An Interlude

For your musical enjoyment this evening, I bring you the Light Cavalry Overture, by Franz von Suppé -- presented to you in the wondrous MIDI sound format! Behold, the magical MIDI widget will appear before your very own eyes in your very own browser window:

http://tinyurl.com/567x8s

Yes, I'm in a light mood, so I have given you something light. :)

And since I am also in a giving mood, let me give you something else -- a tad bit not-so-light, perhaps. But hey, it's all good! This is Anton Chekhov's short story entitled The Grasshopper:

http://tinyurl.com/67jxdy

I am certain that my worthy and intelligent readers will not fail to uncover matter for weighty rumination in this brief but thoughtfully-crafted literary opus. And those who would take it amiss or athwart are invited to. . . let us say. . . suck it up! ;)

By the way, if you have spare reading time, I can recommend almost anything by Chekhov. He was one shrewd codger, with an uncanny eye for the human condition!

Another Way of Spreading the Word

I would like to share a comment which I just left on a blog entitled America's Next Bill Clinton. The blog owner goes by the name of "Pro-feminist Male", and the content of his blog certainly fulfills the preconceptions that you might logically form on the basis of such a monikker. Here is the URL:

http://tinyurl.com/6bt75k

And my comment follows:

"I would like to offer a suggestion. Why don’t you abjure all loyalty to this thing called “feminism”, and position yourself within the Non-feminist Sector, and work for the betterment of humanity from THAT angle?

"It would require a bit of a paradigm shift, but. . . such things DO happen! They are not unknown. You wouldn’t be the first person in the history of the human race who completely jumped ship from one belief system and latched on to another.

"After all, you ARE biologically male. And whether you want to believe it or not, feminism is NOT YOUR FRIEND. It will only betray you and lie to you, and some day you may be forced to admit this even to yourself. So why not make that day SOONER rather than later? Trust me, it would be better for you, and better for us all. It may be painful to realize that you as a man have been led down the garden path by this hegemonic and totalitarian state ideology — but. . . it’s a “good kind of pain”. A “growing pain”. And you’ll be thankful for it when it’s over.

"Oh . . . and don’t be put off by the abusive gutter language you may be getting from the undisciplined rabble. Spend some time in the Sector, and you’ll discover all manner of folk — including women — who are actually first-rate people, and the best sort of company you could ask for, and in fact truer friends than any feminist will ever be. (And feminists are false friends indeed, who only want to USE you, and will only stab you in the back in the long run!)

"Although I am not a religious man, let me say that I pray for your political and intellectual awakening.

"Here’s hoping that I meet you someday on the NF side of the fence!

"counterfem.blogspot.com"

So you see, that we needn't always play the part of the raging, cursing, fire-breathing MRA. Here, I took a different approach. Yes, people can and do change -- sometimes dramatically, even diametrically. Let us not foreclose such possibilities.

More Ways That You Can Help

The following e-mail arrived early this morning:

"Instapundit and Protein Wisdom cover updates on the Equal Parenting Bike Trek - PLEASE THANK! 250,000 hits in 24 hrs! This is BIG COVERAGE!!

"This is nothing small. Instapundit = roughly 250,000 hits over a 24 hour period. Protein Wisdom is less but still quite substantial.

"PLEASE take the time to thank them BOTH so we can get additional coverage next year. These are MAJOR news blogs and they could ignore our issues like so many…

"So again PLEASE comment on Protein Wisdom – it does NOT require an account. http://proteinwisdom.com/pub/?p=1138 Comment at the url to the left.

---------------------------------------

"To thank Instapundit please email Glenn Reynolds (famous author) at pundit@instapundit.com

"http://www.pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/022968.php A small plug like this means over 250,000 hits in 24 hrs…that’s how popular this blog is!!

"WHY IS GETTING INSTAPUNDIT A BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT? AND PROTEIN WISDOM?"

To make things perfectly clear: Instapundit and Protein Wisdom have (again!) covered the Equal Parenting Bike Trek. And a strong show of support from readers will help to ensure that more such mentions occur in the future, with the consequent gigantic spike in web traffic and all of the publicity and increased mindshare which goes along with it! So, your mission, if you decide to accept it, is clearly stated in the message.

By the way, in the header list of recipients was an impressively large number of family rights and father's rights orgs of various kinds. Such groups are proliferating all across the USA! And right about this time, they've all got their eyes upon Michigan, and even more, upon Washington DC!

I am told that 2009 is the year when it's really going to break BIG! But for the present, the thing to do is attract as many media klieg-lights as possible, and encourage those lights to return. . . OFTEN.

Incidentally, Glenn Reynolds, the "famous author" (and Instapundit publisher) mentioned in the e-mail, is the husband of the celebrated Dr. Helen.

Angelucci & Co. on the Tom Leykis Show

You will undoubtedly want to listen to the following episode of the Tom Leykis Show, in MP3 format. Clink below, and it will open in your browser:

http://tinyurl.com/6hwxb4

I mean that. Seriously. You will undoubtedly want to listen to it. It is well worth listening to, and you will not regret it!

So go now, and listen. The program features Marc Angelucci of NCFMLA, and some of his cohorts, systematically tearing apart the feminists for their lies about domestic violence. And yes. . . the words feminist and feminism pop up quite a bit! They aren't bashful about tossing that old F word around, no sireee!

The program also features a couple of nitwit female callers, one of whom tries to derail the discussion by talking about the friggin' pay gap, of all things! Angelucci does a world-class job of putting her in her place.

And one of the other guests proffers the provocative datum that women use 85% of all toilet paper! Hmmmm . . . . ;)

Go now, and listen. Yes, it is THAT good! So go and listen. Here's the URL once again:

http://tinyurl.com/6hwxb4

Make Your Voice Heard Re: IMBRA

I got the following e-mail recently. I will let it speak for itself:

"Hi CounterFeminist: Here is the chance to let the unconstitutional „Office on Family Victims” at the Department of Homeland Security know how you feel about the proposed wording of the IMBRA brochure that foreign women will be given at US embassies and consulates around the world. The deadline for comments is September 19th.

"Please go to www.regulations.gov and do a search for IMBRA. Then read the document and click on “Submit a Comment”.

"1) You might note that they should not assume what Congress “intended” when they passed the IMBRA law a few seconds before Christmas vacation in 2005.

"2) You would hopefully stress that it was never proven nor should it be called a “fact” that women face a higher risk of domestic violence from men they meet via international matchmaking websites.

"3) You might want to contest the phrase “marriage broker” as well if you wish. Otherwise foreign women will be reading that Congress “intended” to save them from the “fact” that men who want to meet them are dangerous. . . .

"I basically told them that their pamphlet will be ordered by the courts to be thrown in the garbage if they are not careful in their choice of words.

"I specifically told them that they should not reference the part of IMBRA that deals with the introduction stage because this has the highest chance of being overturned in the courts. My main points were that they should not waste paper by printing millions of copies of something that would later need to be thrown out.

"I also noted that their jobs could be declared unconstitutional as the US Constitution does not authorize Congress to deal with domestic violence issues of any kind. Please comment yourself because we must have sufficient numbers doing this. . . .

"Please write your comment in Word or Outlook and then cut and paste into the comment box on the Regulations website because the website software is buggy and the site can hang if you try to write your entire document while inside their comments box. . . . Please post the above instructions on blogs and forums if you can as well.

"Jim Peterson
"Veterans Abroad
"www.veteransabroad.com"

If you decide to strike a blow at the femplex by lending your support to this campaign, go to the link given in the message and follow the instructions you will find there. You will find that the text of the pamphlet which Jim mentions must be downloaded as a PDF file. For your convenience, I have placed this very same file on another server in order to give you an alternative in case the regulations.gov website proves difficult:

http://tinyurl.com/6gwo2m

I would encourage my fellow bloggers to post a notification about this as well.

More On the Bike Trek

My thanks to Rob Pedersen for refreshing my memory about the 'cycling for children' blog, which contains several updates on the Equal Parenting Bike Trek. Certainly, we can all benefit from having a tall mug of espresso set directly under our noses from time to time! ;)

I recommend that you go and read. The blog material gives a very useful view of what's going on, in terms of its complexity and scale:
http://tinyurl.com/57kbde

The photograph which I've included offers such a view in aerial terms. By studying this Washington, DC photo you will get a pretty good idea what a major event the Family Preservation Festival is going to be.

The feminists, of course, are not happy about things like the Bike Trek, the DC Festival, the growing constellation of activisms and activist orgs, and the snowballing media attention these are attracting. And that is understandable, since the feminists bear a large share of responsibility for either creating the diseased societal conditions which these various movements aim to correct, or for keeping the status quo the way it is because they have a vested interest in doing so. Either way you look at it, the feminists would much rather that nothing changed in the realm of Family Law, Marriage Law, Divorce Law, Father's Rights, DV intervention, etc. . .etc. . .etc.

Remember that these activities are set to occur on a yearly cycle, and there is no reason not to expect the movement to get bigger every year. Eventually the mainstream media will be unable to ignore it any longer.

Update on the Equal Parenting Bike Trek

I have received the following from Lary Holland (family law reform activist and internet radio host at laryholland.com and getyourjusticelive.com) who wanted to offer more current information about the Equal Parenting Bike Trek (which is currently underway -- I would guess they're in Ohio by now!):

"Hi there! This is the full release of the EPBT that covers:

"Third Year of the event...

"1. State Correction Worker
"2. Judicial Candidate
"3. Teacher
"4. Director of an organization

[Link for Press Release:] http://tinyurl.com/6qs7fk

"If you could please update this, it would be AWESOME. Thank you so much and I would like to add you to the blog roll and vice versa, as I picked up your info from misandry review. The cool thing about the link is that you can click embed for the embed code and have it display the whole thing if you want.

"http://www.familycourtreports.com/

"Lary Holland
GOOGLE: DC FESTIVAL 2008
Host/Producer Get Off The Bench
http://www.getyourjusticelive.com"

I have not used the embed code as Lary mentions, since that wouldn't suit my design policy for this blog. However, the provided link will download the press release.

When the bike trekkers arrive in Washington, D.C., they will be greeted by the huge Family Preservation Festival -- just like the one last year. Wouldn't it be huge fun if the F4J crew was on hand to decorate the Lincoln Memorial again? ;)

More on the DC rally here (and I highly recommend this link): http://www.dcfestival2008.com

Lary Holland has had the goodness to link to CF on his main website, so how could I not return the favor? I will be adding familycourtreports.com to my blogroll. (He said that this was the best URL to use for a link-up -- better than laryholland.com, apparently.)

The Equal Parenting Bike Trek is Ready to Roll

I have not blogged about the Equal Parenting Bike Trek for quite some time, so it is high time for me to make amends by posting the following "dispatch" which I just received in my e-mail:

"MICHIGAN JUDICIAL CANDIDATE RIDES BICYCLE FROM LANSING TO DC IN SUPPORT OF FAMILY COURT REFORM

"Grand Rapids, Michigan August 6, 2008 - Brian Downs, a Kent County attorney and candidate for Judge in the Kent County 17th Circuit Court in the November election is riding his bicycle 758 miles from the Capitol in Lansing to the nation's Capitol in Washington DC. Downs along with 3 other riders are signaling a message that Family Courts throughout the nation is not family friendly. The Equal Parenting Bike Trek has been organized to bring attention to what this activist believes should be reform in the nations court system.

"Brian Downs, who has been a family activist for the past 7 years, believes that it is the duty of our nation to protect the parent child relationship and repair this relationship when necessary so that children maintain a loving relationship with their entire biological family. Downs believes that the nation's family court system does more splitting up of families than protecting and maintaining this most important and primary relationship.

"Minister Ronald Smith, CEO of Children Need Both Parents, Inc, a non-profit group located in both Chicago and Grand Rapids stated, "Our family court judges pay little attention to the damage being done to our children removing one or both biological parents from a child's life without making a concerted effort that no stone is left unturned to repair and maintain this God Given relationship."

"Downs is scheduled to leave Lansing at 2:00pm EST August 7th and scheduled to arrive at the Family Preservation Festival in DC on August 15-16."

So, the second annual Equal Parenting Bike Trek begins tomorrow. Yes; I said second annual. To the best of my knowledge, they plan to make this a regular thing! Year by year, the media spotlight and the mindshare will mushroom. That's the way to do it!

I can assure you that our eternal foes, the feminists, are not at all happy about this. They are not happy about the Bike Trek (as Rob Pedersen will surely attest!), and they are not happy about the Family Law Reform and Father's Rights movements in general. They are very, very UNHAPPY about this, and they are scrutinizing the developments most intently through their monocles in their academic think tanks, and they are formulating a "spin and smear" battle plan which includes linking family law reform/father's rights to anti-VAWA lobbying and to the broader men's rights movement, and constructing a narrative about "anti-feminism" and "anti-progressivism" and the re-activation of "patriarchy", based upon the technique of discourse analysis -- which is a fancy term for "making a broad group of people appear to say whatever is convenient to our propaganda for them to appear to say."

But in the present case, I'm not unduly concerned about the feminist machinations. I seriously believe that these will backfire on them, and raise the profile of the reform movement which the feminists hope to suppress. The reason I say this is, that the reform movement is growing more sophisticated and more media-savvy, to the point where they can make an end run around the feminist lobbying machine by taking their case directly to the court of public opinion and then riding on a tide of grassroots political energy. Or to put that another way, the feminists will find it difficult to spin the story their way in the face of all the counterspin which is developing, and in the end they will find that their efforts to discredit the reform movement will actually STRENGTHEN that movement by generating publicity for it.

But. . . time will tell. I, for one, am pleased to have a ringside seat!

The Passing of Feminism

Here is something for free. Yes, they are giving this away! Apparently they didn't have enough nerve to ask money for it. And I certainly don't blame them; not in the least! The following is called the "abstract", and man, it sure is!

"As has been widely observed, histories of feminism have often been conceived via notions of generation where feminism is positioned as a kind of familial property, a form of inheritance and legacy which is transmitted through generations. Thus feminism and its history have been imagined as following a familial mode of social reproduction. Despite the dominance of this model, it has nonetheless been subject to critique, not least because of its reliance on teleological and progressive notions of history. Judith Roof, for example, has called for new conceptualizations of temporality in an attempt to decouple histories of feminism from a generational model. This need to move away from a generational model is also underscored by what commentators such as Angela McRobbie have identified as a dispersal of feminism – a broad-scale circulation of feminist values in popular culture – as well as by the emergence of a certain kind of reflexivity whereby past and current feminist practices are increasingly subject to critique. For McRobbie such developments are understood as part of the articulation of a post-feminism in which feminism can no longer be passed on as it is positioned as having already passed away. However, in this article via an exploration of recent accounts of the passing of feminism it is suggested that what allows for a declaration of this passing is an attachment to feminism as a particular way of knowing as well as to a particular arrangement of the social. Indeed, it will be suggested that recent histories of feminism and commentaries on the state of contemporary feminism are driven not only by generational logics but also by these attachments – attachments which lose and fix both feminism and women in time."

Now, to anybody positioned outside the feminist world-view, this might sound like unmitigated mental masturbation, but I can assure it is much, much more than that. In fact, it is a particular way of knowing and a particular arrangement of the social -- one which transcends teleological and progressive notions of history within the context of the articulation of a post-feminist weltanschaaung while simultaneously negotiating a hermeneutical transgression of its boundaries!

And brother, if you feel a holy "hankering of the spirit" for 18 solid pages of such rectal introspection, remember that it's a FREE GIFT! Just click below, and the PDF download should begin automatically. If not, look around for the right button to push -- you know you want to! ;)

http://ejw.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/11/4/427

The title of the article, as you will see, is Passing on Feminism.

You know what? I think that is excellent advice. I think that is exactly what we should do with feminism! We should "pass" on it!

Dutton Deluxe!

For roughly a third of a century the feminists, with their countless running-dogs and lackeys, have been spreading ill-supported claims about domestic violence -- specifically violence by men against women within the confines of  intimate relationships, e.g. dating, co-habitation and marriage.

As said, this feminist information is disputed, because over the years a body of highly creditable studies  have cast SERIOUS doubt upon its veracity.

This counter-evidence lends weighty support to the overall conclusion that, despite what the feminists have told us for many years and continue telling us today, men and women initiate domestic violence at roughly equal rates. Men, I mean, are not the primary aggressors. Neither are women, as a group, innocent lambs.

These studies also present a cogent line of argument that the feminist theory of 'patriarchal power and control' is explanatory hogwash. In most (if not all) cases, it is simply not true! A variety of other factors (mostly psychological) would appear to generate the symmetrically distributed partner violence between men and women. So-called 'patriarchy' has nearly nothing to do with it.

In other words, the situation for women is not nearly so bleak as the feminists would make it. It seems that women are already equally empowered in the realm of domestic violence! You'd think this would be good news, and that the feminists would be overjoyed to hear it. But NO! They don't even want to hear this at all, and they have been known to get violently angry at people who have tried to make such information known to the general public. That is because the feminists are a pack of filthy liars and, being the guilty dogs that they are, they don't want their guilt exposed to the disinfecting sunlight of the world's gaze! Such exposure would not only humiliate them personally, but would furthermore place feminism, both as an ideology and as a movement, in serious jeopardy. And deep in the unexamined rat-holes and crevices of their minds they know it! It wouldn't do their credibility a speck of good if everybody learned that they've been spreading vicious, defamatory falsehoods concerning half the human race, and then using these same falsehoods as the foundation for radical innovations in law and social policy.

But enough of my inflammatory and overwrought words! Today, I'd like to share with you a 44-page PDF file, published by the St. Neots Abuse Project of St. Neots, Cambridge, UK -- which by my understanding runs the only DV shelter in England that accepts men! This PDF is a repackaged version of certain writings by the distinguished Canadian DV expert Donald Dutton (of the University of British Columbia). Dutton, in my opinion, is one of the best (if not THE best) scholars in this field, and copies of his work should have a place in every MRA library. And if you are a neophyte on the subject of feminist DV lies and their many debunkings, the material which I offer herewith for download should get you up to speed pretty quickly on the broad outlines in this realm of information -- and quite a bit of the detail as well!

http://tinyurl.com/6m58mr

All right, I recommend that you follow the instructions given below:

1. Read the entire PDF from start to finish, taking your sweet time and savoring every sentence as you go along.

2. Repeat step number one 39 times, for a grand total of 40 readings.

Once you have completed the two-step plan as given, you will be quite a wizard as per the information contained in the PDF. Which, in my considered opinion, is a damn good kind of wizard for any MRA to be! ;)

Cheers!