Mar 11, 2012 - 3:05 - Medical experts warn procedure's benefits outweigh any minor risks

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Article here. Excerpt:

'About 72,000 of the most troubled families, 60 per cent of those being targeted by the Government, are headed by a single mother. The rate is about triple the national average.

An official review into the causes of last summer’s riots is expected to highlight the lack of “male role models” for many of the youths arrested in the wake of the widespread disturbances.

The riot panel, set up to investigate the problem, is thought to have become frustrated that few details of the family backgrounds of problem children have previously been recorded, despite it being such an important influence on their behaviour.
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Last night, Eric Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, said: “These troubled families are in total breakdown. The absence of a positive father figure is a huge problem and often the fathers who are present have severe drug and alcohol addictions and are not working.

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'A group of well-known feminists is calling for Rush Limbaugh’s head - and they want radio listeners to help fire him.

In an editorial posted on CNN.com Saturday, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan urged listeners to file complaints with the FCC in hopes that the government agency will yank the licenses of radio stations that air his show — and thus silence the controversial conservative.

Limbaugh's syndicator, Clear Channel Communications, has backed the host since he called Sandra Fluke, a third-year Georgetown law student, a "slut" and "prostitute" over her support of insurance coverage of birth control.

"If Clear Channel won't clean up its airways, then surely it's time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh's show in fact using their licenses "in the public interest?" the trio wrote.

The editorial says it's not about Limbaugh's political views, but more about his "toxic hate speech" on the airwaves.

Article here. Excerpt:

'In one of the most in-depth discussions to date on violence against women in the United States, and to coincide with International Women’s Day, I interviewed Susan B. Carbon, Director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).

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'Andrew Masuda likes his friends' children well enough, but he's sure that he never wants to have any of his own.

Two weeks ago, the 38-year-old Toronto man underwent a vasectomy.

"I first started thinking about getting a vasectomy when I was 17," says Masuda, who adds that his family, friends and girlfriend are supportive of his decision.
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"(A vasectomy) should be considered a permanent procedure," says Aquino. "If a man or a couple is asking a lot of questions about reversals, that's a red flag for me. I'd suggest they spend more time thinking about whether they are really ready to proceed."'

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'Rush Limbaugh has drawn the ire of celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, who sent a letter to the Palm Beach County state attorney requesting an investigation into whether the popular radio host should be prosecuted for calling a law student a “slut” and “prostitute” last week.

“Mr. Limbaugh targeted his attack on a young law student who was simply exercising her free speech and her right to testify before congress on a very important issue to millions of American women and he vilified her. He defamed her and engaged in unwarranted, tasteless and exceptionally damaging attacks on her,” Allred told POLITICO Friday afternoon. “He needs to face the consequences of his conduct in every way that is meaningful.”
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Has feminism left men behind?

John Rutherford argues in the New Statesman this week that the language of feminism fails to engage the support of men plunged into a 'perpetual adolescence' by economic and social inequalities. So how can feminism engage with men more successfully? Jenni Murray talks to Helen Lewis, Assistant Editor of the New Statesman magazine, and to Tom Martin, who is currently suing LSE for alleged sex discrimination, and is founder of sexismbusters.org  

You can read the article, listen to the interview, and donate to Tom's legal fighting fund, at http://sexismbusters.org/.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Connecting girls, inspiring futures. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is a call to action for women to involve their daughters, communities to involve their young girls.

By engaging with them we can connect them to the rich history of women before them, to each other through community involvement, to the world at large through social media. Raising our daughters to understand the issues of their gender and empowering them to act on injustice is one of the most important things mothers can do.

But our son’s need the same instruction. If they’re white, middle-to-upper class, and male, then they are the power set. Feminism has come beyond the days of male-bashing and bra-burning — if indeed they really existed at all as part of feminism. But our society has not come beyond the days of men on top and women on bottom, despite how good it looks on the surface.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is up for reauthorization. Since it was first introduced in 1994, this nice-sounding bill has been described as the solution to domestic violence. And most people believed that claim, as evidenced by its 2005 reauthorization. 
 
That all changed once Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE) and victims' groups started educating the public and staffers on Capitol Hill about the problems with VAWA.

SAVE wants accountability added to stop the misuse of grant monies. We want restrictions removed so advocates can open shelters primarily for abused men. And, among other things, we want accreditation to be mandatory, to stop the widespread promotion of inaccurate "facts." 
 
Today we're asking you to call Kelly Ayotte, a senator from New Hampshire who is committed to upholding the Constitution. Please ask her to vote NO on VAWA. You can call Sen. Ayotte at her Washington DC office: 202-224-3324.

Thank you so much for taking action on this important issue.

Sincerely,

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

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'A Louisiana woman apparently kept her father's severed body in an ice chest at her apartment for at least two years as she collected his Social Security check, police said.

At some point, she cut off his hands so that identifying him would be difficult, authorities said, but she never dumped his body as she had planned. The woman and her roommate recently went to police to tell their story after deputies came to the apartment when they wouldn't let maintenance workers inside the home.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Spud McConnell, a well-known movie actor, also hosts a popular New Orleans talk radio show, Talk Gumbo on New Orleans radio station WWL—AM 870/FM105.3. On February 28, 2012, Fathers and Families’ Chairman of the Board Ned Holstein, MD, appeared on the show to discuss new child support rules promulgated by the federal government....

In yet another measure that will harm children instead of helping them, the new rule effects how much money can be seized for payment of child support arrearages from people who receive federal benefits, such as social security, disability and veterans’ payments.'

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'A study that highlights the importance of circumcision in New Zealand is pushing for routine practice on male infants in the country, but medical experts in the country disagrees, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Circumcision reduces the risk of infections, cancer and other health issues, and as such, male infants should be subjected to it routinely, a study claims.

Sydney University Professor of Medicine Brian Morris led a team of 12 medical experts to conduct the study.

Their report revealed the risk of urinary tract infection and kidney inflammation was 10 times greater in uncircumcised babies than those circumcised.'

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'Authorities are being stonewalled by the family of a newborn boy who died after contracting herpes through a controversial religious circumcision ritual, the Daily News has learned.

Multiple sources in the Orthodox Jewish community said the 2-week-old boy’s parents were related to a herpes-infected rabbi who conducted the circumcision according to tradition — using one’s mouth to remove blood from the wound.

The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office is investigating the death and trying to identify the rabbi, or mohel, but family members have not been cooperative, sources said.

“You guys are barking up the right tree,” a law enforcement source said of word that the mohel was related to the boy. “But we don’t know yet who did what.”

City health officials have criticized the religious practice, saying that putting the open wound into contact with the mouth of the rabbi carries “inherent risks” for the infant.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'This week, the Brooklyn district attorney confirmed that prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of a two-week old infant who died last fall in Brooklyn after he contracted herpes from a religious circumcision at Maimonides Medical Center. Now, rabbis are worried that the investigation may send mohels who perform the metzitzah b’peh ritual into back alley circumcisions: “The worst thing that could happen is if the authorities regulate this practice, then it could go underground,” Rabbi David Zwiebel, the executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America, told the Times.

"I think the practice would continue, but there could be significant difficulty in gathering evidence. I would hope that our government officials take steps in conjunction with the community," he said. The cause of death for the boy, who died last September, was listed as "disseminated herpes simplex virus Type 1, complicating ritual circumcision with oral suction."
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Article here. Excerpt:

As far back as the 1800s, single mothers were receiving benefits. At that time, they would be paid up front and in cash, but were they better off than today?
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Cambridge historian Dr Samantha Williams has examined an early form of welfare in England and Wales called the Old English Poor Law. Under it, poor relief - as it was then called - was given out by the local parish. Looking at the plight of poor families in two Bedfordshire communities between 1760 and the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, her research reveals that a generous benefits system existed in parts of England.
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If a single pregnant mother wanted to claim poor relief before 1834, she had to go before two judicial officers and swear on the paternity of her child's father under oath. No other proof was needed. She would then receive benefits up front and the officials would try to reclaim money back from the father.