Article here. Excerpt:

"No. 1 deadbeat parent pleads guilty to owing $1.2 million" reads the headline from the Associated Press. The article details a father fleeing first to Florida and then to Thailand, resulting in child-support arrears since 2002.

His name is Robert Sand and he sits in jail. Deported from the Philippines in November, he was sent to Los Angeles where he was arrested by federal marshals, and then extradited to New York where he has been held without bail since December. Next, this dad became front-page news. The AP article was careful to use the term "deadbeat parent," but my Facebook feed doesn't subscribe to such neutral speech. My page lit up with moms rallying in solidarity. The target? Deadbeat dads.
...
Are there toxic parents who neither love nor support their child? Sure. But forced money gained can't disguise that ugliness. A child who experiences a truly negative parent doesn't need money, they need healing. It's hard to heal a child's pain when the focus is on the toxic parent.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In my practice as a divorce lawyer, the vast majority of the fathers whom I have represented want to remain actively involved as parents after their divorce has been settled. Very few want to sever ties with their children, even when they cannot stand the sight of their ex-wives.
...
From my perspective, the courts should not arbitrarily favor mothers over fathers. I believe firmly that the spouse who has served as the primary parental figure should remain in that role after the divorce has been finalized. And as such, they should receive a corresponding amount of the post-divorce estate. This is the case regardless of the gender of the primary conservator.
...
And now, for my fellow mothers who are reading this article:

Story here. Excerpt:

'Have you ever wondered if you were raising another man’s child?

We sure hope not! This sounds like something you’d hear on a soap opera.

Unfortunately, that was the nagging question on Richard Rodwell’s mind soon after his marriage to his wife Helen fell apart.

As their marriage began deteriorating, Helen would disappear from their home in Peterborough, England, for several days at a time without letting her family know where she was. And when she would return and he would ask where she had been, she would say, “It has nothing to do with you.” This woman would never even leave a note or message letting her husband or children in on her whereabouts.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'In a rare show of solidarity, Governor O’Malley and Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot have sent the Towson University President a message.

Both want Maravene Loeschke to come to Annapolis to explain how her school’s baseball and soccer teams were eliminated. And, in the meantime, they are both refusing to vote on Towson University’s planned construction of a building on the Harford Community College campus.

Loeschke confirmed to WBAL News that she is planning to meet with the two officials. She added that she was suprised by the request from the Governor and Comptroller.

Earlier this month, President Loeschke talked to a hastily called meeting of the men’s baseball and soccer teams and told the players the sports were being eliminated. According to reports, she walked into the meeting with uniformed police officers, delivered the message and left without taking any questions.'

Latest interview with Mike Buchanan available on YouTube here. The channel page is here. The official blog is here. Excerpt:

'Welcome to the official blog of a new British political party. The party will seek to raise public consciousness about the many disadvantages and discriminations faced by men and boys in modern Britain.

An article published on a leading men’s human rights website, ‘A Voice for Men’, reveals some of the thinking behind our decision to form a new party:

http://www.avoiceformen.com/feminism/government-tyranny/fighting-feminism-lets-get-political/
...
Thank you for your interest. We’re working for a brighter future for men and boys, and the women who love them.'

The new VAWA Inclusion Mandate offers us countless opportunities to reform the domestic violence field - abuse shelters, criminal justice programs, information and training activities, and more.
 
Now we need to seize the moment - carpe diem! On Monday, SAVE will be unveiling our new Inclusive-VAWA Resource Center: http://www.saveservices.org/inclusive-vawa/resources
 
Whether you are an activist, a citizen-lobbyist, a blogger, or whatever, you can help make this happen.
 
Join us for a one-hour teleconference, Monday evening, 9pm ET, 8pm Central, 7pm Mountain, 6pm Pacific. To get dial-in information, send me a message at tstoddard-at-saveservices.org
 

Teri Stoddard, Program Director
Stop Abusive and Violent Environments   
www.saveservices.org

CNN hits bottom in the title* for this article by assuming that the default for boys is to grow up to be rapists. Excerpt:

'In the aftermath of the guilty verdict in Steubenville, Ohio, parents should be taking this opportunity to ask themselves this painful question. But what parent can even contemplate that a child they love could so callously disregard someone's basic human rights? At the same time, the media is filled with experts chastising parents for not being involved with their kids and wanting to be a friend instead of a parent.
...
We must talk to our kids as possible perpetrators and bystanders. And our advice about what to say has got to go beyond, "How would you feel if this happened to your mother or sister?" First, no one has any idea what the perpetrator's relationship is like with those women in his life, but it's not a huge leap to think he doesn't hold a great deal of respect for them. Second, these boys have dehumanized their victim. In that moment, they don't care.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'An unnamed mother, who pleaded guilty to attempting to kill her two young children in a murder-suicide, received a prison sentence in Melfort on Thursday.

Justice R.S. Smith handed down a sentence of four years in a penitentiary, less one year for time served in remand.
...
Defense counsel brought up the fact that after her arrest, the woman had gone through a psychiatric assessment that found her to be suffering from severe paranoia and depression.

The defense went on to suggest that at the time of the incident the mother was not in the proper state of mind due to her depression. She stated the mother had said she had suffered a lot from abuse from men and she wanted to save her children from that abuse.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I recently read a magazine article that explored the problems modern men face, which, despite all the hoopla, aren’t as serious as, say, the problems men faced during the Great Depression or World War II.

The headline asked, “What makes a real man anyway?” The writer suggested that things are going terribly wrong, so men need more therapy and medication. That’s certainly original thinking. While some social critics blame the feminist movement for our disorientation, I have doubts about that theory. If anything, we’re to blame for the problems women face.

Nevertheless, I’m worried about young men, because they don’t seem to be motivated by anything but money, power, sex, and partying. There has to be more to a man’s life than that. (OK, maybe iPhones, sports cars and video games instead.)'

Article here. Excerpt:

'It has been a hard year but very slowly I can see more and more people are beginning to realise that domestic violence is not and never has been a gender issue.

Also the gender war against men and boys has resulted in the collapse of family life and and created a hostile environment for relationships between the sexes.

Western governments played their part in refusing to see quite clearly that the state has usurped the role of fathers.

Men as fathers are being forcibly made redundant.

The new family is now ‘woman and their children.’

Story here. Excerpt:

'The mayor of Dallas has unveiled a list of professional athletes and religious leaders who have signed on to help his campaign against domestic violence.

The campaign asks men to report abuse, help people who are being abused and volunteer with organizations that are helping.

The centerpiece of Mayor Mike Rawlings' campaign is the Men Against Abuse rally scheduled for Saturday at Dallas City Hall.
...
"We must stand together and that means, simply, not hitting women -- ever," Rawlings said.'

Meanwhile, Police: Woman kills husband, kids, self near Dallas:

'MESQUITE, TX -- A woman shot and killed her husband and two young adult children before killing herself in their suburban Dallas home, investigators said Thursday.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A privately funded shelter for male victims of domestic abuse — believed to be the only refuge of its kind in the country — has closed.

Men’s rights advocate Earl Silverman said he can’t afford to keep the Men’s Alternative Safe House (MASH) running.

Since it opened out of his house about three years ago, close to 20 men have passed through, he said. Among them was a “father with two children, a one-year-old girl and a nine-year-old boy and he was fleeing a violent, alcoholic wife.”

Absent of federal or provincial funding, Mr. Silverman said he just can’t keep up with the grocery, heat and other bills associated with running the shelter. He said he sold his home last week.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Administrators with the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) say it won’t just be “men” standing up against domestic violence at the Dallas Men Against Abuse rally happening this weekend.

According to school district officials, some 1,000 male students will join in the call to ‘man up’ and end domestic violence. A number of DISD students are featured in Dallas public service announcements. “I pledge to hold my male friends accountable for their violent actions,” one teen declared in a video.'

Story here. Excerpt:

Facebook (FB) Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has been on a high-profile publicity tour for her new book. She's been interviewed by CBS news magazine "60 Minutes," ABC's "Nightline" and CNN, among others.
...
Did Sandberg and Knopf, publisher of her book "Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead," request or choose interviewers based on the sex of the interviewer? Maybe Sandberg is hoping to give the female journalists some advancement with a plum interview. Or did news organizations pander to Sandberg and Knopf by suggesting a woman do the interviewing? The assumption is that female journalists would be more sympathetic to Sandberg's message.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Deputy Montfort Tadier said April's referendum is a great opportunity to encourage more women into government.

The referendum sets three questions over how the island's government is made up in future.

He said seats could be allocated as women only if islanders agreed to create larger political districts.

But Deputy Kristina Moore, first elected in 2011, said: "We have the same percentage of women as the UK, and thankfully our male colleagues treat us with much more respect than their counterparts."'