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

August 8, 2006

 
New Column: Philadelphia Daily News Unfairly Stereotypes Dads

My latest co-authored column, Philadelphia Daily News Unfairly Stereotypes Dads (Philadelphia Daily News, 8/2/06), fires back at the newspaper for two recent father-bashing "news" stories--Jail Threat Springs $$ (7/20/06) and Woman starts Web site to shame vanished dads (7/20/06). In the column family law attorney Jeff Leving and I criticized anti-father webmistress Fadia Ward, who the paper praised. We wrote:

"In [reporter Dana] DiFillippo's other article, 'Woman starts Web site to shame vanished dads,' she salutes activist Fadia Ward and her website www.sorryassbabydaddies.com. Ward excoriates dads and calls on her fellow sisters to publicly humiliate them, saying 'our men have got to get it together...the only way to do that is to take their manhood away.' Certainly there are fathers who do not come through for their children. Yet Ward, who at age 27 has had four children by four different fathers, eschews any personal fault for her own situation, claiming that none of her four births were intended."

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"Most people don't fail--they simply stop trying"--Jim Bouton


"The home page of Ward's website depicts an African-American father shouting 'get outta here with all that' as his two little children cry at his feet, begging for his affection, and the children's mother cries and holds out a baby to him. This is a terrible distortion of the lives of divorced or separated dads, many of whom struggle to remain a part of their children's lives.

"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

One of the things I sometimes regret about writing is that, given the tight word limits and fierce competition in newspaper columns, I'm often not able to give my columns the subtlety I'd like to. And while Ward's accusations are unfair, they're not completely unfair--there is some truth to what she says. I told the story below on the radio a couple years ago:

"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.'"
 

The American Coalition for Fathers and Children
The American Coalition for Fathers and Children is dedicated to creating a family law system which promotes equal rights for all parties affected by divorce. Contact the ACFC at 1-800-978-3237 or visit them on the web at www.acfc.org.

Parenting Plan Calendar Software
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Protest in Support of Jailed Father John Murtari

John Murtari, loving father to his 13 year-old son Domenic, has refused food and water since his incarceration on July 31 for a questionable child support arrearage. John has fallen behind on his support for various reasons, some of them beyond his control. He has lost almost 20 pounds since his incarceration. I've read John's enewsletter for the past several years, and while at times I've disagreed with his tactics, I do respect his courage, courteous manner and fighting spirit.

Shared parenting activists are rallying in support of John at the Onondaga County Courthouse in Syracuse, New York on Wednesday, August 9. Teri Stoddard is coordinating the effort--she can be reached at 877-633-1968 ex. 212 or at teri@akidsright.org. To learn more about John's case, click here and here.


New Column: Glenn Debates Feminist over 'Roe v. Wade for Men' Lawsuit

Family law attorney Jeff Leving and I squared off against feminist columnist Kai Ma over the controversial 'Roe v. Wade for Men' lawsuit on the prominent left-wing website AlterNet. Our column is Respect a Man's Choice, Too, Ma's is The Difference Between a Womb and a Wallet. In our column we wrote:

"Ma condemns men who 'lie, deceive, break their promises, or pull a 180...who agree to marry but don't,' and laments that 'millions of women' have been 'trapped into single motherhood for life with, often, next to no recourse.' Yet according to a randomized study of 46,000 divorce cases published in the American Law and Economics Review, two‑thirds of all divorces involving couples with children are initiated by mothers, not fathers, and in only 6% of cases did the women claim to be divorcing cruel or abusive husbands.

"The out-of-wedlock birth rate in the United States hovers around 33%--given the wide variety of contraceptive and reproductive choices women enjoy, this can hardly be blamed primarily on men. Yes, in some of these cases the mother and father shared a relationship which the mother (and the father) may have expected would become a marriage. Yet these relationships fail for many reasons besides male perfidy. These include: youth; economic pressure and the lack of living wage jobs (how many couples fight over money?); and the mothers' post-partum depression and mood-swings. It's doubtful that many men really wake up in the morning and say to themselves 'my child loves me and needs me, my girlfriend loves me and needs me--I'm outta here.'"

The column also provided me the opportunity to present my view on "Roe v. Wade for Men" in a more subtle, nuanced way than when I've written on the issue for newspapers:

"Whenever a child is born outside of the context of a loving, two-parent family, there are no good solutions. Ma overstates her case, but she is correct that 'Choice for Men' is a flawed solution. However, the current regime, which provides women with a variety of choices and men with none, is also flawed.

"Dubay's conduct is not particularly admirable, and he's certainly not a candidate for father of the year; however, he does have a point. Over the past four decades women's advocates have successfully made the case that it is wrong to force a pregnancy on an unwilling mother. Despite the backlash against Dubay, hopefully his lawsuit will result in a greater societal awareness that it is also wrong to force a pregnancy on an unwilling father."

Respect a Man's Choice, Too is drawing a lot of comments--to join the debate, click here.

Leving's Divorce Magazine
Leving's Divorce Magazine is the new magazine for the modern divorced man. It's available online, with articles focusing on issues such as men's reproductive rights (or lack thereof), Parental Alienation Syndrome and child support. Visit now and get a free subscription. 

Help, Resources for Dads
The National Fathers' Resource Center is a division of Fathers For Equal Rights, Inc. (FER), located in Dallas, Texas, with offices in both Dallas and Houston. In existence for over three decades, it has services and resources for dads nationwide and is one of the largest and most active fathers' rights organizations in the U.S. www.fathers4kids.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. www.Lady4Justice.com

A Foray into a Feminist Stronghold

As of yesterday Respect a Man's Choice, Too was ranked as the 5th most read at AlterNet, and had drawn 300 reader comments. In part because AlterNet is a left-wing/pro-feminist news website, the comments are overwhelmingly negative. AlterNet's regular columnists include liberal luminaries Arianna Huffington, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Molly Ivins and Robert Scheer. According to Wikipedia, the San Francisco-based AlterNet is "a project of the Independent Media Institute, and politically left-of-center. AlterNet's content is mostly progressive and ostensibly independent of any particular political party...they get over 1.5 million visitors per month."

I believe this is a positive thing. As I've noted on many occasions, while I welcome our conservative allies, we're not going to win shared parenting without a wide base--one which very much includes the left. This is one of the reasons I've felt it's important to be published in mainstream newspapers, which tend to be liberal and pro-feminist. There are constituencies on the left which would be very sympathetic to our message. The best example are black Democrats. Pardon the generalization, but American whites are largely in denial about the damage caused by fatherlessness. They're also addled by anti-male feminism. Blacks, because of their experiences, see the cost of fatherlessness more clearly than whites do.


This is Feminist Territory--No Sacks Allowed...

Many of the comments (and the comments about the piece on feminist blogs) are of the "This is our turf--why is Sacks allowed on it?" variety. I've seen this attitude many times in mainstream newspapers--they don't expect men's and fathers' advocates to be there, and they sure as hell don't expect a male men and fathers' advocate to be there.

Among those who have publicly displayed this attitude towards me are Esta Soler, president of the Family Violence Prevention Fund (in the San Francisco Chronicle) and Marcia Pappas, president of the New York state chapter of the National Organization for Women (in the Albany Times-Union). I was once banned from a newspaper (sorry--can't publicly reveal which one) after a feminist leader who I had criticized made a phone call. I guess they don't want their views challenged or debated.

Finally What Child Support Payers Need
Child Support obligors face a stacked deck when squaring off against CS Enforcement's army of lawyers and agents, all pitted against some beleaguered father who's working 50 hours a week to pay his child support and support his family. The burden of proving compliance with court-ordered support falls on the obligor, not the custodial parent or the enforcement agencies. Very often fathers are forced to pay money they don't really owe, or are saddled with fake arrearages and the concomitant interest and penalties.

Since the state provides a ton of free assistance to custodial parents, fathers need quality, affordable representation for these battles. Child Support Liberation's Child Support Audits and Record Management Program helps obligors challenge arrears by producing professional, top-quality self-audits which include all the necessary records in the proper form. CSARMP then conducts quarterly audits that will alert obligors to overcharges. In addition, they will maintain ongoing records of obligations, payments and interest.

CSARMP costs only $13 a month ($38 for the first month only) and can be cancelled with only 30 days notice. To learn more or to sign up, click here and here. If you have any questions, write to Michael Kennedy of Child Support Liberation by clicking here.

Anybody Feel Like Defending Me?

As usual, I'm getting trashed all over the feminist blogosphere--some examples are listed and linked below. If anybody feels like defending me, feel free. My favorite is this quote from a feminist blogger on LiveJournal.com:

"AlterNet? They give a counterpoint to Glenn Sacks, of all people, the twinkly anti-feminist MRA [Men's Rights Activist] apologist who never met a male whine he didn't like. Just when things had gotten sensible with the rejection of that whining sperm squirter's suit to avoid birth control and child support, AlterNet grants Sacks an opportunity to compare decidedly unlike things and muddy up the waters."

Besides being criticized at Respect a Man's Choice, Too I'm being criticized at the following:

Media Distortions by Fathers' Rights Advocates

"I wish my womb were as simple as his wallet." ...

Trish Wilson on Shared Parenting

Once more into the muck

REBUTTAL TO: Glenn Sacks on PAS article

Nothing says male privilege like demanding that we ignore biology so you get to fuck unwrapped

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There are many important reasons why people choose to have a paternity test done. A child is entitled to the sense of belonging and identity that comes from knowing his/her parents. An alleged father also has the right to know if a child is biologically his. Paternity fraud in the United States is unfortunately a fairly common occurrence, affecting perhaps millions of men. Now you can get the accurate, fast and affordable answers to your paternity questions. Visit www.accuratepaternity.com or call 877-434-0292 to talk to a DNA testing expert or to order a confidential test today.

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Attention California Child Support Obligors
Under the Compromise of Back Child Support Program, when money is owed to the government (not the mother), the government may compromise on back child support for up to 90% off. This law was passed in recognition of the fact that there have been many inequitable child support judgments that can no longer be appealed. We operate anywhere in California--to learn more about this program, contact family law attorney Robert Ackermann at (310) 442-8240 or at ChildsupportLA@aol.com.


New Column: Brett Myers Case Obscures an Important Truth About Domestic Violence Arrests

My latest co-authored column, Brett Myers Case Obscures an Important Truth About Domestic Violence Arrests (Delaware County Daily Times [Philadelphia], 8/2/06, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 8/5/06), has a different take on the highly-publicized Brett Myers incident. In the column Mike McCormick, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children, and I wrote:

"An important truth has been lost in the controversy over the way the Philadelphia Phillies handled pitcher Brett Myers after his recent arrest for spousal abuse. Mrs. Myers' injuries and the accounts of several witnesses leave little reason to doubt her husband's culpability. Nevertheless, the Phillies at first reserved judgment about the case, and allowed Myers to pitch.

"This was wrong, as the team admitted after widespread criticism, and Myers was given a leave of absence. However, in many domestic violence cases the men arrested do deserve the open mind and support which the Phillies' mistakenly extended Myers. Spousal abuse arrests are often dubious, in part because of misguided domestic violence laws and law enforcement policies...

"Contrary to the charges leveled by the Phillies' numerous critics, the club wasn't wrong in its desire to afford its player the benefit of the doubt. The problem is that in Myers' case there is no doubt. However, the next time an athlete is arrested for domestic violence, there probably will be. Will the team involved turn its back on its player because of the precedent set in the Myers case?"

Read the full column here.

To write a Letter to the Editor about the column, write to the Delaware County Daily Times  regarding "Myers Case Obscures an Important Truth About Domestic Violence Arrests" (8/2/06) at ldemeglio@delcotimes.com. Write to the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star regarding Spousal abuse: One strike and you're out, even if you didn't swing (8/5/06) at letters@freelancestar.com. If your letter is published, let me know and I will link to it from a future enewsletter.

I've previously discussed the Brett Myers incident in this enewsletter--see The Brett Myers Saga: Baseball Player Beats Wife on Boston Street. Also, see my discussion of a 1901 baseball player's arrest for domestic violence and the public's reaction to it at Violence Against Women Culturally Acceptable?
 

Help for Midwest Fathers
Cordell & Cordell is one of the largest domestic relations firms for men in the Midwest, representing fathers in Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Kansas, Indiana and Georgia. Men who come to Cordell & Cordell know that their interests and the interests of their children will be aggressively championed. www.cordellcordell.com

Civil War - A Father's Guide to Winning Child Custody
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Baseball Pitcher Scott Erickson Got the Shaft

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.'"

Has Your Career Been Impacted by Custody Issues?
After empowering people's careers for over 20 years, I was duly initiated into family law just like you--through a 30 month, $520,000 custody suit. I learned that a solid home-based business could be the best option, allowing one to shake the financial shackles while still experiencing a "no limits" career. More than ever, our kids now need a free and available parent. Be there for them...and for yourself. Darrell W. Gurney, www.CEOinShorts.com 

Concerned about Financial Issues in Your Divorce?
If you're concerned about financial issues in your divorce, contact Jim DiGabriele of DiGabriele, McNulty & Co by email here or at 973-243-2600.

Letters From a Deadbeat Dad
Have you ever been framed as a "deadbeat dad" while you were just trying to be a father? Have you ever been forced to pay child support while being denied your basic rights? Have you ever had to explain Parental Alienation Syndrome to your own child? Have you ever heard about fighting family law battles outside the law by following principles of non-violence--and winning? Read Letters From a Deadbeat Dad by Cosmo Monkhouse.


ACFC to Hold Family Law Conference in September

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.

Expose False Allegations with Technology
Don't let the anti-male bias in criminal law victimize you. If you could be falsely accused by an angry woman, be prepared! Use technology to expose the real aggressor. DontMakeHerMad.com

New Jersey Divorce and Family Law
New Jersey family law attorney David Perry Davis, Esq. can help you through your divorce. In Pasqua v. Council (2006) Davis successfully challenged New Jersey's unconstitutional practice of failing to appoint attorneys for indigent child support obligors at enforcement hearings where they face incarceration. As a result of this suit, trial courts must apply the same standard used when a defendant requests a public defender in a criminal matter. www.dpdlaw.com


Philly News Reporter Has History of Man-Bashing

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:

"In May, a Philadelphia woman sexually mutilated her husband by ripping off part of his scrotum with her fingernails. She was arrested, and I'm happy to say most media outlets in this area treated the story with gravity, not attempts at humor. DiFilippo was the exception."

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

"With their wedding anniversary less than two weeks away, Howard Randolph was thinking romance. He hoped to take his wife, Monica, out for an intimate dinner and maybe an oldies-but-goodies show to celebrate 11 years of matrimony.

"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.

Help for Maryland Fathers
Family law attorney Dawn Elaine Bowie works to protect parents' relationships with their children and reduce post-divorce conflict. She practices in Montgomery, Anne Arundel and Prince George's Counties. Contact her at attorneydawn@marylandfamilylawfirm.com or go to www.marylandfamilylawfirm.com.

Tree House Solutions 
Tree House Solutions, LLC is a growing and evolving resource designed to meet the emotional and informational needs of parents who are going through divorce and those already divorced. Tree House activities are composed of live, real time teleconferences on a weekly basis. These sessions are conducted by two highly experienced mental health practitioners, versed in high conflict divorce. Drs. Bone and Evans offer a wide spectrum of suggestions and education regarding the divorce process and co-parenting with difficult former spouses.  www.treehousesolutions.org


Dear Abby: Mom Wants Help to End Her Violent Nature

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).

Online Support for Men Going Through Divorce
Don't feel isolated, frightened, confused or alone when going through your divorce. Get the help and support you need without leaving your home at the Ottawa Divorce Forums www.OttawaDivorce.com/forum/

Lisa Scott Launches RealFamilyLaw.com
Shared Parenting Advocate/Family Law Attorney Lisa Scott has launched www.RealFamilyLaw.com to expose the truth about what is happening in our family law system. Lisa, the all-time leader in appearances on His Side with Glenn Sacks, says that she was "tired of having her stuff rejected by elitist bar publications and politically-correct newspapers" and decided to start her own website. www.RealFamilyLaw.com

How to Win Shared Custody
If you are an active, engaged, committed, dedicated, loving parent facing a divorce, family law attorney Nicholas Palermo's The Ten Essential Elements to Winning Joint Shared Physical and Legal Custody can help you protect your relationship with your children. www.TenEssentialElements.com


Tiger Woods and Fathers

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."

Dad's Time Tracker - Get More Time With Your Children and Manage Your Child Support
Dad's Time Tracker helps divorced fathers collect the information necessary to get more parenting time, lower their child support, or gain custody of their children by creating a child support payment record and thorough tracking of expenses. This tool makes co-parenting easier because key "friction" areas--expenses, medical issues, contacts, day care information, parenting time--are addressed in advance. www.dadstimetracker.com

Column: NOW at 40: Group's Opposition to Shared Parenting Contradicts Its Goal of Gender Equality

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:

"NOW and its co-thinkers, to their credit, once encouraged fathers, fathering and shared parenting. In 1971 Gloria Steinem wrote that children suffer from having 'too little father' in their lives, and that a more equal balance of parenting was needed. Karen DeCrow, president of NOW from 1974 to 1977, says 'it was clear from the feminist writings and ideas of the '60s and '70s that joint custody was what we supported after a divorce.'

"Fathers have embraced the call for more father involvement. Despite an ever-expanding work week, children today benefit from receiving more hands-on fathering than ever before. The Families and Work Institute found that fathers now provide three-fourths as much child care as mothers do - 50 percent more than 30 years ago.

"Paradoxically, while fathers are more directly involved in their children's lives than ever, their bonds with their children are also more fragile. In the late 1970s NOW reversed itself and began promoting sole custody in divorce cases. In most divorces mothers are awarded sole (or de facto sole) custody of the children, and most post-divorce parenting time schedules offer fathers and children less than 20 percent physical time together.

"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.'

"Using these scare tactics, NOW has blocked shared parenting bills in several states this year, including New York and Michigan. Yet as even feminist firebrand Martha Burk notes, 'With close to half of all marriages ending in divorce, it's impossible to believe that the majority of divorcing fathers are violent, and it would be wrong to base public policy on the notion that they are.'

To write a Letter to the Editor of the New York Daily News, the 7th largest newspaper in the United States, regarding "Devoted dads need support NOW" (7/27/06), click here.
 
Help for Seattle Fathers
The Law Offices of O. Yale Lewis III is a one-person law firm that focuses on customer care. Mr. Lewis can help you identify and focus on the outcome that you want and implement the steps necessary to get there. www.yalelewislaw.com.

Help for California Divorced Dads
The Divorced Fathers Network helps dads in Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Santa Cruz. Local chapters sponsor free weekly co-parenting classes, individual mentoring for fathers and much more. www.divorcedfathers.com.

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.'

"For example, feminist psychologist Phyllis Chesler claimed in her book Mothers on Trial that fathers win 70% of custody battles. However, this widely cited factoid was based on a biased, pre-selected sample of 60 women who had been referred by feminist lawyers or women's aid groups because they had custody issues.

"Other claims are based on the 1989 Gender Bias Study of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which reported that when fathers seek custody, they win primary or joint physical custody 70 percent of the time. Yet this figure does not separate contested from uncontested custody bids, and showed that in bids for sole custody mothers were still far more successful than fathers. The study also notes that 'women who lose custody often [have] mental, physical, or emotional handicaps'--in other words, when fathers win it's usually only because the mother has obvious problems...

"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

Child support enforcement is notorious for its bureaucratic mix-ups and its inability to fix them, but even by their standards this Orlando, Florida story--Boy Mistakenly Threatened With Jail For Being Deadbeat Dad (Local6.com, FL) is extreme:

"A childless teenager in Orange County, Fla., was threatened with jail for not paying thousands of dollars in child support despite efforts by his mother to clear up the identity mistake.

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

"'At first I thought it was funny but it just kept coming and coming and coming,' Williams said.

"The first letter came in April.

"'It was from the Department of Revenue stating that my son was past due in child support payment,' mother Arnell Williams said. 'I was like, 'Wow.'

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

"'I spoke to the young lady at the window who said she will make sure it will get taken care of,' Williams said.

"'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.'

"With the documents threatening arrest if Timothy did not pay up, Williams called the Department of Revenue in Tallahassee.

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

"Local 6 News discovered that the real Timothy Williams is a man with a long criminal record.

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

"The Department of Revenue blamed the mix up on a new computer system."

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.

"WAVE 3 TV in Louisville reported that James R. Frazier and his wife Bertha--both of whom seethed at being publicly humiliated--had been erroneously targeted by Maze before, and had spent years fighting to straighten out the error. Maze's office had previously acknowledged its mistake--and then went ahead and published the erroneous information anyway. In fact, as of October 1--over two months later--Maze still had not corrected the error on his list of 1,000 'deadbeats' on the County Attorney's website.

"ABC 7 KGO News in San Francisco, California has followed the saga of Alex Mendez, a childless man who has been mistakenly targeted for alleged overdue child support five times in the past three years by two different counties. After embarrassing media coverage, local enforcement officials repeatedly pledged to fix the error but have failed to do so.

"The list published by the Commercial Appeal appears to have similar problems. Memphis' News Channel 3 WREG quotes a juvenile court source as saying that some of those on the list may have already paid their child support. Nicholas Burchett of WREG was shocked and angered to find his father listed as a 'deadbeat'--the man has been dead for 14 years.

"Eyewitness News-WPTY reports that the Department of Human Services lost thousands of dollars of child support paid by Hugh Jones of Memphis, leaving Jones with a $10,000 child support arrearage. According to WPTY, DHS cashed Jones' checks six times but, despite Jones' detailed documentation, has failed to credit his account. WPTY reports that Jones 'has to continue paying his child support if he wants to remain a free man' and avoid jail, even though his 'debt' consists of money he has already paid."

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.

The Secrets of Happily Married Men
How can a man achieve a long and happy marriage? If you've been checking out advice columns or seeing a therapist, you may have been looking in the wrong place. Despite all the advances in brain technology, and all of that we have learned about developmental psychology--men and women are given the same advice about solving problems. But when we ask men what works for them, we hear a different story. www.SecretsofMarriedMen.com

Legal Help for Fathers in New Jersey
If you're a New Jersey father facing a divorce or separation, the law firm of Pitman, Pitman, Mindas, Grossman & Lee can help. PitmanLaw.com

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.

Dads, Learn to Take Charge of Your Case in Family Court
Go to www.libertybellunion.org to take a comprehensive ONLINE course that teaches you how to handle your case--with or without a lawyer. Learn to Fight for your rights and your children--all for one-hour of a lawyer's fees. Learn to tell public about the tyranny that fathers face in these courts: Reason for Revolution: The Tyranny Against Fathers, Family, and Freedom.


Second Marriage Struggles: Alec Baldwin and Long Time Girlfriend Separate, Blame Pressure from Basinger Custody Battle

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.

Are You Really the Father?
Find out the underlying flaws in the DNA paternity testing system and learn how a man with results in the 90%, 95% or even 99% positive range may not be the father. Learn what most lawyers and judges don't know about paternity testing. www.paternitytestflaw.com.

Congressional Candidate Takes Strong Stand for Noncustodial Parents' Rights
In 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik had a strong noncustodial parents' rights platform. Badnarik is clearly aware of and sensitive to the basic problems fathers today face, particularly the sole custody norm and the denigration of noncustodial parents to "second class parent" status. Badnarik is running for Congress in 2006--to learn more, go to www.badnarik.org.


Remember, Women Never Lie About Rape...

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.

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Legal Help for Fathers
If you live in Los Angeles, Riverside or Orange counties and you're facing a divorce, separation, or a child custody issue, the law firm of Oddenino & Gaule can help.


The Guns of August

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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