The Sun-Sentinel is reporting that activist groups are pushing for new laws that will make the willful nonpayment of child support in excess of $5k a felony. The law would not apply to people who are in tight financial situations and are unable to pay. While I'm not arguing that willful non-payers of child support shouldn't be punished, I find this disappointing in light of the fact that there still exist no laws which enforce a father's visitation rights, or require the custodial parent to account for how child support money is spent.

David Byron writes "New Jersey Online reports a new study by the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice in this article. As usual from the 'injustice' department, the study is biased towards women - nothing new there - however despite the best gloss that they could put on the result, the study blasts away most feminist claims about college rape. The original report can be found here in text format." Click "Read More" below to see some more important comments that David has about the study and some points about ways to interpret it.

Kingsley Morse, Jr. forwarded me this press release about an upcoming session in the Georgia senate about the problem of paternity fraud. "Now is the time to END PATERNITY FRAUD as a legally protected extortion against men. The constitution says the law is supposed to provide equal protection for it's citizens. Georgia must protect the real victim and provide restitution to those who have been victimized. Join us today, at the Georgia State Capitol's Legislative Office Building on Wednesday, January 31, 2001 @ 5:00PM. We need 100 people, victims, wives of victims, girlfriends of victims, fathers rights groups, men and women. Will you join us?" Contact information is provided in the press release. This looks to be a hopeful opportunity to air this issue and to get some results.

"An Edgy and Intelligent Magazine for ALL Men," The Guy Code featured The Men's Activism News Network in its weekly review of "encoded" web sites, giving this site the "Far More than Backlash" award, along with many kind words. Thanks guys!

Bill Kuhl sent in another good analysis of Montel Williams and his talk show, which may be one of the most far-reaching venues for "men's issues" that currently exists and is (at least in a lukewarm sense) voicing our concerns. Click "Read More" below for Bill's comments. And thanks to everyone who has been submitting editorials recently - I want Mensactivism.org to be a voice of the people who are participating in the men's movement and whose ideas deserve to be heard.

The National Post had an editorial piece by a woman who aptly uses the example of Alexander v. Alexander - the case where a woman who shot her husband is now seeking support money - to demonstrate the double standards of the Divorce Act and the problems of government regulating people's personal lives and private matters. It's time to end these laws that can require a man to pay his ex-wife after she cheated on him, abused him, or even tried to kill him.

Joe Dunbar recently attended an important meeting of the Fathers and Families organization, led by Ned Holstein. A description of their plans, both in philosophy and in specific goals are readable by clicking "Read More" below. Especially noteworthy is their formation of a Father's Legal Defense Fund. FAF and Ned have demonstrated a lot of initiative and an ability to work with other father's rights groups in a very synergistic manner, and I think we can expect to see much more from this group.

This Report to Congress from Men's Health America analyzes the data and concludes that men's health is being neglected at a rate of five times women's health in terms of funding and programs. "The first-ever survey of men's health programs in the
federal government has revealed that men's health trails women's health by a 5:1 margin. According to the Report to Congress: Men's Health Lags by a 5:1 Margin at DHHS, which was released today, the budget for men's health programs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services totaled $963.6 million, compared to $5 billion for women's health."

In encouraging news for Choice for Men supporters in the UK and abroad, a British judge ruled that a man may sue his ex-wife for paternity fraud and attempt to collect damages for raising a child who is not his own. The ruling "was welcomed as a caution to women tempted to hoodwink lovers into accepting responsibility for another man's child." You can read the story from the UK Telegraph at this link.

The Star from Canada is reporting that a woman who served two years in prison for shooting and almost killing her husband is now trying to sue him for alimony. "That she shot her husband in the face may be a moot point when determining support, since Canada's Divorce Act is 'no fault' and does not take prior conduct into consideration. Nor is there any statute of limitations for filing a claim." Her ex-husband is quoted as saying, "All I want her to do is back off, leave me alone. I still get headaches. I still have a bullet in the back of my spine."

Are whites better leaders? Are straight men more efficient than gay men? Are these kinds of questions similar? U.S. News magazine had an aritcle on the superiority of female leaders. Much of it has to do with the stereotype that women are more "holistic" and "web thinkers" than men, which like many stereotypes can contain a grain of truth but should not be reinforced due to the potential misuse of the stereotype - such as in making sweeping generalizations about the superority of one gender, race, etc. over another. The article is a perfect example of this.

Ed Bartlett from the Men's Health America list submitted this report from the Surgeon General on Youth Violence. As we know, youth violence generally means male youth violence, but this report successfully addressed this issue without stereotyping boys or stigmatizing them. It includes a list of myths about youth violence that I'd like everyone to read. Despite the way the media portrays it, we are not on the verge of an explosion of school violence - so let's calm the hysteria before young boys are systematically monitored for "potential" violent tendencies (but give treatment to those who have been violent).

This letter to the editor of the Oklahoman is great to see - the writer doing a point-by-point refutation of many myths about fathers, including "Fathers abandon families," "Dads don't want custody," and "Dads do not pay child support," among others. I like to see people speaking out in their local media on this - we need to encourage it as much as possible.

Len Miskulin, who has been hunger striking for over a month to protest the family court system that has barred him from seeing his children, has apparently had another major stumbling block to his cause. I have been unable to confirm the source of a press release that is circulating by e-mail, but it states that a media gag order has been issued by a British court, forbidding the use of Len's name or personal information in reports on his hunger strike. Effectively, it is undermining the media's ability to report on his case or to exercise free speech. This makes his cause all the more urgent - please visit Len's web site for updates or info on what's going on.

In this example, we can conclude with a resounding YES. In an "Ask Our Experts Column" from the femail web site, expert Sandra Davis gives this advice to a woman concerned about losing her children if she divorces her husband: "You will not lose your children by moving out. A court would be sympathetic to your reasons for leaving. Its view is 'mother is best' and your husband would have a hard job convincing them otherwise." While the reasons this woman wants to leave her marriage are valid, the response clearly indicates that despite the circumstances, it is widely believed that courts are biased in favor of mothers. I just thought this would be a useful reference as a "sign of the times."