Friday, December 24, 2010

End of Men - TED 2010

Hanna ROSIN explains her controversial article in Altantic Magazine - July/August 2010 "The End of Men".


(I suggest you activate the subtitles)
Among the interesting factoids was:
at 00:47mm:ss  Women are majority of workforce? (*that needs some fact checking - see MANcession)
at 10:00mm:ss  % of Korean women who "must have a son" drops from ~48% in 1985 to 19% in 2003
at 14:00mm:ss  stereotypical movie characteristics of male roles - none are encouraging.

Another factoid that was reported recently indicates that:
"[In urban area's]  median full-time salaries of young women are 8% higher than those of the guys in their peer group…"  but, it only applies to  "unmarried, childless women under 30 who live in cities. The rest of working women — even those of the same age, but who are married or don’t live in a major metropolitan area - are still on the less scenic side of the wage divide."
This is certainly good news insofar as it should put to rest the idea that the traditional wage gap has been a product of sexism. As this new research shows, it’s women’s (and men’s) attributes and career choices that determine earnings. [Yet,] To the extent that this trend is driven by men losing jobs and remaining out of work, and young men failing to attain the skills needed to meaningfully contribute to the economy, this is not good news at all. 
Indeed.

Below is Marc Rudov's commentary on "a study" indicating the number of women in corporate roles reduces corporate profitability.  Rudov suggests it is "affirmative action" that is the problem because it distorts merit-based promotion.   (It was interesting that the female news anchor mentions GE's Jack Welch actions in encouraging more women in management at broadcaster NBC AS AN EXAMPLE OF BETTER MANAGEMENT.  With the stock performance in the dumps for past 2 years - that might be a dreadful legacy - although they are not alone with most of Corporate America just back from the brink.)
I am very grateful to Marc Rudov for his continued effort on behalf of men everywhere - and the clip!



[*Update: Ok, I just checked this 1 item and Ms ROSIN is WRONG!  There is not category women exceed men - yet.   As of Oct 2010 NSA "Men, 20 years and over" 71.960 million Men are Employed vs a comparable 63.645 million Women.  But the numbers are converging very quickly. And it is clear that for the teenager category (16-19 yrs) girls are much better off than boys.]

Recent Canadian cases of women who murdered their husband/children

In Sannich BC, Ruby Ann RUFFOLO' poisoned her much younger husband David (she was 47 at the time of his death in 2003 and he was 36) and then disposed of the body with help of another male "friend" (after 1 declined to participate).

In Barrie ON,  Elaine CAMPIONE murdered her 2 young daughters rather than risk losing them to her husband in a custody battle.

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Men broken by Feminist Theory

Sadly, there are many of such misguided groups masquerading as "Men's Groups" across the country. Many put up tell-tail signs like "Pro-Feminist, Gay-affirmative, Anti-racist" tags etc (like this collective NOMAS) - but don't be fooled by their sincerity, they have truly lost their way and are basically "eunuchs".  It is sad they they do not understand themselves or perhaps it is just they are confused about their sexuality as many appear to be gay, or men who are supporters of "gay rights" and seem to have accepted the feminist doctrine of denigrating male attributes/masculine qualities.  In any event, I believe it is ultimately a sad, sad betrayal of themselves and their sex.

A good example is this post.

It is interesting that many of them seem to have subjugated relationships with women and are aa virulently hostile to other men's organization as feminists groups (they continue to refer FRA as the now negatively connotated and derogated "Fathers Rights Alliances" and not the actual "Family Rights Associations").  Here is one sad Board Member - who describes himself and his wife as:
"They live in Maynard, MA and have no children except themselves."
Pretty pathetic.

Recent False Rape Cases - UK and US

Of course, these happen all the time - but I like to highling them so we don't forget about them.

UK 2010NOV20 Daily Mail - Would-be glamour girl who cried rape to clear drug debt is jailed for 18 months.
Samantha Merry, 21, claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the man in a brutal attack which allegedly happened in front of a group of people.  Her victim was arrested in front of his partner and their children at 4am and driven to a police station where intimate swabs were taken and he was held in a cell for 23 hours. It was only after CCTV footage came to light that proved the man could not have attacked Merry that he was cleared, Chelmsford Crown Court heard. Richard Stevens, prosecuting, said: ‘She said she had a drugs debt of £3,000 involving crack cocaine. The dealer had told her to accuse the victim of rape and it was her hope that doing so might wipe her debt.’ 
US 2010DEC15 -  WABC weather gal in 'rape' lie: cops - Heidi charged with making up assault tale
WABC/Channel 7 weather babe Heidi Jones was arrested for perpetrating the ultimate snow job -- falsely claiming to cops that a man had tried to rape her while she was jogging in Central Park, sources said yesterday.  Jones, who anchors the station's weekend evening weather coverage and fills in on "Good Morning America," was charged Monday with filing a false report, a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine.
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Thursday, December 23, 2010

GP near retirement restricts clients to Men - criticized

I feel this article is incorrect.  I think there is a high risk for male GP's for being falsely accused by female patients - why would they not restrict treatment to men only?    At the same time it has been well recorded that female GP's work something like 20-40% less hours than their male predecessors and colleagues.

Film: Burlesque - empowering Counter-Feminism?

A recent popular film has become - I believe - a bell-weather on the current state of Feminism in America (although with movie reciepts in recession - it`s hard to tell).  It is challenging a new generation of women about their sexuality.

Here is a view by a feminist writer in London UK.  She does not seem impressed, but has faithfully represented the viewpoints of her subjects - who claim clear female empowerment.  

Monday, December 20, 2010

Wikileaks Promiscuity?

International attention has shifted from the Wikileaks disclosures to the behaviour of it's self-anointed leader - Julian ASSANGE - who has been charged with rape in Sweden (but is being held in Britain).  The attention is becoming less salacious and more perplexing as it casts ASSANGE in a rather odd light as it highlights his questionable judgement (having sex with 2 feminists? - who are good friends? - and who discover their unexpected menage-a-trois in a cluckfest the next day? - come-on!  It's too poetic for mere justice!)

Although it may seem unlikely and the CIA involvement has been rejected , I believe it is entirely possible that the whole thing is an elaborate counter-espionage operation by some bored Arabic intelligence team in order to cause dissent among America's allies.

But the whole incident is working to undermine ASSANGE's credibility.

[Update: Here is a slightly different viewpoint] 

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Spanish Voting




Spanish politicians have criticised a video by the Young Socialists in Catalonia in which a woman simulates an orgasm while casting her vote in Spain.

Both Socialist and opposition politicians have attacked the campaign video.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Infant Mortality Rate in Canada - lies and damned lies

Of course not a day goes by that feminist spin is no trotted out in the media - today being no exception as I had to endure news reports of "DV Against Women" being paraded out in a breakfast by sports groups.

But here was an important "debunking" of a popular left/feminist notion - that Canada is somehow deficient in how it treats women.   It makes this claim by selectively presenting more or less harmless stats in a negative light.

The article dissects how this was accomplished.

Of course, when the "report" came out it was mindlessly parroted by many in the MSM - which is how such misinformation becomes widely accepted as "fact" - when nothing could be farther from the truth.

I am grateful to the fellow who did this.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

No Miranda (and we're not talkin' bout Sex in the City)

The Supreme Court of Canada released (last week) a narrow ruling that will no doubt increase the legalized extortion of any citizen who the police decide to question.

This came the week before over 100 G20 protesters - arrested on slim or no pretext besides "keeping public order" - were released as there was little or no expectation of a successful prosecution.

Then finally, the Chen case against a store vendor in Toronto began last week and resumes Oct 25.  The career criminal (who committed the theft) has been rearrested on numerous other theft charges - to be heard coincidentallly on that same day.  The judge issued a publication ban!

Link1  (especially, read the comments)
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Monday, October 11, 2010

If this was a man...

To invert the tables on the female gender I think it is sometimes useful to ask the question "If this were a man..." - and so in that spirit I note this intriguing headline, thinking it referred to some recent beauty queen. Carrie Prejean in 2009 came to mind.

But no - it refers to Leona Gage, age 71 who lied about her age (she was 18 not 21), marital status (married twice before) and her 2 progeny (both illegitimate) and was stripped of her Miss USA crown in 1957!

She had a difficult life in subsequent decades: Six failed marriages, lost custody of her five children, two of whom died before her, drug abuse and suicide attempts.

I suspect some would say diminish these bald-faced lies as less because "times were different then" - as they certainly were.  The implication that (just before the times of Kinsey) these would have been acceptable "white lies" by a teenager.   Recall that many full responsibilities of adulthood were somewhat more gradually obtained in those days - driving, smoking and drinking were frowned upon til after becoming a 21 year-old - although not fighting a war in a foreign land like Korea.

Friday, September 17, 2010

US "Mancession" Update

As everyone is likely aware the US Unemployment figures are monitored closely by financial markets - and recently they have flattened out and up-ticked a couple of times - and that had caused some concern. President Obama last week (Sept 7) announced another shot of stimulus ($50bn) to add to the trillions already committed.

Anyways in that spirit I felt it was time we updated the "Mancession" chart to see if he gals had caught-up with the men yet. 

Chart Courtesy - Wall Street Journal

WA woman threw acid on self - Police


This story got alot of play on CBC TV News (The National) undoubtedly because it was a heinous crime "against a women" (perhaps also b/c it was in Vancouver WA).  That was somewhat lessened by her claim a black women threw the acid at her.  In the press Conference with her swaddled in bandages - she was remarkably chipper and almost joking about the grim occurrence. 

Now she has confessed to committing the injuring on herself. 


Can there be any doubt that women can be unstable and are more likely to lie to gain attention/sympathy of others. [In August a young women - Ashley KIRILOW of Burlington ON admitted to faking having cancer and receiving donations.  She went as far as completely altering her appearance to look like she was undergoing Cancer treatment.]  I suggest that a man would most likely lie to advance his career or con others of cash/property (i.e Bernie Madoff).  Official studies support the facts that women are more likely to lie.  And how can DV Counselors advocate for women of such irresponsibility?

And does anyone believe that if this mischievous waste of police and health-care resources was perpetrated by a male - he would not be charged?

Cops on camera

This blog post discusses the inevitable benefits of cops having cameras and being filmed - for their own protection.  IMHO it is NOT if but when.  The prices of suitable technology is falling and soon it will be difficult to ignore.  Certianly - from the comments below - it is hard to see why SWAT teams could not divert a little of the funds they spend on all the other toys to protect themselves from lawsuits (unless they would just increase).

Friday, September 10, 2010

Inspired by Eat, Pray, Love - a new film

In response to the critically panned film "Eat, Pray, Love" which celebrates a women dumping her husband, escaping to India and sleeping around to achieve enlightenment, is this movie for men titled "Drink, Party, F**k".

Friday, September 03, 2010

1 year later - goldigger flameout

Last year we were gripped by the news of this shocking murder and suicide.   In the end, Calgary born Ryan Jenkins took is own life.  We shall never know what actually happened - but here are a number of candid testimony's by family and friends of the outcome of this damaged relationship.  His murdered wife, Jasmine Fiore was cruelly disfigured in an attempt to hide her identity but she was ID'd by the serial numbers of her breast implants!

Black Widows


An intriguing highlight video from US program "Deadly Women" - it covers the full spectrum of female crime strategies.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Suicide Awareness Day - Sept 10

I am a bit annoyed at Dakota Fanning for being part of the most recent Anti-Cancer Campaign "Stand Up2Cancer" that I have been seeing -  even though it pays homage to men by recognizing that we are MORE affected than women by this awful disease.  The main reason for my distemper is that Sept 10 has been Suicide Awareness Day and 80% of suicides are men and boys.

In Edmonton the memorial event will take place at City Hall with a gathering at 11am before the walk at 1130am. There will be a service in the Square at 12ish and then a reception/speeches at 1pm in City Hall Atrium. Here are more details.

I found this site provides a unique viewpoint on the differences of how men grieve (but I'm not sure I agree with everything).    He also created this website and produced this YouTube video.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Stalking and obsessive behaviour

Normally I agree with Colby Cosh - as he lives here AND has his prestigious gig with Macleans - an would cut him some slack - but not on this one.   He is exhibiting the same "alpha male" attitude that has kept MRA divided for years.  That is even more of a surprise given Colby Cosh's appearance (zap!)

But seriously, is he not confusing the issue.   This guy had some psychiatric issues that are not being addressed in jail.    Whose fault is that?  His or ours?

I happen to have heard of men with equally as crazy women stalkers.   What do we do with them?   Say "wait to go guy" to the man?

Here is another kind of "obsession" - do we blame the mother or just pour MILLIONS into post-birth treatment programs for these seriously damages individuals?  No one can say we don't know the harm to an unborn child from drinking, tobacco or drug use during pregnancy.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Outrage after woman caught dumping cat in trash



Here is the complete story.
Lola's owner Stephanie Mann said she and husband Darryl couldn't find Lola on Sunday morning but followed the sound of her meows.

The couple had previously installed a personal surveillance camera outside their home following a spate of thefts in the area.

Mann said they checked the video tape expecting to discover local youths, or a drunk, had thrown Lola into the bin late on Saturday evening, but were shocked to discover the culprit was a respectable looking woman.

"I was absolutely heartbroken to see how someone could just be so cruel," she told the newspaper. "I don't know what went through her head but it was just disgusting to watch and it broke my 8-year-old daughter's heart."
How interesting that it was a middle-aged women who stopped and obviously considered her actions before dumping the cat.   I know how much my daughter missed her cat after it disappeared.

[Update:  The women was found and this was her response:
"OK, I shouldn't have done it, but it's just a cat at the end of the day. I don't think I deserve to be hated by people all over the world, it was just a split second of madness."
Another example of deluded and exclusion to reality thinking?]

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Bizarre Case of Noah Kirkman of Calgary

This bizarre case cropped up in April 2010 around the dates for PAAD (Parental Alienation Awareness Day) and I was not able to track it.    I believe her son Noah has been returned to her.   It is international jurisdictional dispute - but also one of bureaucratic inertia. (I was not aware until I read the article that she has a bit of a reputation as as a marijuana activist.  Although I would tend to agree with a number of her points about cops teaching drug awareness.)



[Addendum: An odd but more thorough investigation may be here.  I also note this strange disclosure on Lisa's FaceBook profile, furthermore is toned down from the one that was there before - although it is difficult to distinguish fact from fantasy on FB.   I suppose the question should be what  are the standards for parents?]

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

After Duty, Fathers come home



Courtesy: WhatMenThinkofWomen blog

Rights of Women?

During a press conference for her new movie, Jennifer Aniston announced,
“Women are realizing it more and more knowing that they don’t have to settle with a man just to have that child,”
This got her in trouble with pop-conservative pundit Bill O'Reilly.
 
But I have to thank Equal but Different for this contribution:
We got it...women can do anything they want.

We can dress in next to nothing and parade ourselves through the streets if we want, we can sleep with as many men as we can fit into a day if we want, we can abort our children or choose to keep them and sue for child support if we want, we can walk out on our marriages if we want, we can have children and condemn them to a life without ever knowing a father if we want...all free from censure because woe unto anyone who dares question, judge or condemn us for our actions.

What a disturbing and shallow thing our empowered, modern day women have become....so consumed with proving what they can do that they've lost all sense of what they should do.
According to the logic of Aniston and her ilk, if a woman wants a baby she is simply entitled to have one. What is intrinsically wrong with this thinking is that it's egocentric and rooted in selfishness....and parenthood, when done correctly, is the single most selfless endeavor a human being can undertake. There is no room for puerile, narcissistic whim when it comes to the caring for and bringing forth of life.
 Another celebrity's has convinced herself that - just like she needs a Gucci handbag - she needs a child.  It is all about her.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

The Myth of the Gender Pay Gap

Marty Nemko wrote this the other day as he is perpetually confounded that this lie - that women are only paid 77c vs men - maintains itself ("a bad statistic is hard to kill than a vampire" was how Barbara Kay characterized it - although in reference to a different issue).  However he blames the news media and notes that it is usually trotted out on Labour Day. Here were the useful links:
Then I asked myself, "If an employer has to pay a man one dollar for the same work a woman would do for 76 cents, why would anyone hire a man?".

Perhaps, I thought, male bosses undervalue women. But I discovered that in 2000, women without bosses - who own their own businesses - earned only 49 percent of male business owners. Why? When the Rochester Institute of Technology surveyed business owners with M.B.A.'s from one top business school, they found that money was the primary motivator for only 29 percent of the women, versus 76 percent of the men. Women put a premium on autonomy, flexibility (25- to 35-hour weeks and proximity to home), fulfillment and safety.
He discovered 25 differences in the work-life choices of men and women. All 25 lead to men earning more money, but to women having better lives.
Not quite. It's about parents' choices. Women who have never been married and are childless earn 117 percent of their childless male counterparts. (This comparison controls for education, hours worked and age.) Their decisions are more like married men's, and never-married men's decisions are more like women's in general (careers in arts, no weekend work, etc.) .
She even made mention that The Economist had published a piece put the lie to death at the beginning of the year. In addition here is article that points out the women do not opt out but are pushed out - which would happen to their husbands double quick if they tried to do it.
Ferrel again: Finally, we perceive men who earn more money as having privilege but we are blind to dads who sacrifice their own dreams because earning more, even if the job is disdainful (e.g., traveling widget salesman) better helps their children live their dreams. When we view men's higher earnings only as discrimination against women, our anger blinds us to his mid-life crisis when he realizes he will never be the writer or artist he once hoped to be. And more important, it blinds us to how his love for his wife and children made him make the enormous sacrifice of giving up his dreams. In turn, our blindness deepens his crisis of meaning and often, his depression or anger.

Men, you have the right to be more than a beast of burden, the right to have open-non-manipulative discussions with your spouse about such issues. Each couple should decide for themselves, without gender-based expectations, the appropriate division of income-earning and domestic responsibilities.
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Friday, August 13, 2010

Male Partner Abuse in UK

Rarely has this kind of data been produced as it is usually misrepresented by the feminist bias of researchers in the Official Statistics offices. But here are the relevant parts of data from this study from UK group Mankind UK.
British Crime Surveys (BCSs), gives much higher totals of domestic incidents against women than against men, the proportions of total male victims based on these totals ranging from about 15% to 34% during the period 1995 to 2008/09.
[A] second measure of interpersonal violence,  ....... gives significantly higher proportions of male victims of non-sexual partner abuse, particularly for the more severe forms of assault, ranging from about 38% to almost 50%.
Usually in Canada we see the lower end of the Crime Stats quoted (10%) probably because they are based on the #incidents, however I have never seen the analysis done to show the MUCH HIGHER figures for non-sexual abuse of 38-50% based on the #victims.  These figures need to be publicized to move opinion away from the low figures now embedded in peoples minds.
Although women tend to be more harmed or frightened by domestic violence and more tend to be injured, men can also suffer similarly physically and emotionally, and about one third of those injured are men.
Although the experiences of male and female victims have much in common, and both sexes can suffer physical and emotional harm, the plight of male victims of partner abuse is compounded by:
  • A greater reluctance to report, even when injured or suffering chronic abuse.
  • More likelihood of being disbelieved or even ridiculed if they do.
  • A greater likelihood of being themselves arrested.
  • A dearth of effective support services including emergency accommodation - male victims being often directed to bed and breakfasts or hostels unsuitable for fathers with children.
  • A greater likelihood of being themselves removed from the family home with a high risk of subsequent loss of meaningful, or any, contact with their children, and risk of an adverse effect on their career prospects.
  • A greater difficulty in obtaining court orders against violent female partners.
  • The institutionalized effects of official policies and practice still negatively influenced against them by entrenched and hostile perspectives based on women as victims and men as perpetrators, so that a holistic and more equitable approach is ignored, and little government funding made available for male victims.

 Source: http://www.mankind.org.uk/factsmalevicitms.html  (accessed Aug 2010)

Sunday, August 08, 2010

The Politics of Fear

This article in the National Post is perfect in that it identifies the problems of "clipboard killjoys" and the intrusion of government regulation into all aspects of life.
He called it an attempt to modify behaviour opportunistically, like a sexual education course that is motivated by morality.
"They think their job is to save people from themselves," he said of politicians who promote rules designed to send social messages, and that this reveals their "contempt" for "people who cannot be relied on to manage their everyday existence."
This is similar to the most recent plan by the Conservatives to spend $9 bn on building jails and serving an increased population of inmates.  Little thought appears to have been given to the impact on the population of such "patriarchal" moves as it is well known that jails are often breeding grounds for more crime.

Furthermore, the RCMP most recent experience with the public continues to deteriorate.

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Monday, July 12, 2010

DV Fraud Redux - 1993 Superbowl Hoax repeated for 2010 World Cup?

The World Cup Abuse Nightmare 
Myths about domestic violence not only libel the vast majority of men; they also put truly at-risk women at greater risk.


Do brutal attacks on women by their husbands or boyfriends surge during the World Cup? According to a May 25 press release by England’s Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), “cases of domestic abuse increase by nearly 30% on England match days.” The shocking 30 percent figure was from a study prepared and publicized by the British Home Office. Determined to stem the assaults, officials flooded pubs and the airwaves with graphic warnings. “Don’t let the World Cup leave its mark on you,” warned a poster distributed by the West Yorkshire Police. It showed the bare back of a cowering woman marked by bruises, cuts, and the imprint of a man’s shoe. News stories with titles such as “Women’s World Cup Abuse Nightmare” informed women that the games could uncover, “for the first time, a darker side to their partner.”


http://article.nationalreview.com/437888/the-world-cup-abuse-nightmare/christina-hoff-sommers

July 11, 1995 - Srebrenica Massacre of 10,000 Men + Boys

Stalin is supposed to have said: "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic."

But then, when does a massacre become attempted genocide?

July 11 commemorated the 15th anniversary of the massacre of an estimated 10,000 men and boys in 1995 during the Bosnian conflict.  They were rounded up and massacred because the were Muslim after the  Serb forces captured their town.  An official apology was not formally issued until this year - after years of denials and evasions.

That the UN bears responsibility for this crime was also not explained.  UNPROFOR ( UN Protection Force - Dutch Battalion ) soldiers reportedly assisted the bloodthirsty Bosnian Serb extremists separate unarmed men and boys from their families and bus them to execution sites. The Dutch UNPROFOR unit sent out more then 5,000 refugees out of their base in Srebrenica - right to the hands of Bosnian Serb soldiers.

After the fall of the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, Bosnian Serb troops systematically killed nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in just a few days.

(Images courtesy: www.srebrenica.ba)












Thursday, May 27, 2010

Phil HARTMAN Memoriam (Sept 24, 1948 – May 28, 1998)

Phil HARTMAN was another of the comics who rose to stardom through his appearances on popular TV comedy show SNL in the 1990's.  He was also Canadian born in Brantford ON but moved to the U.S with his family when he was 10 years old. (It is unknown if he eventually adopted American citizenship like so many other Hollywood stars.)

He was a victim of Domestic Violence - although it is unlikely that would ever be reported that way.

Phil Hartman was shot 3 times (twice to the head, once on the right side of his body) with a .38 by his wife of 10 years Brynn on May 28, 1998.  Although twice divorced before he finally met and married Brynn Omdahl in 1987 they had 2 children together (son Sean, dob=1989 and daughter Birgen, dob=1992). But they apparently had an troubled marriage (according to the account from People) that was fractured by Brynn's battle with drug addiction.  The evening before their deaths they had supposedly argued about ending their marriage - with Phil threatening to end it over her drug relapse.  According to the People magazine article:
In the last few months, Brynn had been in and out of rehab; earlier this year she checked into an Arizona clinic, where she stayed for only four or five days before leaving. Several days before the homicide, Brynn—who had been taking an antidepressant that can cause violent outbursts if mixed with alcohol or drugs—began drinking and using cocaine again, according to her close friends. Brynn's erratic behavior from drug use, says a TV producer who knew the Hartmans, led their housekeeper to quit 10 days before the shootings. And Jeannie Petersen, a childhood friend of Brynn's who stayed in touch with her, says Brynn wanted out of the marriage. "Sometimes she'd call me and she'd be real hurt," Petersen says. "He wouldn't give her a divorce. For two years she was trying to get it." Others say it was Hartman who wanted out. "This," says the TV producer, "was not a happy household." 
Interestingly Phil continued to be friends with Lisa Strain - his second wife, and she was aware of the tension in his marriage to the less secure Brynn.
"He told me she'd create scenes and throw fits," says his second wife, Strain, who sent Hartman a letter congratulating him on the birth of his son in 1988. "Brynn wrote me back four pages of the most hideous vitriol you could imagine," says Strain. "I called Phil and said, 'Do you have any idea who you are married to?' And he said, 'You should've seen the letter she wanted to send.'" Strain says Hartman "wanted to do whatever he could to make this marriage work." And yet he couldn't stop his habit of drifting away from the woman who needed him most. "It was a pleasure to see how Phil interacted with people," says his pal Small. "And yet I have a feeling that Brynn got none of that."
After the murder, Brynn went a longtime friend Ron Douglas' home and confessed - but he did not believe her, yet after she called another acquaintance to confess - he finally drove her back to the Hartman home.  Once there - shocked - he called 911, and as the police arrived and accompanied the children and Douglas out they heard the gunshot of Brynn's suicide.  Brynn's married sister Katherine Kay Wright, who lives in Eau Claire, WI took in the two orphaned children.

[Update May 29, 2014 - Autopsy Report of Phil Hartman]

Monday, May 17, 2010

Federal Justice Issues

There have been a couple of new key Justice positions that seem to be nailed onto the Conservatives Justice Plank recently and I can't help but think they could have been coordinated to diffuse opposition or criticism.

The immediate trigger to this change has been the news that former junior Hockey Coach Graham James who was charged in 2001 has been out of prison and pardoned since 2007. It was also revealed that the notorious Karla Homolka - co-accused wife of suspected serial killer Paul Bernardo - is also soon (July 5) to be considered for her pardon. (Of the plea-bargain of the Crown in the Bernardo/Homolka case caused a huge public uproar at the time it became known - and a large part of that was a "soft-on-female" sentencing discount due to feminist-friendly infiltration of NDP Justice Minister Marion Boyd.)

1) Tightening the Rules for Pardons of sex offenders in the wake of revelations that Jr Hockey Coach Graham James who molested a number of boys received a full pardon in 2007.  The new law would render ineligible for a pardon any person convicted of a sexual offence involving a minor, or of more than three serious indictable offences. Other offenders would have to wait five to 10 years after serving a sentence before applying. Applicants would also have to demonstrate how receiving a pardon would help in their rehabilitation. In fact, under the new law, technically no one will get a pardon. The bill would replace the term "pardon" with the phrase "record suspension."

The reason? According to Mr. Toews, forgiveness "is not the business of government." He added that the new language would also better reflect the actual effect of a pardon and society's view of the long-lasting harm to victims. "The current system of pardons implies that what the person did is somehow okay, or is forgiven, or that the harm done has somehow disappeared."

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3026036

2) Reintroduce the crime of Rape back into the Criminal Code (dropped in 1983 and "dumbed down" to Sexual Assault). The current term - despite being revised a few time - is too broad to specifically discern between the spectrum of offenses like inappropriate touching to brutal rapes. As the Government is also
tightening the rules on pardons - especially Child Sexual Abuse - it needs to be more specific on the classifications of crimes against a person.

Toews told a Senate hearing a that Rape was dropped from the Criminal Code in 1983 after lobbying efforts by women's groups on the basis that that calling it sexual assault would bring more complainants forward and would ease the stigma of the word for women in the court system, making it easier to convict perpetrators under the broader umbrella. Until 1983, the crime of rape was defined as sexual penetration of a woman. The replacement legislation split sex assault into three levels, to include acts ranging from unwanted touching to
violent physical harm.

However, he also said that collapsing rape, attempted rape and indecent assault into the offence of sexual assault was "perhaps the biggest mistake in criminal law that the Parliament of Canada has ever made." But the Government already has an ambitious Justice Agenda and changing the Criminal Code would fall under the auspices of the Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, rather than Mr. Toews.

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=3015470



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Friday, May 07, 2010

Lusitania Sinks - May 7, 1915

95 Years ago today the Lusitania sank after being hit by a torpedo from a German submarine at 1410h.  The ship sank with breathtaking speed -  it took just 18 minutes - only 8 miles off the coast of Ireland near Kinsdale.  Of the 1,959 people onboard (passengers and crew) 1,198 people perished.   It was considered the 2nd worst marine disaster after the sinking of the Titanic three years before (April 14, 1912).  This Act of War by the Germans was instrumental in bringing the United States into the war.

Here is an article that recounts some new research done suggests the speed of the sinking contributed to a sense of panic that prevented an orderly evacuation from the ship and that - as a result - orderly British passengers and crew perished in greater numbers than younger, American passengers.  This was an unfortunate contrast to the experience on the Titanic

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Millet AB mother charged in murder of her 2 sons - Meritt BC dad sentenced as "not criminally responsible"

Similar to this case in Oregon, Allyson Louise McConnell was charged in February in the cruel drowning of her 2 young sons Jayden, 10 months, and Connor, 2½ years on Feb 1, 2010.  They were found by their father, Curtis McConnell,in the bathtub in their home.  Curtis and his wife were separated and had received a (presumably interim) court decision that gave the parents joint custody and prevented the mother - who was originally from Australian - from leaving the country with the 2 children.

There was speculation the women attempted to kill herself by driving off an overpass in Edmonton an hour before the children were found.  She is in custody and being evaluated.

Here is an excellent resource on female offenders that I found online.

The day before, Allan Schoenborn was found not criminally responsible for murdering his 3 children - 10yr old Kaitlynne, 8yr-old Max and 5yr old Cordon - in April 2008 in Merritt BC during a visit after his common-law wife had relocated from Vancouver with the family.    He was found 9 days after the incident - having clearly failed at taking his own life.    Here was some key points in the judge's decision:

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robert Powers, who heard the three-month trial in Kamloops without a jury, found that the killings were deliberate and planned by Schoenborn, but that he was not sane at the time.
"I find on balance of probabilities he was suffering from a disease of the mind," Powers told the court Monday.
Powers rejected the Crown's assertion that Schoenborn killed his children as revenge against their mother.
"I find it unlikely [he] would have killed his children out of anger given the close and caring relationship he had with his children," said Powers.

"Mr. Schoenborn, if anything, was overprotective. The irony is that the real danger to the children was Mr. Schoenborn himself and none of the dangers that he imagined in his mind."
But Powers said Schoenborn's imaginary fears can't justify his crime.

"Any reasonable or rational person would know that was wrong," he said. "However, due to his psychosis at the time he was not able to make that decision."

Schoenborn spoke out twice during Powers's reading of his judgment, saying only, "bullshit."

References: PDF1, PDF2, PDF3.


Update - 2013 Sept "Child killer Allyson McConnell found dead"  Sydney Morning Herald

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Suicide Rate Greater Among Divorced Men, Research Finds

(March 10) -- American men are four times more likely than women to take their own lives. It's a troubling phenomenon, rooted in such factors as genetics, upbringing and even career choice. But a growing body of research suggests that divorce is one of the major culprits in suicides among adult males. 

Women, however, seem immune to the stress and sadness that can be wrought by the end of a marriage.

Dr. Justin Denney, a sociologist at the University of Colorado, is studying the relationship between family structure and suicide rates. He's using national data collected on over 1 million people, and their households, to pinpoint how family dynamics can precipitate, or protect against, suicide mortality.

Denney's research is the first to examine so many cases at a national level, but experts have been aware of the link between divorce and men's suicide risk for decades. According to a compilation of research published by JRank and confirmed by Denney, suicide rates are higher among divorced men, and lowest among those still married. Single men fall somewhere in between.

The impact of divorce on suicide is so strong, it can even be gleaned from international comparisons. Among industrialized nations, those with the highest divorce rates also have the highest suicide rates. 

For example, a 2008 study out of the U.K. concluded that suicide and divorce rates saw parallel increases and a simultaneous peak in the late 1990s. Suicides then dropped while divorces did not, likely because of more intervention among teenage boys, the researchers speculated.

But divorce also tends to crop up more in regions that are susceptible to alcoholism, drug abuse and widespread migratory tendencies -- oil and gas boom towns, for example. So suicide rates might be less about divorce, and more about a confluence of precipitating factors -- factors that are clearly taking a greater toll on men, who account for 79 percent of the 32,000 suicides in 2005.

Denney's research, published last year in Social Science Quarterly, concluded that men who are divorced are 39 percent more likely to commit suicide than those still married. The difference increases to 50 percent when a man is a widow. 

Among women, differences in suicide risk among those who were married, divorced or widowed were statistically insignificant. 

Health experts remain unsure of the specific reason for the widespread incongruity, but Denney suspects that marriage offers a support system for men that's uniquely beneficial.

"Maybe they forge a relationship and a reliance on their partner that's specific to that relationship," he told AOL News. "Much as marriage is important to women, it just doesn't seem to be the driving factor."

Other research has already shown that married men enjoy major health benefits, including a boost to longevity and a decreased risk of smoking or alcohol and drug abuse. "Married men don't engage in the same risky behaviors," Denney said. "That stability could be a further protective factor."

And while married women often balance employment with child rearing, Denney said statistics suggest they're coping quite well. "Women remain the primary caretakers in most households," he said. "They're working more, yet feeling better."

That might be what explains a divorced or widowed woman's relatively low suicide risk. Denney's subsequent research, published in February's Journal of Marriage and Family, concluded that children offered a major protective effect against suicide. For each additional child in a household, adults were 6 percent less likely to commit suicide.

Denney's latest research, which has yet to be published, indicates that this protective effect is even more significant among women, whether married, divorced or widowed.

"Closer relationships with children mean more connections with people outside of themselves," he said. "It's enough to distinguish women from men when we're talking about suicide and family structure."

Preventive efforts already treat isolation as one risk factor for suicide, and Denney wants that broadened to incorporate marital status. For now, though, more study on the protective benefits of marriage is needed. 

"This remains a neglected area," he said. "But more and more, there seems to be a connection between living arrangements and the risks they entail for one's life."


http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/suicide-rate-greater-among-divorced-men-research-finds/19388300

[Addendum: 2010APR10 NYTimes - Is Marriage Good for Your Health?   Outlines the very early assumptions that there a health advantage to marriage and to identify marital loss as a significant risk factor for poor health. Not to confuse correlation with causation. (Better health among the married sometimes simply reflects the fact that healthy people are more likely to get married in the first place.) it seems to me obvious that "healthy" marriage does appear to have benefits - physical, mental and social (although I would caution against counting all of that benefit to a spouse as  it one should consider the contribution of children and subsequent extended family.) 

For many years, studies like these have influenced both politics and policy, fueling national marriage-promotion efforts, like the Healthy Marriage Initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. From 2006 to 2010, the program received $150 million annually to spend on projects like “divorce reduction” efforts and often cited the health benefits of marrying and staying married. Even the Healthy Marriage Initiative makes the distinction between “healthy” and “unhealthy” relationships when discussing the benefits of marriage. “When we divide good marriages from bad ones,” says the marriage historian Stephanie Coontz, who is also the director of research and public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, “we learn that it is the relationship, not the institution, that is key.

This article gives real exercise to the idea of a "gaping wound".  
“I don’t think anyone would encourage people to stay in a marriage that is really making them miserable,” says Linda J. Waite, a University of Chicago sociologist and an author of the study. “But try harder to make it better.” Even if marital problems seem small, Waite says, the data suggest it’s wise to intervene early and try to resolve them. “If you learn to how to manage disagreement early,” she says, “then you can avoid the decline in marital happiness that follows from the drip, drip of negative interactions.”]

Rape Fables

Monday, April 26, 2010

Feminist jurisprudence hurts men and women


In a report published in 2003 in the Florida State University Law Review, Professor Linda Kelly from the Indiana University Law School states, “Men and women commit violence at similar rates.” Kelly’s research, which cites various in-depth studies from over three decades of legal scholarship, found that “women match, and often exceed, husbands in the frequency with which they engage in violent behavior,” and “wives were found to engage in more severe acts of violence than husbands.” In 1975, for example, 3.8 percent of husbands and 4.6 percent of wives engaged in “severe violence,” defined as “kicking, biting or hitting with a fist; hitting or trying to hit with something; beating up; and threatening with or using a knife or gun.” Kelly identifies another disturbing trend: since the 1970s, the incidence of male violence “has declined steadily”; female violence “has remained virtually the same.”
 
Feminist “theory” has not only infested the justice system, but it has also elevated its leftist lunacy to the level of disinterested scholarship and is now ubiquitous in this country’s major universities. In 2006, Crystal Gail Magnum, a prostitute and drug abuser, falsely accused three Duke University men’s lacrosse players of beating and gang-raping her in their fraternity house. The district attorney, in line with Kelly’s research, withheld exonerating DNA evidence from the judge for over one year. But before the case even entered the courtroom, 88 Duke professors, including 72 percent of the women’s studies department and 80 percent of the black studies department, published a letter in The (Duke) Chronicle citing anonymous reports of “racism,” “sexism” and “terror” on Duke’s campus. Even after the charges were dropped, the three men were ostracized, given failing grades and eventually driven from the university.

The relevance of Kelly’s study to the Magnum case became apparent when, on February 18, 2010, Durham police received a disturbing 911 call from Magnum’s nine-year-old daughter. Ms. Magnum now stands charged with identity theft, communicating threats, damage to property, resisting an officer, misdemeanor child abuse, arson and attempted murder. Kelly’s study, which states that punishing female batterers protects not only men, but also women and children, was not only near-prophetic but a bold call to action.

—Mike Durakiewicz is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at michal.m.durakiewicz@vanderbilt.edu.

Monday, April 12, 2010

How EPO's can strip men of more than constitutional rights of due process

This article  "Two Judges Slapped Down for Requiring Police Report Before Issuing TROs" by Glenn Sacks Editor Robert Franklin provides a stark look at how Florida judges are brought to heel by DV Supporters and the Family Law "industry".   The best quote?
An injunction of protection against domestic violence, also known as a temporary restraining order (TROis easy to obtain in the state of Florida.  Did you think you'd have to actually take an oath before a judge?  Produce evidence?  Please.  All you're doing is depriving your target of valuable constitutional rights, so no evidence, no notice, no due process and no opportunity to be heard are necessary.  It makes filling out a credit card application look like advanced calculus.
Here are the two subsequent articles that describe how the two "rogue" judges are returned to the fold.  Is this really America?

Of course that is just the beginning.
[As] over 70% of divorces in the United States are filed by women, and every family lawyer with a pulse knows that TROs help get custody for the filer, so anything that makes getting a TRO even a tiny bit more difficult will get their dander up.  And that's exactly what's happened in Sarasota.
Seems to be similar to what the practices I hear of in Canada all the time.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Statcan - Maps MEP in 7 Cities

Maintenance enforcement mapped by neighbourhood  7 major Cities by Paul Robinson

Release date: March 25, 2010
85-002X Juristat Spring 2010 Vol 30, no. 1
Using the most recent annual data from the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs, this article looks at families who are receiving child support and are enrolled in a maintenance enforcement program. The characteristics of families living in lower and higher income neighbourhoods in the reporting census metropolitan areas are compared.

Here are Edmonton and Calgary - the report has many others. (Shows you where to move to reduce/eliminate your payments? kidding >:) 





Apture