MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

National Radio Nine to Noon yesterday interviewed Prof Mark Frydenberg, an expert on prostate cancer who works at the Urology Dept, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne. 600 men per year die of prostate cancer in New Zealand each year.

Prof Frydenberg explained that several international studies to evaluate the benefits of screening programmes had not been running long enough to come up with results, and the key argument against screening programmes was the lack of evidence that such programmes would actually achieve worthwhile reductions in death rates. However, an informal screening programme introduced by a urologist in Tyrol, Austria resulted in 50% less deaths from prostate cancer than in the rest of Austria where no screening was done.

The professor’s personal opinion was that screening programmes were likely to be helpful and that they were justified given that as many men die from prostate cancer as women die from breast cancer in Australia. He also said that the false positive rate for prostate tests was approximately the same as that for breast cancer mammograms leading to biopsies, thereby dispelling one of the favourite arguments against prostate screening. He strongly advised men to seek checks for prostate cancer from a younger age, given that earlier onset prostate cancer was more likely to become the cause of death, and by the time symptoms (typically, difficulty passing urine) are evident it is too late for effective treatment in many cases.

The professor was of the opinion that more flexibility could be exercised in treatment options. Small, slow-growing tumours could be safely watched and may not become significant prior to death from other causes, while only the more aggressive cancers might need surgery or hormonal treatment.

Although interviewer Kathryn Ryan deserves credit for airing the case for prostate cancer screening, it’s a shame the interview stuck to National Radio’s track record of never seeking comment from men’s movement representatives. Radio NZ interviews about breast or cervical cancer inevitably provide airtime to the likes of Sandra Coney or other feminist activists alleging sexism and demanding an ever-increasing slice of the health budget because women deserve it. In regard to prostate cancer, the men’s movement doesn’t necessarily demand screening programmes if these are not yet proven, but it may ask why more money is not spent to educate men about the symptoms and risks, or greater subsidies are not provided for the medical assessments, especially given that there is really no option for self-assessment as can be undertaken by women checking for lumps on their breasts. Also, Ms Ryan lost most of her brownie points at the end of the interview when she laughingly suggested that perhaps men’s wives should be targeted in a campaign to increase the rate of male testing for prostate cancer. While the professor agreed that men were slow to seek medical tests, Ms Ryan’s statement was patronizing and demeaning towards men, suggesting that men needed women to live their lives responsibly. This insinuation ignored the fact that the medical assessment for prostate cancer is especially embarrassing and uncomfortable because it involves the doctor sticking a finger up the man’s anus, this being incomparable with the relative ease of mammogram testing. It also ignored the fact that very little government funding has been allocated to encourage men to seek such tests, compared with that spent on encouraging screening for breast and cervical cancers. And of course, men must pay fully for the prostate test whereas women’s screening is provided free. Further it ignored the fact that even though breast cancer screening is easy, free and conveniently shipped into every local community, a significant proportion of women still don’t take advantage of it. There are many reasons other than the “stupid men who need their wives to manage them” theory implied by Ms Ryan for men’s low self-initiation of testing.

Allegations that sexual abuse was committed by several touring English rugby players have been milked by unscrupulous media showing scant regard for civil rights. The NZ Press Association is even quite happy to provide names of those who might have been alleged to have committed sexual crimes.

The case raises important questions relevant to gender politics. For example, why have the police spent what must now be considerable time and expense “investigating” a case for which no complaint has been laid? If you went to the police and told them your mate had an eye injury that he said had been caused by Joe Bloggs assaulting him with a bat, what do you imagine the police would do? There is a good chance they would simply tell you there’s nothing they can do unless your mate came in and made a complaint. If they did not have too much on their plate, they may well pay your mate a visit at some stage and ask him about it, but you can be sure they would quickly lose interest if he made it clear he wouldn’t lay a complaint. So what’s the difference? (more…)

Miriam Long is an IRD Administrative Review Officer based in Wellington.  It has become increasingly apparent that Miriam Long appears to hold a grudge against male liable parents. I have dealt with a number of Dads who have been at the reciving end of Miriam Long’s administrative review decisions.

I am in the process of coordinating a complaint to have Mariam Long stopped from hearing administrative reviews.

If you have experienced the Long hand at an administrative review please leave a comment and I will contact you back.

If you are a dad taking part in an administrative  review of Child Support Tax and you are told that Miriam Long is your Review Officer demand another Review Officer.

Regards

Scrap

And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree,
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is
Still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be. Yeah
There will be an answer, let it be.

(Lennon/McCartney)

After reading Garth George’s NZ Herald column on Gutless politicians (the majority of our politicians being men), I felt the need to say something.

To the Editor

Dear Sir,

If this is your Headline I am sure Mr George will forgive you for not understanding his faith. If however it is Mr Georges Headline he may choose to pray for forgiveness for his trespass against others.

His role as a self confessed Christian is not to issue abuse, but express understanding in a manner that others may choose to follow.

The law around abortion is a fiction. It does not exist in law, but by the conscience of parliament. It is a moral death warrant for a birth certificate that does not exist.

In a representative democracy our vote also contains our conscience and every abortion, none of which are within the law are the responsibility of each and every one of us.

Ignorance of the law may have new meaning for many people.

First time writer. I just wanted tell my brothers story on this site as he cannot do it for himself as he is in jail due to FALSE allegations of sexual abuse & rape. My family & I are absolutely devastated by the guilty verdict the jury delivered, but after reading some of the listings on this menz sight I was horrified to find it seems to be the normal way things go for Men. My brother comes up for sentence soon & I’ve been doing a bit of research on ways to help him, as we know he’s innocent!. His so called TRIAL was a F—N shambles, I would love to tell you all the details but im afraid as he will be appealing the conviction & sentence & i don’t want to do anything that might f–k up his appeal. It seems to me that the justice system is so F–ked up that any female with a bee in her bonnet can accuse anyone with no evidence & even when the accused has evidence to prove his innocents it doesn’t matter cos if you’ve been accused you MUST BE GUILTY.  I am ashamed to admit being female after finding out how EVIL some bitches can be, as it was my brothers x wife’s & her daughter that accused him. We know they only did this because of the custody battle that has been goin on for years (he lost all those too!) as hes been trying to get visitation to his biological daughter. I rang a mens ph councilling line hoping that i could get my brother someone he could ring & talk to but he gets lock up for the night at 4.30pm & this councilling service doesn’t start til 6.30pm, which was rather disappointing so if anyone out there knows of another such service I would be grateful if you let me know, also any advice or info would also be gratefully recieved.

Judge questions legality of abortions
Abortion law ‘being used too liberally’
Decision raises fears over abortion
Decision raises fears abortion will be harder to get
Editorial: Abortion reality check overdue

WHO THE %^&*($ DO THEY THINK THEY ARE!

Suggesting that abortions are too easy to get in this country! I mean, i ask you!
We all KNOW that abortion is nothing to do about the woman’s choice. We all KNOW that the 18,000 or so abortions are almost entirely because of the risk of serious mental harm to the mothers, should the pregnancy continue! There is NO WAY the abortion laws are being flouted, or that abortion, even with two medical practiioners signing off, is anything about abortion on demand!
Abortion is a last resort! These mothers will have mental health issues, otherwise!

Surely all that money spent funding abortions would be much better spent developing a whole new mother-victim industry, as the 18,000 or so mothers EACH YEAR suffer the mental harm of having a child! Surely these mothers must live with the anguish of having averted their own mental pschosis! After all, all those men should have kept their zips up, after all - it’s their fault, really!

I tell you what, I am ever so grateful (sic) that our women-folk bore some 350,000 less children over the last 20 or so years, rather that having all those mental-health-issue women in our homes and on out streets. Just as well the would-be fathers of all those children didn’t matter.

The late Dr. Bill Sutch is again in the news with the release after several decades of his Security Intelligence Service (S.I.S.) file.

The N.Z.Herald of June 6th quotes current SIS director Warren Tucker as saying that “while the (SIS) had long regarded Sutch as a security risk it had never considered him to be a Soviet agent” etc.

Soviet agent or not, the indications are that he was a subversive influence in N.Z. for all that. So it would seem that the N.Z. Left owes much to Dr. Sutch, even if, for example, one was to judge only by the testimony of one notable N.Z. leftist activist, Christine Dann.

Dann was interviewed on Radio N.Z. on 18th September 1985 re her new book ‘Up From Under‘ where it was disclosed that she was one of the founders of N.Z’s “Women’s Liberation” movement. She recalled there that the seeds for such radicalism were sown through a visit to her school by Dr. Sutch, where he discussed such matters, and how she subsequently became deeply politicised. Nor, presumably, would she have been far from the only young person so radicalised by him.

Just how deeply involved Dann was to become was well spelt out in 1979 with the publication of her highly revealing article ‘Radical Feminism and the N.Z. Political Scene‘ which was published in the July 1979 issue of The Republican. (more…)

Question - How much child support does a female non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 pay?

Answer - The minimum- about $630 a year

Question - How much would a male non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 pay for one child?

Answer - The Maximum - about $17,000 a year for one child

Thanks to IRD a female non-custodial parent who earns $197,000 gets away with paying the minimum.

United Future Leader Peter, i’ll sleep with any political party, Dunne is allowing this to happen on his watch. United Future made a conscious choice to get under the political covers with Aunty Helen and become the Child Support Tax Fuhrer and this is what his Tax Police deliver!

Keep your eyes on MENZ for more Child Support believe it or not.

Regards

Scrap

I have through tenacity taken a case to the High Court for opinion, a case that was deemed previously to be mere formality by opine from Lawyer instructed to assist the Court.

Judgement is still waiting, after double the anticipated timeframe extended by the Justice.

I had previously requested from all and sundry under previous posting to provide your own  case histories under “anonymisation” to present to the Court to determine under the wider umbrella that could the activities of IRD Child Support be fair, equitable and just for all parties etc….

I was able to incorporate a few from examples provided to me by Parents for Children.

This and other forums were extended invitation to participate and witness this day at the High Court.

Crown Law tried to have them excluded.

For the supporters who did attend they were admitted.

The context of thsee proceedings changed when perhaps constitutional matters were invoked.

Although not codified, New Zealand has been recognised to have assumed a constitutional administration upon cessation of its Dominion Status

Ultra vires describes activities of officials within an organization or polity that fall outside the constitutional or statutory authority of those officials.

Ultra vires gives a legal justification for the forced cessation of such action, which might be enforced for the people with the support of a decision of the judiciary, in a case of judicial review. A violation of rights by an official would be ultra vires because a (constitutional) right is a restriction on the powers of government, and therefore that official would be exercising powers he doesn’t have.

When an official act is unconstitutional that act is null and void, and the nullification is ab initio, that is, from inception, not from the date of the finding. It was never “law”, even though, if it had been a statute or statutory provision, it might have been adopted according to the procedures for adopting legislation.

Sometimes the problem is not that a statute is unconstitutional, but the application of it is, on a particular occasion, and a court may decide that while there are ways it could be applied that are constitutional, that instance was not allowed or legitimate. In such a case, only the application may be ruled unconstitutional.

This paragraph falls wholly within parents who have shared parenting and many others who bang their heads against a wall of IRD personnell being stoic towards maintaining  their position and bureaucracy.

I reiterarate my indebtedness toward IRD Chid Support is alleged to be approx $177 however the principle behind my own circumstancs extends beyond financial factor.

Likewise the fiscally punitive action taken against many of you with your different  tales of woe needed to be adressed, perhaps if  mine bea suceessful it may provide an avenue  to follow.

However, this does not excuse an apathy generally shown by the many of you involved otherwise called“sheeple” (copyright Jim Bailey)

Kindest Regards

Paul Catton

East Auckland Refuge for Men and Families

(09) 940 6236

From: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=79708ae2-1dbf-4bdf-a9fe-83b65df121c1

Landmark sex exploitation study finds surprising number of female abusers

Gerry Bellett, Vancouver Sun
Published: Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Canada’s largest study into the sexual exploitation of street kids and runaways has shattered the myths and stereotypes about who the abusers are, the most surprising finding being that many are women seeking sex with young males.

“I must admit it wasn’t something we were expecting,” said Elizabeth Saewyc, associate professor of nursing at the University of B.C. and principal investigator for the study, conducted by Vancouver’s McCreary Centre Society.

“Some youth in each gender were exploited by women, with more than three out of four sexually exploited males reporting exchanging sex for money or goods with a female,” she said.

The results were drawn from interviews with 1,845 youth — some as young as 12 — in surveys taken across the province between 2000 and 2006.

The stereotypical model of the child being abused — a teenage girl being sexually abused by a man — is wrong, Saewyc said.

Sexual exploitation is defined as youth under the age of 19 trading sexual activities for resources such as money, drugs, gifts, food, services, shelter, transportation or anything similar.

This can include commercial sex work in brothels, escort services, pornography and Internet sex.

It also includes what’s called “survival sex,” where a child provides sex in exchange for a place to sleep, a meal or a ride.

The report found one in three children living on the street have been sexually abused, although many didn’t seem aware that they had been exploited, Saewyc said.

“It’s a shocking number. The law is clear any adult who has sex with children for any form of consideration is exploiting them and it’s illegal,” she said.

The study found 94 per cent of females reported they had been sexually exploited by men.

But the study found that young males were being preyed upon by sexual predators of both sexes, yet the social systems in place to deter and prevent sexual predation were only designed to help females and the criminal justice system wasn’t concerned with what was happening to young men.

“Women seeking young men and boys offer transportation or other things and some go to nightclubs and bars where they can pick up underage youth. And a certain percentage have been picked up by couples,” she said.

Saewyc said it was indicative of the prevailing myths about sexual abuse that the rehabilitation program for persons arrested by police for attempting to buy sexual favours on the street was called “John School.”

“I think it’s time we had a Jane School. There should be an equal opportunity school for women predators,” she said.

“Part of the challenge is that young males are not seen as being exploited because they are not coming to the attention of the police and the police aren’t out there picking up the perpetrators. The system is set up to handle the sexual exploitation of young women, not young men,” she said.

Community research associate Jayson Anderson said most of the programs to deal with sexual exploitation were designed by women for female victims.

“There’s really nothing out there for males, so we need programs for young boys,” he said.

The study showed that the following youth were most likely to suffer from sexual predation:

- Those who were lesbian, gay or bisexual.

- Aboriginals.

- Those with physical or mental health issues.

- Those who had been abused by family members.

- Youth that had been in government care.

Saewyc said the research shows important changes need to be made to the way society deals with street children.

“If you ask them what they need, they will tell you: safe shelter, access to education and job training, and medical and dental health services,” she said.

“But many youth who have drug problems can’t find safe shelter because the shelters won’t allow them in unless they are drug free, which seems to make some sense.

“But I think it’s time for the shelters to lower the threshold and let them in, because a 14-year-old shouldn’t be forced to submit to sexual abuse just to find shelter and survive,” said Saewyc.

Saewyc’s UBC group was involved in a research program in Minnesota, observing programs that reconnect young runaways and street kids with their families or keep them in school, thereby preventing them from becoming ingrained in life on the street.

gbellett@png.canwest.com