Mike Franco of The Fatherhood Coalition wrote an excellent letter countering the "deadbeat dad" smokescreen, it's hard hitting and well written. Go to Massnews letters and scroll to the end of the page and read his letter titled "Column in MetroWest Was Wrong" the last paragraph is a real "I felt that from over here" moment in my opinion, you'll understand when you read it.

This commentary on prison rape by the National Catholic Review may represent the first time media has acknowledged the existence of Human Rights Watch's recent report on male rape in prisons. The author of the commentary is horrified by the report. By allowing rape to go on, the “correctional” authorities ensure that prisoner violence is contained within the cells. Frustrated prisoners are permitted to release aggression on condition that they direct it against other inmates, not the authorities. That the victims, who comprise as much as 20 percent of 2 million inmates held in U.S. prisons and jail, live in perpetual fear is also conducive to control. Divide and conquer is the name of the game; the fact that it amounts to horrendous violations of human rights does not really interest the prison authorities.

Obviously, the media has been focused pretty exclusively on the terrorist attacks against the U.S, and consequently, news on men's issues has been pretty sparse. Thus the fewer number of postings per day on this web site. But, I have an important announcement coming up that the domestic violence awareness flyers will be released on Monday!

This cautious article from InteliHealth describes some research recently that is showing that boys are entering puberty sooner than they were in the past, with black boys even earlier. The article mentions a couple of potential flaws with the research, but suggests that this is definitely a valid issue to look into. As boys enter puberty sooner, they are at higher risk for some kinds of hormonally influenced diseases, such as testicular cancer. It would also suggest that sex education should begin sooner as well.

Disturbing news about Ritalin as this quote tells us "a recently concluded study at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) not only confirms the similarities of cocaine and Ritalin, but finds that Ritalin is more potent than cocaine in its effect on the dopamine system" there's alot more reading in the article for your interest. If you have trouble reading it, copy and paste it into notepad if need be. On a side note don't forget to check out Changing children into drug addicts? where this issue is continued in a similar style.

Tom Golden from Webhealing.com pointed me to a magnificent essay written by Sheridan Hill. Hill writes about her discovery and acceptance of domestic violence against men and women's violence. As a self-described feminist since she was 14 years old, Hill was able to openly examine the research and statistics about DV and learned that the feminist doctrine about DV was incredibly harmful to men. Toward the end of the article she also acknowledged the problems boys are facing in school. I was struck by how useful this kind of testimony is to getting the message out to feminists, and hope that more women will come forward and speak out like this.

I found the following two articles from Wired News off of the Slashdot site. I think they are certainly of interest to us, as the men's movement is quite dependent on the internet and secure communications will be very important to us. This Wired article describes how Senator Judd Gregg from NH wants a global ban on encryption systems that don't have a "back door" for the government to use to monitor your communications. In another Wired article, a bill allowing FBI wiretaps of a person's internet communications without a warrant has just been passed by the Senate! What we will inevitably see in the upcoming months are blows to people's civil liberties which are unprecedented in our country's history. Click Read More for some of my thoughts on this.

Masculist e-zine The Guy Code has published articles by three of its writers (one its editor) today about Tuesday's tragedies and America's struggle against Terrorism. Francis L. Scurvy writes from the anti-draft view and demonstrates that you can be anti-draft and still be a patriot. Ordinarily humorous writer Ray Meyers points out that there's nothing funny about what's happening in America right now. And Guy Code editor Elliot Zaret writes about heroism among the ruins.

cheddah sent in this story from the National Organization for Women and writes "Can you believe that NOW is promoting the idea that family courts are biased against women!? Here is a quote: "These injustices are commonplace today in the closed-door family court system. These courts often claim to operate in a manner consistent with the "best interests of the child." In practice this often means that a judge, often a male judge, biased and imperious, defines that phrase. These judges decide, time and time again, when a woman raises the allegation of sexual abuse in a custody dispute, that it is she who will lose her children forever.""

Steve writes "The Associated Press has reported that there is speculation that male
passengers on the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania may have
stopped further terrorist activities by the hijackers. In this news
story, the AP noted that men have prevented the hijackers
from causing further death and destruction. This seems to be
another example of positive male behavior. We [as men] are the protectors
of the world, and we often risk our personal safety--and
sometimes our lives--to protect others." I just found another article which talks about this event in more detail.

Trudy W Schuett sent in her opinion on a television show called "The Other Half," which is being aired on the NBC network. Click "Read More" below to read it. The program is not particularly friendly to men, to say the least.

Tonight's weekly on-line chat is going to be an open discussion. We made this decision since it is probable that people may want to discuss the events surrounding yesterday's tragedies in the United States. There are also a number of men's issues related to this event, including honoring the heroism of the hundreds of firefighters and law enforcement officials who gave their lives yesterday for the sake of saving others. Our on-line chat page can be found here, and we'll be starting the chat at 9:30 PM Eastern Time tonight, 9/12. All friends of the men's movement are welcome to join.

cheddah writes "Although this Boston Globe article does touch on issues relevant to men, it does not explore the reasons why men live on average shorter lives compared to women. Also - referring to men as "males" seems denigrating, and the author points out that men are emotionally dependent on women in order to live a happy life." I feel that the Globe should be applauded for covering such a rarely talked about topic, though - the lonliness of older men is a problem we should care about as a men's issue.

I feel obliged to say something, however unqualified I am to say it, about today's tragedy at the World Trade Center, and offer the condolences of the Mensactivism.org admin team to those who have suffered a personal loss from the attack. Certainly, every U.S. citizen, and most people in the world have felt the sting of this attack on human dignity and freedom. In particular, I hope the best for the folks I met in NYC recently who were organized and promoting men's rights there, and that they are safe at this time.

This column in alternative newsweekly OC Weekly raised the ire of several readers who wrote in to defend a man's right to keep his foreskin. The column writer was called sexist and a bigot for the statements of disgust she makes in her "censorship" column about uncut men.