An Anonymous User sent us this link to the California chapter of NOW's debunked Family Court Report 2002. It appears that it has been revised recently, and I'd be curious to know if anyone familiar with the controversy over the first version could tell us what the new changes are? Please post your thoughts in the comments section below.

Luek writes "Here is some good news about the fight to cure prostate cancer that kills over 30,000 American men each year. Scientists say a gene has been identified that will predict if the cancer will develop into its most lethal form. The earlier the treatment the more chance there is to cure it. Identifying this gene will give the doctors the edge in their diagnosis and treatment plan.

How appropriate just a couple of weeks after Prostate Cancer 'Un'awareness Month."

CJ writes "Here are examples of how police departments become biased against men (with huge grant offerings) by teaching them the "correct way" to handle domestic issues. In MA, against all evidentiary facts in just about every instance, men (fathers, husbands, boyfriends) get arrested because this is the "correct and trained way to handle these things." Many men are sitting in jail in MA without any examination of the facts concerning the incident. I know, I was one of them. Please contact the people listed on this page with accurate domestic violence statistics. Whether they want it or not doesn't matter, they need to know. Stop the "witch hunt" against men in MA."

frank h writes "I found this article on Madonna's new movie "Swept Away," and after I read what the movie is about, it occurred to me that the reason the critics panned the movie so aggressively might be because the female lead, played by Madonna, is made to look weak and dependent on a man, the male lead played by Adriano Giannini, and worse yet, a man below her "station." The film tells the story of an American "rich bitch," who makes life miserable for a lowly Italian crew member of the yacht on which she is cruising the Aegean. But when the couple are accidentally stranded, the Italian "rough trade" sailor forces her to beg for his help to survive until they become lovers. I haven't seen it yet, and I'm not really a movie critic, but it would be interesting to see what the folks here have to say about it. Is it really a bad movie, or is it just that the illiterati don't like the fact that the woman isn't dominant?"

Raindrop writes "Newscientist reports that men wanting a baby "unconsciously"
increase testosterone levels. This goes against popular opinion of the "little brain" controlling the "big brain" - seems it's the other way around."

Tummler writes "Men who put their career before having a family should beware: the ticking of the biological clock is as important for fertility in men as it is in women.

American scientists have discovered that genetic damage to sperm routinely starts to cause infertility in men as young as 35." Scott's update: Men's News Daily also has an interesting follow-up article to this story.

This is just a final reminder that the 2nd Annual Conference on Male Victims of Domestic Abuse will be held this Saturday in Portland, Maine. Word is that Mary Cleary from AMEN (Abused MEN) will be at the event, coming all the way from Ireland. I also know other attendees are coming from all parts of the U.S. and even Canada.

Trudy W Schuett writes "cyberManbooks.com announced today it now offers e-published
versions of books from Harbinger Press, http://harbpress.com
an independent specialty publisher.

"Our books are meant for, and bought by both genders. Frankly,
more women buy them than men. But our male audience is also
important and more reachable on the Internet. The men who buy
books, especially nonfiction on issues pertinent to them as men,
are more likely to be on the Internet, and often more at home
acquiring and reading them there. It's an obvious place to take
them, " says Keith MacLeod, owner of Harbinger Press. Harbinger
features titles such as: "The Ultimate Survival Guide for the
Single Father" and "Multiple Scandals Of Child Support."

See the Read More section for the rest of the press release.

Steve writes "This week's MANN chat will be Wednesday night (10/16),
starting at 9:30 PM Eastern Time, at the usual location. This chat
will be an open forum, with no designated topic.  Come to discuss any
men's activism issues that you consider important, and invite a friend to
join you."

I received the following press release from NoCirc.org: "San Anselmo, CA – Last week, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
(RACP), along with six other Australasian medical associations, published
its new circumcision policy statement concluding, “After extensive review of
the literature the RACP reaffirms that there is no medical indication for
routine male circumcision.”" Read More for the rest of the release.

Equalitarian62 writes, "October is Domestic violence awareness month in the United States. Last year I created a letter template that could be sent to media outlets across the USA. My own letter was published in the Denver Rocky Mountain News. I am sending an edited (more concise) version to the Denver Post this year (it had to be less than 200 words). Those of you in the United States are urged to contact as many media
outlets as possible (newspaper, radio, TV, magazines, etc.). My
template may be used, or you can modify it or write your own letter
or email." To view the sample letter, view the Read More section below. Making use of a sample letter like this takes only minutes, and can make a big impact in numbers. Please help inform the media that domestic violence is not a gender issue, but a human one.

Glenn Sacks' most recent column, "When Men's Health Doesn't Count", just ran in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (10/9/02). To comment on the article, write to the Virginian-Pilot. The piece was co-written by Dianna Thompson, executive director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children.


The Men's Health Act needs popular support. To write a letter to your Representative, go to this link.

Tom Williamson writes, "The National Coalition of Free Men (NCFM) has just initiated a brand new project at its web site. The new service is an automated news page that scans the internet for relevant headlines from magazines and from other web sites. Headlines will change every week and sometimes every day. Our material is divided up into five categories: Divorce, Civil Rights, Life Style, Health and Fashion. A short list of articles appears on the front page with a brief description. If you want to see a much longer list, simply click on MORE beneath the topic heading. Here is a really neat feature: There is an orange flag next to most of the individual articles. If you want to see a list of related articles click on the orange flag. This is great for anyone doing research; for anyone looking to find material to expand on a topic."

Marc Angelucci writes "The Union Rescue Mission is the most recognized and probably the largest homeless program in Los Angeles. Its programs have a non-denominational Christian basis and serve a huge population of homeless people, mostly men. Ray found the website when searching for organizations that might support a commission for men. That's when we noticed this. If you look under "services," you'll see "Men's Programs," and you'll also see "Women and Family Programs." The women's programs are heavily centered around children and "family" while the men's programs seem to leave parenting and children out almost entirely, with some exceptions. This is probably just reflecting a reality that homeless women are more often with their children than homeless men are, so I'm not making any outright attack here. But wouldn't that still, arguably, create a good reason to create a program that encourages the men to increase their involvement with their children in order to help inspire them to overcome difficulties and to increase father involvement even among homeless men? From what I've read, most homeless men are fathers. And given research we know by Sanford Braver and others, it's likely that a lot of these men are apart from their kids due to judicial and systemic bias against them, perhaps in combination with mental disabilities or other factors (which can even be caused or influenced by the systemic bias). Maybe some of us could contact them and perhaps even praise them their work while also politely sharing some thoughts. I'm curious how others would react to this."

Mark Rosenthal writes, "Ireland's Supreme Court just declared the Interim Barring Order provision of Ireland's Domestic Violence Act to be unconstitutional. Read about it on the AMEN website here. AMEN is an organization in Ireland set up by Mary Cleary in 1997 to provide support for male victims of domestic abuse and their children. On October 19, 2002, Mary Cleary will be emcee at the Battered Men's Helpline 2nd Annual Conference on Male Victims of Domestic Abuse in Portland, Maine."