May 25, 2008

There’s a common fallacy in society’s thinking about men, marriage and divorce which I’ll call it the "David Harris Fallacy." David Harris, as you may recall, was the victim of "Murder by Mercedes" killer Clara Harris. David Harris fell in love with another woman and Clara Harris killed him as he attempted to leave their [...]

May 23, 2008

I know I’m about 10 years too late to be commenting much about the movie Saving Private Ryan, but I finally saw the movie the other day and there was something in it that didn’t seem quite right. 
You may remember that at one point the American squad assaults a German machine gun nest, kills two [...]

The recent furor over the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (aka Child Protective Services) raids on the Texas Yearning for Zion Ranch polygamist group reminded me of a nice primer on CPS by Texas criminal defense attorney Paul Stuckle (pictured). It is particularly interesting in light of the recent ruling that the raids were [...]

In his recent blog post “A man getting a gender studies major is most likely to be gay”: on the importance of refuting that problematic stereotype, my friend Hugo Schwyzer (pictured), a feminist blogger and Women’s Studies/Gender Studies professor, writes:
“As a heterosexual man who teaches both women’s history and LGBTQ studies at the community college, [...]

May 22, 2008

One of the books I’ve been reading lately is Rudolph Hoess, Commandant of Auschwitz, the autobiography–yes I said autobiography–of the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp. An estimated 1 to 2.5 million people (mostly Jews) were killed at Auschwitz, and it was Hoess who perfected the techniques of mass killing which would make Auschwitz the most [...]

“Andrew Brownson, one of the Republicans challenging Allen, said it would not be appropriate to ask or force her to resign for her ‘personal habits.’
“‘I don’t believe in that,’ said Brownson.”
According to the UPI, “Assemblywoman Francis Allen (pictured), R-Las Vegas, is accused of using a steak knife to stab Paul Maineri in the forearm…[Allen] said [...]

May 21, 2008

My daughter sometimes likes me to tell her Latin American folk tales as bedtime stories.  I learned quite a lot of them while getting my Masters Degree in Latin American Studies at UCLA.  There is one short story in particular that I remember, which I thought was a very effective way of teaching young people [...]

“What is the attitude of the DCFS when confronted with over 3,000 mistakes they made? Spokesman Kendall Marlowe ‘acknowledged that mistakes are made, but he said the vast majority of people…were placed there properly… he declined further comment.’
“The DCFS chief administrative law judge Meryl Paniak said, ‘A lot of what happens at these hearings is [...]

“When child support payments pile up, parents who owe money often stay away from their children for fear of being arrested.
“Genesee County is offering a solution: Turn yourself in between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and you won’t be arrested.
“It’s a new amnesty program the county is trying out. It’s called Parent Safe Surrender. [...]

May 20, 2008

Background: In Author Says Divorced/Separated Dads Owe Their Exes a Mother’s Day Gift, I criticized Canadian journalist Rebecca Eckler’s recent article Get what you want this Mother’s Day. Twist the ex’s arm (Globe and Mail, 5/6/08).
Canadian journalist Lydia Lovric, a critic of Rebecca Eckler, posted on my blog about some of Eckler’s history–see my post [...]

An interesting new study from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Group Health Center for Health Studies on male victims of domestic violence. In the study, “The researchers defined domestic violence to include nonphysical abuse—threats, chronic disparaging remarks, or controlling behavior—as well as physical abuse: slapping, hitting, kicking, or forced sex.” I [...]

“Former teacher Brian Presken, 32, was accused of using a mirror to look under a woman’s skirt last summer at Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Airport Boulevard in Pensacola.
“Defense attorney Katheryne Snowden argued that the voyeurism charge should be dropped because Presken’s accuser didn’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a public place under [...]

“My girls are my girls, and I’m their mother.  We were just put back together, and we picked up where we were separated.”–Mary Winkler, from Mary Winkler Breaks Her Silence (WREG-TV, 5/16/08)
Yes, Mary, you just pick up right where you left off.  Please don’t let the fact that you shot these children’s father in the back [...]

May 19, 2008

From the Maury Povich Show to real life. From the UK Mirror’s Shock as paternity tests reveal different dads:
“More than one in three women seeking paternity tests discover that the man they thought was the father of their child is not the biological dad.
“Some mums needed tests done on five different men to identify the [...]

[Late note: Vote for shared parenting in the Detroit News' reader poll by clicking here. The News asks readers the question "Should kids' time be divided equally between separated parents?"]
Michigan shared parenting groups have been fighting to pass HB 4564, a shared parenting bill, and have gained considerable support in the process. The bill was heard [...]

May 18, 2008

“After Sen. Barack Obama’s comments last week about what he typically eats for dinner were criticized by Sen. Hillary Clinton as being offensive to both herself and the American voters, the number of acceptable phrases presidential candidates can now say are officially down to four.
“‘At the beginning of 2007 there were 38 things candidates could [...]

…she needs help. Standing on the court steps he said:
“I think she needs some serious help and I hope she gets it.”
I think men should be chivalrous and protective of women to a point, but it seems like whenever a woman does something horrible like this to a man, he makes excuses for her and [...]

Background: In a society which pays far too little respect to its elders, authors Kim Morin and Rita Blockman did a wonderful and unusual thing–they interviewed and tape-recorded the life stories of individuals between the ages of 88 and 104. Their book, Listen to the Wisest of All, is a series of vignettes which detail [...]

May 17, 2008

Background: In my blog posts Dartmouth Students Rebel Against Feminist Professor’s Manbashing, She Reacts by….Suing Her Students! (Part I), Part II, and Part III, I explained how a group of Dartmouth students rebelled against a feminist professor and her manbashing. The professor, rather than engaging in debate, pretended to be a victim, cancelled classes for [...]

This case seems to be a classic Parental Alienation case, with the genders reversed. All the hallmark features–the child’s unreasonable hatred of the targeted parent, the alienating parent’s social world completely revolving around the child, etc. The Canadian courts seem to be taking a tough stand against the alienating father here, and I applaud them.
Judge [...]