Article here.

The senate voted on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) yesterday. Sen. Leahy's version passed with 68 votes for and 31 against. Now it moves to the House.

Please do not get disheartened. Look at the bright side: 31 senators were brave enough to vote no. Imagine how difficult that was in this election year.

We need to thank these senators, especially Sen. Grassley for providing a substitute amendment, and we need to do it right now.

Sen. Grassley:
(202) 224-3744
http://www.grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm

Find out if your senators voted no:

Article here. Excerpt:

'It’s down to the wire. The senate is expected to vote on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) very soon. Vice President Biden recalled recently that when VAWA was first passed, opponents warned that it would be misused in divorce. They were right.

One in six Americans know someone who has been falsely accused of domestic violence. The “silver bullet” in divorce, false allegations are sometimes used to obtain child custody. This despicable act removes fit and loving parents from the lives of their children.

Please take a moment as soon as possible, and speak out for the millions of children who are missing a falsely accused parent. And do it for the parents who are grieving for their children, stolen with a lie.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(RTTNews) - Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had a three-word response when asked by Senate reporters on Thursday what the Secret Service could do to avoid more prostitution scandals: "Hire more women."

Reid aligned himself with critics who say the agency needs to diversify its workforce to prevent future recurrences of the recent scandal in Colombia. Several agents were discovered to have consorted with prostitutes, including at a hotel in Cartagena just days before President Obama arrived, and about a dozen agents have been dismissed from the agency in recent days as the inquiry has progressed.

Female congresswomen such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) have openly questioned why only 11 percent of Secret Service employees are women.

"I can't help, but wonder if there'd been more women as part of that detail if this ever would have happened," Collins said during an appearance on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democratic leaders have found another venue to hit Republicans for their so-called war on women: the debate over student loan costs.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday slammed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for proposing on Wednesday to keep down the costs of student loan interest rates by pulling money from what he called "one of the slush funds in the president's health care law." He was referring to the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which contains billions of dollars aimed at encouraging people to take better care of themselves, thereby saving money down the road.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'TWO young girls made up allegations of rape against an 11-year-old Westhoughton schoolboy, a court heard.

Liverpool Crown Court was told yesterday that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police the claims were false.

He is accused of inviting one of the girls to perform a sex act on him — but he claimed the words in question were a sarcastic taunt because she had called him fat.

It is alleged that, while out playing, the boy took her ball and refused to give it back until she had performed a sex act on him.
...
The boy, who is now aged 12, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of raping the girl and one of sexually assaulting her.

He also denies one count of raping the older girl, one of attempting to rape her and one of sexually assaulting her.

The trial continues'

Story here.

'A university student who wasted more than 650 hours of police time after making a false rape allegation has narrowly avoided jail.

20 year old Chloe Jayne Fox of Spencer Street in Carlisle had claimed she'd been attacked in an alleyway in the city centre last September. Magistrates sentenced her to four months imprisonment, suspended for 12-months, and ordered her to do 180 hours of community service.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Three men spent 14 months in jail before being acquitted due to the false testimony of an 18-year-old women who will now receive psychiatric treatment.

An 18-year-old woman has been sentenced to five years of psychiatric care after being found guilty of giving a false witness testimony in a rape case three years ago.

The woman’s testimony lead to three men, who where were 16, 17 and 18 at the time, spending 14 months in jail for rape.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'NEW YORK -- Protesters swarmed the entrance to Facebook’s Madison Avenue offices in New York City on Wednesday to deliver a petition with 53,000 signatures asking the world’s largest social network to add women to its all-male board ahead of its public offering.

"Shame on Facebook," chanted the more than two dozen men and women brandishing signs declaring "'Like' Women on the Board" and "Facebook: Women Are Good for Business." One protester, Anne Cardinez, called on Facebook’s female members to boycott the social network every Monday until the company adds at least one woman to its board.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The attorney for a 13-year-old Long Island boy who was kicked off his high school’s girls’ field hockey team for being too dominant says his client will most likely be reinstated.

"We are confident that a court will see the discrimination in this case," Frank Scagluso, the attorney for Keeling Pilaro said.

Scagluso said Keeling has support from his school district, other coaches and players in the league and that he has not heard any criticism about the boy’s participation in games.

Keeling, who played for Southampton High School's varsity girls' field hockey team for the past two years, was told he could no longer play next year after becoming the team's star.'

An appalling story of two abusive women teachers/aides verbally abusing an autistic boy. At least the father stood up for his son. Excerpt:

'A New Jersey dad who suspected something was "horrifyingly wrong" at school when his autistic son began acting violently had the boy wear a digital recorder and discovered teachers verbally abusing him.

Stuart Chaifetz, 44, described his 10-year-old son Akian as a "sweet and gentle child" with a penchant for acrobatics and a deep bond with his three dogs.

So Chaifetz said it was totally out of character when he began receiving reports from Horace Mann Elementary School that Akian was hitting his teacher and a teacher's aide.
...
When Akian came home from school and Chaifetz listened to the audio, he was shocked by what he heard. "When I listened to what they had done to him, I just shattered inside," Chaifetz said.

Chaifetz heard the teacher and aide calling Akian names, making fun of him, yelling at him and having inappropriate conversations in front of the children.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'BALTIMORE (AP) -- A mother managed to slip a long kitchen knife past security at a Baltimore social services building and used it to stab her infant daughter in the face and neck Tuesday, police said.

The 8-month-old baby was stabbed several times, but was listed in good condition at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and was expected to survive, Police Det. Donny Moses said.

"The baby should be OK," Moses said.

The mother was admitted to an area hospital for a mental health evaluation, police said.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'(Rolling Stone) -- At a listening party in London last night, Justin Bieber told reporters that one of the many new songs that could appear on his upcoming album, "Believe," was about Mariah Yeater, the woman who falsely accused him of fathering her child, the BBC reports.

According to the BBC, while talking about his inspiration, Bieber said he'd written "songs like that girl -- Mariah Yeater -- who said she was going to have my baby." The singer added, "I wrote about that situation."

Last November, Yeater claimed that she and Bieber had sex backstage following a show in Los Angeles, and that he was the father of her then-three month old baby boy. While the case was dropped a few weeks after, Bieber still took a paternity test that proved he was not the father.'

By: James M. Hagler
The Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving, Ltd. (http://dadsrights.com)

A new Illinois law, effective January 1, 2012, makes it a crime for any person who knowingly transmits a false report to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) a crime – and a serious one at that!

If one knowingly makes a false report to the DCFS, that person has committed the offense of disorderly conduct which is a Class 4 Felony, 325 ILCS 5/4 (2011).

I welcome this law. I have encountered too many times in my legal career a parent who abuses the system and makes false (and often repeated) reports to DCFS in an effort to destroy the relationship of a parent and child and to devastate the other parent. From now on, these false reporters are risking serious criminal penalties. A Class 4 felony is punishable by incarceration of not less than 1 year and not more than 3 years, and a fine of up to $25,000 can be assessed against an individual. While a person who is convicted of this crime may be able to get a suspended prison sentence and probation if they have a clean record, a repeat offender likely would not.

Article here. Excerpt:

'By ensuring that women and girls receive the exposure, encouragement, and support they need to enter and succeed in STEM fields, this country can benefit from the full range and diversity of its talent. To this end, on April 24, 2012, the White House Council on Women and Girls will host a White House event featuring a panel of trailblazing women in STEM fields. These women will share their experiences and encourage girls to follow in their footsteps—or to blaze trails of their own. This event will also showcase the very first public screening of Girls in STEM, a video with footage of girls who participated in the 2012 White House Science Fair, including Girl Scout team the Flying Monkeys, which invented a new type of prosthetic hand to help a little girl write for the first time. (The girls won the $20,000 FIRST LEGO League Global Innovation Award from the X Prize Foundation in April 2011; they were also granted a provisional patent.)'