Three New Columns, Brett Myers Case Obscures Important Truth About DV Arrests

August 8, 2006

"According to the Children's Rights Council, a Washington, DC-based children's advocacy group, more than five million American children each year have their access to their noncustodial parents interfered with or blocked by custodial parents. These fathers must wage expensive court battles in order to see their children. Some can't afford it and give up, and are understandably unenthused about sacrificing to pay support to the exes who separated them from their kids."

I do commend the Philadelphia Daily News for allowing our criticism onto its opinion pages. To write a Letter to the Editor about Unfairly stereotyping dads (8/2/06), click here.

Anti-Father Blogger Wrong but Not Completely Wrong

"And it's true that there are people who just don't care about their kids. Let me tell you one of the saddest stories I ever heard. The secretary at another radio station where I used to do the show told me a story about her son. The father and the mother broke up when the boy was about four or five, and the father soon disappeared from the boy's life. When the boy started school he always worked very hard and did all his homework and got good grades, even though his mother never pushed him to do well in school or to do his homework. She didn't have to push him--he always did it on his own.

"One day when the boy was about nine the mother got curious about this. After all, most boys don't take to school so well, and aren't as conscientious about their studies. I know--I've lived it with my son for many, many years. So at one point the mom asked the boy 'why do you work so hard at school and do so well?' The boy looked at her and replied 'well, I think if I do really well in school, maybe my daddy will come back.'"
 

In the column we wrote "An excellent example of what can happen to an athlete, or any man, is the saga of another major league pitcher arrested for spousal abuse--Scott Erickson."  I've complained about the Erickson case numerous times in print and on the air over the past several years. The Free Lance-Star published an Associated Press picture of Erickson, with a nice caption:

"Though former Orioles pitcher Scott Erickson tried to avoid a fight with an out-of-control girlfriend, the authors say, he still found himself in handcuffs under Maryland's mandatory-arrest policy in domestic-abuse complaints."

Of Erickson we wrote:

"Erickson was arrested after he called the police during an altercation with his girlfriend in July of 2002. According to the Associated Press, the Baltimore police concluded that Erickson's girlfriend Lisa Ortiz: initiated the fight by hurling objects; decided to come back twice after Erickson carried her out of the apartment; repeatedly kicked the apartment door; caused Erickson two minor injuries, one of them to his pitching arm; and herself suffered no injuries.

"Nonetheless, the police arrested Erickson under Maryland's mandatory arrest law. Afterwards Ortiz publicly stated that Erickson, who did not pursue her either time after carrying her out, 'has never been physically abusive toward me.'

"After Erickson's arrest he was excoriated by sportswriters and domestic violence activists. Later, even as a police spokesperson announced that the charges against Erickson were being dropped, the spokesperson continued to refer to Ortiz as 'the victim.' To this day the influential Family Violence Prevention Fund lists Erickson in its 'Hall of Shame.'"

The American Coalition for Fathers and Children will be holding a National Family Law Reform Conference on 9/15/06 and 9/16/06 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington DC.

I will be speaking there, along with Phyllis Schlafly, Michael McManus, co-founder of Marriage Savers, Dr. Stephen Baskerville and others.

To register for the conference, click here.

ACFC Executive Director Mike McCormick stresses that "this is not another preach to the choir event." He says:

"This conference will go beyond the cliches about 'ugly divorce' and 'nasty custody battle.' ACFC, with its participants and co-sponsors will provide a critical and candid look at the issue of family law and the steps needed to rein in this behemoth which threatens the stability of every family in America today.

"Conference participants and speakers are coming from every segment of our society for one purpose...To develop and implement action plans for Family Law Reform. We will hear leading scholars from fields other than those that dominate family law and family policy. You will come away with invaluable tools, contacts, and concrete steps to implement change and put family law reform at the center of your community and state agenda.

"Our issues are drawing the attention of a number of organizations and leaders from various sectors. ACFC has been working hard to build coalitions with organizations interested in our issues. This is your opportunity to meet other people and organizations interested in family law reform and shared parenting."

To register for the conference, click here.

One of my Philadelphia readers saw Philadelphia Daily News Unfairly Stereotypes Dads (Philadelphia Daily News, 8/2/06), in which I criticized reporter Dana DiFilippo, and wrote to me about DiFilippo's previous manbashing. According to the reader:

DiFilippo's article was A GENITAL REMINDER (5/18/06). DiFilippo wrote:

"But yesterday, his mind was more on divorce and jail for his wife after she almost became Philadelphia's own Lorena Bobbitt.

"Monica Randolph didn't need a kitchen knife. She took matters into her own hands.

"The Nicetown man said he had been sleeping peacefully in the couple's bed Tuesday night when his wife pounced on him without warning, grabbed his groin, dug her manicured fingernails in and flayed him, leaving his gore-slicked gonads dangling much lower than normal.

"'She didn't use no weapon - this was just sheer brute strength and fingernails. She grabbed me by my [scrotum] and ripped it apart with her bare hands,' Randolph said yesterday from his hospital bed at Albert Einstein Medical Center, where he was in stable condition with stitched and bandaged genitals...

"A neighbor who heard the commotion also called police, who took Monica Randolph into custody and charged her with aggravated assault and related offenses.

"Talk about a strict violation of the penal code...

"Monica Randolph told arresting officers that she had attacked her husband because he was cheating on her. But her husband denied having any affairs. He remains mystified as to his wife's motive and demanded that she receive a stiff punishment...

"News of the genital mangling aroused a mixture of horrified gasps and guilty giggles in the Randolphs' neighborhood, where few knew the couple who had moved into the brick rowhouse on Pulaski Avenue near Bouvier Street in April.

"Meanwhile, neighbors were left to speculate on explanations for the attack.

"'She got to be crazy,' said Dionne Martin, 18, who basked in the spring sunshine on friend Rochelle Odd's porch steps.

"Odd, 21, agreed: 'That woman was crazy, but I'm on her side. I don't think no guy deserves to have his balls ripped off. But she's got to be deep in love - that's what would make a woman do this. If they was together all those years and he cheated on her, she wanted him to feel what she was feeling. There's a lesson to be learned here: Don't cheat on your woman.'"

Read the full article here. I'm particularly annoyed by Rochelle Odd's comment. Talk about a vindictive woman. Does this mean a man has the right to beat his girlfriend up if she cheats on him? I guess so. And while our opponents fall all over themselves to deny that there is such a thing as Parental Alienation Syndrome, is there any doubt that vindictive women like this would attempt to alienate their children from their children's fathers?

DiFilippo can be reached at difilid@phillynews.com.

Glenn Discusses Shared Parenting Movement on Morning Beat with Curtis Wright

I discussed the shared parenting movement and my co-authored column NOW at 40: Group's Opposition to Shared Parenting Contradicts Its Goal of Gender Equality (New York Daily News, 7/27/06) on Morning Beat with Curtis Wright on 106.3 FM "The Big Talker" in Wilmington, North Carolina on Thursday, August 3.

An interesting new Dear Abby column:

"Dear Abby:

"Last week I hit my husband. My daughter saw me do it. My parents were violent when they were drunk, and I swore I would never do that, but it happened.

"Abby, can my children forget my mistakes, or are they doomed to keep repeating this violence from generation to generation? Can it stop here if I get proper help? How do I prevent my children from following in my -- and my parents' -- footsteps?

"SORRY MOM in Canada

"Dear Sorry Mom:

"Your children are not 'doomed.' They can learn better ways to manage their anger, and so can you. Tell your daughter you were wrong to hit her father, and you regret it. Explain that you are going to see a counselor and learn more appropriate ways to deal with your anger and frustration, and that you'll share what you learn with her and your other children.

"Make an appointment with a therapist soon, and locate the nearest chapter of Adult Children of Alcoholics. ACA is a 12-step group of people who grew up much as you did. They'll help you understand the dynamics of your behavior and assist you in overcoming your learned reaction to problems.

"You can write to Adult Children of Alcoholics World Services Organization, P.O. Box 3216, Torrance, CA 90510 for the location of the nearest chapter. You may also access www.adultchildren.org.

"My compliments to you for acknowledging your problem and seeking help. You're two-thirds of the way toward resolving it."

As I've written before, one of the many problems with the current domestic violence system is that, for political reasons, all of the forces involved--the police, the judges, the domestic violence treatment providers, etc.--are forced to pretend that only men commit domestic violence. As a result, when a woman is abusive there usually is little help available for her male victim, as well as for abusive women who want to change. The Woods case in California, which is currently at the center of a controversial lawsuit, is a classic example. I and Marc Angelucci, the attorney in the case, co-authored Domestic Violence Lawsuit Will Help Secure Services for All Abuse Victims (Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Francisco Daily Journal, 12/28/05). In the column we wrote:

"At the age of 11, Maegan Woods tried to stop a domestic dispute between her parents. She soon found herself staring down the barrel of her father's shotgun. She watched helplessly as the trigger was pulled. She is only alive today because the gun didn't fire--the safety was on.

"Maegan was abused and witnessed domestic violence in her home for most of her childhood. By age seven there had been knife attacks, punches, kicks, and more. It was hard to leave--the abuser was the one who earned the money, and the victim was unable to work because of a disability. On numerous occasions they looked for help to escape the abuse but were refused. Why?

"Because in Maegan's family, the abused spouse was her father, and the battering and child abuse were perpetrated by her mother.

"The California Battered Women Protection Act of 1994, codified in Health & Safety Codes Section 124250, et. seq., created funding for domestic violence shelter-based services. However, by defining domestic violence as something only experienced by women, the statutes exclude male victims from receiving state-funded domestic violence services, including shelter, hotel arrangements, counseling and legal services.

"Maegan, now 21, and her father, David Woods, are the lead plaintiffs in a new lawsuit against the State of California and numerous state agencies and state-funded domestic violence service providers. Beginning in the mid-1980s, David was violently attacked on numerous occasions by his wife Ruth, who suffers from a bi-polar disorder which, in her case, creates a propensity toward violence.

"On several occasions David decided that he and Maegan should get out of the house to escape Ruth's violence. However, with his disabling condition and inability to work, David had no money to provide for himself and his daughter. Numerous times he contacted a Sacramento domestic violence agency he had heard of in the media, WEAVE, but they always told him "we don't help men," and never offered him a referral to another facility. David tried churches and various programs, but all they could offer for men were homeless shelters with waiting lists. He found nothing for abused men and their children. David gave up and sank into a heavy depression.

"By February 2003, Maegan began telling her father to find a place of safety from Ruth's violence. He again called WEAVE and again was told "we don't help men." Maegan, then 18, became so frustrated watching David being abused that she called WEAVE herself and insisted they help her father. According to Maegan, WEAVE said they do not help men, and that men are the perpetrators of domestic violence, not the victims."

In a letter written earlier this year Maegan wrote:

"As a child I grew up watching my mother commit multiple acts of violence against my dad. The earliest incident I remember occurred when I was four, and my mother continued to be violent up until April of 2003.

"No one would help. Teachers, parents of friends, anyone I tried to talk to about what was going on at home basically told me I didn't understand, and that my mother couldn't possibly be the violent party. The few times the police came to our home, they would always be ready to arrest my father, sometimes getting so far as to put the handcuffs on him, and it was up to me to scream as loud as possible that it was my mommy and not my daddy so they wouldn't take him away and leave me with her.

"Sometimes when my mom would attack, Pops would try to defend himself, just to get her off him, stop hitting him, whatever. Every time he defended himself, whether he left bruises or not, Mom would go get a restraining order. She didn't have to show bruises or prove she was in danger or anything, just saying she was 'afraid' was enough.

"I grew up in this sort of environment and I learned the only way to survive was to watch every argument they had and be ready to interject myself as a distraction if I could before violence happened. I grew up paranoid and feeling like the safety in my house was something only I was responsible for. If Mom became violent, it meant I FAILED. That feeling would hit me like a bucket of cold water, but there wouldn't be any time for feeling sorry for myself. My next task was to try to break it up, screaming, threatening, pleading, whatever. I had to make sure no details escaped me because if the cops got called they'd just believe my mom without question, and it was MY job to make sure the truth at least got heard."

To read the full letter, see Abused Man's Daughter Speaks Out--Maegan Woods Talks About Her Childhood. Also, see my column Domestic Violence Treatment Policies Put Abused Women in Harm's Way (Daily Breeze [Los Angeles], 11/7/05).

One of my readers, Chris Anderson, sent the letter below to the Kansas City Star:

"When Tiger Woods won his third British Open last Sunday, he dedicated it to his father, Earl, who passed away this year. It was clear that Tiger cried tears of joy and tears of sorrow that "Pop" was missing. Tiger credits 'Pop' as being his best friend and for helping him become the golfer and man he is today.

"Something occurred before Tiger finished his round that created a timely juxtaposition. A protester ran onto the 18th green, dropped purple chalk in several places, and shouted something like 'Fathers for Justice.' Apparently, this man is part of a British organization that works on behalf of fathers who seek joint custody of their children.

"It begs the question: What kind of world have we created where parents have to stage protests to stay a part of their children's lives? Imagine if Tiger had been prevented from seeing his father simply because his parents divorced. Would the world ever have known this champion, who is admirable both on the course and off? And most importantly, isn't it time we asked our children what they want?

"Just ask Tiger Woods. He will tell you how important fathers are to their children."

My recent co-authored column, NOW at 40: Group's Opposition to Shared Parenting Contradicts Its Goal of Gender Equality (New York Daily News, 7/27/06, Louisville Courier-Journal, 7/12/06, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/7/06), criticizes the National Organization for Women's hard stance against shared parenting. In the column Mike McCormick, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, and I wrote:

"Along with divorce attorneys, NOW is the largest organized group fighting shared parenting legislation. It has issued numerous warnings, including one that says fathers' groups seeking joint custody laws are 'using the abuse of power in order to control in the same fashion as do batterers.' In their statements the words 'husband' and 'father' are generally preceded by the word 'abusive.'

Feminist Columnist Slams Glenn, ACFC Over North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative

Two weeks ago Mike McCormick, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, and I co-authored North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative Will Help Children of Divorce (Grand Forks Herald, 7/18/06) in defense of the North Dakota Shared Parenting Initiative. The Initiative is sponsored by the local ACFC affiliate.

On Sunday the opposition fired back with Don't force 'shared parenting' on children (Grand Forks Herald, 7/30/06). The column was penned by feminist blogger Trish Wilson, a longtime opponent of the shared parenting movement.

Wilson's principal argument is that shared parenting "should not be forced on parents."

What Wilson really means is that, after a divorce, mothers should not have to share custody of their children with the children's fathers if the don't want to. This presupposes that the kids really only belong to mom, and courts are unfairly "forcing" mom to share the kids with dad. However, moms and dads should appear before the court as absolute equals.

If one switches the genders and looks at families where the father is the primary caregiver (and thus the one to presumably gain sole custody), this feminist presumption looks pretty ugly. I switched the genders in my column California NOW Takes Stand Against Working Mothers (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 2/23/04). Two years later, I still have never heard a reasonable feminist rejoinder to the argument I laid out in that column.

Wilson writes that "ninety percent of parents settle without the need for court intervention in deciding what form of custody is best for them and for their children." This statement is very misleading, because it implies genuine agreement between parents. Yet such accords aren't made in a vacuum--they're bargained in the shadow of the law. What happens in most cases is that fathers must agree to having a very limited role in their children's lives because they don't have the tens of thousands of dollars (or more) necessary to fight for shared parenting in family law proceedings which are heavily stacked against them.

Wilson surprised me a bit by writing "When dads make an issue of custody, they get some form of it more than half the time...The Massachusetts (gender bias) task force, for example, reported that fathers get primary or joint custody in more than 70 percent of contested cases." This has been discredited for a long time, and I'm surprised that Wilson, who does have some knowledge (albeit twisted) of family law, would cite it. In my co-authored column PBS Declares War on Dads (World Net Daily, 10/20/05) family law attorney Jeff Leving and I wrote:

"Misguided women's advocates often claim that fathers usually win custody when they pursue it, and that the reason few fathers have custody is because few of them want it. Boston Globe columnist Cathy Young examined the research upon which these claims are based and concluded that they belong in the 'Phony Statistics Hall of Fame.'

"mothers rarely lose custody of their children to anyone, ever. For example, a Stanford study of 1,000 divorced couples selected at random found that divorcing mothers were awarded sole custody four times as often as divorcing fathers in contested custody cases. An Ohio study published in Family Advocate found that fathers seeking sole custody obtain it in less than 10% of cases, and a Utah study conducted over 23 years found similar results. According to researcher Robert Seidenberg, a study of all divorce-custody decrees in Arlington County, Virginia over an 18 month period failed to find even one father who was given sole or even joint custody of his children unless the mother agreed to it.

"In the study 'Child custody arrangements: a study of two New Jersey counties' published in the Journal of Psychiatry & Law, New Jersey mental health experts  researched hundreds of custody cases in two New Jersey counties, Bergen (one of the wealthiest) and Essex (one of the poorest). Rich man or poor man, for these New Jersey fathers it didn't matter--in either county they won custody in only one out of every 20 cases."

Wilson lists various reasons why she thinks children fare poorly under shared parenting. In the original column we cited research showing that kids do best in shared parenting arrangements.

Wilson does generously allow that in some cases shared parenting is best. She writes:

"In the cases where shared parenting has worked, the families had these qualities in common: The parents had an amicable relationship, their divorce was amicable with little or no conflict, they had higher-than-average incomes, they had only one child, neither parent (especially the father) had remarried, they lived within close proximity of each other, they had flexible job schedules, the child could handle the shared parenting arrangement, the parents chose freely between themselves to try shared parenting - and they chose to make it work."

This would throw the gate wide open for shared parenting for all of about 2% of divorcing couples. Thanks, Trish!

To join the debate over shared parenting in the Grand Forks Herald, write a Letter to the Editor concerning our Initiative helps children of divorce (7/18/06) or Wilson's Don't force 'shared parenting' on children by clicking on tdennis@gfherald.com. 

Observant readers will note that while I have linked to Wilson's column above and here, on Wilson's site she has her column posted but no link to mine. Wilson and I have clashed on many occasions and, as far as I can tell, she has never linked to my work, while I have always linked to her work so my readers can read and consider for themselves our opponents' arguments.

Boy Mistakenly Threatened With Jail For Being Deadbeat Dad

"The report featured Timothy Williams, who received letters asking that he pay child support for several children.

"The first letter came in April.

"The woman said she took the letters to the child support enforcement office in downtown Orlando.

"'But the letters kept coming,' Local 6 reporter Nancy Alvarez said. 'So did a payment booklet and court orders, all of it for money owed to three different women for several children, including some who were older than Timothy. But the state still thought the teen was their dad.'

"However, the letters continued to come to Williams. She then called the Problem Solvers.

"Last month, Jennifer Wilson called the Problem Solvers after the state sent three of her child support payments to the wrong address.

I love it--here we have an outrageous error, and the woman can't get it solved through the department, and it takes the media to get the injustice fixed. I wish I could say I was surprised.

I've written about child support errors on numerous occasions. In my co-authored column Memphis Commercial Appeal, Chest-Thumping Sheriff Humiliate Hard Luck Noncustodial Parents (Tennessee Tribune, 4/27/06) we provided some examples of the way "innocent people have been vilified and subjected to public ridicule" when child support enforcement agencies publicize "most wanted deadbeat parent" lists. We wrote:

"...when the Louisville Courier-Journal published the names and addresses of 1,000 alleged child support scofflaws in July of last year on behalf of Jefferson County Attorney Irv Maze, they listed James H. Frazier as a deadbeat who owes $57,000. Unfortunately, they listed his name above the home address of James R. Frazier.

In the case of Herbert L. Chalmers, a St. Louis, Missouri child support obligor, the state's wage garnishment to pay child support for his adult children left him only $400 a month to live on. Chalmers asserted that he was being vastly overcharged, and that he was unable to get the error fixed. In April Chalmers exploded, going on a murderous rampage before committing suicide. In the ensuing investigation the Missouri Department of Social Services admitted that for the past several years Chalmers was being garnisheed five times more in support than he actually owed. The DSS blamed a clerical error.

To learn more about the Chalmers case, see I Couldn't Be Less Surprised.

If you're a California child support obligor with this type of problem, write to me about it by clicking here.

Women's Advocate Criticizes Me on PAS in the Providence Journal

In early July I sparred with feminist Anne Grant over Parental Alienation Syndrome in the Providence Journal--see my co-authored column Protect Children from Alienation (7/8/06) and Grant's The discredited 'Parental Alienation Syndrome' (6/27/06). PAS occurs when one parent has turned his or her children against the other parent, destroying the loving bonds the children and the target parent once enjoyed.

Grant fired back at me and my co-author, family law attorney Jeff Leving, in her extended letter Alienation smacks of Stockholm Syndrome (Providence Journal, 7/21/06). Grant opens by writing that I "have rushed here from California to rally the troops in support of the so-called Parental Alienation Syndrome," to which I thought "so what?"

Grant criticizes my short narration of the Amy Neustein case, one of the most highly-publicized PAS cases. In Protect Children from Alienation we wrote:

"Neustein's now adult daughter, Sherry Orbach, publicly refuted her mother's claims last year, writing that when she was a child her mother 'would begin by telling me a sordid--and false--story about my father...She then instructed me to repeat the story word for word until she was satisfied with my rendition.' According to Orbach:

"'My father never sexually abused me...I...owe my existence as a normal young adult to the family judges...who helped me reunite with my father in the face of considerable opposition in the media.'"

Grant counters:

"Photographs suggest another story. The smiling 6-year-old became a different child after the Brooklyn, N.Y. Family Court kept concerned experts from testifying, and awarded her father sole custody. By the age of 8, Sherry appeared dazed and emaciated, and lurid in scarlet lipstick and nail polish."

I've seen the picture Grant refers to, and don't find it particularly convincing. The girl could be emaciated, or she could just be a normal girl. My daughter is also 8 years old, and there are several kids in her second grade class who look just as thin as Sherry did in the picture. And Grant's comment that Orbach looks "lurid in scarlet lipstick and nail polish" is the product of an overactive imagination. My daughter and her friends sometimes play with lipstick, and my wife and my daughter often get manicures and pedicures together--is my little girl "lurid," too?

Grant writes that "People held hostage at any age soon identify with their abusers; like Sherry Orbach, they will say or do whatever is required. Yes, they are being alienated, but not by 'Parental Alienation Syndrome.' Their scientifically predictable behavior is called the Stockholm Syndrome."

Sherry Orbach wrote the refutation of her mother's claims at age 24--hardly a "hostage" of her father or anybody else.

To read Grant's full criticism of our article, click here. To join the debate on PAS in the Providence Journal, write a Letter to the Editor by clicking here.

According to the Baldwin Splits From Girlfriend (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/25/06):

"Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin has split from his long-term girlfriend Nicole Seidel after four years together.

"Friends of actor and leading lawyer Seidel have blamed the pressure of Baldwin's bitter and protracted custody battle with his ex-wife Kim Basinger for the break-up.

"A pal tells Page Six, 'The stress of the custody hearings took its toll. They're still friends, and Alec thinks Nicole's great.'"

I have no idea to what degree the above reflects the real reasons for the Baldwin-Seidel separation, but I do know that the mistreatment of fathers in family court often puts tremendous strain on second marriages. In my co-authored column Tennessee Appellate Court Sends Message: Second Families Count (Memphis Commercial Appeal, 8/23/02) we wrote:

"[anti-father family court bias] often makes it impossible for men to be fathers to the children of their first marriages, and also necessitates costly legal battles which can drain second families' financial resources. Second families are often left feeling that they must always maintain a permanent defensive posture, and that they have lost control over their own lives."

I've discussed Baldwin's custody battle on several occasions--see Kim Basinger's Mom: Kim is 'Alienating' Her Daughter from Alec Baldwin  and Alec Baldwin Defamed.

Stop Feeling Like a Wicked Step-Parent

On the subject of second families and step-parents, the Second Wives Club, which has a lot of good material on divorce-related issues, recently had an interesting article called Stop feeling like a wicked step-parent. In the article Linda Lewis Griffith, a marriage and family therapist, writes:

"Why are inherited children so difficult? The answers are varied and complex. First off, new step-parents have had no input into their inherited children's lives. The kids may exhibit behaviors that cause their step-parents to gasp. But the same people must warmly accept these juvenile charges into their lives.

"To make matters even worse, the new step-parents have little control over their inherited kids. Because they are not the biological parents, they have minimal authority over the children's discipline, schoolwork or chores...

"Inherited children have often had compromised upbringings because of disruptions in their lives. They may have experienced unstable living arrangements, intense arguing between their parents, multiple step-parents or drug or alcohol abuse. As a result, they can be needier and even more challenging to parent.

"Inherited children might also be unplanned. For example, a woman may marry a husband whose children only visit during the summer. But two years into their marriage his 15-year-old daughter decides to live with him full-time. Now the wife's life is suddenly upended as she's entrusted with the care of a rebellious teen."

Second marriages have a high failure rate, and issues like these are some of the reasons. Griffith provides interesting solutions--read the full article here.

According to Dana Point woman recants rapes (Orange County Register, 7/25/06):

"A woman who accused six men of kidnapping and raping her at gunpoint two years ago admitted she made it up, the Orange County District Attorney's Office reported Monday.

"Tamara Anne Moonier, 29, is charged with grand theft, perjury, presenting a false claim to the state and making a false report to an officer. She is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 22.

"Prosecutors said Moonier made the false accusations on June 6, 2004. The accused men were never charged or convicted in the case, authorities said.

"Fullerton Police Department Investigators discovered she had lied after one of the accused provided a 40-minute tape, which showed Moonier actively participating and orchestrating the encounters, prosecutors reported.

"The Orange County Grand Jury indicted Moonier for grand theft for receiving money from the states designated for victims of crime."

Interesting that the crimes for which Moonier is charged (to which she'll probably plea bargain and get away without jail time) are "grand theft, perjury, presenting a false claim to the state and making a false report to an officer." Nothing which reflects the terrible thing she did to the young men she falsely accused. I prefer the ancient Chinese method of dealing with false claims--if you made a false claim against someone, the law gives you the penalty that they would have received had they been found guilty.

Make no mistake--this recantation only happened because there was a tape of the incident. In fact, previous articles show that Moonier--incredibly--actually kept insisting that she had been raped even after the tape surfaced. The tapes also showed Moonier mocking one of the less well-endowed men in the room. Nice girl...

Remember, Liars Aren't the Problem, Glenn Sacks Is

One of the issues I get pounded on the most from feminist blogs is the problem of false accusations of rape. For some of the milder examples, see Glenn Sacks = David Duke and California Feminist Leader Slams Glenn. I guess I could speculate as to why this is, but it's not my problem. Anyway, I've covered the issue of false rape accusations on numerous occasions--to learn more, see:

1) My debate on the Kobe Bryant case with two leaders of the National Organization for Women in the San Francisco Chronicle--my column was Kobe Bryant Ruling a Step Towards Equity in Rape Trials, NOW's Terry O'Neill and Melanie Stafford column was Survivors must not be twice victimized (8/1/04).

2) My co-authored column criticizing a California spousal rape bill which passed the legislature unanimously and was signed into law in June--Kuehl's Spousal Rape Bill Will Harm Innocent Men (Sacramento News & Review, 6/15/06).

3) My radio interview on His Side with Glenn Sacks with former Colorado prosecutor Craig Silverman, who was known for his zealous prosecution of rapists, and Fox News Columnist Wendy McElroy--to listen, go to  Kobe Bryant, Rape Shield Laws, and the False Accusations Problem (3/21/04).

4) My rather bizarre radio interview on His Side with Glenn Sacks with Katherine Baker, who proposes a new crime called "Reckless Sex," under which a "defendant would be guilty of reckless sexual conduct if, in a first sexual encounter with another particular person, the defendant had sexual intercourse without using a condom." To listen, go to Criminalizing 'Reckless Sex'--Safeguard for Women or  New Way to Herd Men Into Jail? (3/6/05).

5) My co-authored column Research Shows False Accusations of Rape Common (Los Angeles Daily Journal, San Francisco Daily Journal, 9/15/04, World Net Daily, 9/18/04)

6) Various enewsletter entries, including here and here.

Last week marked the 92nd anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies in human history--World War I. Some of you may recall that I defended World War I veterans against criticism from feminist Helen Caldicott in my piece Dr. Helen Caldicott Spits on My Grandfather (Cybercast News Service, 3/28/03).

Caldicott is certainly correct that the war was one of the most senseless slaughters in human history, and Lenin was correct that it was an imperialist war. But unlike Caldicott, I believe that men go to war out of a sense of duty and obligation, not bloodlust, as Caldicott maintains. In the column I wrote:

"I have my grandfather's war medals in a small wooden chest, along with two pictures--one of him as a young man in military uniform, and another of him as a grandfather. Also in the box is a poem about the war which he wrote to the woman who would become my grandmother. The poem is simple and about as good as one can expect from an immigrant with an elementary school education and a future as a milkman.

"When the United States entered World War I my grandfather lied about his age so he could join the army, wanting to show his gratitude to the country which had allowed him to escape foreign tyranny. Wounded in the decisive Battle of the Argonne Forest in 1918, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the French Croix de Guerre.

"Last week Dr. Helen Caldicott, renowned feminist and antiwar activist, spat on him.

"In a speech released under the title 'Men: Natural Born Killers' Caldicott told feminist antiwar demonstrators that the male of the human species has unbridled bloodlust, explaining that 'young men rushed off to battle in the first World War. So eager were they to participate in the noble act of killing that they lied about their age.'

"In other words, grandpa didn't enlist out of duty, loyalty or honor, but instead because he wanted the chance to kill.

"Welcome to the world of modern feminism, where everything men do is either privilege or pathology and all events and actions are seen through a sharply focused, anti-male lens."

Read the full column here.

Best Wishes,
Glenn Sacks
GlennSacks.com

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