I discussed the problems with anti-male, anti-father advertising in my column Why I Launched the Campaign Against Verizon's Anti-Father Ad (Pasadena Star-News & Affiliated Papers, 11/18/04, Daily Breeze [Los Angeles], 11/19/04). I wrote:

"...The Verizon ad's message is clear, and it's a common one on the TV screen--dad is dumb, dad is useless, mom is smarter than dad, hell, even an eight year-old girl is smarter than dad.

"One ad would not elicit such fervent responses from so many men and women of all ages were it not symptomatic of a larger problem in our society--the denigration of males in popular culture, and the decline of fatherhood.

"Some letters have been from boys as young as twelve who see and are disturbed by negative portrayals of males. One grandmother wrote of her seven year-old grandson, who announced one day that 'mothers are smart, fathers are not.' When the surprised grandmother asked him where he learned that, he replied 'on TV.'

"Other supporters are men who shoulder a male double burden rarely mentioned--working long hours to be the family's primary breadwinner, yet at the same time struggling to play a substantial role in their children's day to day lives. One of these fathers told Verizon, 'when I look around I see men working 50 hours a week or more to support their families, and still managing to help their children with their homework, read them bedtime stories, and be fine role models. Why can't I see any men like that when I turn on the TV?'

"Still other protests have come from divorced or separated fathers who have been pushed to the margins of their children's lives. The image of a father being berated while trying to help his child with homework--and then of the child siding with the mother in their mutual contempt for dad--struck a chord with many of these dispossessed dads. Today one out of every three American children lives apart from his or her father.

"The fact that the father is being humiliated by and in front of his daughter also fuels the fire. One father sent me his letter of protest to Verizon, adding 'I never knew what love really was until I had a daughter.' I understood. Of all the bonds between family members, those between fathers and daughters are often the most tender. Yet at the same time, these bonds can be the most tenuous. Many protesters have written to me of the father-daughter bond that was, but that didn't survive divorce, separation, or time.

"Some of my critics, such as radio personalities Tony Snow and Dori Munson, say that it's only a commercial, and that we're overreacting. Yet we all agree that it's harmful to portray women as incapable of doing men's jobs, or blacks as being unable to achieve what whites can achieve. Why would the same principles not apply to the denigration of fathers? It is with this in mind that many mental health professionals have publicly endorsed our campaign and condemned the ad.

"Susan Lee of the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board accuses me of 'working with a really outmoded notion of patriarchy.' But is it 'patriarchal' to respect a mother's or father's parental authority and dignity?

"As I told my listeners when I announced the campaign, I'm sure that Verizon does not mean any harm. Like many, they have developed a moral blind spot towards disparaging males. Our campaign seeks to change that."

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

The blog's traffic grew so fast so quickly that our previous server was overwhelmed. This weekend we changed to a new, dedicated server which loads the pages seven times faster than the previous one did. Also, we removed the registration requirement to post comments, so that it's quicker and more convenient for our readers. The blog is at GlennSacks.com.

Those interested in advertising or promoting their product or service via the blog, this E-newsletter, and our websites can click here for more information.

I recently received the following letter from a woman we'll call "Barbara." Barbara writes:

"I have a friend whose ex-husband is disabled. He receives disability. How would she go about getting child support from him? Please, any information would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!!!"

Perhaps some of my readers could write me a brief letter in the comments box that I could send back to Barbara.

From Football player Tom Brady excited about impending fatherhood (Associated Press, 2/20/07):

"New England Patriots football player Tom Brady, whose ex-girlfriend, actress Bridget Moynahan is pregnant, is happy about becoming a father.

"'Tom and his family are excited about the pregnancy, and want to thank everyone who has shown support, and particularly for their consideration of Tom's privacy,' Brady's agent, Don Yee, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

"It was the first comment from Brady's camp since it was disclosed that Moynahan is three months pregnant. Her publicist, Christina Papadopoulous, disclosed the pregnancy Monday and said Brady is the father.

"Brady and Moynahan split up late last year after a three-year relationship. Brady, a two-time Super Bowl MVP, has since been seen with lingerie model Gisele Bundchen, and media outlets have reported the two are dating.

"Moynahan, 35, has appeared in films such as 'Coyote Ugly,' 'I, Robot' and the ABC television series 'Six Degrees.' Brady, 29, led the Patriots to three NFL titles, and twice was the Super Bowl MVP."

Maybe it was just an accident, and Brady should've worn a condom. Still, I question why, only at the end of their three-year relationship, Moynahan "accidentally" got pregnant--a pregnancy which, coincidentally, will be worth several million dollars to her over the next 18 years.

(Late note: I just saw that a friend of Brady's told the New York Post that Moynahan "may have gotten pregnant on purpose. She is 36, wanted a baby, and Tom was dumping her. It's a little suspicious.")

It would've been better for the child were he or she to grow up in a married, two-parent family. Given Moynahan's attractiveness--click here--she could've easily found many desirable men who would commit to her and be good husbands and fathers. If the pregnancy wasn't an accident, she instead went for the quick money, to the detriment of her child.

It would've been far better for the child to have an active, hands-on father living in the same home, rather than a Disneyland dad, assuming Moynahan allows Brady to have a relationship with the child, which she may not. Good luck, Tom--you may need it.

To read more and to discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

The article below details an English case wherein Charles Bostock, after being married for 28 years, discovers that all four of "his" children aren't his. After a 5th child is born he finds out from others that all five kids belong to another local man, Richard Mills, with whom his wife Sarah has had a long-running affair.

The kicker is this--Sarah, after having five children with Mills during her adulterous affair, complains that...Mills is cheating on her!

The story is The mother of all betrayals (The Sun, 2/22/07):

"A DOTING dad told yesterday how he brought up four kids as his own -- only to find they were all fathered by his wife's secret LOVER.

"Cheated Charles Bostock, 69, spent years thinking the three cherished girls and a boy were his children.

"He only discovered the shock news when his 49-year-old wife Sarah fell pregnant with a FIFTH child by married love rival Richard Mills.

"Retired policeman Charles knew he could not be the dad because he had not bedded Sarah for many months.

"Pals finally told him who the baby's dad was. But he did not learn the truth about the other four children -- aged 12, ten, nine and six -- until DNA tests proved they were Mills'.

"Heartbroken Charles said yesterday: "I feel like the life has been ripped out of me.

"'I brought those kids up for 12 years like any normal dad. I changed their nappies, dried their tears, took them to school -- and now I've lost everything. I still love them and they love me, but what sort of life will they have now?'

To read more and to discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

The Best Interests of the Child How to Save Our Child When We Can't Save our Marriage--New DVD set from Dr. Warren Farrell, foremost expert on children of divorce www.BestInterestofChildren.org New DVD set from Dr. Warren Farrell--The Best Interests of the Child The Best Interests of the Child: How to Save Our Child When We Can't Save our Marriage is a new DVD set from Dr. Warren Farrell, one of the foremost experts on children of divorce. In it he summarizes over 200 studies, and the research is clear: children do far better with near equal exposure to both parents with minimal conditions. The video can be submitted as evidence and Dr. Farrell is available to testify as an expert witness. www.BestInterestofChildren.org Help for Los Angeles/Ventura County Dads Certified Family Law Specialist Peter M. Walzer was one of the key figures in our successful legislative struggle to preserve the LaMusga move-away decision. As Chair of the State Bar of California Family Law Section Executive Committee, Walzer lobbied the state legislature to improve California laws on child support and child custody. He's an American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Fellow who has authored numerous articles on custody issues, business valuation in marital dissolutions and spousal and child support.  www.California-Divorce.com

The two cartoons below-by Jim Morin of the New York Times/CWS Syndicate and Signe Wilkinson of the Philadelphia Daily News respectively--detail the economic hardships faced by American autoworkers as the auto industry struggles.

There are many different views on how to help these workers--the right says they were overpaid, blames the United Auto Workers, and says the solution lies in the workers making themselves more competitive. The left favors fighting corporate greed and waste.

There is, however, an easy solution to the economic problems these workers face--give them child support obligations. You see, child support obligors never get laid off, never have wage cuts, and never have economic problems. Child support obligors are always able to pay whatever figure a court decides. Massive layoffs? Economic downturns? Nah-- "deadbeat dads" just don't want to pay.

The following statement is amazing but true--I have followed the "Top 10 Child Support Evaders" or "Top Deadbeat Parents" lists put out by the various states for nearly five years now, and every single list which I have ever seen--absolutely without exception--has been dominated by uneducated, working-class men.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

In Exposed: the myth of the World Cup 'sex slaves', Bruno Waterfield, the Brussels correspondent for the Daily Telegraph (UK), writes:

"Last summer, lurid headlines claimed that 40,000 women would be smuggled by sex slavers into Germany to be prostituted to World Cup football fans. The truth is very different indeed. Newly unrestricted European Union documents reveal that the German police uncovered just five cases of 'human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation' related to the international football tournament.

"Despite a huge 'awareness-raising' campaign, the setting up of telephone hotlines run by non-governmental organisations, and extra police checks on Germany's borders, the prostitution scare stories, boosted by an unholy alliance of European left-wingers, feminists, police officers, Christians, the American right and US President George W. Bush, have turned out to be pure fiction.

"Having reported on the trafficking claims, and the people behind them, for spiked last June (1), I applied for restricted Council of the EU documents that had been circulated among European immigration and police officials in January this year. The reports - Council of the European Union documents 5006/1/07 and 5008/7 - are now available and they reveal a huge magnitude of error in the claims made by campaigners that were splashed across media headlines around the world (2). The five cases are 8,000 times less than the 40,000 predicted.

"'The increase in forced prostitution and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation during the 2006 World Cup in Germany which was feared by some did not materialise', concludes one report. 'There was no sign whatsoever of the alleged 40,000 prostitutes/forced prostitutes - a figure repeatedly reported, also in international media - who were to be brought to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.'"

Read Waterfield's full article here.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

A Flint, Michigan father who fought a custody battle against his daughter's drug-addled mother and the anti-male child protective system was gunned down this week. From He Lived for That Little Girl (2/21/07):

"In fall 2005, Tracy L. Frasier subjected himself to a background check, psychological exam, financial investigation, a study of his home and a drug test - all so he could get custody of his baby daughter, court records show.

"'He fought for that baby,' said neighbor Kay Wilson. 'He wanted custody of her, and he got it.'

"Sometime after Sunday night, Frasier, 32, was killed by a gunshot to the head in the home at 3440 Brent Ave. that he shared with his daughter, now 2.

"Friends and family estimate the toddler spent more than 24 hours in the home with her father's body until Frasier's co-worker, concerned that he hadn't come to work or called in sick, drove to the house Tuesday and found him dead...

"Court records indicate social workers and investigators believed the girl and her siblings had a risky life with their biological mother, who appears to have left the state...

"The baby was made a ward of the court in March 2005, and it appeared she would be headed for foster care when court records indicate her father said he wanted a permanent relationship with her.

"Frasier said he would conform to the state DHS requirements, and by the end of that year, social workers had recommended that she be placed with him...

"'This is so awful,' said Wilson. 'He lived for that little girl.'"

As I've noted before, fathers often face a long, hard battle in winning the right to raise their own children after Child Protective Services has taken them from unfit mothers. CPS has an anti-male bias and prefers to put the children in foster care. To learn more, see my co-authored column New Report: Foster Care System Disregards Fathers (Boston Globe, 6/8/06).

To read the incredible Melinda Smith story, wherein a Los Angeles father and daughter were needlessly separated by the foster care system for over a decade, click here.

One of my readers suggested we add Tracy L. Frasier to my list of "Hero Fathers." To learn more about that list, see my co-authored column Not the Era of the Deadbeat Dad but the Era of the Hero Father (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, 6/19/05) and also click here.

To read more and discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

According to the article Bloomer police officer fired (Chippewa Herald, 2/21/07):

"Bloomer police officer Chris King has an eight-day-old baby. He also just moved into a house he built within the Bloomer School District, as required of city employees by local ordinance.

"And now he's without a job.

"Acting Bloomer Police Chief Randy Summerfield -- who is Bloomer's mayor -- called King into the police department Tuesday afternoon and summarily fired him.

"Summerfield read from a prepared letter that did not spell out a reason for the termination, King said.

"'This is just about as devastating as it can get,' King said Tuesday afternoon, shortly after losing his job. 'I've got a brand new baby, a brand new house, and no way to pay for it.'

To read the full article and to discuss this issue on my blog, click here. 

Background: I've written about Darren Mack, who stands accused of murder and also attempted murder, on numerous occasions, including Thomas Jefferson Murdered Women? and others. I recently referred to Mack as a "despicable Nevada father who, unhappy with his family law case, stabbed and murdered his ex-wife and attempted to murder a judge."

George and Lary, two readers, are unhappy with some of what I've written. George writes:

"You have judged Darren Mack before any trial. As a published journalist for profit you have acted in the most sensational manner in reckless disregard for fairness. The time to condemn Mr. Mack is after the trial, not before, even if he is convicted. You were once a history teacher [but] you ignore the fundamental right of presumed innocence...you need to take a look at the yellow journalism which you seem to be practicing."

Lary writes:

"According to all the actual news reports that are publicly available, Darren Mack is accused of murder and attempted murder. He has neither been tried or convicted in either case yet...Regardless of personal feelings on a subject, one should maintain a level of objectivity to prevent disseminating false information...Please adjust your articles to present accurate information. It is still quite possible to disassociate yourself or present your dissatisfaction with an action or set of actions without presenting the unproven as fact."

Like many, George and Lary misunderstand the presumption of innocence. The presumption of innocence is a legal right--it has little to do with how I, an opinion columnist, am supposed to judge him. I've little doubt that Darren Mack committed the crimes I've mentioned. If it somehow turns out that he is innocent, I will of course correct myself and apologize. News stories will say a crime is "alleged" until there's a conviction, but I'm not a news reporter, I'm a columnist. I go with the best evidence, and the best evidence is that Mack is guilty.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here. 

Protestors at Stonehenge

As you know, I'm a great admirer of the English group Fathers 4 Justice and Matt O'Connor, its founder. Recently they launched a protest at Stonehenge to "Drag the family courts out of the Stone Age." No surprise that my hero Jolly Stanesby was involved. From the Wiltshire Times (2/22/07):

"THREE men dressed as cartoon character Fred Flintstone evaded tight security and scaled Stonehenge in the latest protest by protest group Fathers 4 Justice.

"They climbed the ancient monument at 9.15 am today and unfurled a banner with the message 'Drag the family courts out of the Stone Age.'

"The move follows comments by Conservative leader David Cameron, who said he feels the rise in anti-social and gangland behaviour can be partly attributed to family breakdown and absent fathers.

"Matt O'Connor, the founder of Fathers 4 Justice, said: "It all went to plan at Stonehenge and although the security was beefed up the three guys managed to get up there.

"'David Cameron's comments about fathers angers us because it is obvious that so many fathers do care, so it's like a case of what do we have to do to show that?

"'Stonehenge is kind of the cradle of our society so there is the symbolic part of the protest with that, and we've also kept the humour in there because Fred Flintstone is the most famous Stone Age person.

"'Seeing Fred Flintstone on Stonehenge will add to the experience for visitors, shall we say.'

"The protesters have enough supplies to stay on the stones for about three days. One, Jolly Stanesby, is a hardened veteran of various Fathers 4 Justice campaigns."

Read the full article here.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here. 

Background: Last month my co-authored column When Beating up on 'Deadbeat Dads' is Unfair was published in the Houston Chronicle. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is cracking down on "deadbeats", and characterizes them in an extremely uncomplimentary manner. Since the column came out I've received numerous letters from Texas child support obligors who have detailed the abuses they've suffered at the hands of Abbott and the child support enforcement system. Here's the latest:

"Dear Glenn:

"My ex-wife just went to the DA's office and said that I owe back child support. Somehow they figured it to be $31,000.

"I bought a house for my ex-wife and our children to live in, and I only charged her my overhead. We never used an agency to deliver child support. We have had this agreement since 2004.

"Now 3 years later she is claiming that I shortchanged her $900/month.  She forgot to mention that she was living in a house that I own. I was not even making any money on the house. Houses in the same neighborhood go for $1,100 to $1,500 a month.

"The DA's office here in Texas sent me a notice--not even by registered mail--and began taking the money out of my paycheck. I never even had a date to contest this. What happened to due process? They did no investigation--they just took her word. This woman has been living off of child support since 1999 and has only had a job maybe a total of 2 years.

"The Texas Attorney General's Office now says that if the amount that I owe--$31,000--is not paid in 30 days, my federal tax refund will be intercepted, I will be reported to consumer reporting agencies, and, since the amount is over $2,500, my debt will be certified to the State Department. From there, the Secretary of State will be able to refuse to issue me a passport, or may revoke my passport. All without due process.

"I have called all of my local representatives and they are not helpful."

I see these cases all the time. This is a little different because there's a house involved, but very often a mother and father will come to an agreement on child support after they separate. Then the state gets involved, either because the mother received welfare and the state wants to recoup its money, or the mother breaks their agreement, as shown above, and says she never received any child support, and that the father owes back payments.

Once the state gets involved, they declare all of the money the father paid the mother under their agreement to be a "gift" that doesn't count towards the child support owed. They do this because the states get reimbursed by the federal government for every dollar in child support they collect. (I explained this a little in my co-authored column Federal Child Support Enforcement Cuts Will Hurt Bureaucrats, not Children, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Riverside Press-Enterprise, 12/16/05).

These cases, which are fairly common, are indicative of the way the child support system often does not act in the best interests of children, and also pits men and women against each other unnecessarily.

The best kind of child support agreement is one the mother and father make between them, without state involvement, yet the state insists on getting involved even when it is not wanted or warranted. I don't know how this case will turn out, but I doubt that this gentlemen will be able to get Texas to count the considerable money he's spent on his ex-wife and kids as "child support."

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.
 

Help for Michigan Dads
Michigan family law attorney Mindy L. Hitchcock has experience fighting for noncustodial parents against Michigan's abusive FOC. Her holistic approach to divorce gets results for her clients while avoiding the scorched earth approach to law that leaves families emotionally and financially devastated. www.Lady4Justice.com

The LaMusga Company
The LaMusga Company provides customized solutions to assist individuals and business owners in reaching their financial goals. The LaMusga Company is committed to helping you accomplish your long-term financial objectives. LaMusgaCo.com

File Taxes Online with  Professional Help
MENstax.com allows you to file your taxes, check your refund status, and have your return reviewed by an experienced tax professional--all online.

How Does Sex Discrimination Affect Men and Boys?
The National Coalition of Free Men Los Angeles is a non-profit educational & civil rights organization that looks at the ways sex discrimination affects men and boys. NCFM-LA helps provide men a unified voice on important political and social issues. www.NCFMLA.org