“American Secret” is a film about an outdated medical practice, but at core the film is an examination of how memes proliferate, how ideas spread, and how thought patterns take hold.

The film also explores questions we rarely ask ourselves, such as how we decide what we’re going to think about, what we’re going to reconsider, what we’re going to resist, and what we aren’t. The film’s overarching questions being: “How do we come to believe what we believe?” and “What role do reason and fact play in establishing or changing our beliefs?”

Announcement here. Looks like the governor has drunk the Wage Gap Kool-Aid. No one ever bet wrong however pandering politically to women as a group. At least, not so far. I do wonder when there'll be a similar Act addressing such things as paternity fraud, protections for men against false accusations, equal rights around child custody, reproductive rights, etc.? Maybe he'll announce that next month? (ROTFL!) Well, New York men can dream, I suppose. Excerpt:

'Today, Governor Cuomo, joined by members of the Women’s Equality Coalition, introduced legislation to end discrimination and inequality based on gender and to restore New York as a leader in women’s rights.

This Women’s Equality Act includes the following 10 points:

Well, IMHO, anyway. In fact it looks to me like both parties got off way too lightly. Still, the drunk female driver will likely walk with time served. The male one, probably 10 years. Meanwhile, a perfectly sober law-biding citizen is dead. Justice served here? Not in my opinion. Not by a long shot. Here is the story. Excerpt:

Article here. There is a literature prize in the UK that is only open to women. In the UK more books are published by women than men. The highest earning writer in the UK is female. There is no separate literature competition for men. In the past the prize was sponsored by a mobile phone company. Some men have boycotted the phone company. The prize is now being sponsored by Diageo, the multi-national drinks company. I, for one, will avoid products of this company until men are allowed to enter the competition. They have many products!

Article here. Excerpt:

'Former prosecutor Nancy Grace went to the Estrella Jail and spoke with six female inmates like the ones she once locked away. The women opened up about their fellow inmate, Jodi Arias.
...
“She likes to sing,” said Rosa Leon, a pregnant mother accused of first-degree aggravated assault.

“Yeah, she sings really good,” added accused murderer Stephanie Conley.

“She’s an amazing person,” Key said.
...
Nancy Grace: I know, but why did she have to stab Travis Alexander nine times in the back?

“She was angry,” Key said.

“Nobody knows the real story though. Nobody does. Only God and her and the man that’s dead,” said Dean.'

Article here. Kathleen Parker makes an effort at defending dads and men. Could be stronger but she raises good points. But I always wonder: Are some women really so morally arrogant they believe they're only ones necessary to human existence? Excerpt:

'News that women increasingly are the leading or sole breadwinner in the American family has resurrected the perennial question: Why do we need men?
...
My argument that men should be saved is that, despite certain imperfections, men are fundamentally good and are sort of pleasant to have around. Most women still like to fall in love with them; all children want a father no matter how often we try to persuade ourselves otherwise. If we continue to impose low expectations and negative messaging on men and boys, future women won't have much to choose from.

We are nearly there.

So, you're thinking about attending SAVE's 2013 conference on false allegations, "Celebrating our Progress," but you're just not sure? Did you know that conference attendees can request to join a SAVE team for a day of lobbying?

We'll be lobbying Congress on Friday, June 21. Then we'll head over to McPherson Square for dinner and a Skype call with Erin Pizzey, founder of the abuse shelter movement.

You can request to join a lobbying team, even if you've never lobbied before. There will be a mandatory orientation conference call June 12. And we'll meet Friday morning to go over last minute details.

Visit SAVE for more info: http://www.saveservices.org/dvlp/annual-conference-2013/
Register for the conference: http://celebratingourprogress.eventbrite.com/

Once you've registered, let me know by June 10th that you want to lobby: tstoddard-at-saveservices.org

I'm looking forward to this, are you?

I think we all have a sense that the world does a lot of pandering to women, and very little to men. Society, businesses, charities, governments, women, and men all seem to put women up on a pedestal. But just how bad is it? I decided to do an informal survey. For one week I noted all examples of gender promotions, or exclusiveness, or pandering, both to men and women. I counted all examples that I saw referenced, whether or not the actual events occurred during the week.

I counted 125 instances of pandering to women. Most of these were from the news. I wasn't looking at Oxygen or Katie or Ms Magazine. If you think the count for pandering to men was a big gander egg, you'd be wrong. I actually found one instance, although I suppose one could argue that it was more about women than men: 125 to 1. How can women complain about anything when they receive so much more attention than men? How can men feel like anything other than second-class, inferior, or worth less than the afterbirth? (Actually, I did hear a story about placentas during the week, so men and placentas were tied for amount of media attention.)

A report was in the news during this week concerning sexual abuse in the military. Even though the report noted that most of the victims were men, only one of the 22 news segments on this issue mentioned this fact (an interview with Barbara Boxer on MSNBC's The Place for Politics.) There were two references to the victims as men and women on Meet the Press before other remarks focused on the female victims. All other news stories behaved as if women were the only victims. And a CBS Evening News segment actually said incorrectly that all of the victims were women.

Story here. Excerpt:

"LAS VEGAS (AP) — Singer-actress Pia Zadora was arrested at her Las Vegas home over the weekend following a rapidly escalating attempt to impose a bedtime on her teenage son.
...
Zadora's son was hanging out with her husband and his son when she asked him to turn in. When he protested, she sprayed him and his step-brother with a hose, according to her statement to police.

She then began scratching and punching her husband, Michael Jeffries, and his son as they tried to calm her down, according to the 16-year-old's statement to police.

He later called 911, but his mother attempted to wrestle the phone away from him, according to the report, injuring his ear in the process.

When he got through, the 16-year-old told the dispatcher that "his mother was going crazy and her hands were around his neck."

He said all three of his family members ultimately prevented him from going to answer the door when police arrived. This led to an hours-long stakeout of the house.'

From last month, but a good article just saying it like it is, here. Excerpt:

'Far from being an unlucky, isolated example, my friend is one of the growing number of men who find themselves losing everything through divorce.

Meanwhile, women, ever more, seem to be living by the principle of ‘don’t get mad, get everything’.

And often, they go on getting everything for years, long after time has been called on their marriage.

In these days of equal education, opportunities and access to professions, women are still humiliating themselves by expecting (and receiving) huge and continuing settlements when a marriage ends.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Allison Lear, granddaughter of Learjet inventor William “Bill” Lear, lost her boyfriend in a violent car race crash near Virginia City in 2010.

Article here.

'Even though Jodi Arias has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of her ex-boyfriend, are there still people out there that support her?

Psychologist Cheryl Arutt said that type of person is “somebody who is looking for attention by association. There is a personality that wants to kind of piggyback on somebody else for either fame or notoriety.”

But attorney Mark Eiglarsh noted, “Every one of [those types of people] has the ability to serve on any potential jury. When you wonder how come there's no slam dunks in the justice system, it's because everyone is randomly called and can have their own as-crazy-as-they-want thought processes."

Since the jury could not come to a unanimous decision in the sentencing phase, a new penalty phase with a new jury has been scheduled for July 18.'

----

Jodi Arias Facebook support Page with over 2300 likes.

An unethical and outrageous circumcision study has been approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study, which is being conducted at Good Samaritan Catholic hospital in Cincinnati on 200+ infant boys, is using these ridiculous criteria to determine which of two circumcision clamps is “better”:

1. the weight of blood soaked gauzes after the procedure;
2. neonatal pain score based on babies’ vital signs;
3. grimaces and facial expressions during the surgery.

Georganne Chapin, Executive Director of Intact America, together with leaders of several other intactivist organizations, have sent a letter opposing the study to the hospital's CEO and legal counsel, as well as the Archbishop of Cincinnati. Intact America is also preparing a petition to the NIH.

Read the study's description here.

Story here. Excerpt:

'ROUTT COUNTY, Colo. — A woman shot and killed her 9-year-old son and then shot herself at a home near Steamboat Springs Wednesday, according to the woman’s husband.

Deputies from the Routt County Sheriff’s Office were called to a home on a report of an attempted suicide with multiple victims at 2:55 a.m.

Investigators say the resident of the home, Michael Kirlan met deputies and told them his son was dead inside the house, and his wife, Lisa Marie Lesyshen, 45, was upstairs with a gun.

They found the boy, 9-year-old Asher and then his mother. She was unconscious with a gunshot wound. Paramedics took her to the Yampa Valley Medical Center for treatment.

The boy was a third-grader at Soda Creek Elementary in Steamboat Springs according to Steamboat Today.'

The US government actually has a web page for it this year! It can found at http://www.foh.hhs.gov/Calendar/june.html. Suppose it'll get nearly as much exposure as women's health months/weeks/years get? Will there be seminars at workplaces and little ribbons and 5K runs to go to? Hmmm... doubt it. Excerpt: