UK moves against parents who do not pay up
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Guardian (UK)
Officials have moved to seize the properties of more than 300 fathers who have defaulted on child maintenance payments, in a marked toughening of the approach towards serial non-payers. More than 200 parents not living with their children ‑ almost all of them men ‑ have also had their bank accounts frozen in the five months since the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) was given powers to do so. The measures reflect the commission's determination to improve the record of the much-criticised Child Support Agency, which it took over in 2008 and which it intends to replace over the next four years. The latest figures show that the number of children benefiting from maintenance payments through the agency is exceeding 800,000 for the first time. [Ed.: how does making a parent homeless help a child?] (02/07/10)

Another scandal clouds Illinois governor race
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Philadelphia Daily News
Just when Illinois was starting to move on from the scandals of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, along comes Scott Lee Cohen. After the political unknown managed to win the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday, it became widely known that he was accused of having abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to throat of an ex-girlfriend - a woman who was herself charged with prostitution. Democratic leaders hadn't considered Cohen a threat to win and didn't highlight his past during the campaign. Now they're alarmed that Cohen could drag down the ticket he shares with Gov. Pat Quinn. He is refusing demands that he step out of the race; if he doesn't, Quinn might have to change parties to sever Cohen's political aspirations from his own. (02/07/10)

Charlie Sheen to be arraigned on DV charges
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Star Tribune
Charlie Sheen and his wife are due in court Monday amid domestic violence allegations. They'll be arriving separately and only the judge can determine if they can leave together. The star of TV's "Two and a Half Men" faces arraignment on his Christmas Day domestic violence arrest at his Aspen home involving his wife, Brooke. He is expected to enter a plea. But the Sheens, who have twin baby sons, will also ask Pitkin County District Court Judge James B. Boyd to modify a restraining order in place since the arrest. Their attorneys say they want Boyd to throw out or revise the order that prevents them from contacting each other. Such protection orders are standard in cases of alleged domestic violence. [Ed.: the case highlights the dilemma for women who wish to withdraw charges. When an alleged victim does not wish to pursue charges, the charges should be automatically dropped.] (02/08/10)

Race, gender of judge important
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: ABA Journal
A judge's race or gender makes for a dramatic difference in the outcome of cases they hear – at least for cases in which race and gender allegedly play a role in the conduct of the parties, according to two recent studies. The results were the focus of a program about “Diversity on the Bench: Is the ‘Wise Latina’ a Myth?,” sponsored by the ABA Judicial Division at the ABA Midyear Meeting in Orlando on Saturday afternoon. In federal racial harassment cases, one study (PDF) found that plaintiffs lost just 54 percent of the time when the judge handling the case was an African-American. Yet plaintiffs lost 81 percent of the time when the judge was Hispanic, 79 percent when the judge was white, and 67 percent of the time when the judge was Asian American. (01/06/10)

Burqa clad robbers hold up post office
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: ABC Net
Officials said postal office staff let the pair through the security double doors of the banking branch near Paris, believing them to be veil-wearing Muslim women. Once inside, the pair flipped back their head coverings and pulled out a gun. They made off with 4,500 euros ($7,100) seized from the staff and customers of the branch in Athis Mons, just south of Paris, according to the online edition of Le Parisien newspaper. (02/07/10)

Girl buried alive in honour killing in Turkey
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Montreal Gazette
A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honour killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing, the agency said. A subsequent post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive, foresic experts told the agency. [Ed.: political correctness be damned. I will not respect the aspects of other cultures that inflict violence upon innocent people.] (02/04/10)

Texas adds late term abortion centers
Topic: Abortion
Source: The 33 CW
Late term abortion services are being offered to women at the Southwestern Women's Surgery Center on Greenville Avenue. The center opened recently and is the only facility in Dallas to offer an abortion up to the 24th week of the pregnancy. In a YouTube video, clinic owner, Dr. Curtis Boyd can be seen talking about the day that abortion was legalized by the US Supreme Court. By law, Boyd is required to have a surgery center to perform the late term procedure. Dr. Boyd did not return repeated phone calls. Pro-life advocates say they are devastated to see the return of the late term abortion procedure. "There were 14 months where we didn't have this horrible practice", says director of the Catholic Pro-Life Committee, Karen Garnett. Garnett says Dr. Boyd stepped in when another facility closed and brought the procedure back to North Texas. "He predicts that he will perform 2000 late term abortions in this facility each year". (02/07/10)

NY, Girl handcuffed for doodles on desk
Topic: Children and Family
Source: New York Daily News
A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense - doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned. Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills, she said. "I love my friends Abby and Faith," the girl wrote, adding the phrases "Lex was here. 2/1/10" and a smiley face. But instead of simply cleaning off the doodles after class, Alexa landed in some adult-sized trouble for using her lime-green magic marker. She was led out of school in cuffs and walked to the precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours, she and her mother said. (02/05/10)

2nd abortion ad to air in SuperBowl
Topic: Abortion
Source: USA Today
The evangelical group that bought ad time in the CBS game telecast will announce today that it has bought time in the pregame show to air a second ad four times. The new ad also features star quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, Pam. It was filmed in Orlando last month at the same time as the group's controversial — though yet unseen — in-game ad. News of the second ad comes just days after, anticipating the Tebow ad, Planned Parenthood posted an online ad featuring Olympian Al Joyner and former NFL player Sean James defending abortion rights. Interest groups including the National Organization for Women have asked CBS to drop the Tebow ad. [Ed.: it is a shame that sports is being so politicized.] (02/05/10)

Colbert helps diversify Canada
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: CNew
The late-night talk show host launched an online campaign Thursday to change the definition of “Canada’s History” to that of a depraved sexual act after hearing Winnipeg-based history magazine The Beaver was changing its name to Canada’s History following years of censoring by online porn filters. “Oh come on, The Beaver,” Colbert said during Thursday’s airing of The Colbert Report, which can be seen locally on CTV and the Comedy Network. “You changed the name just because your search engine thinks it’s porn? You don’t see me renaming the name of my van service that picks up stray cats: pussy patrol.” (02/05/10)

Lovers fined 4 buffaloes, 1 pig
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: CNews
A news report says a Malaysian court has ordered two lovers to pay a fine of four buffaloes and a pig after they were found guilty of having an illicit affair. The Star newspaper says the Native Court in Penampang district on Borneo island ruled Friday that the man and woman must compensate their communities with the animals, valued at about 6,000 ringgit ($1,800), for their tryst. [Ed.: "compensate their communities?"] (01/30/10)

Utah House OKs ultrasounds before abortions
Topic: Abortion
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
A bill that would give a woman seeking an abortion the option to first view her ultrasound passed the Utah House on Friday. Before HB200 cleared the chamber in a 53-15 vote, Minority Leader David Litvack, D-Salt Lake City, unsuccessfully attempted to amend the bill to delete language he believed to be flat-out false, referring to viewing the heartbeat of a fetus at three weeks. "It is not medically accurate," Litvack said. "It's not possible. It does not exist." Litvack read from a physician's e-mail that said you could expect to see embryonic cardiac activity at about six weeks from the woman's last period. Rep. Carl Wimmer, the bill's sponsor, disputed Litvack's claim. (02/05/10)

FIRE files with SC case for free speech
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: FIRE
Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. FIRE is asking the Court to defend the First Amendment right to freedom of association by overturning the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision in Christian Legal Society v. Kane, which allowed University of California Hastings College of the Law to forbid its chapter of the Christian Legal Society to organize around shared religious and cultural beliefs. FIRE's brief, which was joined by the national student organization Students For Liberty, also pointed out that the Ninth Circuit's decision let Hastings demand that all groups accept "all comers" as voting members, which leaves groups with minority viewpoints subject to hostile takeovers by students in the majority. (02/04/10)

New legal issue, compensating children in porn
Topic: Children and Family
Source: The Examiner
The abuse ended long ago and he's in prison, but the pictures he made when she was 8 or 9 are among the most widely circulated child pornography images online. Now the 20-year-old woman is taking aim at anyone who would view those images and asking for restitution in hundreds of criminal cases around the country. Her requests and those filed by other victims of child pornography are forcing federal judges nationwide to grapple with tough legal questions: Is someone who possesses an abusive image responsible for the harm suffered by a particular child? And how much should that person have to pay? The issue of criminal restitution in child pornography possession cases emerged last February in Connecticut when a federal judge said he would order a man convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography to pay about $200,000 to Amy. The judge said it was the first criminal case in which someone convicted of possessing illegal images - but not creating them - would be required to pay restitution. (02/08/10)

The Vatican of political correctness
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: The Daily Mail
Author: Peter Hitchens
I have the document in front of me, though our leaders have tried to keep it secret and Brussels has never officially released it. It is a ‘Reasoned Opinion’ on ‘infringement No 2006/ 2450’, signed by Commissioner Vladimir Spidla, and it orders the British Government, its subordinate, to amend the law of this country. It declares that the United Kingdom has ‘failed to fulfil its obligation to transpose correctly Articles 2(4), 4 and 9 of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000’. It goes on to ‘invite’ this country to ‘take the necessary measures to comply’. If we don’t, we’ll end up being ordered to act by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Beside this peremptory stuff, it seems to me that a sermon from the Bishop of Rome is pretty small beer. It’s not foreign interference the sexual revolutionaries are against. It’s any sort of opposition to their semi-secret elite plan to do away with traditional morality in these islands and everywhere else. So who is really interfering in our way of life? (02/07/10)

PC runs mad
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: New York Post
Author: Kyle Smith
White House Chief of Staff Emanuel said (correctly, on substance) that for liberal bloggers to attack centrist Democratic senators for being too moderate on health care would be “f - - - ing retarded,” meaning politically unwise, then found himself getting a wedgie from Sarah Palin. On Facebook, Palin, the mother of a child who has Down syndrome, presented herself as deeply offended by the implication that . . . what, exactly? That the liberal bloggers Emanuel was speaking to (in a private, off-the-record meeting) were acting as if they had Down syndrome? Surely the more mean-spirited insult would be to accuse those with Down syndrome of behaving as senselessly as lefty bloggers. (02/07/10)

The harm of parental notification laws
Topic: Abortion
Source: Huffington Post
While Illinois has a mandatory parental involvement law on the books, it has long been enjoined. Thus, young women in Illinois who are capable of making their own abortion decision can do so with the guidance of their healthcare provider and other trusted adults. They are not forced to involve their parents where they do not feel safe doing so. However, the State is aggressively seeking to end that court protection for young women and to enforce the Illinois Parental Notification of Abortion Act. It is imperative to put an end to the threat of parental notification in Illinois, and to work to eliminate similar laws across the country. [Ed.: this is a confused issue. On one hand, the state infantilizes teenrs and denies them rights, holding the parents legally responsible for their actions and care. On the other hand and at the same time, various states grant autonomy to teens re: abortion and legally shut out parents even from knowing about the procedure.] (02/05/10)

A womans undying gift to science
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: New York Times
Author: Dwight Garner
A thorny and provocative book about cancer, racism, scientific ethics and crippling poverty, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” also floods over you like a narrative dam break, as if someone had managed to distill and purify the more addictive qualities of “Erin Brockovich,” “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” and “The Andromeda Strain.” More than 10 years in the making, it feels like the book Ms. Skloot was born to write. It signals the arrival of a raw but quite real talent. The woman who provides this book its title, Henrietta Lacks, was a poor and largely illiterate Virginia tobacco farmer, the great-great-granddaughter of slaves. Born in 1920, she died from an aggressive cervical cancer at 31, leaving behind five children. No obituaries of Mrs. Lacks appeared in newspapers. She was buried in an unmarked grave. To scientists, however, Henrietta Lacks almost immediately became known simply as HeLa (pronounced hee-lah), from the first two letters of her first and last names. Cells from Mrs. Lacks’s cancerous cervix, taken without her knowledge, were the first to grow in culture, becoming “immortal” and changing the face of modern medicine. There are, Ms. Skloot writes, “trillions more of her cells growing in laboratories now than there ever were in her body.” Laid end to end, the world’s HeLa cells would today wrap around the earth three times. (02/02/10)

The inanity and insanity of Eve Ensler
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: CNN
The future is "girl." Imagine girl is a cell that each of us -- boys and girls -- are born with. Imagine this girl cell is central to the evolution of our species and an assurance of the continuation of the human race. Now imagine that a few powerful people, invested in owning this world, understood that the oppression of this cell was key to retaining their power, so they reinterpreted this cell, undermining its value and making us believe that it is weak. They initiated a process to crush, eradicate, annihilate, humiliate, belittle, censor, reduce and kill off the girl cell. This was called patriarchy. Imagine girl is a chip in the huge microcosm of our collective consciousness, which is essential to the balance, wisdom and future of humanity. [Ed.: nothing reveals the inanity and the insanity of Eve Ensler as much as her own words. Her famous play the Vagina Monologues make no sense. It is unconscioonable that this woman is considered a great intellectual and literary force. It reveals the utter bankruptcy of modern culture and politics.] (02/02/10)

Do not ask, do not tell...do not go
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Antiwar
Author: Justin Raimondo
For years, the US military has proscribed, tracked down, harassed, prosecuted, and imprisoned lesbians and gay men, entrapping them, depriving them of their pensions, and disrespecting them as people -- and now that they're desperate, and backed up against a wall, with an unpopular couple of wars to fight, suddenly they need us, they want us, and, by the way, they're oh-so-sorry about the past. Anyone who agrees to such a deal -- far from being noble, or even patriotic -- must be suffering from an enormous lack of self-esteem. We hear so much about 'gay pride,' these days -- so what kind of 'pride' is that?" (02/05/10)