Men's rights news seems kind of slow lately...but I recently found this article from the Huntsville Times that outlines a child custody study done by a local father's rights group in Madison County, Alabama. The findings shouldn't be a big surprise to any of my readers (there was extreme bias against giving custody to the father), but it's interesting that there is data in this level of detail for a local community. It might be useful to keep for future reference.

Ed Bartlett from Men's Health America announced, "Many persons may not be aware that a great deal of medical research is done by the Department of Defense. Much of this research addresses
cancer. On August 9, President Clinton signed into law a bill that will increase the DOD prostate cancer research budget from $75 million to $100 million for Fiscal Year 2000. Congratulations to those who worked long and hard to make this increase in the prostate research budget a reality."

Here's some new news on the Lane domestic violence tragedy: Deidra Lane told the 911 operator that her husband had hit and choked her before she shot and killed him. ABCnews has the story here. Want to see something interesting? Observe how little attention this case got up until this point, and then see how much attention it will be given from this point on. It was not stated in the article if there was any physical evidence, ie, a physician's report, that would validate her claims of being abused.

An anonymous reader sent in this link to a short UK Times article on male suicide - in an interesting context. Apparently it is the case that power line workers and people (generally men) who work with large electrical machinery are more likely to kill themselves. The reason for this is that exposure to high magnetic fields affects the levels of melatonin in the brain. Perhaps this should call for suicide prevention programs at these types of workplaces?

Okay, I've now got some pictures from the male reproductive rights demonstration held in Washington, D.C. on August 26, 2000. You can check them out here. Congratulations to all of the protesters and thanks for getting the ball rolling!

Chuck Jones from North Carolina State University will be starting a men's group on campus. News of this is already causing a stir, and you can tune in to the college radio station at this link to hear Chuck on the radio on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at 6:00 PM Eastern Time. Way to go Chuck!

The Australian Sunday Telegraph printed this story on the imbalance of female teachers in primary schools, which is acknowledged to have a negative effect on boys. It refers to a federal study which shows that Australian boys are 5% behind girls in academics, and suggests that the gap may be much larger (15-22%) than this.

This is interesting: the Supreme Court of California recently ruled that sperm donors do not have an unlimited right to privacy, and can be forced to testify in court when a compelling state interest is at stake. This could also have profound affects on the privacy of couples who choose to give up a baby for adoption. FindLaw has the Associated Press story here.

This is disturbing news: the media and feminist activists have been joining forces recently in Europe to portray men as sexual predators of young children. This was sparked the the recent "naming and shaming" campaign which lists convicted sex offenders in local newspapers in the UK. Read the National Post story. I've followed much of this news from IHF, but have not bothered to post any of it here until now. This has been building up for some time, and one can only hope that it won't spread to the U.S.

Peter Zohrab writes "My book, "Sex, Lies & Feminism" is now on sale at:

this site
in electronic (PDF/Acrobat) format.

It will later appear in hard-copy (paper) format. For updates, see:

http://www.backlash.com" Thanks for the news, Peter! Anyone want to do a book review to post here?

Here's some more news on Fred Lane, who was shot by his wife early in July. Was he killed so his wife could collect $5 million from an insurance policy that was recently taken out for him? "'Fred Lane had no value to Deidra Lane while he was alive,' [the prosecuting attorney] said. 'The state contends this was first-degree murder. She laid in wait to kill him.'" Lane's wife could face the death penalty, so why was she jailed on only $100k bond? This is appalling. ESPN.com ran the story here.

George writes "This is the most recent development in the shotgun death of NFL running back Fred Lane. The wife, Deidra Lane, appears to be the major suspect. All of the facts are not yet clear, but this may be one to keep an eye on to observe how 'gender-neutrally' the case is handled. The judge has already granted a bond release despite the strong argument of the prosecutor. Click here to read the story"

Stephen Baskerville wrote an excellent article for DadsDivorce.com, entitled, "What We (Should) Want". In it, he discusses his theory on what divorce law should be, with the primary premise that "No one has the right to separate a child from a parent without compelling evidence of wrongdoing." His ideas go further than mandatory joint custody and the "best interests of the child", which is practically meaningless the way it is applied today. It's a good, thoughtful read.

I received a phone call from Kim, who's with the group demonstrating at the West Front of the Capitol Building to promote men's reproductive rights. They're picketing, handing out flyers, and informing passers-by about choice for men. They'll be there until 5 PM. I've called the Washington Post, but if anyone in the DC area knows anyone else to call to try to get some reporters down there, please do so! Thanks!

Okay, I don't think this is true for all women, but quite a few. The National Post printed this story on how women essentially use men for their money, and feel no guilt about it. Why? "When men hand you money, you're just being treated as you deserve to be treated...It's the new feminism to say, 'I'm expensive. I need lots of attention. I need men to bend over backwards for me'" If men would fully realize this and stop playing into this trap, we would be so much further ahead. Be sure to send this article to every man you know and observe his reaction. Thanks to Peter Dudley for submitting this news story.