Article here. Excerpt:

'Happy New Year! Arizona’s law, SB 1127, went into effect on January 1st. It requires the court to adopt a parenting plan that provides for both parents to share legal decision-making regarding their child and that maximizes their respective parenting time.

Arizona’s new law still requires judges to make decisions based on the children’s best interest, but their best interest now includes maximum time for both parents, although the new legislation does not specify the amount of time a child should spend with each parent. It does emphasize three aspects to contact with both parents: Frequency, Meaningfulness, and Continuity.'

Story here. I find this article of interest because it argues against the theory of the "demonic male" among apes. I have literally seen the argument made that men make lousy parents because male lions or polar bears allegedly kill their young. But such killings among apes, at least, are apparently rare--as is other war-like behavior. Excerpt:

Story here. Excerpt:

'Judge Bucci of the Berks County Court of Common Pleas recently barred a man from disclaiming paternity over a child, pursuant the common-law doctrine of “paternity by estoppel.”

In January 2012, the plaintiff, who is the mother of a 4-year-old girl, filed a complaint for support in the Berks County Domestic Relations Office, seeking financial support from her estranged husband, the defendant.

The man challenged the complaint and filed a petition for special relief, seeking an order for DNA testing to disestablish paternity.

According to the court’s opinion, the parties agreed that the girl was conceived and born during the marriage but is not the biological child of the man.

The court found that the girl child was, in fact, the product of an extramarital affair. Although the man suspected infidelity, according to the court’s opinion, the mother concealed the affair and assured the man that he was the biological father.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Rosin: What young people learn in church can no longer be reconciled with the realities of their lives. Yet men and women alike are finding it immensely difficult to accept their changed roles. This is why marriages are failing, and mothers are raising their children alone. Many women would rather remain alone than marry a man who can't contribute anything to the family's income.
...
SPIEGEL: That sounds very optimistic. But in your book, you describe couples for whom the fact that the woman was suddenly earning more money than the man caused considerable tension.

Rosin: That's true. These arrangements are so new that both men and women often have mixed feelings about them, and you don't have to dig very deep to find those feelings. I think one young man from Canada put it very well when he told me that theoretically and politically he believes in the idea of a househusband 100 percent -- he just doesn't want to be one himself.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Yesterday, a record 20 women were sworn in to the U.S. Senate. To mark the occasion ABC’s World News With Diane Sawyer had all of the female senators on for a group interview. One of the major topics of the discussion was the belief of many of the senators that they achieve better results than their male colleagues on a variety of issues including the budget, immigration reform and climate change. Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow got the ball rolling when she suggested women are more inclined to get results by working in a bipartisan manner.
...
Maine Senator Susan Collins took the argument a step further by saying if women were in charge of the Senate and in the White House there would be a solution to the budget debate that has gripped Washington.

Press release here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Anti-violence advocates are disappointed after the 112th Session of Congress ended without hammering out differences in the Senate and House versions of the Violence Against Women Act renewal. Last-minute talks between Vice President Joe Biden and House Leader Eric Cantor failed to resolve differences in provisions regarding immigrants, Indians, and lesbian/gay victims of intimate partner violence.
...
"The rhetoric has been over-the-top and personal attacks only serve to harm relationships that are essential for political compromise," explains SAVE spokesman Steve Blake. "As we move into the next session of Congress, SAVE hopes all key stakeholders can work together to develop a better law that will protect all victims."

Article here. Excerpt:

'TOPEKA, Kan. — The state agency seeking child support payments from a Topeka man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple says one of the women “clearly deceived” the department.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families in a court filing Wednesday also called into question the validity of a sperm donor contract between William Marotta and the couple, Jennifer Schreiner and Angela Bauer.

Marotta’s attorney called the agency’s filing “offensive.” Phone calls placed to the women Thursday afternoon weren’t immediately returned.

Documents show Schreiner indicated she didn’t know the name of the donor or “have any information” about him in her application for child support.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Over three years ago, a well-intentioned, 46-year-old race car mechanic in Kansas donated his sperm to a lesbian couple seeking to conceive a child. A written agreement that waived the donor's parental rights and financial obligations was executed between the parties at the time of delivery. However in October, Kansas filed a petition to have the donor legally declared the father of the three-year-old child and held responsible for support payments under state law. Citing a 2007 case before the Kansas Supreme Court, lawyers for the donor argued that their client bore no parental responsibilities because of his agreement with the couple. The case attracted national attention this week with the announcement of a January 8 hearing. As an unexpected result, thousands of unmarried men with illegitimate children and mounting child support debt filed motions Thursday to have their statuses changed to "donor," and their financial obligations overturned.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Elementary and middle school teachers give higher grades to girls than boys — but that may be more about differences in behavior than differences in what they know, according to new research by University of Georgia economists.

“It appears that teachers see girls’ performance more favorably than boys’ performance,” said Christopher Cornwell, head of the UGA economics department and the study’s lead author.
...
“You would think there would be a close alignment between teachers’ assessment of performance and test scores, but they’re not as closely aligned as you’d think,” Cornwell said.

And that misalignment favors girls, he said.

“It’s not just that they’re not aligned. Boys are less favorably rendered than the girls,” he said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Feminism is partly to blame for the breakdown of the family, one of Labour’s most senior female politicians has said.

Diane Abbott, the party’s public health spokesman, said that major issues facing society ‘stem from family breakdown’.
...
Perhaps most surprising, however, is her argument that Left-wingers and feminists should make family breakdown a key battleground rather than leave the issue to Conservatives.

In an interview with The Guardian, she said: ‘Those of us who came of age at the height of feminism had very mixed views about the family, since it seemed to be defined as a heterosexual thing with a certificate, children and mum at home.’

But she said the Left had to recognise that ‘some of the biggest public health issues stem from family breakdown’, explaining: ‘Doctors say to me that so many of the drug and alcohol problems they see stem from family difficulties.’

Video here. I watched this video and despite being no fan of Biden, I don't think a man ought to be accused of inappropriate/lewd conduct for engaging in what has historically been referred to as "friendly affectionate contact". I am pretty sure the new senator's wife was known to Biden and nothing about her body language conveys discomfort, at least not that I could see. Biden didn't do anything wrong here except of course be male. If the sexes were reversed, does anyone think this site would have trumpeted this rather innocuous event? Caption reads:

'Vice President Joe Biden got a little frisky with the wife of Senator Angus King at today's ceremonial swearing-in at the Capitol ...

Biden's hand remains on King's wife, Mary Herman, for at least 20 seconds, moving down her back and to the side of her chest.

The vice president has been in the Capitol today welcoming in the new Congress.'

The 112th Congress has adjourned without reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

SAVE has consistently advocated for improvements to VAWA. We have worked hard to educate legislators. Among other things, we held several lobbying events throughout the year. We even wrote our own language, the Partner Violence Reduction Act (PVRA) to show that we can serve all victims of domestic violence while reducing waste, fraud and false allegations.

We are happy to report that some of SAVE's key reforms were included in HR 4970, the House version of VAWA. Rest assured, our efforts to achieve VAWA reform will continue in the next session of Congress.

Please call House Leader Eric Cantor today, and thank him for his principled and courageous support of VAWA reform. Call: (202) 225-2815

Looking forward to 2013,

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

Link here. Excerpt:

'"It is very disturbing that men's starting salaries have increased over the past year but those of women have not, especially given that women make up the majority of university graduates," the research executive manager at the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Carla Harris, said.

"The lesson here is that the gender pay gap continues to have a very real impact on the bank balance of young women starting their careers."

The pay gap was most pronounced for those working in architecture and building, dentistry, optometry and law.

However, female computer scientists, earth scientists, pharmacists and engineers were amongst those women who earned slightly more than men.

Only education, humanities and medicine had no gender pay gap in starting salaries.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'A man who responded to an online ad for sperm and now faces thousands of dollars in child support is living proof of the dangers of donating outside of a sperm bank.

"The biggest piece of advice is just to not do it," said Ashley Nicole Reeve, a Texas-based attorney practicing in family law and reproductive technology law. "I don't know that there is any sure way legally to protect yourself."

With reproductive technology advancing more quickly than the law that governs it, donors who go through less-than-official channels can find themselves in a gray area when it comes to child support.

"The medical technology really has gone further than what the law has protected at this point. People are using sperm donors and egg donors and surrogates more and more, and the law really hasn't caught up just yet," she said.'

Story here. Yes, indeed. All the same issues that male pols deal with such as electoral pressure, special-interest meddling, internal personality conflicts and interest-clashes, will somehow be mitigated, just because the players are female. Tell me, anyone ever watch a women's soccer or basketball game? Did you walk away thinking women were any less competitive than men? Didn't think so. Thought experiment: The Congress (both houses) are 90+% female and we have a female president, too. Now what has really changed? The deficit is gone? Voters will stop threatening to toss them out if they raise taxes too much or reduce Social Security? Our various Middle East problems will all be solved? Social problems of all kinds will be solved or disappear? What do you think? Excerpt:

'But the women also admit that they believe having more women in the room would help in fierce negotiations, compromise, and legislating on Capitol Hill, traits they say do not come as naturally to their male colleagues in the Senate. That sentiment enjoys bipartisan support among the women of the Senate.