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We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience while we resolve this.

SPARC Admin

[Dr. Richard Warshak]

ABC News' show 20/20 will be featuring a segment this Friday, with a brief appearance by Dr. Richard Warshak, the foremost author and psychologist on parental alienation syndrome, aka "children brainwashed to hate a parent."
From Dr. Warshak's site,

I expect this show to have a major impact in educating the public about the suffering of children who have been turned against a parent, and about what can be done to help ease a child's transition back to a rejected parent.

The segment will be anchored by 20/20 reporter Chris Cuomo. This topic, mental child abuse, is vastly misunderstood by parents, therapists, judges, and lawyers alike, so I'm excited that it will be in front of a national audience. Dr. Warshak is the foremost authority on parent-child alienation, so ABC made a good choice in choosing to interview him.

The segment should air in the first hour of the 2 hour show (9-11pm EST).

[The "Useless Man" Myth Makes Working Moms Feel Better]

The "Useless Man" Myth Makes Working Moms Feel Better

Why do working moms complain so much about their "useless" husbands? A new study by Rebecca Meisenbach (http://communication.missouri.edu/people/meisenbach.htm) of the University of Missouri suggests that it's all to make them feel better about themselves:

    If there is one thing on which many working mothers agree, it is that their partners do not pull their weight on the domestic front.

    But research to be published this week reveals that men are being unfairly accused and working women are advancing the myth of the "useless man" so they can feel more feminine. "Working women who provide the majority of the household's income to the family continue to articulate themselves as the ones who 'see' household messes and needs as a way to retain claims to an element of a traditional feminine identity," said Dr Rebecca Meisenbach, whose research paper, The Female Breadwinner, will be published this week in the journal Sex Roles.

    But Meisenbach said the trend of the female high achiever and the male slacker is a tall story that women tell each other to compensate for the fact that most career-orientated women feel an "overwhelming sense of guilt" over their role and less of a mother and a wife.

Meisenbach questioned 15,000 female breadwinners on how they felt abouttheir positions in the private domestic sphere and the public worksphere. She said that her theory was strengthened by the fact that theonly women who did not express a strong sense of responsibility for thehome were those who did not have children under 18.

Full Story Link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/nov/22/working-women-husbands-housework)

[)Are Environmental Chemicals Feminizing Boys?]

(original article via /.)

Are Environmental Chemicals Feminizing Boys?

Denmark has unveiled official research showing that two-year-old children are at risk from a bewildering array of gender-bending chemicals in such everyday items as waterproof clothes, rubber boots,bed linen, food, sunscreen lotion, and moisturizing cream.

A picture is emerging of ubiquitous chemical contamination driving down sperm counts and feminizing male children (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/06/health-eu) all over the developed world. Research at Rotterdam's Erasmus University found that boys whose mothers were exposed to PCBs and dioxins were more likely to play with dolls and tea sets and dress up in female clothes.

'The amounts that two-year-olds absorb from the [preservatives] parabens propylparaben and butylparaben can constitute a risk for oestrogen-like disruptions of the endocrine system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oestrogen),' says the report. The contamination may also offer a clue to a mysterious shift in the sex of babies. Normally 106 boys are born for every 100 girls: it is thought to be nature's way of making up for the fact that men were more likely to be killed hunting or in conflict. But the proportion of females is rising (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthcomment/geoffrey-lean/6418553/Why-boys-are-turning-into-girls.html).

'Both the public and wildlife are inadequately protected from harm, as regulation is based on looking at exposure to each substance in isolation, and yet it is now proven beyond doubt that hormone disrupting chemicals can act together to cause effects even when each by itself would not,' says Gwynne Lyons, director of Chem Trust.

[Child-safety software sells your kids' IM conversations]

Child-safety software sells your kids' IM conversations

Did you know that "child-safety" software that monitors your kids' every click and sends it to some spyware creep whose main profit-center is running national firewalls for totalitarian states who use the same service to figure out whom to hood, kidnap and torture?

Turns out that these same sleazeballs also monitor your kids' IM sessions and sell the info to market-research companies that want to fine-tune how they sell sugar and explosions to kids.

    Software sold under the Sentry and FamilySafe brands can read private chats conducted through Yahoo, MSN, AOL and other services, and send back data on what kids are saying about such things as movies, music or video games. The information is then offered to businesses seeking ways to tailor their marketing messages to kids.

    "This scares me more than anything I have seen using monitoring technology," said Parry Aftab, a child-safety advocate. "You don't put children's personal information at risk..."

    EchoMetrix, formerly known as SearchHelp, said companies that have tested the chat data using Pulse include News Corp.'s Fox Broadcasting and Dreamworks SKG Inc. Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures recently signed on.

Web-monitoring software gathers data on kid chats (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5CjgMEdrwRm3JxeglUykMAHAYmAD9AGNVM00)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i5CjgMEdrwRm3JxeglUykMAHAYmAD9AGNVM00

[The Rorschach test page]

The Rorschach test page (http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php) has been updated to include the actual cards instead of just the outlines. Please feel free to have a look at them, as most people have never seen the actual cards themselves.

The Rorschach Inkblots (http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php)
http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/rorschach.php

[I'm very sad to report that I believe a long-time member here, "Rakkasan", may have passed away recently.]

I'm very sad to report that I believe a long-time member here, "Rakkasan", may have passed away recently. I could be wrong (I hope I'm wrong), but I don't think that's the case.  

Rakkasan was one of the very first, original members of SPARC when it started in 1998 (user #35) and was also a SPARC Board Member at one time.

I don't know how many of you remember Rak, but he was truly a hell of a good guy and a great father. I believe Rakkasan served in Korea as a paratrooper (which is where he took his name from). He was a never-give-up, never-back-down kind of guy. His ex wife caused him untold trouble over the years and did her absolute best to alienate his children from him. Rak perservered, and she was unable to quench his spirit or derail his life.

He had recently re-married and was enjoying life very much with his wife, Zhen.

This was one of Rak's signature lines:


What we do in life ... echoes in eternity

Maximus Decimus Meridius
=============================================
Remember, the longest hour of your life is only 60 minutes long.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

If by my words or deeds I cause my enemy to think me dangerous, I have rendered myself harmless.

Marriage changes passion. Suddenly you're in bed with a relative.

Trust is like smoke, when it is there it can block your vision and it can also disappear in an instant.

The topic "grandparents gaining permanent custody of grandchildren (http://www.deltabravo.net/forum/index.php/topic,37341.0.html)" is now located here:

http://www.deltabravo.net/forum/index.php/topic,37341.0.html

[Free Pregnancy Testing]

Cool: Free Pregnancy Testing (http://thepregnancytester.com)  

[Childless man freed after serving time for child support violations]

Childless man freed after serving time for child support violations
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/15/georgia.child.support/index.html

(CNN) -- Frank Hatley spent the past year in jail for being a deadbeat dad. But there's one problem -- Hatley doesn't have any children. And the "deadbeat" label doesn't fit the 50-year-old either,his supporters say.

After a hearing, Hatley was released from the Cook County Jail in south Georgia Wednesday afternoon, with the help of the Southern Center for Human Rights.

Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins ruled that Hatley was indigent and should not be jailed for not being able to make child support payments. Perkins postponed a decision on whether Hatley should have to make any more back payments on child-support for a child who is not his.

In June of last year, a judge ordered Hatley to jail for failing to reimburse the state for public assistance that was paid to support his "son," who, as the court was aware, is not actually his son.

Hatley's attorney Sarah Geraghty, who filed a motion for his release, called it a case of "blatant unfairness."

Hatley is a hard-working man who demonstrated his desire to pay what the court said he owed, even making payments from his unemployment checks, Geraghty told CNN.

On top of that, "the state has no legitimate reason to pursue Mr. Hatley for child support -- he doesn't have any children," she said.

The story dates back to 1986, when Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Morrison told Hatley that the child was his, but the couple ended their relationship shortly after the boy's birth, according to court documents. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents state.

When the boy turned 2, Morrison applied for public support for her son. Under Georgia law, the state can go after the non-custodial parent to recoup the assistance.

For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning, in 2000, that the boy might not be his biological son. A DNA test that year confirmed that there was no chance he was the father, according to court documents.

Hatley returned to court and was relieved of any future child support reimbursement but was ordered to pay more than $16,000 that he had owed the state before the ruling.

Latesha Bradley, an attorney who represented Hatley in that hearing, told CNN the argument for keeping Hatley liable for the back payments was that he had signed a consent agreement with the office of child support services. The court agreed that Hatley had to comply with the consent agreement for the period that he believed the boy was his son.

Court documents show that Hatley for the most part continued to make payments. He was jailed for six months in 2006 for falling behind on payments during a period of unemployment, but afterward he resumed making payments and continued to do so even after he lost another job in 2008 and became homeless, court records state.

Last year, he again became unable to maintain the payments and was once again jailed.

The circumstances of Hatley's arrest didn't feel right to many, including Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey. "I knew the gentleman's plight and didn't know how to help him," Daughtrey told CNN.

About two months ago, when attorneys from the Southern Center for Human Rights visited his jail, Daughtrey alerted them to Hatley's case.

[False accusations never happen, right? How many more cases are there like this?? Personally, I think Sharon Krause should have to go to prison for falsifying evidence, and witness tampering.]

False accusations never happen, right? How many more cases are there like this?? Personally, I think Sharon Krause should have to go to prison for falsifying evidence, and witness tampering.

Children: Father didn't abuse us: Ex-Vancouver police officer spent nearly 20 years in prison

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009456102_recantabuse11m.html?syndication=rss

VANCOUVER, B.C. — The two adult children of former Vancouver police officer Clyde Ray Spencer, who spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of molesting them, testified in court Friday the abuse never happened.

By Stephanie Rice
The Columbian

VANCOUVER, Wash. — The two adult children of former Vancouver police officer Clyde Ray Spencer, who spent nearly 20 years in prison after being convicted of molesting them, testified in court Friday the abuse never happened.

A 33-year-old son recalled how, at age 9, he was repeatedly questioned, alone, by now-retired Detective Sharon Krause of the Clark County Sheriff's Office. He said after months of questioning, he said he was abused to get Krause to leave him alone.

A 30-year-old daughter said she doesn't remember what she told Krause at age 5, but recalled Krause bought her ice cream.

Both children, who live in Sacramento, Calif., said that while growing up in California they were told by their mother, who divorced Spencer before Spencer was charged, that they were blocking out the memory of the abuse.

They said they realized as adults the abuse never happened, and they came forward because it was the right thing to do.

The fallout from Friday's hearing won't be known for months, after appellate judges weigh in. But the hearing does pave the way for the state Court of Appeals to allow Spencer to withdraw the no-contest pleas he entered in 1985 and have his convictions vacated.

After Matthew Spencer and Kathryn (Spencer) Tetz each took a turn on the witness stand, Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis said their testimony followed the written declarations they filed with the Court of Appeals.

Since the appellate court doesn't take live testimony from witnesses, Lewis was ordered to listen to the children testify and see whether they stuck by their written declarations, even under cross-examination by a prosecuting attorney.

They did, Lewis said.

Spencer, 61, who goes by Ray, hugged his son and daughter after the hearing while a dozen supporters cheered.

In 1985, Spencer was also convicted of abusing a 4-year-old stepson, who was not at Friday's hearing.

The Court of Appeals ruled his testimony was not necessary, given his age at the time of the alleged crimes and the fact his mother had an affair with Krause's supervisor.

According to Krause, the children were together when they were abused.

Both Matthew Spencer and Tetz testified their stepbrother was never abused by their dad.

In 1985, Spencer entered the no-contest pleas, a type of guilty plea, after learning his court-appointed attorney had not prepared a defense. He felt pleading no contest was his only option, and that he would appeal his convictions.

Former Judge Thomas Lodge sentenced Spencer to two life terms in prison, plus 14 years.

For several years, Spencer's appeals failed. He was denied parole five times because he refused to admit guilt and enter a sex offender treatment program.

He hired Seattle attorney Peter Camiel in the mid-1990s. Camiel and a private investigator uncovered several disturbing facts about the investigation — including that prosecutors withheld medical exams that showed no evidence of abuse, despite Krause's claims that the children had been violently, repeatedly raped — and those discoveries led Gov. Gary Locke to commute Spencer's sentence in 2004.

Spencer was ordered to be on supervision for three years.

He's still a convicted sex offender, and Friday's hearing was just another step in the long process of clearing his name.

The process has admittedly taken its toll on Spencer, who suffered a heart attack in April.

"For so many years, nothing went right," said Spencer. "When things keep going right, I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Kim Farr grilled Spencer's children about why they are so certain they weren't abused.

Matthew Spencer said he knew his father had ruined the relationship with his mother. "He had downfalls. But none of them were molesting children," he said.

Tetz said when she finally read the police reports she was "absolutely sure" the abuse never happened. "I would have remembered something that graphic, that violent," she said.

Krause, who declined an interview request from The Columbian in 2005, could not be reached Friday.

If the Court of Appeals vacates Spencer's convictions, the case would return to the Clark County Prosecutor's Office.

Charges would either be refiled or dismissed.

Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Dennis Hunter wasn't ready to wave a white flag on Friday. He said if convictions are tossed, prosecutors could appeal to the state Supreme Court.

After the hearing, Spencer, who has received his doctorate in clinical psychology but cannot get his state license as long as he has a criminal record, said he will just have to wait and see.

But at least he has his children, who didn't talk to him for more than 20 years.

"They were my life, and they were taken away from me. That was the hardest part. I could serve in prison," Spencer said, before his voice trailed off, and his son came up for another hug.

[a social engineering scam gleefully targeting 12-year-old kids]

If you have children that play on the popular virtual world game Neopets, you might want to warn them of a social engineering scam gleefully targeting 12-year-old kids (http://blog.spywareguide.com/2009/06/hackers-target-neopets-users.html).

The scam is based around one of the core mechanics of Neopets: kids love rare items and things that nobody else has. Neopets has magical paintbrushes (http://www.neopetshive.com/Hive/newbies/paintbrushes.htm) - stay with me on this - and they're rather hard to get hold of nowadays.

Neopets users looking for rare items are sent private messages from the scammers, who direct them to sites hosting keyloggers & trojans.

They then use the infected PC as a means to get to data the parents might have stored there, be it credit card details, Paypal accounts or online banking.

Seeing the screenshots of some of these people talking about putting these children into botnets is just unbelievable— if ever you wanted proof that people up to no good online will go to any lengths to get their hands on some money (or even just feel good about outsmarting a 12-year-old), here it is.

[What kind of idiot keeps a snake like this in a cage it could break out of? You want to keep a snake, fine, but keep it in a cage that is utterly escape-proof for it.]

What kind of idiot keeps a snake like this in a cage it could break out of? You want to keep a snake, fine, but keep it in a cage that is utterly escape-proof for it. Seriously, how hard could that be??

Officials: Escaped pet python strangled Fla. child
July 1st, 2009

OXFORD, Fla. (AP) — A 2-year-old girl was strangled by a 12-foot Burmese python Wednesday inside a central Florida home, authorities said.

The snake was a family pet, not one of a fast-growing population of nonnative pythons that has been spreading in the wild in southern Florida.

Lt. Steve Binegar, of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office, said the toddler was strangled by the snake in the town of Oxford, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. Pythons can kill by wrapping themselves around a human. Paramedics said the girl was dead when they arrived at about 10 a.m. EDT. Authorities did not release the girl's name.

Sheriff's officials told the Orlando Sentinel that the snake broke out of a glass aquarium overnight, went to the girl's bedroom and attacked her. The owner found the snake wrapped around the girl and stabbed it while others called 911. It wasn't immediately known if the snake was killed. The newspaper said the snake slithered away and was missing.

Jorge Pino, a spokesman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said that pythons are not native to Florida and can easily grow to 10 or 12 feet long. He also said owners need a license to possess a python in the state.

Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then exploded when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.

"It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human," Pino said. "People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them."

[the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep.]

This is a follow-up to an LA Times story about people in Colorado who were breaking the law bycollecting and saving rainwater from their roofs to water their gardensduring dry spells.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html

DURANGO, Colo. — For the first time since territorial days, rain will be free for the catching here, as more and more thirsty states part ways with one of the most entrenched codes of the West.

    Holstrom's violation is the fancifully painted 55-gallon buckets underneath the gutters of her farmhouse on a mesa 15 miles from the resort town of Telluride. The barrels catch rain and snowmelt, which Holstrom uses to irrigate the small vegetable garden she and her husband maintain.

But according to the state of Colorado, the rain that falls on Holstrom's property is not hers to keep. It should be allowed to fall to the ground and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and streams, the law states, to become the property of farmers, ranchers, developers and water agencies that have bought the rights to those waterways.

Who owns the sky, anyway? In most of the country, that is a question for philosophy class or bad poetry. In the West, lawyers parse it with straight faces and serious intent. The result, especially stark here in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, is a crazy quilt of rules and regulations — and an entire subculture of people like Mr. Bartels who have been using the rain nature provided but laws forbade.

Full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/us/29rain.html


I say, "Horsecrap". If it falls on my roof, it's mine, especially if I use it to water my garden. I don't care what Washington State claims, I will ignore their idiotic scheme to "own" the rain and do what I want with water that falls on my roof.

Morris and his wife Esther went to the state fair every year, and every year Morris would say, "Esther,I"d like to ride in that helicopter.."

Esther always replied, "I know Morris, but that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars."

One year Esther and Morris went to the fair, and Morris said, "Esther, I"m 85 years old. If I don't ride that helicopter, I might never get another chance."

To this, Esther replied, "Morris that helicopter ride is fifty dollars, and fifty dollars is fifty dollars."

The pilot overheard the couple and said, "Folks I'll make you a deal. I'll take the both of you for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and don"t say a word I won"t charge you a penny! But if you say one word, it's fifty dollars."

Morris and Esther agreed and up they went. The pilot did all kinds of fancy maneuvers, but not a word was heard. He did his daredevil tricks over and over again, but still not a word.

When they landed, the pilot turned to Morris and said, "By golly, I did everything I could to get you to yell out, but you didn't. I'm impressed!"

Morris replied, "Well, to tell you the truth, I almost said something when Esther fell out, but you know, fifty dollars is fifty dollars!"

Boy, that's sad.  

An Italian woman who arrived late for the Air France plane flight that crashed in the Atlantic last week has been killed in a car accident, it has been reported.

Johanna Ganthaler, a pensioner from Bolzano-Bozen province, had been on holiday in Brazil with her husband Kurt and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31.

All 228 people aboard lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic four hours into its flight to Paris.

The ANSA news agency reported that the couple had managed to pick up a flight from Rio the following day.

It said that Ms Ganthaler died when their car veered across a road in Kufstein, Austria, and swerved into an oncoming truck. Her husband was seriously injured.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6479203.ece (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6479203.ece)

[SO, HOW ABOUT John Ensign?]

By Ronnie Polaneczky
Philadelphia Daily News
http://www.philly.com/philly/phillywomen/48402957.html

SO, HOW ABOUT John Ensign?

The right-wing Nevada senator admitted this week that he'd had an affair with a campaign aide, the wife of one of his employees. Ensign called it "the worst thing I have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything in my life that I could take back, this would be it." (Well, except for his previous affair, that is... -ed)

Snort. I'll bet.

After all, this blow-dried hypocrite from the craps 'n' blackjack state has been a defender of the sanctity of "traditional" marriage ever since he backed a proposed constitutional amendment defining the institution as a union between a man and a woman only.

"Marriage," he said in 2004, "is an extremely important institution in this country and protecting it is, in my mind, worth the extraordinary step of amending our Constitution."

But apparently not worth the extraordinary step of keeping his pecker in his pants. So much for this self-righteous Promise Keeper keeping his promise.

Ensign did the resignation-of-shame thing yesterday, quitting his post as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. He needed to, given how he'd once demanded that restroom crawler Larry Craig and intern trawler Bill Clinton quit their gigs in the wake of sexual stupidities.

At least Ensign's marriage has perked up. During his public mea culpa, he took pains to note that he and his wife have repaired their union, which is now "stronger than ever."

Almost sounds like a ringing endorsement of infidelity, doesn't it? Except that, according to an anonymous source referred to in a story by the Associated Press, Ensign needed time off back in 2002 to deal with the fall-out of an earlier affair.

So, infidelity hasn't been the most reliable of marriage-strengtheners for the Ensigns when it comes to the long term.

[Somehow, this seems right to me.]

Somehow, this seems right to me.

No benefits for LA girl born from dead man's sperm
                                    
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - A U.S. appeals court says a California girl conceived from the frozen sperm of a dead man cannot receive his Social Security benefits.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision Wednesday, ruling the girl wasn't dependent on her father at the time of his death.

The case involves sperm that Bruce Vernoff's widow, Gaby, ordered extracted after he died unexpectedly in 1995 from an allergic reaction. It was kept frozen for 15 months before she became pregnant and in 1999 gave birth to Brandalynn.

She applied for child survivor benefits from the Social Security Administration but was rejected, and a legal battle ensued.

A call seeking comment from the widow's attorney was not immediately returned Thursday.

[Women less happy after 40 years of feminism]

Women less happy after 40 years of feminism

Despite wealth, health and opportunity, men still more
content says study by US National Bureau of Economic Research

On the long and winding road to having it all, Helen Parker is making good progress. At 27 she's forging a career as an executive with a transport company in London, she has a steady boyfriend, and together they are buying a flat. One day the prospect of starting a family will beckon.

By many standards, she's thriving. So is she happy?

"Um, I'm reasonably happy," she said. "And I'm optimistic about the future. But there will always be sacrifices.

"There's plenty more opportunities for women than there used to be — but then again, that means you are always questioning whether the moves you have made are correct, or whether you should have done something else."

Like many women, her sense of wellbeing and life satisfaction do not match up with advances in social circumstances and material comforts. After 40 years of fighting for equality, it seems that women are no happier. In fact, women in many countries have been growing steadily unhappier compared with men, according to a study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the United States.

Full Story:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6395879.ece

[nine women's advocacy]

A group of University of Chicago (http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/education/colleges-universities/university-of-chicago-OREDU0000151.topic) students think it's time the campus focused more on its men.

A third-year student from Lake Bluff has formed Men in Power, a student organization that promises to help men get ahead professionally. But the group's emergence has been controversial, with some critics  charging that its premise is misogynistic.

Others say it's about time men are championed, noting that recent job losses hit men harder and that women earn far more bachelor's and master's degrees than do men.

"It's an enormous disparity now," said Warren Farrell, author of "The Myth of Male Power" and former board member of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women. He noted, among other things, an imbalance in government and private initiatives that advance the interests of women and girls.

. . .

Sharlene Holly, associate dean of students and the director of student activities, said the University of Chicago has approximately nine women's advocacy groups on campus; this group would be the first male advocacy group.

(No disparity there, right? - Ed.)


FULL STORY: 'Power' move by male students ruffles U. of C. (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-u-of-c-mens-groupmay19,0,4707353.story)

[Netherlands runs out of criminals, has to shut prisons]

Netherlands runs out of criminals, has to shut prisons

The Netherlands (where most drugs are cannabis is legal) has so few criminals that it is now faced with the choice of shutting down its prisons and laying off the staff, or importing criminals from other countries like Belgium on a contract basis:

    During the 1990s the Netherlands faced a shortage of prison cells, but a decline in crime has since led to overcapacity in the prison system. The country now has capacity for 14,000 prisoners but only 12,000 detainees.

    Deputy justice minister Nebahat Albayrak announced on Tuesday that eight prisons will be closed, resulting in the loss of 1,200 jobs. Natural redundancy and other measures should prevent any forced lay-offs, the minister said.

Netherlands to close prisons for lack of criminals (http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2246821.ece/Netherlands_to_close_prisons_for_lack_of_criminals)

[Mary K. Letourneau hosts 'Hot Teacher' night]

Mary K. Letourneau hosts 'Hot Teacher' night

SEATTLE - The odyssey of Mary Kay Letourneau, which began years ago when she was a 34-year-old teacher who raped a sixth-grade student, has now evolved into "Hot for Teacher" night at a Pioneer Square bar.

But the bar's owner says the event is all in fun, and he hopes people take it in the right spirit.

Letourneau (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Kay_Latourneau), who eventually served time for raping her former student then later married him after her release from prison, will be hosting the event Saturday at Fuel Sports Eats & Beats on Washington Street.

Letourneau's former student, Vili Fualaau, will be there, too. He'll be the DJ, spinning Top 40 and club classic hits all night.

Fuel's owner, Mike Morris, said he realizes having Letourneau host a "Hot Teacher" night could be touchy and might rub some people the wrong way.

But the way he figures it, "Mary's done her time. She's served her sentence. They're now married; they have kids together."

"It's turned into sort of a love story," he says. "I realize it had a sick twist at the beginning, but they're both adults now. They're both married by the state of Washington. So, it's just go and have fun on a Saturday night - and if people are looking to have some fun, just come check us out."

Morris said this is actually the third time that Letourneau and Fualaau have hosted a "Hot for Teachers" night at the nightclub. The first two events were low-key, and he said patrons really warmed up to the couple.

"We get lots of people who want to come meet them. And once they do meet them, they're like, 'Oh my God, she's so down-to-earth and so nice, and he's such a good DJ,' that it's creating like a stir or a buzz, and its bringing people back," Morris says.

Letourneau's role is to make people feel welcome and comfortable, he says.

Full Story: http://www.komonews.com/news/45731497.html

[Full Article, via FuturePundit]

Neurotic Men Improve the Health of Women, But Not Vice Versa

I'm not sure what to say except that this is excellent news for my wife.  

Psychological researchers have discovered that women gain a health benefit by living with neurotic men:

    CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Conscientiousness is a good thing in a mate, researchers report, not just because it's easier to live with someone who washes the dishes without being asked, but also because having a conscientious partner may actually be good for one's health. Their study, of adults over age 50, also found that women, but not men, get an added health benefit when paired with someone who is conscientious and neurotic.

    This is the first large-scale analysis of what the authors call the "compensatory conscientiousness effect," the boost in health reported by those with conscientious spouses or romantic partners. The study appears this month in Psychological Science.

Full Article, via FuturePundit (http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/006164.html)

[Protest Lifetime TV's New Reality Show Deadbeat Dads!]

Protest Lifetime TV's New Reality Show Deadbeat Dads!

Lifetime TV announced the launch of its new, father-bashing reality show Deadbeat Dads last week. To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax).

[HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]"Neither accurate nor fair." [/HIGHLIGHT]
[HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]--Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, Washington Post Writers Group, on [/HIGHLIGHT][HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]Deadbeat Dads[/HIGHLIGHT]

According to The Hollywood Reporter,"Deadbeat Dads, originally developed at Fox, follows National Child Support founder Jim Durham as he tracks down and confronts dads who don't pay child support." According to Reuters, Durham "functions as a sort of 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' for tracking deadbeats...It's ambush reality TV." Durham will target fathers who are behind on their child support by "making their lives miserable -- foreclosing on their house,repossessing their car. He will squeeze them."

[HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]"Unfair to men."--Syndicated advice columnist Amy Alkon, on [/HIGHLIGHT][HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]Deadbeat Dads[/HIGHLIGHT]

Last April, Fathers & Families led a highly-publicized campaign against the show (originally called "Bad Dads") and got Fox to drop it. Now Lifetime TV, which reaches nearly 100 million households, has picked up Deadbeat Dads, which unfairly depicts divorced fathers as uncaring and selfish. Research clearly shows that most divorced dads pay their child support and remain a part of their children's lives,often under difficult circumstances. In fact, federal government data shows that the overwhelming majority of "deadbeat dads" earn poverty level wages--only 4% earn even $40,000 a year.

[HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]"Disturbing...they are heaping abuse on men in the name of 'justice'"--TV Host/Psychologist Helen Smith, on [/HIGHLIGHT][HIGHLIGHT=#ffff00]Deadbeat Dads[/HIGHLIGHT]

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

Deadbeat Dads kicks fathers while they're down. Media reports show the majority of those losing their jobs in this recession are men,and child support orders are notoriously difficult to modify downward.As the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and other papers have documented, these hard luck dads sometimes end up in jail.

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

The worst part about Deadbeat Dads is the way it publicly humiliates children in single parent families by depicting their fathers as not loving or caring for them. How is a child to feelwhen he or she sees their dad being vilified on TV because he allegedly doesn't love or provide for them? How is the child to feel when he or he is reminded of this by friends or teased about it on the schoolyard?

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

According to US Census data, noncustodial mothers are 20% more likely to default on their child support obligations than non custodial fathers. It is misleading and unfair to name the show Deadbeat Dads when the average noncustodial father is more likely to pay his child support than the average noncustodial mother.

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

Another problem with Deadbeat Dads is that studies show that the arrearages for which "deadbeat dads" are pursued are often erroneous. For example, a recent Massachusetts audit found that the arrearages were incorrect in 92% of that state's cases.

The California Department of Child Support Services itself admitted last year that the overwhelming majority of "deadbeat dads" are the product of problems and abuses within the child support system.Missouri Child Support Auditor Susan Montee recently called the way Missouri calculates child support arrearages "extremely sloppy...a total inattention to making sure these numbers are right."

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

Moreover, Deadbeat Dads glorifies the role of private child support collection agencies, even though these agencies often manhandle fathers and deceive custodial mothers. In fact, women's advocates, including the National Organization for Women, have repeatedly condemned these agencies for mistreating women. Durham, the central figure in Deadbeat Dads, has often been singled out by women's groups as a perpetrator of these abusive tactics.

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

Television is already rife with negative, misleading and unfair depictions of fathers--Deadbeat Dadspromises to be one of the worst examples. Many successful,highly-visible commentators have recently gone on record as opposing the negative way the media portrays men and fathers. These include syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker, whose weekly columns appear in300 newspapers; TV host Bill Maher; CBS News anchor Charles Osgood;nationally syndicated radio-talk-show host Laura Schlessinger; and many others. How fathers are portrayed matters.

To email and fax a letter to Lifetime Executives protesting this show, click here (http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=78373950&msgid=940352&act=4U5X&c=386094&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fathersandfamilies.org%2F%3Fpage_id%3D2706%23sendemailfax). Also, please call Lifetime TV's main switchboard at 310 556-7500.

Together with you in the struggle,

Glenn Sacks, MA
Executive Director, Fathers & Families

Ned Holstein, M.D., M.S.
Founder, Chairman of the Board, Fathers & Families

[Griffin-Sebuliba Case—Once Again Feminist 'Family Courts Award Custody to Abusers' Claims Don't Hold Up (http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/?p=2669)]

Griffin-Sebuliba Case—Once Again Feminist 'Family Courts Award Custody to Abusers' Claims Don't Hold Up (http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/?p=2669)
April 19th, 2009 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families
               
Backin 2007, Glenn did a piece on the case of April Griffin and Matthew Sebuliba, but when he did, the case was far from over (See Turns Out the April Griffin Custody Case is a Little Different than Feminist Bloggers Say (http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=847)). My guess is it's still not, but here's the latest. Read the most recent article here (http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/32477299.html) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/30/08) and a previous one here (http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29376984.html) (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 6/20/07).

Griffin and Sebuliba live in Milwaukee. He's a native of Africa, but is a United States citizen and a nurse. Griffin gave birth to Sebuliba's son and when she applied for welfare benefits, state authorities forced her to name the father. The state filed a paternity action and Sebuliba responded with a request for joint custody.

Griffin followed that with a series of actions her own attorney called "outrageous." She claimed, apparently without evidence, that Sebuliba had physically abused her. She claimed that allowing him to change the child's diaper was "against her religion." Child welfare workers stated that Griffin became hysterical during a supervised visit by Sebuliba, saying the child was not breathing, and demanded that 911be called. EMS personnel determined that the boy was fine.

In court, she insisted on conducting the custody hearing herself, which resulted in the judge awarding custody not to her but to Sebuliba. After that, she took the boy and hid him in violation of multiple court orders. She spent 8 months in jail for contempt of court, during which the child never was found.

Once she was released from jail, the police eventually were able to locate the child in September, 2008. The boy was diagnosed with rickets, a disease resulting from severe malnutrition in which bones become fragile. In a confrontation with police, Griffin hugged thetoddler so tightly that apparently she broke an arm and a leg.

As of September, the boy was due to be finally turned over to his father.

At the time Glenn wrote about this case, various feminist groups had already gone to bat for Griffin, claiming that the judge had granted custody to an abuser. One salient feature of the case is that, although Griffin claimed Sebuliba had abused her, the only evidence of abuse wasof her abusing him. As in similar cases, such as Genia Shockome, Sadia Loeliger, Holly Collins, and Bridget Marks, groups supporting the mother tended to accept at face value claims made by the mother. And like those cases, judicial vetting of those claims found them to be false.

In any event, as of September, the child, who had never been in the father's custody, was found to be suffering from a condition that comes about from being starved. Will the groups who fought so vocally for Griffin and against Sebuliba take notice?

My guess is they won't, but that doesn't mean we can't look at this case and know it for what it is - the gatekeeping mother at or near her worst. Time and again we see mothers taking the most extreme actions including murder and kidnapping to enforce their idea of proper child custody.

We have a few studies on gatekeeping mothers - those who arrogate to themselves the power to decide what relationship a father may have with his child and the child with its father. Gatekeeping is seldom as egregious as it was when practiced by April Griffin. The phenomenon needs to be studied in more depth so that courts, lawmakers,psychologists and social workers can learn to spot it and deal with it effectively. More importantly, mothers need to learn to see the behavior in themselves, know that it is wrong and what to do to correct it.
            

[New SPARC Chatroom]

Would you like to test the new chatroom?

If so, please go here: New SPARC Chatroom (http://deltabravo.net/chat/)
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Please let us know what you like, what you don't like, what we could change, etc, and post your comments here.

This article is Taibbi at his best. It takes no prisoners.

Full article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/print

----------------------------------------------------
The Big Takeover: A Must-Read from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi

It's over — we're officially, royally fucked. No empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline — a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country's heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.

The latest bailout came as AIG admitted to having just posted the largest quarterly loss in American corporate history — some $61.7 billion. In the final three months of last year, the company lost more than $27 million every hour. That's $465,000 a minute, a yearly income for a median American household every six seconds, roughly $7,750 a second. And all this happened at the end of eight straight years that America devoted to frantically chasing the shadow of a terrorist threat to no avail, eight years spent stopping every citizen at every airport to search every purse, bag, crotch and briefcase for juice boxes and explosive tubes of toothpaste. Yet in the end, our government had no mechanism for searching the balance sheets of companies that held life-or-death power over our society and was unable to spot holes in the national economy the size of Libya (whose entire GDP last year was smaller than AIG's 2008 losses).

So it's time to admit it: We're fools, protagonists in a kind of gruesome comedy about the marriage of greed and stupidity. And the worst part about it is that we're still in denial — we still think this is some kind of unfortunate accident, not something that was created by the group of psychopaths on Wall Street whom we allowed to gang-rape the American Dream."


Full article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/print

Via email from George McCasland:


You might want to avoid posting or volunteering to answer on the Ask Me Help Desk http://www.askmehelpdesk.com.  When they have a father post a question about his rights, they don't allow fathers rights answers, or reference to fathers rights web sites.  The do allow referral to attorneys.  It's run by a California Attorney.

It does get a lot of posting by fathers.  It took less than 24 hours for me to get banned from the site.

George R. McCasland

Indian Meadows Nursing Ctr
6505 W 103rd St, Room 211
Overland Park, KS 66212

Give Kids A Choice: Bird Nest Custody
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GiveKidsAChoice/

Dads House
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DadsHouse/

[25 years]

That's fair.......

On successive days in January in the courthouse in Sheboygan, Wis.,17-year-old Alan Jepsen and 17-year-old Norma Guthrie were each charged with sexual assault for having consensual sex with their respective 14-year-old, opposite-sex companions.

However, Jepsen was charged with a felony (maximum: 25 years in prison), and Guthrie was charged with a misdemeanor (maximum, 9 months). [Sheboygan Press, 1-9-09]

[James Cook passed away last weekend. Though his name was not known in the annals of history, the result of his work affected millions now living.]

Father Makes Two
Time Magazine
By Margot Roosevelt - Sunday, Nov. 11, 2003

Quote:
"Aslate as 1971, the Minnesota State Bar Association's handbook advisedlawyers and judges that "except in very rare cases, the father shouldnot have custody of the minor children. He is usually unqualifiedpsychologically and emotionally."

When James Cook, a Los Angeles realestate lobbyist, divorced in 1974 and sought shared custody of his son,"the judge thought it was preposterous," he recalls. "He told me, 'Idon't have permission to do it.'" Outraged, Cook and some friendsorganized the Joint Custody Association and in 1979 pushed through theCalifornia legislature the first law encouraging joint custody. All 50states eventually followed suit....."

James Cook passed away last weekend.  Though his name was not known in the annals of history, the result of his work affected millions now living.

Memorial is scheduled for Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 4:30 p.m. at the Hall of Liberty.

All services will be held at:
Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, Hollywood Hills
6300 Forest Lawn Drive
Los Angeles, California 90068.


Sincerely,
George R. McCasland