Absolutely bizzare. Excerpt:

The slogan: "A woman never makes a mistake. A man can never reject a woman's request" will be carved into the town gates.

Finally, they have done the right thing. Story here. I hope those guys collect a fortune in lawsuit judgments. Excerpt:

'April 10, 2007 — The office of North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will announce that he is dismissing all charges against three Duke Lacrosse players, ABC News has learned from sources close to the case.'

Story here.

While men and women are supposed to be consider "equal" under the law, no one seemed to pay any mind to the outrage that occurred last week during the Greek cruise ship disaster: the assumed expendability of the male passengers. While most people probably take for granted that a lot has changed since the days of the Titanic, when it comes to Maritime law, everything is still 1912. When the Greek liner went aground and began to sink, the dreaded "women and children first" slogan was announced over the PA, and men were not allowed to disembark before all women had been saved.

Not only is this sentiment purely sexist in its own right, but it pre-supposes (a) that the lives of women are worth more then the lives of men, (b) that women must be protected by men and therefore it is the duty of men to give up everything - life, rights, etc., and (c) that all of the children on board will have a female parent/guardian available to take care of them on shore while they wait for male parent/guardian to be released.

Story here. Excerpt:

'According to government statistics, most sexual contact between corrections staff and inmates occurs between female employees and male prisoners.
...
Forty-seven percent of all cases of sexual abuse cases from 2000 to 2004 involved women employees and their male charges. Men were 4 percent less likely to abuse female inmates.'

The interesting case that's been going on for awhile about the UK woman wanting to use existing embryos against the father's consent seem to have been resolved, in favor of the would-be father. Excerpt:

'A woman left infertile after cancer therapy has lost her fight to use embryos fertilised by an ex-partner.
Natallie Evans, from Trowbridge, Wilts, and Howard Johnston began IVF treatment in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up.

She turned to the European courts after exhausting the UK legal process.

Ms Evans, 35, said she was "distraught" after the Grand Chamber of the European Court ruling, but Mr Johnston said "common sense had prevailed."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Now, cases such as Salazar's are inspiring legislation in Missouri and across the country that would make it easier for men to use genetic tests to shed financial support.

Salazar doesn't have that option now. Under Missouri law, he was presumed to be a father simply because he was married to the mother when she gave birth.

The same law gives men, both married and unmarried, a limited time frame to challenge paternity. After those deadlines have passed, even DNA tests often aren't enough to shake paternity obligations.'

Story here.

Most homeless people are male. How do you get people to understand that this is an example of male powerlessness? You could try with this statistic from the article (but most people will probably just shut their ears.) Excerpt:

'Between 1999 and 2005, 82 people were killed in America because of their race, ethnicity, or religious or sexual orientation, according to the FBI, which has been collecting data on hate crimes since 1990.

There were 169 homeless people murdered during that same period, the National Coalition for the Homeless says.'

Posted on behalf of Marc A:
In this new study (.pdf) in the British Journal or Urology Int'l, scientists use fine-touch medical instruments to measure the sensitivity of the penises of circumcised vs uncircumcised men. The results confirm that circumcision significantly decreases penile sensitivity. (Morris L. Sorrells, James L. Snyder, Mark D. Reiss, Christopher Eden, Marilyn F. Milos, Norma Wilcox, Robert S. Van Howe, "Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis," British Journal of Urology International, v. 99, issue 4, p. 864, April 2007.)

The sensitivity provided by the male foreskin, or "prepuce," comes from thousands of highly-sensory nerve endings that are only found in our eyelids, lips and fingertips. The study results are consistent with previous psychological surveys of adult men.

Posted on behalf of Marc A.:
NCFM-LA's complaint against Judge S. Patricia Spear to the Commission on Judicial Performance here. The Commission's response stating corrective action was taken and thanking NCFM-LA here.

Last year in Los Angeles, a 10-month-old boy was about to be placed in foster care because his mom was unfit and his dad was unknown. During that time, the mom told the dad for the first time about the child. The dad immediately went to court, explained the situation and requested a paternity test and reunification services so that he could raise his child. In an asonishing (though not uncommon) denial of male reproductive rights, Judge S. Patricia Spear denied his request and said things like, "I don't think you're the father" and that he should have come sooner.

Story here. Note the headline: "No textbook crime - Teacher-teen affairs are unprofessional but not always criminal".

According to section 153 of the Criminal Code of Canada, they are always criminal. But this doesn't stop the media from trying to find new excuses for female misbehavior.

According to "conventional wisdom", boys mature more slowly than girls. Doesn't this mean that boys need greater protection than girls from sexual predators?

Now that female teachers are actually being charged, suddenly "there needs to be a distinction between a professional boundary violation and a sex crime." Of course there was no similar outpouring of sympathy when male teachers were being charged with exactly the same crime.

Story here. Excerpt:

"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg raised questions yesterday about an approach under consideration at the Health Department to promote circumcision as a way to reduce the risk of contracting AIDS.
...
Asked about the approach at a news conference, Mr. Bloomberg expressed support for seeking new ways to combat the disease, but suggested that he was unconvinced that government should be involved in promoting or providing circumcisions."
---
Ed. note: Want to thank the mayor? Contact info here.

Story here. Excerpt:

'NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- People in the small western Tennessee town of Selmer have been waiting for more than a year to find out why a quiet, unassuming preacher's wife might have killed her husband.

On Monday, the process that could produce answers begins with the opening of jury selection for the first-degree murder trial of Mary Winkler.

Her husband, Matthew Winkler, the popular 31-year-old minister at the Fourth Street Church of Christ in Selmer, was found dead on March 22, 2006, in the bedroom of the church parsonage by members of his congregation.'

News.com.au has a story (finally!) on the discrimination that fathers are increasingly facing in the workplace when we try to take advantage of the supposedly equal rights offered to us and women.

QUOTE: In 1995-96, there were eight complaints to the commission. Last year that figure jumped to 17.

Complainants include:

A DAD who left work early once to care for his child and was sacked because the employer believed child care was his wife's responsibility.

Acting Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Slavka Scott said the number of complaints could be the tip of the iceberg because men were less likely to complain and attitudes had not caught up with the changing times. :QUOTE

I've faced the same issues at work - my wife left me with our three kids and I've worked a full-time professional job ever since (nearly 2 years back), but I've had my fair share of discrimination and exclusion.

Great to see this finally becoming a press-worthy issue.

News.com.au reports here on a story in Australia, where a 6-year-old boy has been excluded from his class after a girl he sat next to accused him of saying bad things and inappropriate touching. The boy denies it ever happened, but (of course) his denial counts for zip and he's been thrown out of class and can only return to school if he joins a new class, leaving all his mates behind.

It's interesting to see how the complete faith in womens/girls accusations has gone right down to the school and even pre-school level, with 'evidence' being an inconvenient and unnecessary distraction.

QUOTE: "In effect, Jonathan is being penalised and 'made to feel guilty' for acts which he denies occurred and for which there is no evidence other than the unsubstantiated allegations of the girl," the letter said.

The Wrong in Women’s Rights
April 7, 2007
by E. Abdiel

Abortion. A cornerstone in the woman’s movement. It is a cornerstone that claims it is a woman’s sole right to decide the outcome of the unborn child inside her. Yet when its assertions are applied consistently to their end, it contradicts premises used to assign responsibility to men to financially support children they did not intend to have.