraid to come clean to his loved ones that he carries on faking his commute to work, complete with business suit, tie and briefcase. It's one that has been imagined in various books and films - such as Falling Down, in which Michael Douglas plays a character who pretends to his mother that he still has a job to go to.

But could you ever imagine a woman behaving in that way? While the gender gap has been bridged in many areas of working life, experts say that when it comes to job losses, women are far better equipped than men to deal with the bitter blow of redundancy. And with forecasts last week predicting that the credit crisis could lead to up to 40,000 job losses in London's financial service sector over the next two years, it's a theory which many could soon find themselves putting to the test.

Story here. Excerpt:

'"We are officially launching an exciting new component of the United States Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship Program by welcoming this first group of boys into the program marking an important step forward in our effort to increase educational opportunities for Namibian children."
...
According to her the programme will over the next year support a total of 200 boys in grades 1 through 7. The boys in this program will receive school uniforms, school supplies, boarding and lodging fees, as well as counseling. "I'm very pleased that we have the opportunity to invest in the education of these bright young boys - who have worked so hard - that we help them succeed in school and move on to the next level of education. Helping girls and boys stay in school and do well in school prepares them to meet life's challenges. It also will help them contribute to economic development and the spread of democratic values in Namibia, and to become a positive influence for future generations," she said.'