My new co-authored column, "Texas bill to create domestic violence offender registry will harm innocent men" (Austin American-Statesman, 4/11/07), asserts that Texas HB 3958, which will be heard in the Corrections Committee of the Texas House this week, will ensnare and punish many innocent men. This is in part because of the problems with the way Texas law enforcement and the judicial system handle domestic violence.

Texas bill to create domestic violence offender registry will harm innocent men
By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks
Austin American-Statesman, 4/11/07

House Bill 3958, sponsored by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio), will set up a domestic violence offender registry similar to the Texas Sex Offender Registry. Castro is correct to identify domestic violence as an important issue; however, there are serious problems with the way law enforcement and the judicial system handle domestic violence. These problems will cause many innocent men to be ensnared by this bill.

HB 3958 would set up a central database containing information on anyone who has been convicted or "received a grant of deferred adjudication" for a family violence offense on three occasions. The three conviction requirement is defensible, but the inclusion of deferred adjudications -- which are analogous to plea bargains -- is a major problem.

Like many states, Texas has adopted aggressive arrest procedures on domestic violence calls. While politically popular, many of the architects of these types of policies are increasingly concerned that they have led to widespread

Erectile Dysfunction? Hair Loss? The Men's Renaissance Health Centers Can Help The Men's Renaissance Health Centers are a specialty medical facility dedicated to the treatment of Men's Sexual Health, Hair Transplantation, and Cosmetic Dermatology. MRHC features the latest "Star Lux" Laser technology for Facial Rejuvenation and Hair Removal. Call (866) 398-6086 for more info., and mention Glenn Sacks to receive special rates. Erectile Dysfunction? Confidential Consultations, Noninvasive Solutions Men's Renaissance Heath Center specializes in confidential consultations on Erectile Dysfunction, Premature Ejaculation and Sexual Potency. Unlike other clinics that focus the patient on one invasive procedure featuring constant injections, MRHC starts with a thorough exam by a medical doctor and seeks to find the most appropriate and least invasive solution to the problem. Offering FDA approved medications and devices, the MRHC makes the process of recovering youthful performance levels comfortable and rapid. Call (866) 398-6086 for more info., and mention Glenn Sacks to receive special rates. Hair Loss? Follicular Unit Transplantation is the New Gold Standard Follicular Unit Transplantation is the newest technique of permanent surgical hair restoration. With FUT, hair is transplanted from the permanent zone in the back of the scalp into balding areas, using only one's own naturally occurring, individual follicular units. This unique procedure provides what we all want: hair that looks natural throughout, no matter what we do or which way the wind blows. Most importantly, transplanted hair will continue to grow for the rest of the patient's life. Call (866) 398-6086 for more info., and mention Glenn Sacks to receive special rates.

I am partnering with Parental Alienation expert J. Michael Bone, Ph.D., John Curtis, Ph.D., author of The Business of Love, and Debby Hirschhorn Ph.D., author of The Secret Marriage Killer: Eradicating Verbal and Emotional Abuse, in the new 'Being a Better Dad' Teleseminar series.

The seminar is a convenient way for men to learn vital information or gain new skills on being a better dad. Fathers can attend training from the privacy of their own homes via telephone.

A Certificate of Attendance will be awarded to fathers who complete all 4 hours of "Being a Better Dad," and can be used to help show judges, child custody evaluators, mediators, etc., your commitment to co-parenting after divorce or separation, and to being the best dad you can be.

The first Teleseminar is Thursday April 19 (9 p.m. EDT / 6 p.m. PDT)--to sign up, go to www.beingabetterdad.com.

I love being a dad, but there are times when it can be trying, and parenting during divorce or separation must be 10 or 100 times more difficult. The Being a Better Dad seminars are designed to help. The Being a Better Dad seminars cover:

- The national perspective on the most significant parenting and men's issues of 2007
- How a father can respond to Parental Alienation (where one parent tries to turn a child against the other parent)
- Stopping verbal abuse in marital or post-marital conflict along with winning strategies to raising healthier children
- A new approach to healthy intimate relationships based on business strategies that will actually work in the 21st century especially among dual-income couples

The Teleseminar's presenters are:

J. Michael Bone, Ph.D. is a national expert on Parental Alienation and high conflict divorce. He has been an evaluator, expert witness and educator on Parental Alienation in courts throughout the United States.

Debby Hirschhorn Ph.D. is a marriage and family therapist and the author of The Secret Marriage Killer: Eradicating Verbal and Emotional Abuse and How to Get Your Kids to WANT to Do What YOU Want Them to.

John Curtis, Ph.D. is the author of The Business of Love: 9 Best Practices for Improving the Bottom Line of Your Relationship, a unique book which details a step-by-step approach to apply proven business strategies to a marriage. Curtis and The Business of Love have been covered by the Today Show, the New York Times, Bloomberg Financial and numerous others.

Glenn Sacks is a fathers' advocate and columnist, commentator, blogger and talk show host. His columns appear regularly in US newspapers, he has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances, and is often quoted on fathers' issues in newspapers and magazines.

The first Teleseminar is Thursday April 19 (9 p.m. EDT / 6 p.m. PDT)--to sign up, go to www.beingabetterdad.com.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

I've complained in print several times about the kid gloves treatment former astronaut Lisa Nowak has been receiving from the media, NASA, and prosecutors, and pointed out that this preferential treatment is common for female offenders.

Whereas one would think that a Naval officer who tried to kidnap and murder another serviceman would be court-martialed, Nowak has instead been reassigned to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi to serve as a training officer. Whereas Nowak should have been charged with attempted murder, she is being charged with attempted kidnapping instead.

Worst of all, whereas the media should have condemned Nowak in the strongest terms, much of the media made excuses for her and portrayed her as a sympathetic victim, depicting her actions merely as a "nutty" or "bizarre" escapade. A few examples, drawn from my co-authored column Scott Peterson in a Space Suit (Philadelphia Daily News, 2/26/07):

1) CBS commentator Harry Smith expressed sympathy for this "poor" woman for "falling in love" and then "crash-landing."

 2) Fox News commentator Steve Doocy opined that "love makes you do weird things," and claimed that prosecutors were being too hard on Nowak.

3) MSNBC described Nowak as a stressed out "super mom" who "snapped."

4) A psychologist on MSNBC sympathetically explained that the would-be murderess acted because she was "experiencing the fear of abandonment" that was "so terrifying" that she had to "secure the love object and eliminate the threat."

5) A reporter for a major newspaper described the murder attempt as Nowak's effort to "share with someone else a bit of the pain swelling inside."

6) One major newspaper sadly lamented Nowak's "meltdown," a term usually used to describe a performer's onstage temper tantrum, not an apparent murder attempt.

7) One commentator labeled Nowak an "unfortunate" individual who "has been the subject of relentless news coverage...[and] hounded and beleaguered by the press," an unusually sympathetic description of the media attention people bring upon themselves when they try to kill someone.

Pictured above are the knife and sledgehammer that Nowak was carrying with her when she attacked romantic rival Colleen Shipman--do they look like the tools of a harmless escapade to you?

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

Good News, Bad News on the Fight Against Parental Alienation

First the good news...

Background: I've been surprised and impressed with the progress that the Parental Alienation Awareness Organization has made in gaining recognition of April 25 as "Parental Alienation Awareness Day."

Last year they got the Governors of three states to officially recognize April 25 as PAAD, and are working on more. 

As I've noted on many occasions (click here and here), Parental Alienation is a vile scourge, and I fully endorse these activists' efforts. Their latest press release--with the good news that two new states are recognizing PAAD--is below.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher Join the Governors of Maine, Iowa, and Nevada in Recognizing and Proclaiming April 25th as Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Parental Alienation Awareness Organization (PAAO) is pleased to announce that Nebraska and Kentucky are among the states that recognize the importance of Parental Alienation awareness. The PAAO is working towards having the behaviors involved in Parental Alienation recognized on a statewide level.

Parental Alienation and Hostile Aggressive Parenting involve a series of behaviors that can effectively alienate a child from a parent. They are often seen in the context of high-conflict divorce or custody cases and are done by a third party, such as a parent or extended family. Such behaviors interfere with the bond between a loving parent and child.

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

And now, the not so good news...

AB 612, a bill which will make it harder to protect children from Parental Alienation, passed the California Assembly Judiciary Committee last week on an 8-1 vote.

The bill would discourage mental health professionals from issuing findings of Parental Alienation in divorce/custody cases. It would also make it more difficult for target parents to get courts to order psychological evaluations as part of child custody investigations. To learn more about the bill, see my co-authored column AB 612 Will Make It Harder to Protect Children from Parental Alienation (Riverside Press-Enterprise, 4/2/07).

On a positive note, while it's still a bad bill, the worst language from the bill was struck, largely (though not completely) weakening the bill. Originally the bill read:

"Controversial, nonscientific labels, such as parental alienation syndrome, parental alienation, or alienated child, are specifically excluded as allowable diagnoses and for court use."

The Family Law Executive Committee of the California State Bar opposed this language, and Michael Robinson of the California Alliance for Families and Children worked with mental health professionals to get it removed.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

Background: Perhaps the best and most powerful presentation on shared parenting I've ever seen was made by Warren Farrell, author of Father & Child Reunion, at the American Coalition for Fathers and Children's Family Law Reform conference last September. Farrell detailed his research on children of divorce.

Farrell's central findings include: children do best when the time spent with each parent is as close to 50% as practically possible; children of divorce do better with shared parenting than with any other structure, including living with their mother and a step dad; badmouthing behavior which can alienate the children from the other parent is very damaging; and children do best when the divorced parents live close to each other. To watch Farrell's speech at the conference, click here.

Farrell has an excellent new DVD series called The Best Interests of the Child: How to Save Our Child When We Can't Save our Marriage which details his research on fathers and shared parenting--to learn more, click here.

Do you have a post-divorce parenting question? Shared Parenting expert Warren Farrell will answer it on my blog and in my E-Newsletter. Send us your question at Glenn@GlennSacks.com. Please keep your questions at 50 words or less.

"In the American family, the mother comes first, then the kids, then the dog, then the cat, and then the father."--Tomas, my Cuban immigrant father-in-law

From Don Wright, political cartoonist for The Palm Beach Post.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

Background: Amanda Platell is a feminist British TV commentator who can be seen giving UK Fathers 4 Justice leader Matt O'Connor a hard time here. I criticized her for that, but she recently wrote a very prescient article on the controversial Natallie Evans IVF case. In that case Evans (pictured right), who had cancer, was denied the right to use the frozen embryos fertilized by ex-partner. Platell asks, "A tragedy for Natalie Evans, but what about fathers?"

The court was right to stop Natallie becoming a mother
By Amanda Platell
Daily Mail, 4/11/07

The moment Natallie Evans broke down, having just heard that her embryos would be destroyed and would never become the beloved child she dreamed of, her pain was clear for all to see. But perhaps more clear for those of us who, like Natallie, have also struggled to have a child, who like her have battled through years of disappointment, only one ghastly day to have to accept the truth - that we will never be a mother. I too have known the depths of that darkness, and have some idea of the pain ahead for her: the loitering by Baby Gap, the lingering glances into baby buggies, the bitter-sweet smile at mums at the school gate. If anyone should be her champion, it should be me. But I know that the heartbreak verdict was the right one. The decision not to allow this young woman to use her frozen embryos was truly a terrible tragedy for Natallie. But it was the only decision the courts could come to.

Why? Because had the European Court of Human Rights supported Ms Evans's claim to an inalienable right to motherhood, it would have legislated men out of fatherhood ... and legislated fathers out of families.

In other words, it would have set in law the right of a woman to use a man as nothing more than a means of having a baby - irrespective of the father's wishes or, indeed, the future needs of the child.

The case of Natallie Evans is a tragedy in three parts, starting five years ago when, at just 29, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

She and her partner Howard Johnston began IVF treatment in order that, after her ovaries were removed, she would still be able to have their child. Six of the couple's fertilised embryos were frozen and stored.

Then a year later, tragedy struck again when she and her fiance split up. Mr Johnston wrote to the clinic where the embryos were stored and asked for them to be destroyed.

He was within his rights to do so, since British law sensibly requires both partners to give consent before an IVF pregnancy can progress - up to the point at which the embryo is implanted.

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

Online Dating Rights Online Dating Rights opposes the new federal International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, which requires Americans who seek to meet foreigners via the internet to have a criminal background check and an intrusive report about intimate details of one's life BEFORE any communication--the first time in US history that such checks have been required. www.onlinedatingrights.com Parenting Plan Calendar Software Shared Ground (R) is an easy-to-use software program designed for divorced parents to track their parenting plan schedules over many years. Do-it-yourself or let us build your approved parenting plan into a multi-year calendar so that you can print, share, or modify the calendar later. Parents, attorneys, arbitrators and mediators can generate equitable parenting plans, which is especially useful for parents seeking fair division of their children's time. FREE ASSISTANCE TO OUR CLIENTS- $49.95 one-time charge, FREE TRIAL & MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE. Click here for more information.   SAMSONLAW--Divorce Lawyers for Michigan Men & Fathers If you're a Michigan man faced with divorce, you need SAMSONLAW on your side--SAMSONLAW defends men. Smart Advocacy Means Stopping Oppression Now. INeedSamson.com

In the past I've complained that former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who treated fathers terribly while he was the DA, was later honored by the city of Los Angeles. In my co-authored column Some Progress for California Fathers, but Still a Long Way to Go I wrote:

"In 1998 then-Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti declared a 'get tough' campaign against so-called 'deadbeat dads,' sending out thousands of summonses for paternity cases. The men were given only 30 days to respond.

"Many of the summonses targeted the wrong men, and many never reached the intended parties. Eighty percent of Garcetti's paternity judgments were made by default, locking the men into 18 years of child support. Many took DNA tests proving that they were not the fathers of the children they now had to take second jobs to support. Others were assigned huge support arrearages by mistake. Many became unable to support their own children. Some of their marriages broke up, and some of the men landed in jail.

"Garcetti created so much chaos and heartache that even diehard feminist attorney Gloria Allred protested. Allred, who has perhaps done more than anybody to promote the phrase and concept of 'deadbeat dads,' called Garcetti's office 'an organization without a heart, without any compassion, and without a sense of priorities...[it's] a system run amok."

"Garcetti later acknowledged that many of the men had been mistakenly targeted but refused to relent, instead blaming the men for not responding within 30 days. 'The law is the law,' he told CBS's Bernard Goldberg."

To this day some of the men Garcetti victimized are still paying child support for children who are not theirs. Yet, incredibly, in 2002 Garcetti was appointed to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission! "Ethics"?!

Now we have a similar farce. I've written before about the Bridget Marks case. Marks became a poster child for the Feminist Family Law Movement when she lost custody of her twin four-year-old daughters to her ex-boyfriend in 2004 after she claimed that he had molested the girls. Marks successfully took her side of the story to the public via appearances on Larry King Live, PrimeTime Live, The O'Reilly Factor, Dr. Phil and others, as well as through sympathetic "news" articles in the New York Post and the New York Daily News. The record, however, demonstrated that Family Court Judge Arlene Goldberg made the correct decision in the Marks case.

Marks alleged that John Aylsworth, her ex-boyfriend, had sexually abused both daughters during a supervised visitation. In upholding Goldberg's findings, two state Appellate Division, First Department judges, David Friedman and Peter Tom, explained:

"[The trial court's] finding--for which there is ample support in the record--[is] that the mother coached the girls to make false accusations that their father sexually abused them. The Law Guardian and the neutral expert witnesses who testified in this case--the psychiatrist appointed by the court as the independent forensic evaluator, two certified social workers retained by the Law Guardian, and two social workers who supervised the father's visitations during the tendency of the proceedings--all take the view that the accusations are false, and that the children were coached to make them. Even the expert witnesses called by the mother seem to have recognized that the accusations were made in a manner consistent with coaching."

Marks appealed the case, and the state Appellate Division, First Department, in what it described as a "close" call, did transfer custody back to Marks because it felt she could give the children more personal care and attention than Aylsworth, a casino mogul, would be able to. Pro-mother gender bias also drove the Appellate Court's decision.
Nevertheless, all four Appellate justices concluded that Marks had in fact coached her then four-year-old twin girls to believe that they had been sexually molested by their father.

Recently Marks' attorney, Tom Shanahan was named deputy commissioner in the Division on Human Rights for new New York Governor Eliot Spitzer! How a guy who worked hard to defend a woman who coached her little girls to say they'd been molested by their father gets a top job on a "Human Rights" commission is beyond me.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

More Debate over 'Deadbeat Dad'/Pizza Campaign Background: Recently Ohio's Butler County Child Support Enforcement Agency launched a highly-publicized new campaign which puts mug shots of the County's "Most Wanted Deadbeat Parents" on pizza boxes. The idea was the brainchild of Agency Executive Director Cynthia Brown. To learn more about the story, click here. Three representatives of the fathers' movement have debated Cynthia Brown over the past few weeks: Brown debated family law attorney Maury Beaulier (top right) on Fox & Friends. To watch, click here. Dr. Stephen Baskerville (right), president of the American Coalition or Fathers and Children, debated Brown on CNN. Video is not yet available, but the transcript of the debate is below. I debated Brown on FOX News' nationally-syndicated Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on Tuesday (below right)--to watch, click here. Transcript of ACFC President Stephen Baskerville debating Cynthia Brown on CNN, 4/1/07 BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: A wanted poster delivered with your pizza, of all things, is happening in a suburb of Cincinnati. Mugshots of parents accused of not paying child support appearing on pizza delivery boxes. A child enforcement worker came up with this idea and pitched it to pizza places in Ohio's Butler County. While this may sound like a good idea, to many, it does have its critics. One of those critics being Steven Baskerville of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. There he is. And he joins us from Washington. And from Cincinnati, Ohio, this morning, the woman who came up with this idea, Cynthia Brown. Good morning to you both... To read more and discuss this issue on my blog, click here. The Business of Love 50% of 1st marriages fail, the rate of marriage has declined 48% in 40 years, single households now outnumber married households...if there ever was a time for a radical, new approach to marriage, it's NOW. The Business of Love, by Dr. John Curtis, an organizational development consultant and former marriage counselor, is the first book to show how to take the same "best practices" that build successful businesses and apply them to an intimate relationship. Learn more at www.TheBusinessofLove.org. 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. Lady4Justice.com Chris Rock Mocks Feminist Idea that White Women Have Been Oppressed Like Black Men (Video) "How can you compare the suffering of a white women to the suffering of a black man? It's not even close!"--Chris Rock In this humorous monologue, comedian Chris Rock mocks the feminist idea that white women and black men have been similarly oppressed. (Note: Unlike most of Rock's material, there is no obscenity on this clip.) To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.     New DVD set from Dr. Warren Farrell--The Best Interests of the Child In this new DVD set from Dr. Warren Farrell, one of the foremost experts on children of divorce, he summarizes over 200 studies, and finds that 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

"If your mother stayed home with you, you were cared for by your parent. However, if your father stayed home with you, according to the NIH study, you are the product of "child care."

Good article from Neil Chethik on a recent child care study:

Fathers shouldn't be lumped in with day-care centers
By Neil Chethik
Lexington Herald-Leader, 4/9/07

The federal government made a splash recently with its newest study of American children who attend day care at an early age. The research showed that day-care kids are more argumentative in grade school but have better vocabularies than most of their classmates.

Just as important was what didn't make the headlines. In the fine print of the study --funded by the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health -- was the definition of "child care" that the study adopted. Lumped together with care provided by preschools and day-care centers was care provided by the child's father.

That's right. If your mother stayed home with you, you were cared for by your parent. However, if your father stayed home with you, according to the NIH study, you are the product of "child care."

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

A story from Germany:

"Desperate fathers are being urged to drop their unwanted babies through hatches at hospitals in Germany in an effort to halt a spate of infanticides that has shocked the country.

"At least 23 babies have been killed so far this year, many of them beaten to death or strangled by their fathers before being dumped on wasteland and in dustbins.

"Police investigating the murders are at a loss to explain the sudden surge in such cases, which have involved fathers of all ages all over the country."

Of course this isn't real--nobody would call fathers who beat or strangle their children "desperate." Such kindness and sensitivity is reserved for mothers and mothers only. From 'Baby-Drops' Introduced in Germany as Infanticide Cases Spike (The Times, 3/27/07):

"Desperate mothers are being urged to drop their unwanted babies through hatches at hospitals in Germany in an effort to halt a spate of infanticides that has shocked the country.

"At least 23 babies have been killed so far this year, many of them beaten to death or strangled by their mothers before being dumped on wasteland and in dustbins.

"Police investigating the murders are at a loss to explain the sudden surge in such cases, which have involved mothers of all ages all over the country."

German authorities shouldn't be wringing their hands over "desperate" mothers--they should be organizing manhunts--pardon me, womanhunts--for these murderesses, just as they would (and should) when a father murders his child.

Postscript: On my blog someone wrote "You come across as somebody who wants to punish mothers, rather than someone who cares about the welfare of babies." I responded:

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

Matt from www.mensactivism.org has some interesting comments on the death of Marine Todd Sommer. Matt writes:

"[ABC] portrays the wife of dead Marine Todd Sommer as a victim of circumstance and faulty lab work. Plenty of up-closes with her crying as she sat behind a desk in jail. In short: the usual predictable stuff.

"Right after her husband is dead from arsenic poisoning, she rushes to collect his insurance money, buys herself breast implants, parties at strip clubs and bars like a Girls Gone Wild'er, sleeps around like there is no tomorrow, and ABC has the nerve portray her as having a 'unique way of processing her grief' and 'trouble adjusting,' and certainly not guilty of murdering him."

Matt's post is here. I actually don't agree with Matt that the ABC coverage was unfair--I thought it was more or less balanced.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

After what Larry Birkhead has been through, he deserves to gloat a little. See the video here.

From the Associated Press' "Birkhead: 'I Told You So'--DNA Confirms Larry Birkhead Is the Father of Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter":

"NASSAU, April 10, 2007 -- Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend Larry Birkhead said Tuesday that DNA tests have proven he is the father of her infant daughter.

"Birkhead emerged from a closed court hearing to announce the results. Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, has been caring for the girl, Dannielynn, who could inherit a fortune in the wake of her mother's February death.

"After the hearing, Stern said he would not fight for custody. An expert in genetic evidence said the DNA analysis has proven Birkhead is Dannielynn's father.

"Dr. Michael Baird, who analyzed the results of a March 21 DNA test, announced the results outside the court.

"'Essentially, he's the biological father,' Baird said.

"A jubilant Birkhead said, 'My baby's going to be coming home pretty soon.'"

As I explained in my co-authored column Anna Nicole Dispute Shows System's Flaws (Chicago Sun-Times, 3/10/07), I think it's disgraceful the way Birkhead was jerked around and his relationship with his baby daughter stymied. 

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

Background: Boys and the Boy Crisis, the Third National Men's Equality Congress, will be held July 13-14 in Washington D.C. The speakers list is great--perhaps the best I've ever seen at a conference. Speakers include: Matt O'Connor, leader of the English fathers' group Fathers 4 Justice; Christina Hoff Sommers--author of Who Stole Feminism?; Warren Farrell; author of Father & Child Reunion; and Stephen Baskerville, president of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children. I will also be speaking.

There will also be three 2+ hour pre-conference workshops, one conducted by Matt O'Connor, one by Warren Farrell, and one by myself. The workshops will start Friday morning and conclude prior the conference opening that evening. To sign up for 'early bird' prices for these workshops and/or to register for the conference, click here.

One of the presentations I'm looking forward to is from Paul Nathanson and Katherine Young, co-authors of Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture and Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men. Their presentation is called "Coming of Age as a Villain: What Young Men Need to Know in a Misandric World." Here's a summary of what they will be discussing:

"We will begin by discussing coming-of-age as a cultural process that in other times and places fostered the transformation of boys into men. What happens in a society that provides not only fails to acknowledge the entry into manhood but also--and this is even more important--refuses to provide an acceptable view of manhood in the first place? The social-scientific evidence looks very grim, most obviously (but not only) the statistics on suicide and dropping out of school.

"What's going on? These are symptoms, we suggest, of a much deeper problem. By and large, people are either unaware of this problem or unwilling to do something about it. In that sense, it is analogous to what Betty Friedan called women's 'disease with no name.' But it has a name now: misandry."

To sign up for 'early bird' prices for these workshops and/or to register for the conference, click here. See you there.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.
 

Background: As part of our successful 2005 campaign against PBS's anti-father film Breaking the Silence: Children's Stories, we publicly revealed extensive documentation, court findings, records and testimony that indicate that Sadia Loeliger--portrayed as a heroic mom in the film--abused children under her care. A Tulare County Juvenile Court concluded in August of 1998 that Sadia Loeliger had committed multiple acts of child abuse, and adjudged both her daughters as dependents of the Juvenile Court.

Sadia Loeliger and her severely alienated 16 year-old daughter Fatima were key figures in the feminist film, which purported to detail an alleged crisis of fit mothers losing custody of their children to violent husbands in divorce. In the film, Sadia is portrayed as the victim of her ex-husband Dr. Scott Loeliger and anti-mother bias in family courts .

A year later, in part because of our work, Connecticut Public Television and Tatge-Lasseur Productions, the film's co-producers, were forced to publicly apologize to Dr. Scott Loeliger for the film's misleading portrayal of the family court case involving himself, his daughter Fatima and his ex-wife Sadia. To learn more about the Loeliger case, click here. To learn more about our PBS campaign, click here.

From the mouths of babes...

The Davis Enterprise recently ran a news story about a controversy at the school over alleged racism in the school's hiring policies. Sadia Loeliger, who is also known as Sadiya Alilire, has gotten involved in the controversy.

What's interesting is that the article mentions in passing that "Some of the students objected to Alilire's plans to attend the conference, in turn, saying they felt unsafe around her." In fact, the paper reports that students went as far as asking Davis schools Superintendent Richard Whitmore to prevent her from attending.

Children feeling unsafe around this feminist heroine? Imagine that...

BSU president to skip state conference

Beth Curda Enterprise staff writer

March 23, 2007

The family of Davis High School senior Fatima Loeliger announced today she would not attend this weekend's conference with the school's Black Student Union. The 17-year-old president of the student organization and her mother and stepfather believed her safety would be a concern during the school group's trip to the United Black Student Union of California convention, an annual statewide gathering in Burbank this year.

They announced in a written statement today that adult community activists with whom Loeliger has been at odds recently were authorized late this week by the school district to attend the trip. Loeliger this month has been at the heart of an internal BSU feud that has extended to include others in the Davis African-American community. The announcement about the authorizations is not true, said Ginni Davis, associate superintendent for educational services for the school district.

In trying to avoid canceling the students' trip in recent weeks, the district worked with the competing sides in the issue and, in the end, had authorized Loeliger's mother, another couple with a child in the organization, two vice principals and another school district representative to attend, either as chaperones or just in parental roles. None of the adults authorized to go are those with whom Loeliger has been at odds, Davis said. She did not know this morning whether they had attended on their own. Neither Loeliger nor her mother, Sadiya Alilire, went with the group today.

Conflicts among students, parents and community activists arose during and following a March 1 BSU meeting and were one driving force behind a march Wednesday from the high school to the school district administrative offices. Loeliger's mother had planned to attend the conference out of concern for her daughter's safety. Alilire's concern followed the contentious meeting and what she considers inappropriate participation by parents and adult activists. Some of the students objected to Alilire's plans to attend the conference, in turn, saying they felt unsafe around her. During their march and meeting with interim Davis schools Superintendent Richard Whitmore on Wednesday, they asked him to change the arrangement that allowed Alilire to attend.

To discuss this issue on my blog, click here.

One of the most common and pernicious anti-male myths in popular culture is the myth of the lazy husband. As I've noted before, research shows that when both work outside the home and inside the home are properly considered, it is clear that men do at least as much as women.

The new article Dads increase time with children, housework (Washington Post, 4/6/07) discusses a University of Maryland study that shows that the total workloads of married mothers and fathers -- when paid work is added to child care and housework -- is roughly equal, at 65 hours a week for mothers and 64 hours for fathers.

The article goes into the obligatory "men used to not do enough but now they're getting better" routine, but I don't see any evidence in the article to show that men were ever doing less overall than women. Yes, in the past men did less childcare and housework, but women did less market labor, too. And much research shows that even in the pre-feminist era men worked as many hours overall as women did, and this doesn't even account for the physically demanding, dangerous work that so many men did when America had a mostly industrial economy.

To learn more about men, women and work, see my co-authored column Are American Husbands Slackers? (Tallahassee Democrat, 3/22/06). Warren Farrell also has an excellent section on this in his 1999 book Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say.

Dads increase time with children, housework
Washington Post, 4/6/07

It was a Saturday, and Roberto Clark was out with his 6-year-old daughter and 7-year-old twin sons. They hit the mall to pick up baseball caps and were headed to Dairy Queen for ice cream. Clark figured they would be out of the house half a day, a time to reconnect after a long week of work and school.

"The only way to really understand their lives is to hang out with them, talk with them, play with them," said Clark, a 36-year-old businessman from Frederick County, Md., who said he does not remember such "Daddy Time" from his own childhood, possibly because fathers were more often around the house.

In what is surely a sign of modern life, recent research shows that over the past four decades, fathers like Clark have nearly tripled the hours they spend focused on their children. They still lag behind American mothers, who put in about twice as many hours directly involved with their children and doing housework. But, as researcher Suzanne M. Bianchi put it, today's fathers "do a lot more than their fathers did."

A comprehensive study of "time diaries" by researchers from the University of Maryland shows that fathers have increased their child-care work from 2.5 hours a week in 1965 to seven hours a week in 2003. There is a similar trend with housework: Dads did 4.4 hours a week in 1965 and 9.6 hours a week in 2003. Perhaps even more striking, the total workloads of married mothers and fathers -- when paid work is added to child care and housework -- is roughly equal, at 65 hours a week for mothers and 64 hours for fathers.

"It's not the case that men are slugs," said William Doherty, a family studies professor at the University of Minnesota who has done several studies on fatherhood. "It's a new generation of fathers, and they are internalizing some of the very high expectations that mothers have."

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

One of the popular myths employed to justify huge, wasteful expenditures for child support enforcement (and to justify child support enforcement abuses) is the myth that "Child Support Enforcement 'Collects $4.10 for Every Federal Dollar Spent.'

The stat apparently comes from the Congressional Budget Office, and has been repeated ad infinitum, including in the news story Child-support services in peril (Denver Post, 4/6/07). As usual, the child support collection industry is whining that the feds don't lavish them with enough money to waste.

In my co-authored column Federal Child Support Enforcement Cuts Will Hurt Bureaucrats, not Children (Las Vegas Review-Journal and others, 12/17/05), I explained:

"According to the Congressional Budget Office, this will lead to $24 billion in child support going uncollected over the next 10 years. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department Director Philip Browning are warning that the cuts will mean a drastic reduction in the amount of child support collected. A  bipartisan group of senators has penned a letter opposing the cuts, explaining that 'in 2004, more than $4 was collected in support for every dollar invested in the program.' All of these claims, however, are based on false assumptions and misleading data.

"It is true that federal figures show that over $20 billion in child support is collected nationwide yearly, and that only $5 billion is spent on enforcement. However, the vast majority of the funds collected are not done through enforcement tactics--they're simply the payments already being made by law-abiding noncustodial parents. These payments will continue to be made regardless of the cuts. The myth that child support enforcement is a bargain was created by incorrectly counterposing total collections with expenditures on enforcement.

"In reality, much if not most child support enforcement funds are frittered away in misguided attempts to collect artificially inflated paper arrearages from low-income men who couldn't possibly pay them. Read the rest of this entry »

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