Tomorrow, Thursday Feb. 2, 2012, the Senate Judiciary Committee will be meeting to discuss Sen. Leahy's version of the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization. Leahy's VAWA bill contains many, many controversial provisions, and does nothing to assure real victims, and ALL victims - are helped.

At the meeting Sen. Charles Grassley will be proposing an amendment to bring the domestic violence industry to heel. The DV industry is certain to oppose these accountability measures. So please contact these members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and tell them that abuse victims are demanding that VAWA be made accountable to meet their needs.

Tell them to support Sen. Grassley's efforts to bring accountability to the Violence Against Women Act.

• Chuck Grassley: (202) 224-3744
• Orrin G. Hatch: (202) 224-5251
• Jon Kyl: (202) 224-4521
• Jeff Sessions: (202) 224-4124
• Lindsey Graham: (202) 224-5972
• John Cornyn: (202) 224-2934
• Michael S. Lee: (202) 224-5444
• Tom Coburn: (202) 224-5754

Time is of the essence...please make your calls now!

Sincerely,

Link here. Excerpt:

'The Heart Truth campaign celebrates a decade of progress and continues to inspire heart health action during American Heart Month

As part of American Heart Month, on Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s (NHLBI’s) The Heart Truth campaign, with the support of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), will showcase its signature event, the Red Dress Collection 2012 at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. As part of its 10th anniversary this year, The Heart Truth has partnered with Million Hearts, a national initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years.
...
National Wear Red Day: Friday, Feb. 3

Article here. Excerpt:

'MONTREAL — The male stereotype of the all-powerful protector and provider is doing a disservice to men -- pressuring them to conform and ultimately, leaving many powerless to face the challenges of modern society.
...
Synnott, who has been teaching a course on the sociology of men for 10 years, wrote the 2009 book, Redefining Men: Heroes, Victims and Villains, and currently writes a column on men for Psychology Today. He believes that the rallying cry of “male chauvinist pig” has ignored important realities that men face. “Men dominate at the top and also the bottom,” he points out. “The vast majority in prisons, victims of accidents, victims of work fatalities, 99 per cent of military fatalities — are all male.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'Here’s what we know: On Jan. 25, an unnamed woman accused Greg Kelly, the co-host of “Good Day New York” and the son of New York police commissioner Ray Kelly, of raping her in October 2011, after they had a few drinks together in a Manhattan bar. She is described as being 30 years old and in the legal profession. We know that the woman had a boyfriend, who publicly confronted both Kellys at a recent public event. That the woman claims she had too much to drink and that Kelly forced himself on her. She says Kelly got her pregnant, that she subsequently had an abortion, and that she reportedly decided to tell her story because Kelly’s father has encouraged crime victims to come forward. Kelly has not been formally charged with any crime.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education has been a high priority in the recent efforts put toward education reform. One of President Obama’s priorities in his reform efforts has been making these classes and programs available to everyone regardless of race, socioeconomic status and gender with the hopes of preparing them for careers in those fields.

Recently, many are implementing programs that are focusing on introducing younger girls into these subjects. These programs range anywhere from national efforts like the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) to local efforts like Techbridge, to even smaller efforts like clubs and classes specifically created with the intent of gaining girls’ interest in the subject.

At the Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart in Princeton, N.J., a task force of top thinkers in these areas has been formed to come up with solutions to help close this “girl gap” in STEM fields.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Q: A friend recently called me and said she had a one-night stand after drinking too much. She was beating herself up over drinking too much and going home with a guy she met at a bar. I reassured her that everyone makes mistakes and didn't think much more of the account. However, since then, she has told many people that she was a victim of date-rape.
...

A: Trying to ruin someone else's life is a poor way to address one's alcohol and self-control problems. Since her first version of the story is that she was ashamed of her behavior, and since you have seen her knee-walking drunk on other occasions, it sounds as if she wants to punish the guy at the bar for her own poor choices.
...'

From Tom:

Tom Martin's sex discrimination lawsuit against Europe's largest gender studies department at The London School of Economics (LSE) has been delayed, a hearing now rescheduled for March 13th. Tom has given an interview for a programme on satellite news channel Press TV on 'the future of feminism', which awaits broadcast, and also, has recently been invited to take part in a debate at University College London (UCL), on the prevalence of misandry in academia and society, a date not yet set. Tom invites all other press and media to contact him directly: sexismbusters-at-hotmail.com

Tom thanks all 120 people from 9 countries who have now donated a total of £4013.25 to the legal fighting fund so far, and asks supporters to keep the donations coming in and the momentum going, by subscribing on twitter, facebook and youtube, and spreading the word in any other way they can for what could be a long, difficult, but ultimately game-changing awareness-raising and legal campaign.

Article here. The picture caption refers to "Six million people". We all know the vast majority of these are men. The Caging of America is a men's rights issue since as we know, men and women do not get an equal shake in the legal system. Judges are much faster to jail a man than a woman for the exact same crime under the exact same circumstances. Excerpt:

Article here. Excerpt:

'But yesterday, State Sen. Janet D. Howell, a Democrat from Fairfax, decided to push back on the measure, which she said is "adding to the cost and ... opening [women] up for emotional blackmail."

Attempts to derail pieces of legislation by adding unpalatable amendments—say, attaching to a budget autonomy bill a rider that would turn the District into a shooting gallery—are often called "poison pills."

Well, in the case of the ultrasound bill, Howell's poison pill is the little blue pill.

In deliberations over the measure yesterday, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, Howell offered an amendment that would require any man seeking a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication first submit to a rectal examination.

"I think we should just have a little gender equity here," Howell said when presenting her amendment.

Article here. Excerpt:

'What does that mean? If a woman was unconscious or severely incapacitated, everyone would call it rape. But what about sex while inebriated? Few people would say that intoxicated sex alone constitutes rape — indeed, a nontrivial percentage of all customary sexual intercourse, including marital intercourse, probably falls under that definition (and is therefore criminal according to the CDC).

Other survey questions were equally ambiguous. Participants were asked if they had ever had sex because someone pressured them by “telling you lies, making promises about the future they knew were untrue?” All affirmative answers were counted as “sexual violence.” Anyone who consented to sex because a suitor wore her or him down by “repeatedly asking” or “showing they were unhappy” was similarly classified as a victim of violence. The CDC effectively set a stage where each step of physical intimacy required a notarized testament of sober consent.

Article here. Excerpt:

'A Philadelphia woman who told police that two black men kidnapped her -- and was later found to have lied -- was sentenced to eight years in prison Thursday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Bonnie Sweeten, 40, who made headlines two years ago after triggering a massive search when she called police and said that black men had kidnapped her and her 9-year-old daughter, will have to pay $1 million in restitution.

"Sweeten stole funds from family members, from the law office where she had been employed and from the law firm's clients," the prosecutor's office said after the ruling came down.

"You've done great wrong, and you have to pay the price," said U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., calling her a "master con woman."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Back in September, I wrote in the magazine about the problems posed for colleges and universities by the Department of Education’s new rules governing how they must respond to allegations of sexual assault. Over the weekend, those chickens came home to roost, big-time, as the news spread that Yale University quarterback Patrick Witt had been accused of sexual assault.

You may remember Witt; he was lauded nationally for choosing to forgo an interview for a Rhodes Scholarship in order to play in his final college football game (against Harvard), which was scheduled for the same day. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that Witt withdrew his candidacy for the scholarship after the Rhodes Trust “learned through unofficial channels that a fellow student had accused Witt of sexual assault.” The Times story, written by Richard Pérez-Peña, is rather extraordinary. For example, it includes these lines:

Link here. Excerpt:

The Senate Judiciary Committee vote on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was postponed until this coming week to allow more time for staff to negotiate several sticking points. And well they should, because victims are demanding to know, "Where's all the money going?"
 
Time and time again, domestic violence victims are being turned away by the very agencies that are supposed to be helping them, or are getting the DV runaround. One Department of Justice audit reached this disturbing conclusion:
 
$638,298, or about 47 percent, of $1.3 million given to Jane Doe, Inc., also known as the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, was identified as unsupported and unallowable payroll expenditures, unallowable bonus payments, and unallowable and unreasonable conference expenditures.
 
So the problem isn't a lack of funding. The problem is lack of accountability.

Originally posted here.

'If you live in Colorado or know someone who does, please read this important message from NOCIRC of Colorado.

TO ALL COLORADO RESIDENTS:

We need your help THIS WEEK!
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As you may know, last year Colorado became the 18th state to remove payment for newborn circumcision from Medicaid. This was a huge victory not only for baby boys, but also for the taxpayers.

But now, some members of the Colorado legislature are trying to reinstate Medicaid coverage of circumcision. Colorado Senate Bill 12-090 would waste taxpayer dollars on medically unnecessary newborn circumcision.
Link to the bill:
http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2012a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/D9846C2F0630E6D087257981007DC869?open&file=090_01.pdf