Story here.

Does Edwards really care about men, or is he simply looking for minority votes? Either way, its the first comment from a presidential candidate regarding the status of American males. Make sure you check out the video. Excerpt:

'Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said if he isn’t elected president, the population of African-American males is likely to either wind up in prison or dead.
...
We start with the president of the United States saying to America, ‘we cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They’re all going to be in prison or dead. One of the two.”'

Came across this article and thought it was a good topic to toss out there. It discusses the 'vanishing friendships' that men have with each other and how that just ain't good for us. Excerpt:

'Men who have been managing their careers for years but who find themselves, midstream, feeling bereft of the kind of friendships they once had seem to have made four critical life mistakes, according to experts. The first and biggest problem involves time constraints...

The second problem is a little more insidious and involves the way men tend to forsake their male friends and elect their wives or girlfriends as their new and primary best friends in their social worlds. Call it the Yoko Ono effect.

Story here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK - A Family Court judge whose alleged courtroom tirades included calling one man a "pig" and another "dysfunctional" has agreed to step down at the end of the year.

Judge Marian Shelton will finish out her 10-year term and agreed not to seek reappointment. A monitoring agency called the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, said Thursday it would not seek sanctions against her under the deal.'

Thanks to Marc A. for the heads-up. Op-ed here. Excerpt:

'To Nifong: To exploit social stereotypes in order to pursue and compound an injustice against the falsely accused.

When future generations of prosecutors gather around campfires, the Saga of Mike Nifong no doubt will be a frequently told tale.
...
...What if those charged had been poor black men and the alleged victim a suburban white woman? Consider if either those charged, or allegedly victimized, were men, women, straight, gay, Asian, Latino, Native American, black, Caucasian, middle class or poor. Would this have influenced your response?

These are questions worth raising in our hometown as we consider whether justice would truly have been blind.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Women in their thirties who appear to "have it all" compared with previous generations are in fact exhausted and unhappy, a survey has claimed.

The demands of being a homemaker, mother and holding down a job is leaving them "physically and emotionally" wrecked.'

Story here. As long as Type-I male genital mutilation is legal, much worse mutilations will occur. Support the MGM bill: http://www.mgmbill.org/

Excerpt:

'MATTOON, Ill., July 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The day after birth on February 15, 2007, an infant at Sarah Bush Hospital had a standard circumcision procedure performed by Dr. Sherif Malek. However, what should have been a forgotten memory for the boy became a lifelong nightmare. Due to negligence, Dr. Malek severed the entire glans, commonly termed the head, of the infant's penis. Today, Jerry A. Latherow of Latherow Law Office on behalf of plaintiffs Boy Doe (the infant) and his mother, Jane Doe, filed a complaint for compensation for damages against Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, Inc, 1000 Health Center Drive, Mattoon, IL, and Sherif Malek, D.O. in the Circuit Court of Coles County, Illinois.'

Story here. Excerpt:

"Under current federal law, hate crimes apply to acts of violence against individuals on the basis of race, religion, color or national origin. Federal prosecutors have jurisdiction only if the victim is engaged in a specific federally protected activity such as voting.

The House bill would extend the hate crimes category to include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability and give federal authorities greater leeway to participate in hate crime investigations. It would approve $10 million over the next two years to help local law enforcement officials cover the cost of hate crime prosecutions."

Article here. Excerpt:

'Steven said he knows some people will think he's weak, and he wants them to know after years of abuse at the hands of his mother, it was all he knew. He said he is now happily married to a wonderful woman.

He added, "Men's hearts and feelings are like women's hearts and feelings. They feel the same. It doesn't matter if that heart is covered with muscles or breasts, the pain cuts deeply and the losses crowd in. And it doesn't matter if the world thinks men don't feel. You still hurt."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'A 4-month-old boy was found in a darkened room at a day care center with a pacifier taped into his mouth, the Tennessee Department of Human Services announced Wednesday.

According to the suspension order, caretaker Angela Day Gentry told police the taping incident had occurred before, and that placing the tape on the child was a "mutual" idea between herself and Kim Ball, the other caretaker in the room."

"The child literally could have ingested the tape, aspirated, or had breathing problems very quickly (among other possibilities) without an adult's knowing of any crisis," the report stated.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON — Millions of families that turned to federal and state governments for help in collecting child support payments will now have to pay more for the service.

Beginning Oct. 1, families will have to pay $25 annually when states have collected at least $500 on their behalf. Families that previously received public assistance will be exempted.

The $25 will help reduce the federal deficit and compensate the federal government and the states for providing a child support program. Two-thirds of the fee will go the federal government; one-third to the state.
...
For Claudia Fauntleroy of Petersburg, Va., the notice about the additional fee was akin to getting a $25 parking ticket in the mail. Her immediate reaction? “You’ve got to be kidding me.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Over the same span, women have replaced housework with paid work — and, as a result, are spending almost as much time doing things they don’t enjoy as in the past. Forty years ago, a typical woman spent about 23 hours a week in an activity considered unpleasant, or 40 more minutes than a typical man. Today, with men working less, the gap is 90 minutes."
...
"Government policy isn’t the only problem, either. Inside of families, men still haven’t figured out how to shoulder their fair share of the household burden. Instead, we’re spending more time on the phone and in front of the television."'

Story here. Excerpt:

"An Elkhart woman who pleaded guilty to strangling her four young children was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole in each child's death.

Angelica Alvarez, 27, told Elkhart Circuit Judge Terry Shewmaker she repented for what she had done and accepted responsibility for the murders of Jennifer Lopez, 8, Gonzalo Lopez, 6, Daniel Valdez, 4, and Jessica Valdez, 2, on Nov. 14, 2006.

Alvarez pleaded guilty to four counts of murder on Sept. 4 in return for Prosecutor Curtis Hill Jr. agreeing not to seek the death penalty."

Dear Administrators and Readers,

This is to inform you of our new website dedicated towards promoting men’s issues. It is called JJ’s Garage and can be found at http://www.jjgarage.com/.

Our site wants to coordinate and promote the thoughts and opinions of the average man. It has dedicated itself to this concept. Any man that enjoys writing his thoughts and opinions on any subject concerning male life in America can utilize our website for this purpose. Some of the subjects we highlight are “She Did What?” which gives men a chance to tell their side of broken relationships without the usual “men are bad, women are good” sexist slant found in most main stream media outlets. Our sight also highlights a section called “Fathers and Children” which offers married and divorced fathers a chance to offer their thoughts and opinions concerning the challenges and rewards of fatherhood. And finally, “Your Soapbox” is a section dedicated to the writings of men concerning any subject – sort of like a venting room.

Story and video here. Excerpt:

'St. Petersburg, Florida - Police arrested 34-year-old Karen Barber and her 15-year-old daughter each on one count of simple battery.
...
Surveillance video shows what happened when Barber, wearing a red shirt, got on the bus. She confronted a 13-year-old boy who had allegedly punched her 12-year-old son on the bus the day before.

Proffitt says it appeared Barber was about to leave the school bus but then she turned back to the boy and poked him in the forehead.

The tape shows Barber also slapped the boy on the left side of his face.'

If you really fancy getting angry, read this.

A famous cricketer in Australia has just been in the press for cheating. Technically he didn't cheat - he had, in the past, on several occasions, but this time he was actually separated from his wife when the fling occurred. But that's not important to this writer, who basically uses it as an excuse to attack all us men and tar us with the same brush.

What's more interesting is the comments below the story, a lot of guys (me included) have attempted to bring some sanity back into this.