Two articles and an editorial in the Bay of Penty Times yesterday generally continued our media’s penchant for male-bashing. Only the front-page lead article was available on the web. To their credit, interviewees from Relationship Services avoided gender-specific formulations and referred to couples arguing and hitting each other, and the police interviewee said they were called out to a house where a couple “were fighting”. Sadly, at this stage such care to avoid appearing sexist seems mainly facade, frequent accounts from men suggesting both these organisations operate under male-blaming ideologies.

FYI, here is my letter to the editor:

“Research has clearly established that domestic violence is significantly perpetrated by both men and women against their partners. Why then did your articles and editorial on July 12 describe only claimed examples of men assaulting their partners, perpetrate the long-discredited myth that domestic violence increases when a nation’s rugby team loses, and claim contrary to scientific evidence that “the vast majority of domestic bullies are men”? (more…)

NZ Government funded research has identified total loss of father contact as being a common factor in suicides of youths, who have applied for Independant Youth Benefit. (This does not prove that it is causal, this is more difficult to prove.)

The same researcher asks people to be willing to look at all research and see that mother caregiver’s violence towards children, contributes towards some men’s life sadness and being unable to form constructive functional relationships with women. Thus, this source of violence to boys also needs attention and active support for parents, to reduce the damage being done to these boys. Blame is of limited value, to solving these problems, especially when it is one eyed. In many cases, the problems are life goals and relationships and the solutions lie in support through these problems and mentoring to develop workable solutions that protect all of the people involved. When someone has unrealistic expectations, this is itself a major problem and barrier to allow workable solutions to work! (more…)

For those who don’t yet know, I am putting together a feature length Documentary on Child Support called “The CSA Files”. I have got a lot of feed back for this doco and a lot of keen people wanting to help and share their stories.

For a run down and updates on this doco visit my site www.the-csa-files.webs.com

Feel free to leave a post or email me on [email protected] with any additional information, stories or experiences you or someone you know has had with the CSA. I’m aiming for between 75-90 mins long for the doco and any suggestions will be welcome.

I am putting together a great team of informed and experienced people to work on this project and all your support is greatly appreciated 🙂

Cheers

Tigerseye

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. (more…)

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…)

Our Auckland Father and Child Trust Meeting is on Monday night, 7-9pm, at the Onehunga Community Center, 83 Church Street, near the library.

We had our strategy confirmed at the Father and Child Trust AGM in Chch, to positively encourage fathers, as early in their fatherhood as possible. (more…)

Judge Paul von Dadelszen was interviewed on National Radio Nine to Noon on Wednesday 11 June 2008 in his role as Acting Principal Family Court Judge. His confident, resonant voice made him an ideal replacement for his slick ad-man boss in progressing dangerous abuse by the state as if it were beneficial.

I thought it worthwhile to report on the learned judge’s statements and to offer some comment. It’s a long post but worth the effort to see how the system is thinking. The judge’s actual statements are in italics while my descriptions and comments are not. (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 post, I’ll try to be brief …

As I see from reading through the wealth of information available here.  I have a realistic view of what can and can’t happen when a loving Dad who seeks 50/50 care of his beautiful children, tries to review how much child support is due from him.

However; it’s late, and I can’t sleep, and I know there’s many people here who know the same truth, that some things in this life aren’t fair.  So excuse me for venting.

I am currently negotiating a full 50% share of nights and days caring for my two gems, Louis (5.8) and Elliot (2.5).  At every turn I find roadblocks to enabling me to care for my two sons.

IRD: We’re very sorry sir, but there’s nothing we can do, someone has to pay the Crown for the DPB she’s claiming.  Even if she chose not to claim, we’ll make her claim. Pity though.

WINZ: Yeah good one, you really think we can help you, even if you didn’t earn what you earn, she already claims DPB for your two young fellas.  Pity though.

My only hope, is to negotiate with my ex-wife that it’s in the boys best interests that she seeks work, rather than rely on DPB and the Child Support I have faithfully paid every month for the last three years.

Next stop Administrative Review … because unfortunately the cost of setting up house again is getting the best of me.

Second stop Full Custody … if I’m going to see them for half the time and still have to pay Child Support, why not have them all the time and put that money into an account for them?

Nite all, thanks for listening.

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.

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

Our Auckland Father and Child Trust Meeting is on Monday night, 7-9pm, at the Onehunga Community Center, 83 Church Street, near the library.

We had a visit from Harald Breiding-Buss last month, plus we are hoping to attend the ASG Parent and Child Show – do we know anyone keen to share?

We hope to see any new members, please pass this on to anyone keen!

Best regards,
Brendon Smith
Auckland Coordinator
Father and Child Trust

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.

[email protected]

Many of us here have other sites. We have already seen a couple of sites shut down for speaking anti Labour that were threatened with punishment.

But let’s look how Labour is getting around all this deviously.

I picked up a free Union magazine from a shop 3 days ago. Front cover has Helen Clarke on it and page 9 states, “Our Union will be working hard to make sure National is defeated and a worker-friendly, Labour-led government is re-elected for an historic fourth term. Such an outcome could see National out in the cold for many years to come”, says SFWU National President Barbara Wyeth.

So who are these unions.
(more…)

Oh, this is quite cute.

Helen Clark’s Bebo page
What a shame. You have to sign in to get political information about the polls from her.

Maryan Street has the best one. You can check anyone’s criminal records on her advertisement above her page.

Sue Bradford, well she is just telling us what we already know.

I will fight for what I believe in, even if that means going into your home and telling you how to do something right. Support me and my party. Go Green for a better New Zealand today.

Crikeys, the people are giving it to her in her comments except of course Helen and Maryan.

Don Brash is a worry. He is a friend to them all. At least he is not advertising for them.

I have never been able to work this Electoral Finance Bill out. No one can advertise or speak politics on their site. But Labour and the Greens can on Bebo.

Winston Peters is there also. And heaps of others. Cullen too.

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…)

I noticed a job advertisement in the local paper for the Bay Of Plenty District Health Board concerning a position in the “Woman, Child and Family Service”. Notice anything? Well, it struck me as leaving out one slightly important member of the family and I wondered what the aim of the service could be. Turns out it’s an umbrella management team covering the obstetrics and gynaecology department and paediatric services including the children’s ward. This did not include social work or other services that might be work alongside these departments. I spoke to the two female managers only one of whom was forthcoming with information while the other seemed to believe that a citizen had to identify himself and presumably be the right kind of person before he had any right to know about her (taxpayer-funded) service. (more…)

Recent ‘not guilty’ verdicts in high profile child homicide cases could be examples of an ideological bias in police policy, according to UnitedFuture deputy leader, Judy Turner.

Mrs Turner refers to the ‘New Zealand Family Violence Policy’, in which section 47 instructs that, “The specific offence ‘Male Assaults Female’ will be used in most circumstances”.

“While this policy may seem little more than ill-considered discrimination, it effectively orders police to pre-judge incidents of family violence before they even arrive at the scene and assume the male is at fault.

“It is my concern that this guideline fosters a mindset where police make assumptions before establishing a perpetrator, and leads to an attitude of, ‘if in doubt, arrest the bloke’.

“I think people are starting to question whether we are seeing this happening now. Is the police family violence policy leading to blinkered investigations and the wrong person being arrested by police?” asks Mrs Turner.

“This policy should be condemned and it be made clear that police should arrive at a given scene without preconceptions about the perpetrator, but rather look at the evidence and take action accordingly and on the merits of each case.

“Hopefully this will lead to fewer people being arrested and charged with crimes that no jury could possibly find them guilty of, while destroying the life of the falsely-accused, or resulting in the real perpetrator walking free,” says Mrs Turner.

Date: 01/05/2008

Introduction

Men and boys, who make up 49% of the New Zealand population, fare better than women and girls in a number of human rights areas. These include employment participation and income, and representation in leadership and governance roles. In others, they are disproportionately represented in negative outcomes and statistics. These include significantly worse outcomes in terms of assault mortality, road casualties, suicide, qualifications gained at school, participation in tertiary education, and workplace injuries. Men dominate criminal justice and imprisonment statistics and are significantly affected by certain health issues and concerns.

Neither men’s nor women’s human rights feature as a separate theme in the Commission’s Statement of Intent. However, each year a number of relevant activities are carried out under various themes and within projects and programmes of work. This paper canvasses some main areas of concern and outlines how these issues are reflected in the Commission’s work programme.

Education

At school, boys dominate the suspension, exclusion and expulsion figures, and have lower retention and achievement rates than girls. They are two to four times more likely to be stood down, suspended, excluded or expelled than girls, and they account for 76 percent of exclusions and 81 percent of expulsions. They are more likely than girls to be granted an early leaving exemption and less likely to stay at school until the ages of 16 or 17. Students who are least likely to stay at school are M?ori, male, and attend a decile 1 or 2 school. Slightly more boys than girls left school in 2006 with little or no formal attainment, with 12 and 10 percent respectively. Although the performance gap between girls and boys has narrowed since 2003, in 2006 girls still outperformed boys with 65 percent of girls achieving at least an NCEA Level 2 qualification compared to 56 percent of boys.
At tertiary level, women are slightly more likely than men to participate in tertiary education (14.6 percent compared with 12.8 percent of men in 2006). Men and women had the same rate of participation in sub-degree courses (10 percent), but women are slightly more likely than men to be enrolled in degree and post-graduate courses (six percent and four percent, respectively). Recent declines in tertiary participation have been greater for women, and the participation gap has narrowed in recent years.

Men continue to participate in the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme in far greater numbers than women, making up 91 percent of Modern Apprentices in 2006.

Men still have a slightly higher rate of educational attainment than women across the population as a whole. In 2006, 78 percent of men and 76 percent of women had attained an educational qualification at upper secondary level or above. Sex differences in educational attainment have narrowed over time. For younger age groups, women are more likely than men to have higher qualifications.

Human Rights Commission Activities: Children and Young People and the Right to Education
(more…)

Too many people here are misunderstanding child support. Where did it come from? Why are Governments so invested in it? Why are they so determined to get it and what is it used for?

Child support was designed to get back tax for welfare payments made to single mothers raising their children on state care.

It was designed as a tax for the father to pay towards the social welfare money being paid out from the Government.

The formula was made and the actual designer of the formula had stated that this would not work on families outside of the welfare system. But the Governments didn’t care about that. They just wanted money to be coming in more than going out.

Why do countries operate child support systems?

This is a matter that needs to be deduced from the history. But time after time the answer always appears to be for one or both (ultimately both) of the following objectives. Everything else is just detail.

1. To reduce child poverty.
2. To reduce welfare spending.

Perceptions depend on the order in which things are done. For example, suppose that the social security (welfare) programme makes the first move (eg. Income Support) in order to relieve child poverty, and child support is added later. (This is the typical sequence – in the USA AFDC came before the latest child support reforms).

Sequence Perception

First: Income Support tops up a lone parent’s income to poverty relief levels. “Social security reduces child poverty.”

Later: Child support dictates how much the other parent pays. It enforces this payment. The child support goes to the lone parent, but the Income Support is reduced by exactly the same amount. “Child support is a Treasury-driven exercise to reduce social security expenditure (hence taxes), even though this keeps children at poverty-relief levels.”

But suppose things happened in a different order, and child support came first. (This does not normally happen. Child support tends to be an after-thought when nations realise they can’t afford the full implications of social security / welfare without help from the other parents).
(more…)

One of the best ways to get change to come about is to use the media, and change needs to come about.  It seems to me that those that are leading our country are a long way off solving the problems that hound us with Child Support.  No matter if you are a liable parent or the spouse of a liable parent there is no question that to some extent you have experienced unfairness through this antiquated system.

 

I am putting together a documentary to outline these problems and expose the often financially cripling heartache with in the IRD.  I would like to get stories and interviews from both those that are affected and the powers that be. 

 

If anybody would like to contribute to this documentary please let me know by leaving a comment or contacting me on [email protected]

 

I’d love to hear from you.

Peace to all,

Tigerseye

Fathers aren’t needed say MPs: Commons decides IVF babies can do without a male role model
Evening Standard 21 May 08

Fathers were last night effectively declared an irrelevance in modern Britain. The requirement for fertility doctors to consider a child’s need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment was scrapped by MPs. In a free vote, they swept away the rule despite impassioned pleas that the Government plan would “drive another nail into the coffin of the traditional family”. Labour rebels said it would send entirely the wrong signal to society as Britain faces a crisis in responsible parenting.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, had warned it would remove the father from the heart of the family. He accused the Government of putting the interests of “consumers” who want to become parents before the welfare of children. But in the Commons, ministers won support for the legislation.
thisislondon

MPs reject need for father in IVF (UK)
BBC News 20 May 2008

MPs have voted to scrap laws forcing clinics to consider the need for a “father and mother” before allowing women to seek IVF treatment. Iain Duncan Smith led the cross-party bid, saying the absence of a father had a “detrimental effect” on a child. His plan was defeated by 292 votes to 217. Currently, IVF clinics have to consider the “welfare” of any child created, including the need for a father. But the government wants the focus instead on “supportive parenting”. MPs also opposed a further bid to ensure there is a “father or a male role model” before fertility treatment, by 290 votes to 222. The issue of the role of fathers in IVF comes in the second day of committee stage debate of the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, aimed at updating laws from 1990.

…On Monday, MPs voted down a cross-party attempt to ban hybrid human animal embryos. Roman Catholic cabinet ministers Ruth Kelly, Des Browne and Paul Murphy voted for a ban, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron both opposed it. A bid to ban “saviour siblings” – babies selected to provide genetic material for seriously ill relatives -was also voted down.
bbcnews

‘Father’ to go from birth certificates (Aust)
Sydney Morning Herald May 18, 2008
(more…)

In recent hours two extremely high profile court cases have ended.

A man charged with the murder and sexual violation of a 10 year old. Not Guilty.

A man charged with murdering two babies. Not Guilty. (In about 10 minutes)

A wise Man once said:

Confirmation Bias

“There is a phenomenon known to psychologists as Confirmation Bias.

Make up your mind on an issue before you have all the facts.

Thereafter look only for the evidence to support your hunch.

Ignore contradictory evidence or dismiss it as irrelevant or untrue.

This is a phenomenon to which some New Zealand Police and Prosecutors seem susceptible”.