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

Minister of Housing Maryan Street, under pressure for exorbitant spending of taxpayers’ money, has come a long way since 1981 when she was a teacher at Westlake Girls’ High School. (Herald 28th May)

Back then she was a lesbian activist prominent in the Feminist Teachers group who were busily spearheading the push to abolish corporal punishment in schools.

She was also writing enthusiastically in their June newsletter about how well was going their politicising of “high school feminists” from various Auckland schools.
(more…)

$164m for cervical cancer vaccine

It’s so good to see that Auntie Helen values each woman’s life as worth $1,093,333.
That’s how much she is willing to spend of our tax money to immunise young girls to prevent them catching cervical cancer.
$164,000,000 over 5 years, = $32,8000,000 per year, to save an estimated 30 lives.

Since Prostate Cancer kills some 600 men each year, can we expect Auntie Helen to be just as generous? That’s only $3.28 BILLION over the next 5 years. How about Auntie Helen? How about it?

Or don’t you care?

In todays Dominion Post

The Health Ministry’s foot-dragging stance on prostate cancer screening for Kiwi men is criminal, patient advocates and doctors say.

A study by Wellington researchers of prostate screening and treatment, published in the December edition of the international journal Pathology, suggests the ministry’s outdated guidelines could be costing 200 men their lives each year.

Link :

What National is saying is that they are going to give our Police the same authority of a Judge to issue an interim injunction. This is an injunction that will automatically stop one party from associating with any children in that relationship.

In a Fathers Day Statement Republican Leader Kerry Bevin puts family devastation clearly at the feet of the feminist agenda, and its moderate face, NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark.

By allowing this Government to continue unchallenged in the implementation of its pink policy we leave unaddressed the underlying causes of family devastation.

“Family discipline is undermined and violence encouraged by Helen’s provocative feminist agenda, leaving fathers unable to fulfil their social obligations”, said Mr Bevin.

Link: Media Statement

Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan agrees women should educate themselves and start saving for retirement. “A man is not a financial plan,” she says.

Auckland University economics lecturer Susan St John says linking a tax credit only to paid work cheapens the importance of caregiving.

“Once you start to reward work and tie saving incentives to work, then you are devaluing caregiving.”

St John also suggests that women, who are more likely to be caregivers, are valued (by the scheme) only if they are working.

“We need to be clear as a society that caregiving is actually work.”

But basic calculators provided on KiwiSaver websites don’t take into account the years women are likely to spend out of fulltime work - meaning,

You thought marriage was safe - here comes child support payments for the

unseparated men.

The BBC reported that “A Romanian man sets himself on fire in Bucharest in a desperate bid to get custody of his son who is living in Spain.”

They showed a picture here.

Unfortunety it doesn’t give us any more information. “Get custody” may in reality mean; to have a meaningful relationship.� The average wage in Romania is 130 euros a month. A flight from Bucharest to Madrid on a budget airline is 342 euros. That does not include accommodation, food, transport,etc. Ask yourself: How many times will this father be able to see his child - if ever?

Many NZ men will know how he feels. In New Zealand 4 men of child rearing age die every week. In 2004 207 males between the ages of 25 and 55 killed themselves. This was actually a reduction from previous years. But don’t expect any media or public persona to be concerned about it.

many of you will be aware of Dr Viv Roberts research in the area which shows the links between the so called Family Court’s decisions and the male suicide rate. He has even shown the link between regional male suicides to particularly biased judge’s court rooms.

About 5+ years ago Jim Anderton as leader of the Alliance was on the same flight as me. I knew his daughter comitted suicide so I wondered if this guy was aware of some of the leading causes of suicide in New Zealand. When we went to collected our bags I asked him what is views on shared parenting were. He had no idea what I was talking about. I explained. He obviously still had no clue about the issues and thought the laws were just fine.

I think that was the point I realised just how backward a country New Zealand has become.

New research suggests a single joint of cannabis damages the lungs as much as smoking five cigarettes in one go.

The study, carried out by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, found the drug forces the lungs to work harder by obstructing air flow and causes chest tightness and wheezing.

The study found that of the 339 people tested, only those who smoked tobacco suffered from the lung disease emphysema, but cannabis use still stopped the lungs working properly.

further….

Using marijuana increases the risk of one day developing a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, according to a study that provides some of the strongest evidence yet linking the drug to a mental disorder.

Marijuana is one the most commonly used illegal substances in many countries with up to 20 percent of young people in places like Britain reporting either some use or heavy use, British researchers said, citing government statistics.

Cancer test ‘may save many lives’

link http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6911677.stm

Hi All,

For those with an interest in Mens Health it could well be worth your while considering standing for the DHB elections.

District Health Boards (DHBs) provide (or fund the provision of) health and disability services to 21 districts covering New Zealand. DHBs are governed by boards, which consist of up to 11 members: seven elected by the public every three years, and up to four appointed by the Minister of Health.

The next DHB elections will be held in October 2007, at the same time as local authority elections. DHB elections are conducted by independent electoral officers who are appointed by the boards. The DHB’s electoral officer must be the electoral officer for one of the territorial authorities in the DHB’s district.

Check out the Ministry of Health DHB election page for further details.

Regards

Scrap