Rape victim ordered to pay child support
Topic: Father's Rights
Source: Columbus Dispatch
A paternity test shows that the teen is the father of the baby born April 7 to Jane C. Crane, who was 19 when she became pregnant. Now, a judge has ordered him to pay $50 a month in child support and set visitation at seven hours a week. Crane, meanwhile, faces criminal charges. A Fairfield County grand jury indicted her last month on two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, a fourth-degree felony. Conviction carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison and a requirement to register as a sex offender for 25 years. [Ed.: is there any way that State involvement could screw the situation up more than it has? Yes, by placing the baby in the baby in the misnamed child protective services.] (08/16/08)

Britain recruiting gay spies
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Yahoo Daily News
The chief executive of Stonewall, a gay rights lobby group, told the business daily it had been hired by the Security Service -- better known as MI5 -- to help the agency encourage more gay applicants for positions. "Historically, public services were delivered by the man from the ministry, who was white and heterosexual and got the 4:30 pm (train) back to Tunbridge Wells every afternoon," Ben Summerskill said. (08/17/08)

A lurid sex scandal for Malaysia
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Time Online
The country of 27 million people is transfixed by a drama whose second act unfolded in June when the top opposition leader, 61-year-old Anwar Ibrahim, was accused of having sex with a 23-year-old male aide. It sounded very much like a case from 10 years ago, when he was imprisoned on a similar charge involving his driver. Anwar says both allegations were trumped up — the latest because he is running for parliament in a special election Aug. 26 that he believes will be his springboard to the premiership and the downfall of the long-ruling National Front of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. (08/17/08)

Groups wants to attack Obama on abortion
Topic: Abortion
Source: Raw Story
The Real Truth About Obama Inc., a group formed by anti-abortion activists, is trying to establish a Web site and air radio ads. But the group's attorney says his clients fear they will be prosecuted for breaking federal rules that restrict fundraising and advertising by political action committees, or PACs. U.S. District Judge James Spencer has scheduled a Sept. 10 hearing on a motion seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the Federal Election Commission and Justice Department from imposing the restrictions. (08/17/08)

TX wants 8 sect kids back in custody
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Altoona Mirror
More than two months after being forced to return children from a polygamist sect to their parents, Texas child welfare authorities want eight of the youngsters put back in foster care. Individual hearings for the four mothers of the children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, are set to begin Monday. Child Protective Services has asked Texas District Judge Barbara Walther to return the children to foster care because their mothers allegedly have refused to limit their contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages. [Ed.: so now the CPS claims a right to take non-abused children away from their mothers on the basis of her circle of associates?] (08/18/08)

TX, teachers carry guns
Topic: Women, Minorities, and Guns
Source: Reuters
A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district's superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States. Teachers who wish to bring guns will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, he said. Recent school shootings in the United States have prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms. (08/16/08)

Oldest mother happy to have male heir
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
The world's oldest mum, who gave birth to twins at 70 after IVF, proudly showed off her son, then admitted: 'Now I've got another daughter to feed too.' Omkari Panwar, and her husband Charan Singh Panwar, 77, underwent IVF all for the sake of producing a male heir to take over the family's smallholdings. The elderly Indian couple, who already have two daughters in their thirties, and five grandchildren, are near destitute after mortgaging their land, selling their buffalo and taking out a loan for the £4,400 fertility treatment. (08/16/08)

Edwards supporter seeks refund
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution
Some former Georgia supporters of one-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards are furious about his confessed affair with aide Rielle Hunter, and at least one wants her campaign donation back. “That’s money I could have put in my children’s college fund,” state Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Atlanta) said of her contributions to Edwards. Stuckey said she donated a total of $750 to Edwards and has contacted former Edwards backer Stephen Leeds trying to find out how to get a refund. (08/16/08)

Obama sidesteps abortion
Topic: Abortion
Source: Reuters
Asked at what point a baby gets “human rights,” Obama, who strongly supports abortion rights, said: “… whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity … is above my pay grade.” He went on to reiterate his view that it was important to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who followed Obama onto the stage of the nationally televised event, was more blunt and more emphatic. He said a baby’s human rights began “at the moment of conception … I have a 25-year pro-life record.” (08/16/08)

Mass. gay marriage opponents seek to reverse new law
Topic: Gay/Lesbian Issues
Source: Yahoo Daily News
The gay marriage fight in Massachusetts might not be over after all. Opponents of same-sex marriages are seeking a ballot question that would prevent gay and lesbian couples from getting married here if their union wouldn't be legal in their home state. Brian Camenker of the group Mass Resistance said Friday lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick bowed to the will of the "gay lobby" last month by approving the repeal of a 1913 statute that banned such marriages. He was particularly critical of an emergency preamble attached to the repeal. It bypassed a normal 90-day waiting period and made the law effective immediately. Opponents typically use the 90 days to present signatures and delay the law until it can be put to a ballot vote. (08/16/08)

AL sex offender registration law challenged
Topic: Porn, Prostitution, and Sexual Freedom
Source: Birmingham News
A federal lawsuit is challenging the state's Community Notification Act, contending it violates the rights of poor sex offenders who have served their sentences, but are jailed because they cannot provide a valid residence. The suit, filed in Birmingham's federal court on behalf of three named plaintiffs and similarly situated individuals, said indigent offenders have a hard time finding somewhere to live as a result of the law, which requires sex offenders to give authorities a valid address. If they don't provide an address to authorities, it's a felony. (08/17/08)

Iraqi women who fled to Syria
Topic: Violence Against Women
Source: Women's eNews
Author: Dominique Soguel
In a series of interviews with Iraqi refugees in Jaramana, a predominantly Sunni and Christian suburb of Damascus, and Sayyida Zaynab, a primarily Shiite suburb, Women's eNews spoke with women barely eking out a living from low-income jobs, international aid and sex work. Women such as Mohamed Ali, whose husbands are dead, missing or disabled, were hit the hardest. Over 2 million Iraqi refugees are estimated to live in Iraq's neighboring countries, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. At least half now live in Syria. (08/10/08)

What about helping boys?
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Press Democrat
Author: Joe Mantley
If girls are now the equal of boys in math, and that fact is due to the boost the schools gave to girls through teacher trainings, curriculum development, conferences, and programs for the girls themselves, then why are there not similar efforts to close the biggest gender gap of all in K-12 education -- language arts -- where boys are behind girls at every grade level? When girls were thought to be in trouble academically, we said "There must be something wrong with the schools," and we changed them to be more girl-friendly. But there is no similar push to assist boys academically. Instead, when boys don't do well in school, we blame the boys. (08/16/08)

Pakistan burn victims turn beauticians
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: Yahoo Daily News
In this popular beauty salon, Urooj Akbar diligently trims, cleans and paints clients' fingernails. Her face, severely scarred from the blaze that burned some 70 percent of her body, is somber. It's hard to tell if she's sad or if it's just the way she now looks. Liaqat and Akbar are among Pakistan's many female victims of arson and acid attacks. Such tales tend to involve a spurned or crazy lover and end in a life of despair and seclusion for the woman. The two instead became beauticians. (08/17/08)

Maureen Dowd, her mind is made up
Topic: Political Correctness
Source: Pajama Media
Author: Taylor Marsh
To appreciate Maureen Dowd when she gets into her dirt dishing rants, you have to understand that her blasts come from sources she simply channels into clever bursts that are meant to sound definitive. She did the same thing with her book Are Men Necessary?, which basically boiled down to her walking around to a bunch of cubicles at the New York Times to get her friend’s opinions on whether women should bother with males. Never mind most of us answered a loud “affirmative” to that question a long time ago. (08/17/08)

Mommy will not help Dems on abortion
Topic: Abortion
Source: Denver Post
Author: David Harsanyi
Yesterday, a bevy of articles appeared alerting us to the fact that Democrats would offer a pointless embrace of maternity to soften the edges of the party's position on abortion. This, presumably, would grant many social conservatives the space they need to immerse in the warm and tender rays of Hope. Has anything changed policywise on the issue? Has Barack Obama's stance softened? Not yet. And why should it The right of a woman to choose an abortion is one of the tenets of the Democratic Party. A political body must take an inflexible position on occasion — or is "unity" just another word for "get me elected"? (08/17/08)

An abortion sets major milestone in her life
Topic: Abortion
Source: Women's eNews
Author: Joy Pincus
Monitoring a fetal anomaly left Joy Pincus hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. In the end she followed doctors' advice to have a late-term abortion. The decision is a milestone marking the unpredictability of life and the value of choice. She writes, "Knowing that something may or may not be very wrong with one's unborn children demands a precarious psychological balance. One has to walk a very thin line between expectation and resignation; simultaneously hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. I walked that line as best I could." (08/14/08)

Afghan women blaze path in contemporary art
Topic: Individualist Feminism
Source: Women's eNews
Author: Aunohita Mojumdar
A group of Afghan women are defying convention by studying and producing expressive contemporary art. An exhibit of their work, now in Berlin, offers an abstract commentary on the restrictions that often govern women's lives. Unlike women's fashion or sports, which have attracted abundant media interest, contemporary art by Afghan women is something of a sleeper, even though it may represent a stronger challenge to conservative concepts of women's social place. (08/17/08)

1/2 House Dems may vote Hillary at DNC
Topic: Gender Discrimination
Source: Politico
Author: Amie Parnes and Ben Smith
Just how many former Clinton supporters will vote for the former first lady during the symbolic first ballot is anybody’s guess, but each of them will be called upon to do so — whether they want to or not. On Friday, the Obama campaign confirmed that the floor vote in Denver, intended to assuage Clinton supporters still stewing over her narrow loss, will be conducted as a state-by-state roll call. Under proposed convention bylaws, delegates would be forced to register their votes on a tally sheet with the convention secretary — the rules could be altered or suspended before the start of the convention. (08/15/08)

Children, forward to the Glorious Green Future!
Topic: Children and Family
Source: Spiked Online
Author: Lee Jones
‘Imagine if every child in the country channelled their Pester Power in service of the Glorious Green Future.’ So says James Russell in his recent book How to Turn Your Parents Green. And he’s far from alone in his musings. npower, a large British electriciy supplier, have also been envisaging a world in which kids, renamed Climate Cops, are instructed to ferret out ‘climate crimes’ in their homes, schools and cities and report them to the authorities, that is, in Russell’s words, to ‘nag, pester, bug, torment and punish the people who are merrily wrecking [their] world’, fining ‘transgressors’ for non-compliance with green orthodoxy. (08/12/08)