Article here. Excerpt:

'It may seem like a stretch to warn that drafting teenage girls is upon us, but consider what happened after President Carter, in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Iranian hostage crisis, called for mandatory Selective Service registration for all young men.

As former Investor's Business Daily Washington bureau chief Brian Mitchell pointed out in his 1999 book "Women in the Military: Flirting With Disaster," the legislation Carter sent to Congress the next week "included young women on an equal basis with young men" in Selective Service, because according to Carter "there is no distinction possible ... that would allow me to exclude women from an obligation to register."

Fortunately, Congress — under Democratic control, no less — swiftly squashed the idea of forcing women to register for a potential wartime draft.

Article here. Excerpt:

'His name is Mel Feit and he's the founder of the National Center for Men, a men's rights group based in Coram, New York.

"Men's rights," may sound oxymoronic—and perverse, something akin to "white rights"—but to Mel and his band of brothers it's no joke. They believe men's equal rights are challenged by unfair child support obligations, a family law system that privileges mothers in child custody cases, the trivialization of female-on-male domestic violence, the cultural vilification of male sexuality, and social customs that impose an outdated (and crippling) expectation of masculinity on men.

The NCM has advanced its many causes through counseling services, helping men find family law experts, staging protests at women-only establishments, and using the media to trumpet their movement.

Article here. Excerpt:

'If the United States had previously allowed women to serve officially in military combat roles, including special operations forces, there might be fewer sexual assaults in the armed services, the Pentagon's top general told reporters Thursday.
...
Dempsey appeared to chafe when asked by a reporter about his personal opinions on whether women would affect combat readiness: "I graduated from West Point in 1974. It was an all-male institution. I went back to teach at West Point in 1984 and found the place far better than it was when I had been a cadet... I attributed a good amount of that to the fact that we opened up the academy to women."
...
Both men conceded that they didn't know if this move means that women will have to register for the draft with Selective Service, as young men are required to do. "That's not our operation," Panetta said, stumbling over his words, then adding, "I don't know who the hell controls Selective Service, to tell the truth."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'While a draft is not likely, registration for the draft (for males) is a reality. Almost all male U.S. citizens, and male aliens living in the U.S., who are 18 through 25, are required to register with Selective Service.

CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT REGISTERING:

The maximum penalty for failing to register with Selective Service is a $250,000 fine and up to five years in prison. Failure to register will cause ineligibility for a number of federal and state benefits including:

FEDERAL JOBS

A man must be registered to be eligible for jobs in the Executive Branch of the Federal government and the U.S. Postal Service. This applies only to men born after December 31, 1959.

STUDENT FINANCIAL AID

Men who are not registered with Selective Service cannot obtain Federal student loans or grants. This includes Pell Grants, College Work Study, Guaranteed Student/Plus Loans, and National Direct Student Loans.'

Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bills were introduced in the Senate and House on Tuesday.
 
The two bills are very similar to last year's version, except the new proposals remove a provision to increase the number of U visas, given to immigrant abuse victims who agree to cooperate with criminal justice officials; and include the SAFER Act, which provides for audits of untested rape kits.
 
SAVE supports measures to reduce the backlog of rape kits.
 
Unfortunately, the Senate and House bills, S. 47 and H.R. 11 ignore the well-documented problems with VAWA, which are outlined in SAVE's Mandate for Change: http://www.saveservices.org/mandate-for-change/

Article here. Excerpt:

'Fathers and Families has just introduced five family law bills in the 2013 Massachusetts session.

Representative Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, worked with Fathers and Families to submit legislation on presumption of shared parenting, military child custody, removals, parental involvement with childcare, and establishing paternity.
...
According to Representative Gary, ”As far as I am concerned, the most important people in a child’s life is their mother and father. A child should have as much access to them as possible as long as there is no abuse or detrimental effect on the child. Shared parenting is key in maintaining the connection to children by both of their parents.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Bulimia, anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders, long thought to be serious problems for many women, are showing up among surprisingly large numbers of men, some of whom are starving themselves or exercising obsessively to look like the pictures in men's magazines.

Yet neither men themselves, nor most doctors, think of males as being at risk for these illnesses, experts say.

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK – If lawmakers and authorities are truly concerned about stopping gun violence in schools, they need to take a close look at the prescription of psychotropic drugs for children and young people, says a leading psychiatrist.

In an exclusive in-person interview in New York City with WND, London-based Dr. David Healy* criticized pharmaceutical companies that have made billions of dollars marketing Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, known as SSRIs.

Psychotropic drugs “prescribed for school children cause violent behavior,” Healy stated.
...
Healey cautioned that there is a very high correlation between mass shootings and use of the drugs.

“When roughly nine out of every 10 cases in these school shootings and mass shootings involve these drugs being prescribed, then at least a significant proportion of these cases were either caused by the drugs or the drugs made a significant contribution to the problem,” he said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Since March 2011, the Men’s Health Forum in Ireland (MHFI - www.mhfi.org) has been working on an all-Ireland ‘Young Men and Suicide Project’ (YMSP). This cross-Border initiative was jointly funded by the Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland and the National Office for Suicide Prevention in the Republic of Ireland.

On Wednesday 23rd January 2013, the report on this project will be launched at noon at two separate short events which are being held in Belfast and Dublin. In Belfast, the report will be officially launched by Minister for Health, Edwin Poots MLA, while Minister of State Kathleen Lynch TD will launch it in Dublin.

Story here. Excerpt:

'A former high school teacher in Texas has been indicted over accusations she had sex with four of her students.

According to a September 2011 search warrant, parents of a graduate and former student of Tonya Flink, 39, reported to police that their son was living with her at her apartment.

They told police that they believed the relationship began while their son was a senior at Haltom High School in Haltom City, which is near Fort Worth.

In the same month, investigators learned of other relationships, according to the warrant.

According to the report from police, the former student in question admitted that the relationship began when he would stay after school and Flink would help him with his grades. Flirting led to Flink "pushing herself onto him," according to police.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today The Boys Initiative announced the appointment of David L. Bell, MD, MPH, Arthur Elster, MD, MJ, and Arik Marcell, MD, MPH to serve as founding members of the steering committee to guide its groundbreaking project Health Guidelines for Adolescent and Young Adult Males.
...
The Health Guidelines for Adolescent and Young Adult Males project is a collaborative endeavor to 1) identify promising clinical interventions, appropriate clinical settings and patient incentives for adolescent and young adult male health; 2) create clinical prevention guidelines for this population;  3) distribute and foster application of those guidelines in clinical practice; 4) foster relevant public and continuing medical education programs; and 5) promote public policies that will advance adoption of the guidelines in clinical practice.

Article here. Excerpt:

'U.S. women who smoke today have a much greater risk of dying from lung cancer than they did decades ago, partly because they are starting younger and smoking more - that is, they are lighting up like men, new research shows.

Men who smoke have long had higher lung cancer death rates, but now women have caught up in their risk of dying from smoking-related illnesses. Lung cancer risk leveled off in the 1980s for men but is still rising for women, the study found.

"It's a massive failure in prevention," said one study leader, Dr. Michael Thun of the American Cancer Society. And it's likely to repeat itself in places like China and Indonesia where smoking is growing, he said. About 1.3 billion people worldwide smoke.
...
Smoking needs more attention as a health hazard, Dr. Steven A. Schroeder of the University of California, San Francisco, wrote in a commentary in the journal.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Amid all the predictable feminist cheering we will no doubt hear about the "barriers" in the military falling now that women can be assigned to fight in ground combat units, there should also be a place for some sober debate and consideration.

There have long been reasons that women have been precluded from such assignments -- reasons that have nothing to do with invidious sexism. Rather, they stem from the physical requirements of the job, and the imperative of keeping our soldiers safe.
...
When women work in close combat with men, if they struggle to meet the physical demands of their tasks, that doesn't just put them in danger -- it also endangers the men who serve alongside them.  If the Obama administration determines that an "insufficient" number of women are serving in the newly-opened positions, will we see the kind of "gender norming" that has occurred elsewhere in the military with less-than-stellar results?

Article here. Excerpt:

'Now that the Pentagon is lifting its ban on women in combat, does this mean that women could potentially be drafted, too?

And as a practical matter: When women turn 18, will they now need to register, as men do, so that they can be conscripted in the event of a World War III, or any military emergency where the US government decides it needs troops quickly?

It’s a thorny question, raising what may be a difficult prospect societally. But the legal implications are obvious, analysts argue.

Article here.

'WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior defense officials say Pentagon chief Leon Panetta is removing the military's ban on women serving in combat, opening hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando jobs after more than a decade at war.

The groundbreaking move recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff overturns a 1994 rule banning women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Panetta's decision gives the military services until January 2016 to seek special exceptions if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.'