AFG writes "This article discusses the battle being waged by Massachusetts dads in the courts and in the state legislature. In particular, it talks about the many reforms that father's rights groups are trying to get politicians to enact, while meeting considerable resistance from feminists. Some fo the demands are as follows: "We'd like to see the legislature enact shared parenting legislation like S813 from Sen. Stephen Brewer and/or H2546 from Rep. Scott Brown. We also need restraining order reform like S952 or S953, which would protect good, honest and innocent men and fathers and their families from state persecution, political correctness, judicial sophistry, bad laws and people of low character who use the system for vicious and vindictive reasons.""

Bill Kuhl sent in a short essay on his thoughts regarding a recent NPR program about the new book, At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. While the book wasn't written from a men's issues stance, Bill's comments point out that there is a strong connection between the lynching of blacks and men's issues. Read More for his submission...

Neil Steyskal submitted this short article from the New York Post which dispels the myth that older men can die of a heart attack during sex. It even goes so far as to say that frequent sex is good for your heart as you get older. What a relief!

Neil Steyskal sent us this interesting review of The Fellowship of the Ring. In it, Marian Coombs talks about the masculine camaraderie that the Fellowship exhibits, and the importance of this movie as a cultural event. I have a friend who also thinks the greatest part of the book and the movie was the male friendships and how they were portrayed. Did anyone else see it and get the same impression?

Luek writes "[This] article... is about the push in Massachusetts to revise the child support and custody statutes to make them more equitable. There are some interesting statements in the piece made to the Chief Justice (a female) sic by a Father's Rights advocate, Mark Charalambous about non-custodial parents (males mostly) being at the breaking point and threatening social upheaval and unrest. Let's watch this one." Interestingly, the Boston lawyers in this piece are arguing for more child support, even in light of the recent suicide of Derrick Miller, who was ordered to pay out 82 percent of his monthly income to his wife (who made twice as much as he in one month).

This stunning victory for a man who was sued for $12,303 in back child support, even though he was not the father of the child, is heartening. The Washington Times reports that a 4-3 vote in the Maryland Court of Appeals released Nicholas Todd Walter from the payments. "Without paternity, there is no legal duty; without a legal duty, there can be no financial obligation," according to the judgment written by Lynne A. Battaglia, former U.S. attorney for Maryland who was appointed to the court last year. The ruling reverses a 1994 decision by the state's highest court that a man who agreed to pay child support, but later discovered he was not the biological father, must continue to pay. Scott's note: Thanks also to Neil Steyskal for submitting this story.

This story in the Sun-Sentinel once again highlights how boys and girls (and men and women) are treated differently when it comes to criminal activity. Four youths (three boys and one girl) produced a pornographic video starring themselves. All four were set to benefit financially from its production. The three boys are now likely to face child pornography charges. The girl will not be charged. “You can’t pick and choose who you’re going to charge when you have more than one child involved,” Lerman said. “It shows the way society treats boys and girls. The boys are punished but the girls have to be protected.”

I'm again late in announcing this, but the streaming audio program MensHour has had a new release this month. This episode is a kind of year-in-review, with contributions from several people involved in the men's movement, including Karl from AngryHarry.com, Philip Cook, author of Abused Men, Trudy W. Schuett of the DesertLight Journal, Jim Bailey from Family Oriented Men, and several others. You can listen to the program here.

I've found this UK Guardian article claiming that "Within a generation there will be probably be mass use of artificial wombs to grow babies". You're probably wondering why I posted this, the main reason is to counter all those claims that the nearest man is "redundant" and "biologically useless" by showing the other side of the coin, as it were. While the technology is still a few years off, the article makes for an informative and perhaps un-nerving read. That said, do read it, as it pays to be in the know.

nagzi writes "The Washington Post has this
article about the upcoming Men's Health Bill. Also, there are three articles dealing with Prostate Cancer. Facts about prostate Cancer (VERY short on facts), Prostate Cancer (filled with some interesting info), and Tackling a Man's Disease (a Female Urologist Crusades Against Prostate Cancer)."

Brian Smith writes "This an an article from the Lewiston, ME Sun Journal newspaper, about a man who must pay child support after a paternity test positively concluded he was not the father." He is still being forced to pay, and DHS is denying him visitation rights because he's "not the father." While the Supreme Court might not be of much help anymore, perhaps this man should try to establish a state court decision on Maine?

An Anonymous User sent in a Foster's article about an elementary school teacher who was accused of "improperly touching" one of his 11 year-old students, who he apparently had frequent contact with outside of class, as she lived a few houses down from him. I read an update on this story which I can't find on Foster's site which said that the judge declared a mistrial and the accused teacher cannot be tried again. Note that there were never any formal sexual harassment or assault charges filed against the man, nor is it ever clear that the girl once told him she felt uncomfortable with any of his physical contact. Still, I have to wonder how much common sense the guy has making any physical contact at all with his students, especially in this day and age. Update: The news story of the mistrial can be read here.

Anonymous User writes "Admittedly, [this is] not the most important topic we'll ever discuss here. This article in the Bangor [Maine] Daily News reviews a Bangor judge's odd belief that a public nudity law might only apply to men. Aside from interest generated by the weirdness factor, no one else seems to think the judge is making sense."

Neil Steyskal writes "It appears that sex with more partners increases the risk of [prostate] cancer. However the quantity of sex with one parter, or alone, does not increase risk." The story is here This Spectator article was apparently generated after an anti-pornography advocate wrote to the paper hinting that increased sexual activity among men has led to an increase in prostate cancer.

Marc writes, "The LA Times printed my article addressing male victims of domestic violence. They left out the Fiebert
bibliography and a few other things, but it’s still progress. I’m working on getting them to do a story on the topic in the near future, and it looks promising. But meanwhile there may be responses that misleadingly attack my facts and figures, so a few positive responses sent to letters@latimes.com would be nice. Thanks!"