Well, folks, I'm back, and I'm ready to start making things happen again with Mensactivism.org. I'd like to sincerely thank everyone who took this temporary outage in stride - I didn't receive one angry or impatient e-mail from anyone - and let you all know that my final projects and exams went much, much better than they would have if had I not taken some time off. Now that my life has returned to a reasonable pace, I'm ready to start some new projects for MANN! That's right - due to some strong collaboration between myself and Mike LaSalle from Men's News Daily, I'd like to take advantage of the opportunity to focus MANN more strongly on the activism side of things, and let MND does what it does best, which is to provide news stories and commentary for the movement. Read on for more details about this plan...

It is with deep regret that I must announce a temporary shut down of Mensactivism.org until I can get a handle on my life. In the past month you've certainly noticed that MANN has not been updated or maintained as diligently as it has in the past, and the reason for that is due to a serious level of over-commitment that I put myself into for the first five months of 2002. I'm not going to offer any heartbreaking story about this, I simply made an error of judgment where I thought I could make it through this time crunch but it's just more than I can handle now. I take full responsibility for getting myself into this mess. Right now I must devote as many resources as possible to academics. My last final exam will be on May 17, and once that is done with I expect to be able to resume running this site in a manner it deserves, rather than the half-hearted way it's been limping along for the past month or so.



In the meantime, I'd highly recommend you check out Men's News Daily, a great site run by Mike LaSalle whose news coverage on men's issues is excellent. I even understand he has a web forum for related discussions that was added recently. In any case, I hope this isn't too much of a let-down for people, and I promise this shutdown will only be temporary. The time I'll be spending will be an investment in the amount of time I'll be able to devote to this site over the summer.

This Foster's story offers more details about the outcome of yesterday's Senate vote to establish a Commission on the Status of Men in NH. It includes the final vote broken down by Senator, the last minute attempt to amend the bill to make it a "health and welfare of men" commission, which thankfully failed, and how the commission will be set up. "The commission would consist of seven members appointed by the governor and council, with at least one member invited from the University System of New Hampshire. While the bill does not have any state money, it authorizes the commission to accept donations or grants to further its duties."

crescentluna writes "This article covers how feminists are dissenting in opinion over the Ms. Foundation's incredibly original idea of taking "our sons and daughters to work day." Several different feminist prospectives are here, including the "conservative feminist" view that women's financial disparity lies in their family choices, not in discrimination. Men apparently don't care about the issue."

This I found simply wonderful. What more can I say?

Today, the NH Senate re-voted on HB 587, to establish a state Commission on the Status of Men. The re-vote was required since the bill was modified in the Senate Finance Committee to correct a few formal errors. There was an attempt to amend the bill to change the name of the commission, which failed. The final vote was 18-5 in favor of the bill, a big improvement over the previous 13-10 vote. Next, the bill goes to NH Governor Jeanne Shaheen to be signed into law. I have informal knowledge that she has expressed her willingness to sign the bill. Folks, this is really going to happen! I'm more excited than I can express in words right now...

Here's a bit of good news about the portrayal of men. One of the things that I like about the article is the statement regarding the testing of one ad, "The spot tested well with dads, but it tested even better with moms." This sort of thing must drive the genfems, especially many Women's Studies types, absolutely nuts. Despite decades of "Kill your father" types of indoctrination, many women still see the involvement of men with their children as a positive thing.

Trudy W Schuett writes "There is a new "Heart of the Matter" editorial at the DLJ website, Entitled "What Have They Done with Mother's Day?" it's about the new concept of Mother's Day for women and their daughters. Looks like women with sons no longer count, in a new twist of feminist
'logic.'"

Philalethes writes "Most of the stories posted on MANN document the insanity of our times, but few consider the background: how did we get here, and why? This article is not an in-depth analysis, but it's a good start, and raises some serious questions worth considering: Today men are accountable for their behavior. Women are not. The lack of accountability, seldom clearly recognized, is the bedrock of much of today's feminist misbehavior, influence, and politics."

New Hampshire Representative David Bickford, a sponsor of HB 587, to establish a Commission on the Status of Men, had a superb article printed in Foster's Daily Democrat today, which can be read here. Rep. Bickford outlines many of the problems facing NH men and the institutional bias we've been dealing with for many years. It's an excellent overview of what we've been trying to educate people about in promoting this bill.

jaxom submitted this disturbing story and writes "A federal appelate court ruling allows judges to consider "a woman's
desperation" as a mitigating factor in severe domestic violence.
This case involves an estranged wife using the children as bait; "She
told him her van had broken down, stranding her and their two
daughters, and asked him to pick up the girls."
When he arrives, she starts shooting; "When he got out of his car and
ducked into the bushes, she searched him out with her headlights and
shot him again. She hit him in the head with the gun several times
before he hit her in the face and escaped."
Because a gun was involved, the wife was sentenced to five years. But
for the actual behavior, battery and attempted murder, the wife
received a sentence of ONE DAY.
The U.S. District Judge's decision was based on "her depression and
desperate fear that her husband would take away the children in their
impending divorce.""

As this article reports, in a recent UK court decision, a father lost custody of his children even though he had been the stay at home parent. Rather than considering the actual roles the parents had played in raising the children, in handing down the decision Lord Justice Thorpe stated that the court could not ignore the "realities" of the "very different" traditional functions of men and women. This sends a strong message to prospective and current fathers.

SJones writes "A recent study found that the most popular weedkiller in the United States turns male frogs into female frogs. The effects on humans has not been studied, but amphibians are considered particularly important in that they show effects before mammals. The story is here." I'm sure I'm not alone in being concerned about the fact that a lot of the chemicals used in agriculture today seem to disrupt hormonal balances in living things. Note: According to this Fox News article, the study appears to be junk science.

As Richard Henn sat by his 6-year-old son's hospital bedside recently, police entered and put him under arrest for "failing to protect" his son from the boy's step-mother, a former sheriff's deputy who body-slammed the child so hard he went into convulsions. This story in the Denver Post reveals that Henn was actually in another room, giving his 4-month-old daughter a bath when he heard the commotion. In court documents, Richard Henn told investigators he heard Kevin's body hitting the floor and said his wife threw the boy down. Gail Henn apologized to Kevin as he lay unconscious and convulsing on the floor, according to police statements. The couple had argued in the past about physical punishment, the father told police. Henn's bond was set at $20,000. Same as his wife, who is currently out of jail on that amount.

Harrack Balramsingh writes "The International Men’s Day Committee is calling on organizations and individuals around the world to join with them in celebrating International Men’s Day (IMD) on November 19. The objectives of celebrating an International Men's Day include improving gender relations, promoting gender equality, producing responsible males and highlighting positive male role models. The IMD first started in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999. It is hoped that the day would eventually be recognized worldwide. Please join with us in observing this Men’s Day."