Felicity, my family and I feature prominently in the Sunday Star-Times today.

On the bottom of front page: “Academic with links to sex abusers silent on role in drafting ACC rules“
Special Investigation, section C: “Conflicting interests?”

The central message of these two stories; that Felicity was influential in the recent changes to ACC payments for sex-abuse counselling; is a fabrication, and will no doubt be corrected by ACC in due course. All the old dirt about Centrepoint is just that.
[Edit Aug 2013: Here is Felicity Goodyear-Smith‘s response to this attack.]
(more…)

Last Wednesday I received a message on my voice mail from TVNZ looking for someone from a men’s group to comment on a recent speech about Legal Aid in the Family Court by Justice Minister Simon Power. Unfortunately, I didn’t get back to them in time to make any suggestions about who to talk to.

Power’s speech, to Otago University Legal Issues Centre on 25th August, was titled Challenging Tradition.

Some of the issues raised by the Minister include:

• the length of time some Family Court cases drag on without satisfactory resolution
• the need for incentives to divert cases away from the court
• the possible use of duty solicitors for giving speedy legal advice
• greater use of cost orders to deter vexatious litigants
• greater restrictions on who can access legal aid
• Bringing lawyer-for-the-child under the umbrella of legal aid

Here is the section of Simon Power’s speech of most interest to MENZ readers:
(more…)

New book by Bettina Arndt

Across the world, the story is the same. Sex scandal. Media frenzy. Another prominent man caught with his pants down. So why do men take such risks for sex?

Sex therapist Bettina Arndt’s new book, What Men Want–in bed is all about why sex matters so much to men. Over 150 men kept diaries for her, talking about what it is like to live with that constant sparking sexual energy–relentless, uncontrollable, all-consuming.

Their painfully honest, confronting, often hilarious stories explain their quest for sexual adventure, their secret delights, the thrill of giving pleasure, why some men turn to pornography and men’s delight in the Viagra revolution.

With every second man over fifty dealing with erection problems, Bettina offers advice on the wondrous new treatments giving men a new lease of sexual life. Her diarists explain what it is like to pop the little blue pills, or inject their best friend, or face impotence after prostate cancer treatments. Extraordinary his-and-hers diaries reveal how partners react to this bumpy journey showing the fallout when a man seeks a new lease of sexual life when his wife just wants him to hang up his spurs.
(more…)

While this is Austrailian I suspect that similar happens here.

Fathers ‘stereotyped’ by Child Support Agency

Paul Bibby WORKPLACE

August 26, 2010

THE government watchdog responsible for overseeing child support payments has been unfairly focusing on parents who do not pay enough while ignoring those who are getting too much, the Commonwealth Ombudsman says.

In a report that might not be well received by some single mothers, the acting Ombudsman, Ron Brent, found that the Child Support Agency had at times been unduly influenced by stereotypes about fathers not meeting their obligations.

 

Plotting ex-wife gets 7-14 years in jail

Kristin Ruggiero will spend 7 to 14 years in state prison for what police say was part of a years-long ploy to use the criminal justice system against her ex-husband, who was thrown in jail and nearly lost his career during a bitter divorce.

Judge Kenneth McHugh said Ruggiero’s attempt to set up her ex-husband and use the legal system as a weapon was unlike any other case he has seen.

There has been a lot of debate recently on MENZ regarding the approach to solving the issues fathers/men face. A lot of it extremely negative and divisive.

Most contributors use what is caused a deficit research approach characterised by :

• Identification of problems
• Analysis of causes
• Analysis of possible solutions
• Plan of action (How will we “treat” this
• Issues are seen as problems to be solved.

(more…)

A protest for men’s rights expresses a ……. strong reaction to the way father’s are treated through feminist anti father policy and procedure in New Zealand’s government departments, family and criminal courts and Child, Youth and Family Services (CYFS), ……… and a reaction against misandry – ‘the hatred of men’.

Men’s Rights Protesters protest ……….. as a way of publicly and forcefully making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion and government’s treatment on the nation’s men of all ages and ……… to undertake direct action in an attempt to directly enact desired changes themselves.

Because many father’s are wanting to protest in their own areas, leading protesters are touring the country. If you want to get involved in any area and need a lift – ask, if you need a place to stay – ask. It’s a team effort and men and women are happy to open their homes to protesters, drive them around, feed them and so on. If you’ve never been part of a protest – you’re in for a treat. Not only is protesting a great way of standing up for yourself, it’s a great release.

Dates, Times and Places.
(more…)

“All it takes for Evil to win is for Good to do nothing”.

Part 5 (continued from Part 4, Wed. 30^th June 2010)

(Like previously this story is not about the malicious mother (syndrome) since that is something I can’t do anything about. This post/story is part of exposing and dealing with the corruption of the Nelson FC and is only step 2 out of many more to come.)

(Continued). After my daughter and me not having seen each other for 2 years- because of the court having suspended contact and not allocated a hearing for that long, the judge now decided that: “there is no reason why the father can not have contact”, (meaning they admitted now that there was no reason (apart from the persecution of me) to have suspended contact to start off with), and ordered 10 sessions of counselling to reintroduce the child back with her father,
(more…)

More than 300,000 families will be able to split their income for tax purposes and reduce their liability under legislation announced today by Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.

Mr Dunne has introduced the bill as leader of the United Future Party, and he has government support to get it through a first reading and into a select committee for public submissions.

It allows parents with children up to age 18 to combine their income and split it down the middle for tax purposes.

That would move each income into lower tax brackets and a tax credit would be paid out at the end of the year.

Because of the way the tax system works, the maximum amount that could be gained is just over $9000 a year.

The latest from our Child Tax Minister – meanwhile we continue to wait for reform of the child tax system.

I can imagine the child tax police taking numerous Commissioner initiated reviews to stop liable parents income splitting.

Hey if your on a high-income earner a $174.61 per week tax deduction must look appealing. 

Regards

Scrap

This’ll bring tears to your eyes!

Sometimes an article is perfect the way it is, and sometimes an article is soooo good it needs to be copied and pasted in it’s entirety. This is one such article. (with permission).

The decline of the male economy – and of fatherhood – arises less from the empowerment of women than from the government’s usurpation of the family.

By Stephen Baskerville

In “The End of Men,” the cover story of the July/August Atlantic, Hanna Rosin describes “how women are taking control of everything.” Suggesting that “the economics of the new era are better suited to women,” Rosin believes the fair sex are winning the struggle for the survival of the fittest. In what is apparently cause for celebration, she writes, “three-quarters of the 8 million jobs lost were lost by men” in the ongoing Great Recession. “The worst-hit industries were overwhelmingly male and deeply identified with macho: construction, manufacturing, high finance.” She contends that the economic crisis “merely revealed–and accelerated–a profound economic shift that has been going on for at least 30 years.”

The Atlantic used the same issue to ask, “Are Fathers Necessary?” Pamela Paul cites a widely publicized study purporting to prove that fathers are harmful in rearing children and that lesbians do it better. The study is politics camouflaged as social science–its authors acknowledge that the parenting virtues they extol are defined “in part in the service of an egalitarian ideology.” Their message echoes Rosin’s: within the home, as in the national economy, men are unreliable at best and pathological at worst. The Atlantic assures us that the decline of men is the product of impersonal forces against which we are powerless to respond, even if we wished to–which apparently we do not.
(more…)

Revenue Minister Peter Dunne is calling for a change to the child support system, saying “too many children are suffering”.

Close Up revealed tonight that more than 500 parents earning more $100,000 dollars a year haven’t paid child support debts, and Inland Revenue seems powerless to do anything about it.

Dunne said the child support system has become “outdated” and “unreasonable,” and wants the issue addressed.

Make sure you watch the video, particuarly when Dunne is asked how long till change is on the Cabinet Agenda – “the next few weeks-I hope”.

Believe it when I see it!

Regards

Scrap

I am concerned at the angst showing in many recent posts on these pages. Some men are taking too long to climb out of their hurt and see all of the faces of the world surrounding us.

Are they taking responsibility for the hurts that they may have given?
12 Steps shows a good path, which includes righting the wrongs that you have done to others.
Wikipedia 12 Steps Programme
(more…)

There’s a lot of famous trios out there, …. the 3 musketeers, three wise men, Marx Brothers…. Groucho,Chico and Harpo and another to add …. 3 fathers – Alfred Ngaro, Jack Scanlan and Chris Makoare who have started the group ‘Just for Dads’.

The fathers formed the group with the thought of it being more than just a service, but a collective — a “family” even and wearing T-shirts with their logo, 160 dads, mums and children attended their first event at a Warrior’s rugby game.

Alfred Ngaro is a former pastor and community worker, Jack Scanlan a police youth development programme manager and Chris Makoare a Family Centre manager. All three understand the importance of fatherhood in communities and how fatherlessness is affecting our communities. There is argument that fatherlessness is responsible for crime and argument that it’s more complicated, yet whatever the argument, it’s obvious father’s help keep communities safe.

To find out more about Just 4 Dads contact the Glen Innes Family Centre on 570-6250 or email [email protected].

To read the full article on Just for Dads, click here. There’s also events organised by the Prostate community from camps to runs to rock climbing. Click here to see their 2010 calendar.

Women wash the care less often:

http://blog.autoquake.com/news/women-drivers-are-dirtier-than-men/1966

Then there are the lawns, the garden, the rubbish, repairs, fixing the car, etc etc.

Union of Fathers president Allan Harvey says “The system is too crude at the moment and encourages one parent to be a care parent and one to be a cash parent. That’s not best for our children.”

Child support reform advocate James Nicolle also said the system was failing both parents and children. “It’s just not fair to anyone – I have seen case after case where people have been pushed to the wall by the amount of child support they have to pay”,

“Systems like this don’t work anywhere in the world. If you go to the UK, Australia, the United States, Europe . . any system that is based on a percentage of income of the parent results in massive debt. They don’t just work – they’re unsustainable,” Nicolle said.

……….

Well done dads!!!

To read the rest of this story, click here.

Many people will have heard mention of the NZ Suicide Prevention Strategy but won’t be aware of exactly what it says, or that it was produced by the Ministry of Health and funded by our taxes. The Strategy was published in 2006 and is intended to be in place until 2016. Well, we all know that men suicide on average at about three times the rate that women do (actually, for some age groups it’s five to six times as much, and the figures will not include many other suicides made to look like accidents). No other population factor (e.g. age, race, socio-economic status) shows the large effect that gender does regarding risk of suicide (except for children under 10 years old who are understandably many times less likely to suicide than are all older age groups). But surprise, surprise, the Strategy contains not one single component specifically aimed at reducing male suicide or addressing the factors that lead men to suicide. (more…)

Minister of Justice Simon Power has been talking for some time about introducing an inquisitorial system for cases involving child complainants and for complainants in sex crimes. Of course, he uses the ploy of referring to “child victims” and “sex abuse victims” to manipulate the public towards believing that all such complainants are necessarily victims of real crime, a good example of “begging the question”. But that’s a minor issue.

The term “inquisitorial” is apt given that the Inquisitions were always based on propaganda-fuelled superstition that from the late middle ages included witch-hunting. Power plans to remove lawyers and the process of cross-examination from sexual trials, and plans to remove the need for complainants to tell their story in Court at all (relying instead on statements they made at the time they first complained). (more…)

How far will a father go to protect his little girl?

Two months ago I wrote about a father who has been protesting outside Prime Minister John Key’s home, Social Minister Paula Bennett’s office and CYFS offices around the country.

He has been trying tirelessly to save his 3 year old daughter from her mother’s abuse and gang affiliation.

New Zealand like other western countries follows feminist ideology when it comes to heterosexual relationships and uses the presumption men=bad and women=good. If a man does something wrong it’s ‘men’s power’, ‘ the myth of men’s superiority’ and ‘Patriarchy’. When women do something wrong it’s ‘men made her do it’ because of ‘men’s power’, ‘the myth of men’s superiority’ and ‘Patriarchy’.

Men have received the blame from the very beginning of ‘girl power’ where girls were encouraged to compete with boys and cheered when they could do something better than a boy while boys were encouraged to build the girl’s self-esteem, go easy on them and protect them from hurting themselves. If the boys failed to do this, society came down on them like a ton of bricks. “Good girl, bad boy” was something this generation of children were raised with and in turn as adults, they have placed it into law and policy. The writing of our laws don’t look to be discriminative but the policies on how the laws are practised are.
(more…)

Have a read of this article Upaid child support $17 Million note :

Inland Revenue documents released to the Taranaki Daily News show more than half the parents liable for child support in the region had an outstanding debt.

A total of $6.7m of the money is assessment debt, money either passed directly on to the childrens’ guardian or paid to the Government to cover the cost of providing a benefit to support the children.

The rest of the owed money — more than $10m — is made up in penalties.

The figures show 64.5 per cent, or 2559 of the 3965 parents liable for child support in the region, had an outstanding debt.

Now read the IRD spin ;

An Inland Revenue spokesman said the majority of liable parents pay their child support in full and on time.

The department had collected 89 per cent of all child support assessed since the scheme started in 1992, and 70 per cent of new debt cases were resolved within 12 months.

Lets have a look at what is being spun :

• The majority of liable parents , an unknown number that could be between 50.1 and 100% –
• Pay their child support in full and on time - Yet  64% of those in Taranaki have a debt which  incidentally is about the same as the % for all child tax payers.

Now ask the question why if the majority of liable parents pay in full on time why do 64% of them have a debt? Something does not add up.

• The department had collected 89 per cent of all child support assessed since the scheme started in 1992. Basically this tells us nothing useful but does raise a question: If child support collection is so successful why are so many dads owing so much money?
•  70 per cent of new debt cases were resolved within 12 months.Once again what does this mean? How many “debt cases” are opened each financial year – how often do dads get into” debt” is it the same dads repeating every 12 months?

It is disappointing that no journalist is conducting an indepth analysis of this spin.

Regards

Scrap

Dating New Zealand Women

A departing French ambassador to New Zealand once commented at the end of his stay in the country that New Zealand women lacked elegance, complaining that they dressed only in black and ‘walk like soldiers’. That was a bit cruel, though it’s true you won’t see many Kiwi women prancing around with poodles.

In terms of exotic good looks, it’s still not Venezuela, although especially with the changing ethnic mix, there are plenty of attractive women around. Even better, many are paranoid that they’re facing a ‘man drought’, a 10% gender imbalance in the 25-39 age group identified by statisticians — maybe due to all the male Kiwi backpackers who fell in love with overseas women who smiled at them.

New Zealand women despair of the diffidence displayed by local men, but they aren’t very impressed with flowery, Latin-style romancing either. They tend to prefer guys who are politely assertive (such as North Americans) or have a roguish charm (such as the Irish).

They are often comfortable with making the first move, although, as with their male compatriots, a tequila or three certainly helps to smooth the way.

In a relationship, a New Zealand woman will expect to be treated as an equal and will be impatient with excessive machismo or overt signs of possessiveness

CHICAGO – A Chicago-area man is suing Southwest Airlines, saying its flight attendants failed to protect his 14-year-old son from an older female passenger who made sexual advances toward him and offered him illegal drugs during a flight to Florida.

According to the lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, the incident occurred on a July 13, 2008 flight to Orlando.

Attorney Jeffrey Deutschman said the teenager repeatedly asked attendants to be assigned another seat, but they refused to allow him to move.

Deutschman said the boy was so frightened by the experience that he refused to return home by himself, so his father flew down to accompany him home.

Please note this is just what a quick search brought up reported in the news today. There is nothing special about today.

Mother jailed for ‘cruel, horrible’ abuse
A Brisbane mother has been jailed for the “cruel, disgraceful and horrible” abuse of her baby son.

The 34-year-old woman, who cannot be named, was this morning sentenced to 16 months’ jail after she pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and six counts of assaulting her son.

Brisbane District Court was told the mother digitally penetrated the boy a number of times during a 14-month period between 2005 and 2006, causing bleeding, for which she would later take him to a hospital.

She continued the acts while her son was in a hospital bed.
(more…)

I have been giving this Child Support and Family Law question a bit of thought lately. Rather than prattle on about the inequities of our Family and Child Support Laws, which in this forum we all know so much about, I thought I would offer up some ideas about where I think it should go. I believe that we, in little ol’ NZ are probably in an ideal situation to pioneer the reforms that need to occur, to begin to rectify many of the fundamental ills of every western society, (yeah ok, we were the first to give wimmin the vote — look where that has got us.) because we are  small enough to gather the ears, and large enough to have some credibility, as a nation.

So this is what I think:-
(more…)

I came across a couple of interesting short videos on the net that echo the message men give through writing on this site and thought “Hey, cool”.

This one (below) is about men choosing surrogacy to become fathers rather than risk losing their children when a mother is involved.
(more…)