Archive for August, 2008

Bruce Springsteen has often captured the dignity of the common working man.  For example, Springsteen wrote the song Factory for his father, a New Jersey factory worker, and many of Springsteen's songs chronicle the way his father and other working class men struggle to support their families. In Factory, Springsteen wrote: Early in the morning factory... »

From Friend of the Court nabbing parents who owe child support (Flint Journal, 8/13/08): FLINT, Michigan -- A floor installer had two choices Wednesday night -- fork over $4,000 in unpaid child support or take his chances with the judge. He chose the judge. "I'll just have to go to jail I guess ... I don't have... »

Marlene, a reader, writes: My divorce was finalized on my daughter's second birthday.  My ex-husband and I went through the motions to please the judge, but did it "our" way.   We maintained a proximity of less than 3 miles, spent holidays together, shared in all of our daughter's sports and academic activities.  I remarried with... »

Kathleen Parker's Save the Males criticizes the way "men, maleness, and fatherhood have been under siege in American culture for decades." In the following excerpt from her chapter "Our Fathers, Our Selves," Parker discusses the damage that divorce (and being separated from their fathers) does to girls. Parker writes: Another rarely mentioned reason that children need... »

Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fatherhood, Marriage, and the Family by Stephen Baskerville, Ph.D. examines one of the greatest and most destructive civil rights abuses in America today--our family law system. In the Taken Into Custody excerpt below, Baskerville discusses feminism's greatest betrayal--the change from '70s feminism, which talked about men and children being... »

Darrin, a reader, writes: The "United Through Reading" program seems like a very male-positive program (or should I say "parent-positive"). It involves helping military parents stay connected to their children by allowing the parents to read to them. The program seems to have the support of some large corporate sponsors. I first read about the... »

The National Organization for Women has issued a statement criticizing Republican presidential candidate John McCain's selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. NOW slams Palin, particularly for her pro-life position, and counterposes Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden as "the VP candidate who appeals to women, with his authorship and championing of... »

From the Boston Globe's Men at work in Washington (8/10/08): "...a bill coauthored by Senator Barack Obama and Indiana Senator Evan Bayh called the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act...would provide job training, remove marriage penalties from the tax code, and support domestic violence prevention efforts. The legislation would also address another issue: Currently, single mothers... »

"And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons." In his acceptance speech last night Barack Obama pandered to women by pushing the "wage gap" myth. As we've discussed many times, men earn... »

"We were in the park the other day and there was a guy sitting on the ground. He walked right up and sat down by that man and asked him if he was his daddy... "Men do not even have to be of the same race for him to ask if they are his daddy... »

J. Michael Bone (pictured) is an eminent authority on Parental Alienation, and I've often quoted his work in my newspaper columns on the issue. Starting in early September, Michael is going to be doing a three-part Teleseminar called Treatment for Alienated Children: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why. The telewebcast series begins Tuesday September 9... »

If it pleases men, it must be bad. From It's Summer: Time to Clean Up the Bikini Car Wash (8/19/08) by Women's eNews commentator Kimberly Gadette: (WOMENSENEWS)--Ah, the sights of summer: movie lines snaking 'round the Cineplex, kids splashing in wading pools and scantily clad young ladies at busy intersections holding hand-lettered signs reading "Car... »

I've commented on numerous occasions about the way editorial cartoonists use men as the default for bad in their cartoons. The cartoon above is not sexist in and of itself, but I can't help but notice that there are three "bad" figures--the one who doesn't want to send the kids to school, the one too... »

"Modern extreme feminism... always been in the interests only of the elite of women. This core of the 'progressive project' has been the old perennial elitism disguising itself in pretending to be the opposite. Not just elitist, it's also separatist." Several of my readers are fans of The Woman Racket (pictured) by Steve Moxon,... »

"Sex with students is bad, but why should it be the case that for women it's a case of 'poor boundaries' and for men it's hardcore brutal predation of the most evil sort?" Jay, a reader, recently wrote me a letter about an article in Oprah magazine on the number of female teachers caught having sex... »

Several of you have written to me saying that you're having problems posting comments--that the pages were stopping before the comments section loaded, or the comments section would appear for a couple seconds then disappear. I have my web guy looking into it, but Jean, a reader, came up with an apparent workaround for... »

"Where husband earned a fixed annual salary that was half of what husband had previously earned, with a possible discretionary bonus up to 150 percent of that amount, support agreement requiring husband to pay nearly all his take-home pay in support payments and borrow for living expenses...was a miscarriage of justice..."--Metropolitan News Enterprise, summarizing... »

I'm often made the point that the injustices being perpetrated against men and fathers often stem as much from traditional chivalrous views of gender as from anti-male feminist ones. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, radio talk show host, author, speaker, and columnist, is a good example.  As evident from the article below, the good Rabbi has never... »

Here's another wonderful example of the absolute disregard our family law system has for fathers as anything but wallets. In this case, a distraught/disturbed man shot himself in the face and ended up disabled, perhaps crippled. Yet, according to the Associated Press, the man can't get a reduction on his child support because the "Laconia... »

I'm accustomed to advice columnists giving men short shrift but Salon.com columnist Cary Tennis' man-blaming in the tragic case below is mind-numbing. In "My mom left my dad in a nursing home and lied about his chances of coming home: He thought he'd be returning home to die. But she just strung him along... »

While I am critical of Senator Joe Biden's (D-Del) role as the principle architect of misguided federal domestic violence policy, I do him credit for the admirable way he raised his two young boys after his wife and infant daughter were killed in a tragic car accident. One biography of Biden explains: and... »

Glenn's E-Newsletter/Week in Review, August 26, 2008 Divorced Mother's Column Says It Better Than I Ever Could... Sometimes fatherlessness is the result of dad's decisions, but sometimes it's the result of mom's decisions. I've made this point countless times in the media but never have I done it as effectively as columnist S. Renee Mitchell does... »

I appeared on the Information Radio Network's News & Views this morning to discuss Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) as his vice-presidential candidate. The discussion, co-hosted by Dr. Larry Bates and Chuck Bates, focused on Biden's role as the principle architect of misguided federal domestic violence policy. Biden... »

"The dad vs. stepdad debate is no mere academic question, but instead an issue which has serious ramifications in family law. Advocates of sole or primary custody for mothers often insist that children do fine with 'father-figures' instead of their fathers." My new co-authored column, Media Misreports Study: Stepdads Better than Dads? Not so... »

...this coked up young "lady" said she was forced into sex acts with a cop, and the local police department went through the trouble of interviewing 30 different officers as possible suspects. Remarkably, she's now actually going to be prosecuted over her false claims, albeit only for a misdemeanor. As an aside, this case is an... »

I appeared on Al-Jazeera's World News Saturday evening to discuss Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama's selection of Senator Joe Biden (D-Del) as his vice-presidential candidate. As many of my readers know, Biden has long been the principle architect of misguided federal domestic violence policy, and spearheaded the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 and... »

Kathleen Parker's Save the Males criticizes the way "men, maleness, and fatherhood have been under siege in American culture for decades." In the following excerpt from her chapter "Our Fathers, Our Selves," Parker discusses the importance of fathers. Parker writes: For boys, what better way to learn to become men other than by observing the model... »

A clever PR move by Crystal Mangum, the Duke rape accuser who is now writing a book. She says she's going to donate $1 from each book sold to help battered women. Get it? By doing this she ties herself to victimhood and battered women in the public's eye, even though it wasn't even a... »

Fatherhood activists in California and elsewhere are alarmed over the possible passage of California's AB 612 which, in the words of one activist, will "proscribe family courts in the state from considering parental alienation as a relevant factor in custody cases." While I appreciate the activists' concern, there's no cause for alarm--AB 612 was defanged... »

In my recent blog post Court Rules Boy Must Pay Child Support to His Rapist, I discussed a new Ohio case where a 15-year-old boy who was statutorily raped is being forced to pay child support to his rapist. There are other, similar cases, such as County of San Luis Obispo v. Nathaniel J detailed... »

"Daughters: How was your father treated after the divorce?...If you haven’t heard your father’s side of the story, now’s the time." Dr. Linda Nielsen, the president of the American Coalition for Fathers & Children, often writes about fathers and daughters. Her latest book, Between Fathers and Daughters: Enriching or Rebuilding Your Adult Relationship, has an... »

In my blog post Controversy Over Klondike Commercials--Anti-Male or Not?, I discussed an ad that both some feminists and some men's activists objected to. Jason, a reader, wrote the following in response: Sorry boys but please get over yourselves. No one's treating you unfairly. I'm sure you don't have a problem dehumanizing a woman any chance... »

Low-income noncustodial fathers often face problems with the child support system which hinders their ability to function as fathers to their children. These fathers are often buried by unrealistic child support obligations and charged to repay the cost of the welfare benefits their children's mothers received. Recently I commended the California’s Compromise of Arrears Program... »

The City of Fort Worth recently supplied the following data on "Whom gang members live with": 40 percent mother only 19 percent grandparent 15 percent both parents 14 percent other 11 percent their own housing 1 percent father only At most, only 16% of gang members live with their fathers, but it's probably far less than that.  I strongly suspect that... »

I've long criticized the Single Motherhood by Choice movement for ignoring the importance of fathers and the two-parent family. Now singer Ricky Martin has decided to have motherless children. From Ricky Martin Father of Twin Boys Via Surrogate Mother (Associated Press, 8/20/08): There won't be much "livin' la vida loca" for Ricky Martin these days... »

Sometimes fatherlessness is the result of dad's decisions, but sometimes it's the result of mom's decisions. I've made this point countless times in the media but never have I done it as effectively as columnist S. Renee Mitchell does in her recent column Mom might be the reason dad's absent (The Oregonian, 8/20/08).  Mitchell has... »

While in New York City recently, I saw this article MTA telling women: Turn in that pervert (NY Metro, 8/7/08) by Amy Zimmer. Zimmer writes:: Too many New York women experience harassment on the subway, whether it’s someone rubbing against them, seeing someone expose himself or just hearing uninvited comments. The MTA is finally taking... »

An interesting letter from Timothy Murray, Esq., a frequent reader and commenter on this blog. Tim writes: Glenn,   I thought it would be helpful to illustrate what can happen when men are not vigilant. There’s a Federal Rule of Evidence on the books that  goes back to 1994 – before you started your fight – that... »

John Russell of the Information Radio Network interviewed me Monday concerning my co-authored column DNC Platform: Bad News for Dads (World Net Daily, 8/15/08). The Network is heard on 2,500 stations as well as Armed Forces Radio. In the column we criticize some of the draconian domestic violence laws which often victimize innocent men, including... »

I appeared on Fox's nationally-syndicated??Morning Show with Mike and Juliet recently (to watch, click here)??and was pleased to learn some good news about Fox host Juliet Huddy (pictured). Some of you may remember that several months ago??Juliet and I had an argument on the??Morning Show during a debate on issue of Single Motherhood by Choice.?? Juliet... »