Father's and Men's Issues Groups Rock the Valley

At the crack of dawn I awoke to get to the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Park and lay claim to the prime area of real estate that Fathers 4 Justice and the National Coalition of Free Men, L.A. would inhabit for the next 8 hours.

It would be no exaggeration to say that, during the course of the day, scores of people read our signs (at length), and hundreds of people got briefer views. I recall one woman, stopped at the light, who had her neck turned about 135 degrees and was staring intently at the "CAN YOU GET BACK MY DADDY" sign. She had an expression of real concern on her face. "Penny for your thoughts," I said silently to myself as I averted my eyes to allow her all the looking her heart desired.

Representative Ted Poe of Texas recently introduced a resolution on domestic violence. The resolution makes numerous claims that are one-sided, misleading, and even false.

This is probably the worst of the bunch:

“Whereas according to one study, during court ordered visitation, five percent of abusive fathers threaten to kill their spouses, 34 percent of abusive fathers threaten to kidnap their children, and 25 percent of abusive fathers threaten to physically hurt their children;”

That defamatory claim and many others in House Resolution 590 have triggered a surge of outrage across the country:

Review here.

This new book will be released on September 4, 2007.

'A chilling, gripping account of how our judicial system can go terribly wrong. This is an important book that brings the Duke story to life and exposes troubling facts about our justice system and our citadels of higher learning. You may think you know the Duke story—but you don’t until you read this book." — Jan Crawford Greenberg, ABC News legal correspondent and author of "Supreme Conflict"'

Essay here. Excerpt:

'The resolution states, "Whereas male children exposed to domestic violence are twice as likely to abuse their own partners." But research shows that girls exposed to domestic violence are also at much greater risk of perpetuating the cycle of violence -- why does the bill include no mention of that?

In some places, the resolution misleads, such as its claim that "adolescent girls who reported dating violence were 60 percent more likely to report one or more suicide attempts in the past year." But in truth, it's adolescent boys subjected to dating violence who are more like to attempt suicide, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

A few years ago family violence researcher Murray Straus wrote an essay called "Women's Violence toward Men is a Serious Social Problem." Not only did women engage in partner violence at least as often as men, but women were actually more likely to deliver the first blow. Indeed, "every study finds that women initiate violence in a large proportion of cases," Straus noted.'

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Story here. Excerpt:

'DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - The North Carolina State Bar has billed disgraced former prosecutor Mike Nifong nearly $9,000 for hearings that led to his disbarment in the wake of the discredited Duke lacrosse rape case.

A three-member disciplinary commission stripped Nifong of his law license in June, finding he had committed more than two dozen violations of the state's rules of professional conduct while prosecuting three Duke lacrosse players on false rape, sexual assault and kidnapping charges. Nifong apologized to the players at the June hearing.'

Story here.

Here's the million dollar question: What if it was dad that abused his daughter using the same methods as this mother? Excerpt:

'The Hawai'i Supreme Court issued a major ruling last week on the question: At what point does the use of corporal punishment cross the line to criminal child abuse?

In a 3-2 decision, the high court ruled that a mother was not guilty of child abuse for hitting her 14-year-old daughter with a backpack, a plastic hanger, a small brush and the plastic handle of a tool. The high court reversed a jury's verdict that had convicted the mother.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Tiffany Sutton, 23, originally pleaded not guilty to nine counts of aggravated assault. On Friday, she changed her plea, pleading guilty to one count of aggravated assault and one count of dangerous aggravated assault.

Sutton was arrested Feb. 13 outside the Tempe home she'd been sharing with Robert McDaniel. Sutton claimed the two were living together, but McDaniel told police Sutton was a transient who'd been staying at his place for a few days.

McDaniel told police that he'd consented to being tied up during sex but became scared when Sutton attacked him with a knife.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'If the PC feminist theory of domestic violence was only being taught to womens’ studies majors, that would be one thing, but it’s being taught to judges charged with the responsibility of granting temporary and permanent DV restraining orders, and, to some degree, with the responsibility of deciding custody and visitation issues. In a report entitled “Education for Injustice,” RADAR (Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting) identified a number of examples of this. Here are two: West Virginia’s benchbook on domestic violence, the official judicial handbook, states, incorrectly, that “women are overwhelmingly the typical victims of domestic violence;” similarly, Alabama’s benchbook puts forth the false claim, “National crime statistics show that about 95% of spouse-abuse victims are women.” This “education” is funded by the federal government pursuant to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Child-welfare groups say these are necessary precautions, given that most predators are male. But fathers' rights activists and educators now argue that an inflated predator panic is damaging men's relationships with kids. Some men are opting not to get involved with children at all, which partly explains why many youth groups can't find male leaders, and why just 9% of elementary-school teachers are male, down from 18% in 1981.'

Video here. Well it's good law enforcement seems serious about prosecuting "the aunt" as well as "the mom" (who may or may not have known about what auntie was going to use the money for), but I have to wonder-- if it were an uncle setting up a niece to have sex with whomever under whatever terms, how would the press be covering it?

Front page news on Sunday in the Toronto Star: Where are the men?. Excerpt:

'Most – like Smith, 36, with three children by different fathers – received no help from the men. A few have, including Zenith Isaacs, 35, who was helped by Julian Hinckson, 41, the father of her two youngest, until he was stabbed to death in June near their Sparroway home.

Throughout the city, single mothers are raising children on little money, often in public housing where kids are exposed to greater risks, because it's all they can afford. Too often, they live with fear and violence.'

UPDATE: Read the second installment: Where are the women?. Excerpt:

'Yesterday, the Toronto Star reported on a hidden crisis of single mothers, mostly black, mostly in public housing and routinely living with fear and violence. We asked everybody we interviewed to offer solutions.

Jordan's advice was as blunt as it gets: The problem lies as much with the women themselves as with men who turn out to be absent dads.'

Here is an update on the "Barbie Bandit" who robbed a bank for kicks. Excerpt:

'One of the two young women dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" after a videotaped bank theft pleaded guilty Wednesday and apologized in tears.

"I regret what I did. I wish I could take it back every day," Heather Johnston, 19, told the judge.'

Steve

Article here. Excerpt:

'Here is the good news: The rally demonstrated that we have very solid policy solutions to offer. There were some riveting talks worthy of national broadcast. We have stronger ideas, speakers, and an overarching sense of cooperativeness never seen before in the movement. The talks were supposed to be 25% about the problem, and 75% about the answers – but overall the percentage was at best 50-50. This is a remarkable improvement given our history.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'During a recent Democratic debate, both Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama indicated that all female U.S. citizens should register for the Selective Service. Neither candidate was as ridiculous as former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel, who said, when it comes to men and women being drafted, "What's the difference?" But the radical and dangerous implications of the front-runners' policies are not that far from Gravel's query.'

View the video of Carol Rhodes at the Family Preservation Rally in Washington, D.C. Carol, author of Friend of the Court Enemy of the Family, exposes the corruption within the Child Support Agencies.

View more videos from the Family Preservation Rally here.