Students returning to campuses are facing the curtailment of student civil rights, thanks to a 2011 U.S. Department of Education (DED) sex assault mandate. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) is calling on the federal agency to retract the Directive, and restore due process to campuses across the nation.

Under the policy, rather than the usual "reasonable doubt" standard used in courts of law, colleges are now mandated to use the 50.1% "preponderance of evidence" standard when adjudicating claims of sexual assault.

Release of the Directive has resulted in a number of high-profile debacles across the country: http://www.saveservices.org/falsely-accused/sex-assault/civil-liberties-took-a-beating/

SAVE wants to stop the Directive from inviting false allegations, which harm the credibility of true victims and dissipate needed services for victims.

And all this time I thought it was only men who did such evil! Silly me! Article here. Excerpt:

'(CNN) -- An elderly woman who was known as Colombia's "Queen of Cocaine" was gunned down in the northwestern city of Medellin, police said Tuesday.

Griselda Blanco, 69, was killed by two bullets at close range -- a violent end not unlike the ones that authorities say she ordered during her prime in the 1970s and 1980s.
...
Blanco, also known as "the godmother" and "mafia's mother," gained notoriety in the 1970s and '80s when, authorities say, she was responsible for shipping multi-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to Miami. She was also the mastermind, investigators say, of countless murders. She was also linked to drug lord Pablo Escobar.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'LYNNWOOD, Wash. (CBS Seattle) — Lynnwood police say a mother used her 10-year-old boy to rob a home.

Police tell KOMO-TV that Marie Shafique, 33, made her son climb through an open window, but didn’t know that she was being watched by neighbors and the house’s security camera.

Michelle Geronimo was inside of her home when the child tried to break in. She told the station that the boy was “peering inside” her open window.'

Just learned about this web site: http://www.familyofmen.com/ and wanted to pass it along to MANN readers. Looks like great stuff! From their About page:

'For more than 10 years the Family of Men has operated a telephone crisis line.

The daily averages of callers are 2 per day.

Of the 1200 callers per year (2001) 22% are from women. Of the 22% women callers approximately 25% are from mothers who’s sons are in a violent domestic situation and they are concerned not only for their son’s safety but also the safety of their grandchildren. An additional 25% are from, what I call the 2nd wives club, women who are married to a man with a vindictive 1st wife and their life is in total distress due to the situation. The remaining 50% consists of sisters, girlfriends and female friends who are concerned for a male in their life.

Article here. Excerpt:

'What a difference a year makes.

Erica DePalo, 33, won the Essex County, N.J. Teacher of the Year award in 2011. Last Friday, she was arrested and accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her 15-year-old honors English students, according to CBS New York.

Many of the students that the station spoke with were blindsided by the allegations.

“I was kind of shocked,” Arnold Ajondo said. ”I was a little surprised. She was really close with the students and we all liked her. She was always there after school if you ever needed any help.”

DePalo was charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the Star Ledger.'

Simply too much to comment on in full. Best to Google for transcripts. I can just mention a few things: Mrs. Obama delivered a finger-wag about what a man really is when she described her MS-stricken father as still going out to work so she could be sent to college. I.e., a real man ignores his health and well-being so his daughter can work later to curb the educational and other opportunities of people like him (i.e., men).

Constant rebukes regarding abortion, with the NARAL president saying people without knowledge of what it's like to have a woman's body shouldn't be making any decisions about it (implication: male lawmakers should have no say in laws around abortion). No mention of course about the fact that maybe, just maybe, men should also have reproductive rights too. Not a peep from either Dems or Reps. Dare I dream?

And of course, the wage gap myth was trotted out repeatedly by multiple speakers.

Article here. Excerpt:

'There has been a significant increase in the first half of this year of men seeking assistance from Amen, a charity that supports victims of domestic violence.

Amen director Eugene Wogan said there has been a 34% increase in the number of callers to its helpline between January and June this year.

The annual report recorded a slight decrease in the number of men seeking assistance in 2011 compared to 2010.

Last year, the Navan-based charity recorded a total of 4,303 contacts from men wishing to discuss abuse by their wife or partner. This was down from 4,683 in 2010.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Recent research has shown a direct link between male circumcision and reduced HIV transmission, generating growing interest in high-risk communities, especially in Africa, which has been hit hard by the HIV epidemic. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even praised a campaign to circumcise adult male Africans as a preventative measure for HIV in her opening speech last month for the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.
...
As part of the growing anti-circumcision movement, some healthcare workers have made efforts to educate people about the practice. In the mid-1980s, healthcare professionals in San Francisco founded the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers to provide information about the pros and cons of circumcision. This organization upholds the Declaration of the First International Symposium on Circumcision.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Even after the deaths of two children and the injuries of many more, a group of ultra-Orthodox rabbis say that if a proposed law requiring parental consent for an ancient circumcision ritual is enacted they will defy it.

In the ancient "metzitzah b'peh" ritual, a "mohel" or a Jewish person, usually a doctor or rabbi, trained in the practice circumcision removes the foreskin and draws blood from the circumcised penis with his mouth.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said in a statement that at least 11 infants in New York are believed to have contracted herpes from the practice, including two of whom died and two of whom have irreversible brain damage.'

Letter here. Excerpt:

'The recent German court ruling and controversy about circumcision has stirred up my thoughts like an intellectual coffee-spoon, and the conclusion I’ve come to is slightly jolting. Just what sort of an ice-blooded culture welcomes newborns to the world with a wrenching mutilation? Those scissors snap a cutting message: “Kill or be killed, and keep fearful distance from women, nature, and love.”

Having myself been spared by a local doctor, I know that area to be of immense sensual and emotional significance, as Europe’s scientists have established. Here, the ancient madness breaks as slowly as the melting glaciers that likewise indicate mainstream America has become estranged from mother nature, and she smolders with imploring reproach, scolding that we should move closer to her.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The Federal Government has acknowledged it needs to provide better support services for single fathers who are homeless.

A government-funded study has found services specific to fathers need to be set up because emergency accommodation or other help is currently targeted at mothers.

The study shows homeless fathers often lose contact with their children because of a lack of emergency accommodation for single fathers, as well as safe places to see their children.

It also found that when fathers lose their connection with their children, their health and wellbeing suffers.'

In the last few days Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts has seen fit to publicize his support to S. 1925, the VAWA reauthorization bill which passed the Senate on April 26. SAVE has reviewed S. 1925, and notes the bill ignores the problem of female-initiated abuse, has the potential to inflict harm on the falsely accused, and comes within a whisper of unconstitutionality.

In general, Scott Brown has been a fair-minded senator. He now finds himself in a tight race against Elizabeth Warren who has repeatedly played the gender card.

Contact Senator Brown and tell him that much of Domestic Violence is initiated by women, that false accusations are rampant and destructive, and that S. 1925 is flatly unfair.

The senator can be reached by phone at 1-202-228-2643, or fax at 1-202-228-2646.

Thank you!

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

Article here. Excerpt;

Article here. Published May, 2011, but a very good read. Excerpt:

'The subject of circumcision is often relegated to the realm of jokes and cheeky double-entendres, but a San Francisco ballot initiative now gaining momentum would ban the practice, and it raises some very serious issues. At the heart of the current controversy are three fundamental questions. First, is circumcising an infant wrong? Second, should infant circumcision be against the law? And third, would banning circumcision infringe on the rights of those who practice it as part of their religions?

Article here. Excerpt:

'Even as the world abandons the unethical practice of infant male circumcision, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently revised its policy statement to more strongly recommend it. In response to this step backwards, people of conscience all over the world have been protesting the AAP’s misguided decision by posting on Facebook photographs of themselves with the words “AAP” on one hand and “No Ethics” on the other.

As a proud Jew and an opponent of infant male circumcision, I wanted to join this protest in a meaningful way. It is my belief that a deep concern for ethics lies at the core of the Jewish tradition and it is this concern, along with the ability to adapt to new information, that gives meaning and relevance to my heritage in the 21st century.