As we reported last week, the U.S. Department of Education (DED) has issued a directive that requires colleges to use the "preponderance of evidence" standard in handling allegations of sexual assault, a standard that in practice removes the presumption of innocence.

Editorials rightly continue to condemn this directive, like:

The New Rules of College Sex

We'd like to thank all of you who contacted Ms. Russlyn Ali, Assistant Secretary, Office for Civil Rights last week by email and phone. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.

We are being ignored, and that is unacceptable. This week we take it to the top!

Let's flood the inbox and voice mailbox of Secy. Of Education Arne Duncan. Be resolute and be persistent. Politely yet firmly insist Mr. Duncan remove the sex assault policy that strips due process from the accused.

Please contact Arne Duncan today:
Telephone: 202-401-3000
Email: arne.duncan-at-ed.gov

Your voice matters. Use it.

Article here. Excerpt:

'ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Alaska woman convicted of punishing her adopted Russian son by squirting hot sauce into his mouth was spared immediate jail time on Monday.

Thirty-six-year-old Jessica Beagley was given three years of probation, a 180-day suspended jail sentence and a $2,500 fine — also suspended — after she was convicted last week of misdemeanor child abuse. Prosecutors say she used a videotape of herself punishing the 7-year-old boy as a ploy to get on the "Dr. Phil" TV show.

Beagley submitted the eight-minute tape for a show segment titled "Mommy Confessions." She said the boy had lied about getting into trouble at school.'

Link here. Excerpt:

'A woman faces life in jail for killing and dismembering an aged pensioner in a bizarre case that prosecutors say shows the dark side of society.

South Australian Supreme Court Justice Trish Kelly found on Tuesday Angelika Gavare, 35, murdered Vonne McGlynn, 82, on or about December 3, 2008.

Gavare wanted to steal Mrs McGlynn's house to make a better life for herself and her two daughters.
...
Gavare became a suspect after she tried to withdraw money from Mrs McGlynn's account and was found with a forged power of attorney, a shed smelling of rotten flesh and some of her victim's things.

Gavare denied killing Mrs McGlynn but admitted she was a liar, a thief, a fraudster and hoped to profit from the pensioner's death.

She appeared surprised at the verdict.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'I see it in the school district where I work. Girls punching boys — punching them hard, sometimes out of meanness, sometimes for fun, but still packing a wallop.

It's been increasing in recent times, with situation comedies either reflecting, or leading, the trend. How did these young people learn this? Has this nastiness come to be OK because boys are supposed to be able to take a punch without showing pain? Or do the boys get the whack because they're such muttonheads and they have it coming?
...
So the totals were: eight boys physically attacked by girls, seven boys hit by boys, three girls hit by other girls and one girl struck by a boy. So we're being trained to get a laugh from girls striking and berating boys, and we're being conditioned to believe that boys are sloppy and violent among themselves when they get together, but there's nothing comedic about a girl being injured, whichever sex caused the harm.

Alert here. Excerpt:

'Misandry, simply defined, is the pathological hatred of men and boys. It is the analog to misogyny, but with the bigotry and rage targeted at males.

Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, two scholars in the field of religious studies at McGill University in Montreal, popularized the word "misandry" in a series of books on the topic: Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture (2001); Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men (2006); Sanctifying Misandry: Goddess Ideology and the Fall of Man (2010).

Article here. Excerpt:

'As President Barack Obama puts together a new jobs plan to be revealed shortly after Labor Day, he is up against a powerful force, long in the making, that has gone virtually unnoticed in the debate over how to put people back to work: Employers are increasingly giving up on the American man.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Cut the cake! Both men and women are likely to pack on a few extra pounds after they get married. That modest figure is an average—it also includes married folks who gain or lose a significant amount of weight upon tying the knot. And according to a new study, marriage is linked to a heightened risk for major weight gain among women. For men, the pounds come a little bit later: after the divorce.

Add a steady waist measurement to one of the many social perks of marrying as a man. Married men make more money and get more promotions than single guys. They live longer, have less heart disease, drink less, smoke less weed, and experience less stress. Meanwhile, married women have less fulfilling sex lives and less free time than their husbands. They also have smaller paychecks. (They do get to keep smoking the same amount of weed). These factors help explain why women are less into marriage than men are. And they may also contribute to the gendered risk of gaining weight after getting hitched.

Article here. Excerpt:

'(SALEM, Ore.) - The past century has been marked by the declaration and protection of universal human rights, as well as a marked increase in the quality of life, both in the United States and worldwide. With these improvements, higher expectations regarding a child’s right to bodily autonomy have become socially accepted and legally mandated. Many argue that since female children in the U.S. are protected by a 1996 law banning female circumcision, this law should be expanded to include the protection of male children as well.

There are a growing number of Jews who are becoming increasingly vocal in questioning both the ethics and the legality of circumcision. Jews in the Reform Judaism movement have already been advocating for an end to ritual circumcision for the past 180 years. What follows is a collection of statements from Jews who question the ethics of forced under-age circumcision.
...
Here are some of these pioneers in their own words.

With growing concerns about denial of justice and fair treatment in laws and judicial system and with increasing suicides of men due to marital terror, men’s rights activists across India are demanding that “Men have a Right to live a dignified life” and society must not consider the lives of men as cheap or as disposable. We point at the facts like one married man is committing suicide in every 9 minutes and that intimate terror has no gender bias, while courts deny justice to male victims of intimate terror.

Men’s Rights activists today have no enthusiasm to celebrate August 15th as India's Independence Day, as they no longer feel any sense of freedom inside India’s biased justice system. “Staying alive" is a struggle for Indian men today.

The web site is at http://thewillfoundation.webs.com/. The author of the site (who also maintains another blog discussing legal abuse matters at http://dignifiedlife.blogspot.com/) lives in India and is looking for contributions to a regular, free magazine. According to his email note, he has been the victim of India's Penal Code 498A, a law originally intended to protect women from abuse by dowry-related fraud or misuse of the tradition of dowry, but has become used all too often as a means of gaining an upper-hand in divorce proceedings or in cases where a marriage has gone bad and the law is simply used as a means of getting the state to arrest or harass the husband and/or his family.

From malecare.org:

This year, let’s take prostate cancer awareness building into our own hands. Light a Blue Bulb every night (or, for a few nights) during September.

Too often, we look to nonprofits, government agencies and corporations to lead our advocacy efforts…and, sometimes, we are deeply disappointed. This year, our national prostate cancer nonprofit, Malecare, asks us to take personal responsibility and build advocacy from the grass roots, up. So, please do the simple task of getting a blue bulb and lighting it where your neighbors might see it. Get ready for your neighbors to ask you, “why the blue bulb?” Proudly express your desire that all men and women become more aware about prostate cancer.

Get a blue bulb at your local hardware store or online at homedepot.com or amazon.com or dig one out from your party box. Set it in your porch light or a lamp by a window. And, simply, light it for a few hours, or all night.

Article here. Excerpt:

Schools were today accused of failing a generation of teenage boys as record exam results revealed the gender gap is wider than ever. One in four entries from girls scored an A*, while fewer than one in five of those from boys were awarded the top grade - the biggest gap since the A* was introduced in 1994.

Education experts warned the "alarming" trend is leaving boys without the necessary skills to get the most out of life. The starkest difference was in English, with 73 per cent of girls getting an A* to C grade compared with 59 per cent of boys.
...
Girls are moving to traditionally male science subjects at a faster rate than boys, helping to fuel a massive increase in the popularity of physics, chemistry and biology.
...

The most worrying trend was the increasing gap between the results of boys and girls, said Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at the University of Buckingham.

From SAVE:

On April 4, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights ordered every university that accepts federal funds to use a "preponderance (51%) of evidence" standard in evaluating allegations of sexual offense.

Campus procedures are not criminal ones, so the accused do not enjoy Constitutional protections. Now, jilted lovers can ruin the lives of teachers and students with false allegations of rape.

Two units of the prestigious American Association of University Professors have spoken out against this new policy:

1. Gregory F. Scholtz, Director of the Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure, and Governance

2. Ann E. Green, Chair of the AAUP's Committee on Women in the Academic Profession and AAUP President Cary Nelson

And this past Sunday the Wall Street Journal published a searing editorial, charging, "In short, universities are institutionalizing a presumption of guilt in sexual assault cases" (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576516232905230642.html)

Article here. Excerpt:

'Feminist activists launching a new group in London today promised a series of "creative, bold actions" to challenge inequality.

UK Feminista will offer training in campaigning and direct action, with its first monthly meeting due on Saturday, August 27.

"We think it's time for some action," said a spokeswoman. "Public sector cuts are undermining women's economic independence.

"Services for victims of rape and domestic violence are being slashed. A pernicious rise in sexual exploitation is expected in the capital when the Olympics kick off. And abortion rights are under attack.

"Day in, day out, women's rights are being ignored, sidelined and restricted. Enough is enough."

About 500 people attended the group's "suffragette school" in Birmingham over the weekend, where activities included learning how to behave when arrested.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The feminists are having another tantrum. The New York chapter of the National Organization for Women and the New York Civil Liberties Union are squealing about a 64-page decision in a workplace, class-action suit brought by their friends in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The feminists are so accustomed to having their gender doctrines prevail in the courts, in the bureaucracy, in the media and in academia that they can't deal with being told the truth, i.e., that their notions don't make sense and are unfair to others, especially employers, husbands and fathers.