Messages

61

Main / Re: 3 Football Players Accused of Rape Remain in Custody

Apr 10, 2007, 12:57 PM

The Strib is silent on this story today.  The campus paper, the Minnesota Daily carries the story of the 3 players' release yesterday and includes more reaction from people on campus.  The Daily article also mentions an on-line petition that is circulating demanding an apology from the UofM administration for the way the case has been handled so far.  Oy, handled so far. 

The comments continue to be interesting, apparently the 6th amendment to the U.S. Constitution is more of a suggestion than anything, you know, like, binding or anything.

The right to confront one's accuser is not a blanketed standby that applies in every instance.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

62

Main / Re: Feel terrible after a good visit

Apr 10, 2007, 07:59 AM

Keep fighting.

Amen, never quit, stay in there.

As long as the kids know you are doing it for them, no lie can cover it up.

Truer words were never spoken.

Men have been taking this stuff for too long.

I'm right there with you.

It's about time we drop the "do not hit girls" standard.

Speak for yourself. 

63

Main / Re: 3 Football Players Accused of Rape Remain in Custody

Apr 09, 2007, 02:35 PM

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is unfortunately going to be the major source of information regarding this case.  The three were released without charges today but the story sticks to the term "released pending investigation" which makes them sound guilty.  If they had been released on bail, you can bet the amounts would have been listed so clearly they were not charged.  "Pending investigation" in this case seems to mean they are trying to get a coherent statement out of the accuser and waiting for background checks on her to see how embarrassing it is going to be to go forward.

http://www.startribune.com/467/story/1109268.html

Comments from the dorm rats at the UofM are focused on either punishing the team spokesman who failed to call for the scalps of the accused or skipping to the sentencing phase for the accused.  All are in devout support of the rape shield law.  There are some comments in support of justice and due process.

Full Text
3 Gophers players suspected in alleged rape freed from jail
Three University of Minnesota football players suspected of being involved in the alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman are being released from jail today, pending further investigation.

By David Chanen, Star Tribune


Three University of Minnesota football players suspected of being involved in the alleged rape of an 18-year-old woman were released from jail today, pending further investigation.
The Hennepin County attorney's office had until noon today to either charge the players, ask the court for an extension or release them. The suspected players are Alex Daniels and Keith Massey, both 20, and E.J. Jones, 19.

They had been held at the county jail since Friday. The players were suspended from the team.

Jeff DeGree, representing Jones, said of his client's release today, "Obviously he's very happy. I'm not surprised. This is what I expected to happen. These are not very credible allegations. They're all good kids, great students.

"All three guys are good, serious students and are dedicated to be football players. It's a terrible experience for them."

DeGree said his client will try to "live his life as normally as possible, go back to school and, I think, he'll soon be back on the football team. He's very, very upset and wants to put it behind him. He didn't do anything wrong. "Ultimately, these are 19-, 20-year-old kids and I don't know where they go to get their reputations back.

"They're not the kind of guys a coach worries about on Friday night."

As Massey left the jail he declined to comment except to say. "I want to thank everyone who supported us."

Daniels left separately and said, "go Gophers."

"I don't know what happened. I'm just taking it one day at a time."

While waiting for a cab, he said he does not have a lawyer.

The alleged rape happened at an apartment complex near the University of Minnesota campus. According to University Police Chief Greg Hestness, the rape occurred late Tuesday or early Wednesday at the University Village Apartments on University Avenue, where the players live.

He said the woman isn't a resident there and that she is not a University of Minnesota student. He wouldn't discuss any details of the allegation, but the players were booked on criminal sexual conduct in the third-degree.

The woman went to a hospital for a sexual-assault examination, according to a police report. Early Friday, she reported the incident to police.


Bob Von Sternberg contributed to this report.


David Chanen • 612-673-4465

64

Main / Re: 3 Football Players Accused of Rape Remain in Custody

Apr 09, 2007, 06:41 AM

The campus newspaper at the UofM is the Minnesota Daily.  They have a website and registration to add comments is still open as of a few minutes ago. 
http://www.mndaily.com/

The campus culture at the "U" is very much left, liberal, feminist, politically correct, victim centered etc.  There is also a lot of hostility toward men's athletic programs and male athletes.

65

Main / Re: just got notice!

Apr 07, 2007, 06:44 AM

What a great opportunity, way to go outdoors.
Here are my suggestions:
1.  Tell YOUR story.  From what you have said, the system FAILED you.  Give him all the details, make him feel your pain.

2.  Convince him that you are a valuable resource to him; that you can bring him information and a perspective that he NEEDS to serve his constituents (and get re-elected.)

3. Place all your research and data in folder,explain what it is and suggest that he or his staff look it over later.  Politicians get swamped with literature so don't let your face-time turn into reading time.

4. Ask for another meeting (it's kind of like dating, shudder.)  He may pawn you off on a staffer but this is okay.  You want regular contact with his office so you can continue to have influence on policy.


Final note:  They say anyone who enjoys good sausage or good public policy shouldn't watch either one being made.  Politics is a filthy, degrading, wretched business full of compromise, shady deals and outright crimnal conduct.  But decisions get made by the people who show up.  You have won a ticket to the arena, make us proud, brother.

66

Activism / Re: What's down in Los Angeles?

Apr 06, 2007, 07:24 PM

You specifically said you don't drive so forgive my obtusivity
But...
Take a look at makestickers.com.  You can use templates or upload your own graphics to make custom bumper stickers.

At last official count, there were 128 bazillion cars operating in L.A. and the average Angelino spends 169 hours per week in bumper to bumper traffic.  All those bumpers should have a righteous pro-MRA message on them.

You get a better price on higher volumes so make up a stack and start getting that good word out there.

67

Main / Re: My body, My Choice

Apr 06, 2007, 10:04 AM

Dr. Evil the research I have done shows feminists are strongly in favor of a surrogate mother's right to abortion on demand with no redress for the other parties to the contract.  Feminists seem to hold the right to kill unborn children above all else.

Are you aware of any cases where a pair of feminists (read lesbian) women hire a woman as a surrogate, pay for insemination and expenses and then have to sue for any breach of contract on the part of the surrogate?

There are some interesting cases where a pair of lesbian feminist women have children via surrogacy and then become bored with the relationship and head to family court.
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1068651211423
They have to tread very carefully in these cases for fear of creating precedents that men can use to support their rights as parents.

68

Main / Re: ACTION Alert!!! Hit Them on Tax Day

Apr 06, 2007, 07:23 AM

Action beats inaction, best of luck and all that.

But IMHO, you will run in to a signal to noise problem; it will be like pissing into the ocean.  The P.O. already deals with tons of nuisance mail.  Consider folks like this: http://home.nycap.rr.com/wwilliams/JunkMail.html (They use the prepaid return envelopes in junk mail to send "a message" to junk mail senders.)  All it accomplishes in the end is to raise the price of stamps.  Not enough people will pay attention to the messages written on envelopes and the few that do will not take a positive view.

The Men's Rights Movement has a serious image problem.  Too many people already believe men are scary and dangerous.  Anything we do that looks anti-social or disruptive is going to put ammunition in the hands of feminists. 

Alternative things to do during tax season to help the MR Movement:

Go down to the old-folks home and help little old ladies do their taxes (way easy.)  Then, when someone asks her to support an anti-male cause, she'll think about that nice young man who helped her instead of those meanies who made her grandson's birthday card late.

Join a taxpayer's league gathering on your State's capitol steps. Here's one in the land of the ice and snow-http://libertarian.meetup.com/25/calendar/5562997/
Feminists are socialists, they need taxes to live.  Control public spending and feminists will die.

Join Big Brothers and sistershttp://www.bbbs.org/site/c.diJKKYPLJvH/b.1539751/k.BDB6/Home.htm  Give a kid a male role model and show him that men are strong, protective, nurturing and FUN.

Civil disobedience has its place.  File FOIA requests for the financial records of feminist organizations (hat tip to LSBeene and Dr. Evil) Request to be admitted to family court proceedings at your local county courthouse in order to conduct research (many of these proceedings are closed to the public in contravention of law.)  The key word is CIVIL.  Blocking streets etc. is just hooliganism and reflects poorly on our cause.

It is feminists and socialist who want to tear down the institutions of society.  We are the ingenious mutts who built those institutions and who think of ways to make them better every day.  As Sir Percy would have said: Stay atop your steed, fight with honor and the day will yet be yours.

69

Main / Re: Victim of False Allegation, of a sort

Apr 04, 2007, 11:30 AM

She responded "I know how much you like sex - I would be worried about that also."

Decades of lame TV comedies have established the myth that women are sexual gatekeepers and men are sexually out of control.  Wives are frigid while their husbands must beg and plead and perform chores to earn their sex rations.  Even unmarried women are discerning, selective, choosy in their sexual relationships.  Men, according to the mythology, will have sex with anyone, anytime, anywhere.

Ask the women in your life what they would do if someone were to accuse you of a sex crime.  Is her immediate response: "Why, what did you do?"   

In the age of anonymous accusations and shield laws, your only line of defense is the people around you who will vouch for your character and will not consider the sight of you in police custody to be proof positive of your guilt. 

70

Main / Re: WHAT THE FUCK!

Apr 04, 2007, 08:46 AM

At the time of the incident, police said the city's communications center received a call at 2:39 a.m. from the Auburn Street home. The caller told police a wanted man was there and he might have a gun.

Was there a gun?  Did the police look for a gun?  Good questions the reporter missed.
If you want someone to get shot, call the police and report an armed suspect.  They will show up pegged on adrenaline, guns drawn, safety off.  If this call was placed by the ex-wife and there was no gun, she should be charged with making a false police report resulting in a death.

Another troubling aspect of this story is how the fact that this guy was behind on CS payments is used in a very subtle way to make it seem like this shooting was no big deal.  Look at it this way: if the victim had been an illegal alien or a  terror suspect or something, this would have been all over the national news as a gross micarriage of justice.  Celebrities would be holding benefit concerts for his family.

As sick as it is, when people read a story about crime, they read until they find a detail they can use to distance the crime from themselves.  They need to know that the person either deserved it or that they don't matter.  It's just how people are, so it goes.  If a crime takes place and the victim is not easily written off, people start demanding answers.  People call newspaper editors, politicians and the police to complain that "decent, honest people aren't safe to walk the streets!"

The police look for distancing factors to put in their reports and news editors are sure to include the factors in the stories; neither wants to deal with the calls.  These factors have changed throughout history.  The victim was an immigrant, the victim was an ethnic minority, the victim belonged to a gang, the victim was a drug user or prostitute.  The distancing factor in this case is the "deadbeat dad" label.  We are to believe his death was unfortunate but nothing to worry about because he was "one of those deadbeat dads and everyone knows what kind of people they are."

I have no idea what kind of fellow this man was.  I was not there and have no idea what happened regarding the shooting.  But I can see that men who can't or won't pay child support are being treated as pariahs in a country where EVERYONE is a victim deserving our understanding and loads and loads of taxpayer funding.  This is part of a war against men.

71

Main / Re: I need to write an add !

Apr 02, 2007, 12:16 PM

Advertising 101: AIDA
A: Attention
I: Interest
D: Decision
A: Action

Attention: Something about the ad should initially cause the reader's eyes to stop on it and scan it to see if it rates a moment of attention. 
FREE BEER
I have your attention (don't use "free beer" in giant type, done to death.)

Interest:  The human eye in modern times is bombarded by trillions of appeals for the scant abilities of the human brain.  To get someone's interest, the ad must be interesting (advertising students don't like complex rules.)  Stories about people are interesting, notices about dates, times and places of meetings are not interesting...unless there is a story.  Tell a story.

Decision: If people read your ad and agree that "I really should do that" and walk away promising themselves to look into it later, your ad has failed.  Something about your ad has to cause your target to make a decision.  Think of this step as convincing your subject to cancel their existing plans: "I was going to a movie tonight but instead I will..."  "I was going to spend my tax refund on an oil-change but instead I will..."  A classic ad strategy is to impose a drastic time constraint to force your subject to decide NOW.  "An orphan will starve tonight if you don't act NOW."  "Free subscription to Jugs and Ammo for the next 10 callers."  "Nancy Pelosi is counting on you to stay home this Tuesday."  Use whatever analogy works for you but you are knocking an object in motion out of its current path, sinking the hook, right here, pass/fail.

Action:  Your subject has to DO something: make a phone call, click on a link, show up someplace, write a check etc.  This has to be crystal clear.  Think of the For Sale signs people used to put up on bulletin boards in public places with the easy tear-off strips along the bottom containing a phone number.  Make It Easy.

72

Main / Re: I need to write an add !

Apr 02, 2007, 11:05 AM

Do you have a rough draft?
Also, what kind of publication is your ad going to run in?

Describe in a few words your objective in running the ad
example: get people to call me about starting a men's rights group, get people to show up for a meeting about men's rights etc

73

Main / Re: A Feminazi's Pledge

Apr 02, 2007, 09:56 AM

 
Happy Monday

74

Main / Re: A Feminazi's Pledge

Apr 02, 2007, 08:27 AM

The entire essay is a snide, passive aggressive list of grievances posing as a noble pledge to guide future behavior of a new ruling class. Each point should be read first as an accusation that such things are currently taking place as a matter of patriarchal policy and then read again as a promise that such things will not take place once the new feminist order is in place.  The new feminist order is apparently going to be able to exercise fingertip control over all levels of behavior public, private, aggregate, individual, and even innermost thoughts and attitudes.

One of my old university profs used to teach a political theory class where he would pull a funny trick on idealists.  He would ask them to describe the perfect society and they would begin with plenty of food and shelter for all and daily recycling pick-ups and free basic cable etc.  The prof. would pose the obvious challenges to these things and ask for solutions.  Within three sentences, the idealist would say something blatantly totalitarian like: "well, we would just have to have mandatory re-education camps for people like that."  The student would be as shocked as everyone else at what they had just said, it was priceless.  It would appear the universities have dedicated themselves to silencing such profs and turning out armies of such students.

We will never, ever say you're whining simply because you are voicing concerns. We will not silence or censor you with humiliation, belittlement or aggression. We will listen to you respectfully and respond with compassion. Repressing feelings, retaliating or being defensive will not help us progress. Communication and respect will. 

Try this: Go to a feminist site, register a new user name and post a few bland comments to introduce yourself.  Watch for the right opportunity to voice an opinion that is only slightly outside of socialist feminist dogma.  Suggest that Planned Parenthood might better accomplish its goals if it were not so reliant on public funding for example.  Stand ready to count instances of humiliation, belittlement and aggression; use a stopwatch to measure how quickly you are banned.

We will not use a myriad of negative epitaphs in music or media to refer to you. In fact, I don't believe so many such epitaphs exist for men, so we would be limited already.

I love it when people confuse epithet with epitaph.  I picture two people screaming at each other over a dented fender: "Rest In Peace!"  "Beloved Father and Husband!"

We will not make laws that affect your medical care and rights to govern your own body. We will cover your prescriptions in health insurance and treat you with respect when you come to the pharmacy to fill your prescriptions. We will not turn you away or humiliate you.

Translation: If a woman you care about comes in for pre-natal care and we give her an abortion from force of habit, we will provide counseling to help you see that it was probably the right choice and really none of your business anyway.

We won't consider you freakish for being single or childless. Your choices will be respected. We can't all be married with 2.2 children, a house and a dog.

translation: In fact, we will relieve you of any children you have since we have some great ideas for how to raise them that you just wouldn't understand.

We will ask that you take more responsibility for reproductive choices.

Responsibility for choices?  The logic is dizzying.  So in the new world order, women will have still more choices and men will have still more responsibilities.  I picture a man being led in for a forced sperm extraction in order to impregnate a woman who always wanted to have an abortion but couldn't.

You will ... be willing to get a vasectomy -- so much easier and cheaper than a tubal ligation.

YOUR pledge includes things I will be willing to do?  Is this meant to be read like a hypnotist shtick?  Also, your pledge seems to be comparison shopping methods of human sterilization; are children even ALLOWED in your new world order?

You will also be willing to accompany us on an abortion, if needed. Just going to a family planning clinic can be dangerous.

You must mean dangerous in the same sense that walking down the corner store for a paper can be dangerous.  Because your dream society seems to involve daily trips to vacuum out your lady bits.

We will not blame you for causing divorce, gaining profits from divorce, marrying for money, being a bad single parent, or smoking around children or pregnant women.

You just got off the phone with your mother didn't you?

We will not have scientists, educators or philosophers find reasons for your supposed inferiority. We will not abuse our public role to insult you like Socrates, Freud, John Belushi, Bobby Riggs, Lawrence Summers, et al have done. We will seek answers, not justifications.

OUR society won't have lots of smarty-pants know-it-alls walking around saying just any old thing.  We'll have PLACES for people like them, don't worry, don't you worry.

We won't spend a fortune on marketing that targets you and then turn around and call you materialistic. We won't blame you for being consumers because you take on the majority of shopping responsibilities. And we won't use insulting, derogatory ads that, in fact, target you as the buyer.

I know this one sounds complicated but we've got it all figured out: get rid of capitalism, duh!

In all aspects of society, men and women will be represented and treated fairly. We cannot promise a utopia, but it will be a better, more harmonious and balanced society.

I know, I know everyone being treated fairly is utopian and then I turn around in the next sentence and say it won't be utopia.  How do I resolve that paradox? Easy! We get to say what "fair" is.

75

Main / Re: Men Hurt Too

Apr 01, 2007, 08:05 PM

There is great resistance to providing this kind of support and counseling to men.  The pro "choice" philosophy has great momentum and anything that even seems to go against it is attacked viciously.  A quick google of lifeissues and anti-choice turns up over 200,000 hits.  Life Issues is the enemy to the political abortion machine.  The philosphy of "choice" is that pregnancy is a venereal disease.  To acknowledge a man's grief is to admit  a child has died.

I have told the story of my experience with abortion on SYG before.  I felt that I had become a murderer and I was paralyzed with shame for years.  Some of the people I turned to for help suggested I should address my feelings of guilt about women's inequality.  I told a male psychologist how ashamed I felt and he just eyed me coldly, as if to say, "well, you should."

Faith is a very personal thing and some find its discussion tiresome, but faith is the only thing that saved my life.  I worship a forgiving God and I will be able to face those children (yes, it happened more than once) who died before they saw daylight in heaven and tell them that it was because I was not a better man that they were cheated of a chance to laugh and play and live.

I am glad this organization and others like it exist.