Captain Pistachio writes "In this article a woman too short to do her job as a firewoman claimed sex discrimination after she was taken off active duty." The fire dept. continued to employ her part-time as a trainer, but would not her, at 5'1" to be a firefighter. Unless you can show me a 5'1" male firefighter, I don't believe this is legitimate discrimination.

Trudy W Schuett writes "This article in the Ann Arbor News reports an odd partnership.
I can't tell if this is a good thing or not! I'm still shaking my head and saying, "Huh?"" While I'm all for men's and women's groups working together on common goals, this one is a big surprise, and I'm suspicious. We'll see how it turns out.

Neil Steyskal sent in this story from the New York Times (free registration required to read). The story is a feature about a man who is obligated to pay $899 a month in current and back child support.... The only job he says he can find is a part-time one at a Denver recreation center that pays $600 a month. When he does the math, Mr. Stribling said, he feels as if he is drowning. According to the story, Stribling is responsible for creating his own situation, but the judge created the payment problem by considering Stribling's "earning potential" and not his actual income.

I've found a very disturbing article about how the law can destroy the nearest man financially and emotionally when he becomes a dad. When you read the article, you'll start to see just how criminalized fatherhood is the West, and how the only option seems to be abstaining from relationships. The only real advice the article gives to the nearest man (unintentionally) is to not marry, as that seems to be how family courts make a large cut of their money. Of course, with comments in the article such as "Another important aspect of parenthood is financial provision for the mother," it's too easy to lose your cool.

What is with Ford? If they're not pulling a "terrorised by tolerance" stunt (See Part 1 and Part 2 here), they're being pulled into court again for an advert condoning violence against men. Luckily, the case was won by J. Kirby Inwood, a Canadian men's advocate. To finish off, I found an archive of documents detailing Ford's hiring policies. I would advise you to check the archive, as this seems to go a lot deeper than you'd think.

Lionheart writes "I just finished watching ABC News this evening and they ran a story stating the International Bible Society is going to ommit the word "man" and replace it with "person" and also the word "sons or son" and replace it with "children!" Can you believe it! Has anyone else heard this story yet? The story can also be found on FoxNews here." Update: ronn also submitted this story on the same topic.

ronn submitted this link and sent us the following quotations, which are appropriate to keep in mind this weekend: "We know that on Super bowl Sunday, for the last 10 years, that I've been keeping data, that there's an increase in the number of women who are seriously hurt, who call battered women shelter's and who use the police." -Lenore Walker, Denver psychologist and author of The Battered Woman, Good Morning America, (1/23/93). "You think maybe we have one of these myth things here?…You know, I hate this. I've devoted 14 years of my life trying to bring to the public's attention the very serious problem of battered women. And when people make crazy statements like this, the credibility of the whole cause can go right out the window." -Michael Lindsey, Denver psychotherapist and authority on Battered Women, The Washington Post (1/31/93)."

garypc and DaveW but sent in this article from WorldNetDaily. garypc writes "This is an interesting commentary about US military policy. It discusses the pros and cons of what role women should play in the military." and DaveW quoted a line from the article saying, "Any claim that women are equal to men in combat settings is utterly irrational." This could be seen as either a step forward for those of us who are tired of PC decisions damaging our armed forces' strength, or also as a step backward for those of us who more strongly feel that women's rights must come with equal responsibilities. Update: Thanks also to Neil Steyskal for sending this link on the same story.

This Sunday's joint MANN/iFeminists chat will feature special guest L. Neil Smith, a noted author of Science Fiction. We'll be discussing how men and women are portrayed in Sci-Fi, particularly in cases where men are depicted as heroes, and women as villains. It seems that in Science Fiction, authors are more willing to turn the popular stereotypes on their heads. The chat will begin on Sunday, 2/3, at 9:00 PM EST at the iFeminists chat room. See you there!

shouting writes "Dilbert has been featuring the "Man Hating Boss" for the past few days." The series started on January 29, and can be seen here. Click the following days on the calendar you see on that page to view the other ones.

As MANN has grown over the past several months, we have reached the point where we are consistently flooded with news submissions, and can't post them all. We've been having a hard time picking and choosing which stories will be posted and which won't, and to try to help organize things better, we've come up with the following News Submission Guidelines that will help us post more stories with greater speed and efficiency. Please take a moment to read this, and thank you all for such incredible participation with this web site and community!

Glenn Sacks has challenged columnist and talk show host Larry Elder to "rumble on 'Deadbeat dads: Victims?' in studio, mano a mano." Sacks, who has appeared on dozens of radio and TV talk shows, including at Elder's KABC radio in Los Angeles, noted that Elder's column "has caused an uproar within the Fathers' Rights movement, and given the reaction we received when I was on Al Rantel's show a few weeks ago, I'm sure we'll have plenty of callers and listeners." To let Larry (AKA the "Sage from South Central") know you're interested in the proposed debate, e-mail him at the_sage@larryelder.com. Glenn can be reached through his website at GlennJSacks.com.

Trudy W Schuett writes "The DesertLight Journal and the British radio show, The Men's Hour, announced they will join forces to form cyberManbooks.com. The new e-book publisher will target a primarily male audience with new books, as well as classics. Set to launch on February 14, cyberManbooks is unique in the world of e-publishing. Unlike other publishers that provide little or no help for new writers, choosing instead to promote and assist proven authors, cyberMan will encourage and help new writers from the time their work is accepted for publication. This new concept in publishing will connect authors worldwide to assist each other in their promotional efforts, and give readers free access to contact cyberMan authors. In addition to providing quality e-books, cyberManbooks.com will give websurfers access to a variety of online information for writers and readers, including research resources and learning tools."

Dave Compas sent us this article and writes "Men, this is one more for the record book, and another woman attempting to escape responsibility for her actions. Check out this story from the Sacramento Bee! She "accidentally" stabbed her man to death!" That is one *freaky* photo of her, too.

SunCat writes "Bookstores now carry a boyfriend training kit. It is a brown paper pouch, with "stars" to rate your boyfriend's performance. Warren Farrell fans should note that the package is labled DISPOSABLE. File this under "misandry does not exist." :-(" The package supposedly contains "all you need to knock your boyfriend into shape...With such a comprehensive guide, you'll never have to follow his rules again."