Click on "Read More..." to view the National Coalition of Free Men's e-mail newsletter, the NCFM E-Zine. The National Coalition of Free Men (NCFM) is a non-profit educational organization that examines the way sex discrimination affects men. It also tries to raise public consciousness about little known, but important, topics dealing with the male experience. Their web site can be found at http://www.ncfm.org.

This article from The Washington Post gives a mixed message with regard to the gender "wage gap". Several fields are mentioned where women make more than men, but the author is quick to say that women still earn less than men in many jobs. It looks to me like this author is on the fence - and it would be a great opportunity to write to The Washington Post and give them some well researched facts. (Such as these, for instance?)

Andrew Sullivan laments the lack of intellectualism among men today, and asks what needs to be done for masculinity to be seen as something more than what is printed in "men's magazines". His ideas: the revival of all-male institutions and for men to meet together regularly and form strong relationships with one another. I believe this article has some good thoughts on issues that successful men's organizations are addressing. An occasional reference to men being more powerful than women is outweighed by the relevance of the article to men's issues. The New Republic printed the article here.

Many people are unaware of the incredibly low percentage of male teachers in early childhood, elementary, and middle school education. This Associated Press article discusses the issue and talks about the importance of male teachers as role models for young children, especially boys.

The New York Post reports that schools in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan have adopted outrageous guidelines regarding sexual harassment - which apply all the way down to preschool-aged children. Actions that can be identified and treated as sexual harassment under these rules include sexual jokes and teasing. Certainly sexual harassment can be a legitimate issue in high school and even middle school, but I think in the context of 4-6 year olds an "unwanted kiss" shouldn't be identified as "sexual harassment". The article can be read here.

In Australia, thousands of police officers have been asked to offer samples of their DNA to rule them out as suspects in crimes. But many of them are refusing for the specific reason that they don't want the genetic information used against them in paternity suits! Apparently the police are well aware of the immense power that child support agencies have, and are frightened for good reason about it. The article was found in The Daily Express Micro Edition, and can be found here.

First we had Kathleen Parker's commentary on Central Park, and now Cathy Young has written this story in the Jewish World Review. More insightful views on the way gender has been superimposed upon the event by the powers-that-be (in particular, NOW).

Salon magazine has printed a controversial article which looks into the possibility that circumcision can help prevent the spread AIDS. The evidence mentioned in the article does not prove the relationship 100%, but does suggest that more research be done to examine the effect that circumcision has on the transmission or contraction of AIDS.

Some very encouraging news on men's reproductive rights: Maryland's highest court ruled that men have the right to modify or nullify their paternity agreement if a DNA test proves they are not the father of the child(ren) they are raising. Read this article from The Nando Times. In most states, a father is still required to pay child support for children that are not his if he doesn't challenge his paternity status within a certain time period from the child's birth. This situation unfairly benefits women who fraudulently deceive men into becoming parents, and is not a rare phenomenon. It's good to hear that unknowingly enslaved men have some way out of such an unfair situation, at least in Maryland now. Update: There's another article from The Washington Post here. It adds several details to the story, including the fact that men will not be allowed to demand repayment of past child support payments.

There is an article in the Orlando Sentinel by Kathleen Parker about the recent attacks on women in Central Park. Parker tries to defuse the gender blame-game that's going on right now, and look at it not as any norm of male behavior but as the despicable event that it is, independent of gender.

As you may know, Elian Gonzalez has permanently returned to Cuba with his father. The saga has come to and end. Here are several news reports on the event and the Supreme Court decision: CNN, ABCnews, Reuters, and Associated Press. Rather than write my own comments on this story, I've received permission to re-print Ed Bartlett's e-mail, The Mirror of Elian Gonzalez, which I feel sums up this ordeal very well.

Joe submitted this interesting article from The Boston Globe in which a unique compromise was made for child custody between two divorcing parents: one parent will have the child on weekdays, the other on weekends, and this arrangement will be reversed every year for each parent. Could this be a reasonable compromise for child custody disputes?

WorldNetDaily featured a story today that outlined information on proposed "baby abandonment" laws presented to the North Carolina General Assembly, House Bill 1616 and Senate Bill 1257. From the article, it seems that the wording of the bills is gender neutral, and there is also a brief mention of father's rights in regard to women abandoning babies without informing them. Whether you agree with the idea of voluntary baby abandonment or not, it would be wrong to make these laws only applicable to the mother, as it would end up pushing men's reproductive rights even further behind than they already are.

You can find an excellent review of Christina Hoff Sommer's new book The War Against Boys here. Cathy Young, another great campaigner of equity feminism, gives an in depth and insightful review of the book in Salon magazine. She is sometimes critical of Sommer's claims, but that's what makes a good review - to hear the good and the bad about the work (and certainly there is always both).

USA Today had an article urging men to visit their doctor on a regular basis, with several anecdotes about men who had close calls because of their distant relationships with their doctors. There are a couple of annoying lines in the article (such as, "Most men are more powerful than women at every level of social and economic class"), but nevertheless the article still gives some very good and pertinent advice for men.