Story here. Although Rayon McIntosh is free, justice has yet to be served. Not only does he deserve compensation from his employer, but these two violent thugs need to be put away for attempted murder. They were free while he was in jail for 48 days. Excerpt:

'MANHATTAN — Rayon McIntosh — the Greenwich Village McDonald's cook who was cleared Friday evening of felony assault charges for beating two unruly female customers — said he was overjoyed to be free after spending nearly seven weeks in jail and plans to sue the fast food eatery for not keeping him safe.

"I'm just glad to be home," McIntosh, 31, told DNAinfo after being released from Rikers Island Friday night. "I feel elated, I feel splendid."

Story here. Excerpt:

'Gayle Inge, Zander’s grandmother and McCready’s mother, was tearful when she talked about the news by phone Friday night with The Associated Press.
...
Inge said Zander was taken into custody at McCready’s boyfriend’s lake home in Arkansas. Inge said that her son — McCready’s half-brother — texted McCready, who responded with a text that said her mother would never see her again.
...
The evening’s developments capped a days-long struggle between McCready — who is seven months pregnant with twins — and several others, including state of Florida child welfare authorities, a Fort Myers, Fla. judge and her own mother.

Authorities say McCready took the boy during a visit late last month to her father’s Florida home, where she was allowed to visit the boy. McCready’s parents are divorced.

A Florida judge signed an order Thursday telling authorities to take the boy into custody and return him. It’s not yet clear whether the singer could face criminal charges.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Ever unload the dishwasher while helping with a child's homework? Ever keep one eye on soccer practice while checking your voice mail and trying to figure out what to make for dinner?

That's called multitasking, and in a fast-paced world, American working moms do a whole lot of it -- and seem more stressed by it than working dads, a new study shows.

According to the research, working mothers spend 9 more hours a week multitasking than do working fathers, or about 48 hours per week for moms compared with 39 for dads.
...
What can be done to alleviate the pressure on moms?

Getting dads to not just pitch in more, but to share more equally in the child care and housework would help, Schneider said. In other words, don't just take your daughter to gymnastics when your wife says she can't do it. Make that your job to take her to gymnastics every week.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'More than 32,000 Americans who never lit up will die each year, with women at higher risk, experts say.
...
In fact, experts say, one in every five cases of the leading cancer killer occurs in nonsmokers. The annual death toll among this group now approaches that of breast cancer (about 40,000 per year) and is roughly equal to that of prostate cancer (32,000). Many never-smoking women may also be unaware that they are more than twice as likely to die of lung cancer as they are of ovarian cancer (14,000 deaths per year).
...
"Among never-smokers with lung cancer, women outnumber men two-to-one," Wenger said.

According to experts at the LCRF, the reasons for the disparity aren't clear, but early research is suggesting that, much like breast tumors, lung tumor aggressiveness in women appears linked to estrogen.'

Article here. Food for thought. Excerpt:

'Many different individuals and groups surmise as to why this particular disparity exists; for instance, many people blame cultural stereotypes that dictate which careers are acceptable for males and females. Other people believe that certain negative social issues deter women from succeeding in these fields, while there is also the popular argument that women tend to shy away from scientific careers due to socialization. For instance, the career interests of children are directly tied to parental expectations. In fact, studies reveal that the gender-related parental expectations of teenagers positively correlate with their future career choices.

Biology Determines Occupational Choices?

According to psychology researchers at Penn State University, specific sex hormones directly influence people’s general interests. In turn, these specific interests directly affect which careers these individuals choose to pursue.

Story here. Wonder where the dad is in all this? And why is McCready's mother the guardian of the boy and not his father when it seems the boy can visit the dad? This is weird. But aside from that, seems this is a case of mom v. daughter and mom ignoring the law. Curious to see how they treat her when they finally catch up with her, which I am sure they will soon enough. Will she also get jail time like men who violate custody orders and take their kids across state lines? Usually mom alleges abuse at the hands of dad. In this one, she is alleging abuse at the hands of her own mother. Try to keep up with all the pronouns! Excerpt:

'ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Country singer Mindy McCready said Thursday she would not bring her 5-year-old son back from Tennessee to Florida, despite violating a custody arrangement and a judge's order.

Just reported by CBS 2 News around 5: 30 pm. Word is only starting to hit the web. As of 5:43 pm ET, a web search only yielded this NBC NY article:

'A grand jury has dismissed all charges against a McDonald's cook accused of beating two irate customers with a metal rod in a fight caught on videotape.

Rayon McIntosh was to be released from jail Friday after the grand jury vote.

The grand jury is still weighing charges against the women, Rachel Edwards and Denise Darbeau. They were arraigned on initial charges of trespassing in the Oct. 13 episode.

Another customer's video showed two women vaulting a counter to attack McIntosh and him grabbing a metal bar and hitting back, even after the women were on the floor. One suffered a fractured skull.

McIntosh said he was only defending himself. The women's lawyer says McIntosh used unjustifiable force.'

The White House Blog - American Leadership to Reach an AIDS-Free Generation. Excerpt:

'As President Obama said in his remarks and his World AIDS Day Proclamation, scientific advances have provided us with a unique opportunity for dramatic gains in the global response to HIV/AIDS. The concept of ‘combination prevention,’ through which we rely on multiple prevention interventions tailored to needs in the countries where we work, is at the center of this effort. The President outlined plans to expand our combination prevention work, including prevention of mother-to-child transmission, voluntary medical male circumcision, and condoms.'

Department of State Press Statement - World AIDS Day 2011. Excerpt:

From Marc A.:

Interesting quotes from intactivist rabbis and other Jews. Sample from Rabbi Binyamin Biber:

"We're seeing [circumcision's] decline, and we're seeing Rabbi's like me and others in other communities saying these practices are not warranted and we're seeing a generational shift away from them. One of the things that I think that's also critical is the growing popularity, and I think a rightful popularity of natural medicine and natural childbirth ideas. And I think that this is clearly seen as inconsistent - not consistent with natural childbirth, natural health. ... Inflicting a wound on an infant is clearly not one of those....“

Link here. Excerpt:

'Your heart relies on arteries to feed it blood. When plaque builds up in these crucial blood vessels, it's bad news. But it may be even more of a threat for women.

In a new study, researchers included 480 people who were having severe chest pain. Doctors gave all of them a high-tech test that took pictures of their heart to check for plaque.

Having a lot of plaque buildup in the heart's arteries had a different effect in men and women. It put women at a higher risk of major heart problems like a heart attack or dying of a heart-related cause down the road.

These findings show that having extensive plaque buildup is more worrisome for women than men, according to one of the researchers.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Radical feminists recently suffered a rare setback when a U.S. senator decided to back away from proposed legislation that would have denied college students basic civil rights.

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has dropped the "preponderance of evidence" standard that was to be added to the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Phil Cook of Stop Abusive and Violent Environments (SAVE), an organization that dedicates itself to protecting victims and stopping false allegations, tells OneNewsNow what that would have meant for college students accused of a sex crime.

"The standard is it's more likely than not a sexual assault occurred -- that's what 'preponderance of evidence' means," he details.

But even though the clause has been removed, the SAVE spokesman says there are still many unresolved issues involving the renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, such as a Department of Education directive that requires schools to set up tribunals to judge students accused of sex assaults.

Article here. Excerpt:

'WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011) – Nearly 20 years after the Violence Against Women Act was first signed into law, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced bipartisan legislation Wednesday to further strengthen and improve the programs authorized under the landmark law to assist victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The legislation is cosponsored by Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).
...
“These dollars go directly to woman and children who have been victimized by domestic violence,” Crapo said. “The reauthorization of VAWA provides critical services to these victims of violent crime, as well as agencies and organizations who provide important aid to those individuals. I have been a strong supporter of prevention and elimination of domestic abuse since coming to Congress, and I intend to continue to fight to keep these funds intact for women and children.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Section 102, “Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforce Protection Orders” calls for the development of “multidisciplinary high risk teams” focused on reducing sexual violence and homicides by developing “evidence-based indicators to assess the risk of homicide.” Oher than the ambiguous “evidence-based indicators,” there is no mention in the bill that a complaint by an alleged victim must be made before such assessments can take place. Absent a complaint, how does one justify government surveillance in order to gather “evidence”?

Another troubling clause concerns eligibility for grants in which the grantee, “with the exception of the courts,” must demonstrate that their ”laws, policies, or practices and their training programs discourage dual arrests of offender and victim” (italic mine). Offender and victim as defined by whom? Absent physical evidence, domestic violence cases are often he said-she said affairs. Dual arrests are often necessary in order to ferret out the truth, and this item would appear to inhibit that.
...

Article here. Excerpt:

'Paternity has been pushed into the national spotlight by the recent allegations toward teen pop star Justin Bieber. While tabloids buzz with celebrity paternity stories, thousands of men across the country face the same issue daily and turn to DNA paternity testing to either confirm or refute their relationship to children. According to DDC (DNA Diagnostics Center), the largest provider of private paternity testing worldwide, questions about paternity testing from men have increased annually and now account for about 40% of all inquiries.

“As one of the leading companies in DNA testing, we’re seeing an increase in calls by men seeking paternity answers, especially for cases where there are disputes or where chain of custody is important,” said Dr. Michael Baird, chief science officer for DDC. “In the case of DDC, we’re an accredited AABB laboratory that maintains a chain of custody reporting structure to ensure results of a test can be presented in court, if needed.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'They believed that their son was innocent but were afraid that Virginia's penal system would grab hold of him and never let go.

So Cherri Dulaney and Edgar Coker Sr. told 15-year-old Edgar Jr. to plead guilty to raping a 14-year-old friend. Their court-appointed attorney told them that was better than risking adult charges and a lengthy prison term.

Two months after their decision, in November 2007, the girl admitted that she had lied.

The Cokers have been fighting ever since to rescue their son from the consequences. He served 17 months in a juvenile prison. He remains on the Virginia sex-offender registry, and the family moved to avoid harassment from neighbors.