WildRose Alliance - Danielle SMITH 4 Leader

There is currently a leadership contest underway at WildRose Alliance and I have met and talked to Danielle SMITH about many issues of concern to men in Alberta. I was pleased to find that she had a very solid understanding of the stresses faced by "Second Families" and I have decided to support her and in that spirit I have posted this summary of her speech in Edmonton on Sept 10.

Men's depression is different -- and dangerous

Friday Sept 11 is Global Suicide Awareness Day and there will be a memorial walk at the City Hall in Churchill Square at noon. It is opportune therefore that I received this clip from the Vancouver Sun.

In his aptly-titled book I Don't Want to Talk About It -- Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression (Scribner, $17.50) Harvard psychotherapist Terrence Real calls chronic depression a "silent epidemic in men." He notes the "problems that we think of as typically male--difficulty with intimacy, workaholism, alcoholism, abusive behaviour, and rage -- are really attempts to escape depression."

Real explains that "women tend to internalize pain,"while "boys, and later men, tend to externalize pain: they are more likely to feel victimized by others and to discharge distress through action." Hence the statistics, which show that women attempt suicide more often than men, yet males actually kill themselves at a rate three to four times higher than females.

13 yr old Dutch girl stopped from sailing around-the-world

When I first heard this story I knew the Canadian media were leaving out something important. This report from the Sydney Morning News reveals that the parents have been divorced for some time. Here was her mothers side.

I think this is a classic case of her playing one mother off against the father - for a change - but I do not for a second think it is a wise idea. Perhaps the father is gambling on her changing her mind after a few weeks crossing the North Atlantic, or him having to come to her aid somehow cementing their bond but given my small sailing experience a 13 year old - girl or boy - lacks the emotional maturity to withstand a solo around the world journey. This is a bad idea and this father should reconsider very carefully what he is doing - and why before he regrets it for the rest of his life. That is what I think anyways.

"Laura has divorced parents and it is very normal for a child of this age to be very loyal to the parent (he or she) is living with," Child Protection spokesman Richard Bakker told The Associated Press.

For once, I agree.

Don't talk to the Police - Part I + II

Thanks to Elusive Wapiti, this series - "Don't talk to the Police" (Part I and Part II).

Remembering that he is an unrepentant Libertarian in Montana should colour strict adherence to his advice - but I think there are some similarities to the Canadian experience. His main points are:

• plead the fifth (if this is not a comedy routine) but remember - not in Canada! However under Sec 7 of The Canadian Charter of Rights we do have the right to remain silent (R. vs Heywood).
• nothing you say in your favour can be used to help you at trial, but anything else will definitely be used against you.
  

Part I


Part II

• 98% confession rate.
  
• develop probable cause and give the crown a GREAT CASE
• many ways to get people to incriminate themselves, and the police are trained to do this.
• Police do NOT do Interrogations (that is a bad, mean Nazi term) they do Interviews.
• An Apology letter as a written confession = convicted.

... and here is an uncooperative women who is tazed after being stopped for speeding (but I think she deserves it for stupidity - don't ever say you weren't warned. Certainly, a man would not have got such a easy time of it.)

Has dating become this predatory, or is this just fiction?

I understand that the term PUA (pick Up Artist) refers to a particularly predatory type of dating action that has become contemporaneously associated with modern feminism, especially the variety of cougars and/or divorced women vicariously seeking love and affection "on their terms". This site seems to cater to this rather unfortunate breed and I would speculate that both get exactly what they deserve.

However, this post gives a pretty good try at deconstructing a book ("The Rules: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right" by Sherrie Schneider and Ellen Fein) that I had heard about many years ago (but of course never read - and a good thing too) that caused a huge degree of excitement among the "Oprah set". That of course was in 1995 (as in that is soo 1995!) so M. BARDAMU (who, if this was 1763 - would closely mirror infamous libertine Marquis de Sade) updates us with the other most recent "Girl Guide" (and movie) entitled "He's Just Not That Into You".

He can be very entertaining, but be warned - this is a very twisted view of life and his gutter language reflects it.

Ohh - well that's OK then.

Officials Weigh Circumcision to Fight H.I.V. Risk
By RONI CARYN RABIN - August 23, 2009

Public health officials are considering promoting routine circumcision for all baby boys born in the United States to reduce the spread of H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.

Experts are also considering whether the surgery should be offered to adult heterosexual men whose sexual practices put them at high risk of infection. But they acknowledge that a circumcision drive in the United States would be unlikely to have a drastic impact: the procedure does not seem to protect those at greatest risk here, men who have sex with men.

Some 79 percent of adult American men are already circumcised, public health officials say but circumcision rates have fallen in part because the American Academy of Pediatrics, which sets the guidelines for infant care, does not endorse routine circumcision. Its policy says that circumcision is "not essential to the child's current well-being," and as a result, many state Medicaid programs do not cover the operation.

Ohh - well, that's OK then. (And what about a simpler intervention - maybe one that allows personal choice and responsibility - like abstinence or condoms? Sorry, what was I thinking!)

So 79% pay for it themselves now, but after it becomes a "public health issue' the government will pay. Sort of sounds like the early days of abortion on demand.

[Hattip to Calypsoparakeet]