Europe for Christmas

With special guests:

• Benjamin Wondergem
• Ken Thompson
• Peter Tromp
• Robert Whiston

In our last show for 2011 and in the leadup to Christmas we have a European flavour. In the studio we are joined by Benjamin Wondergem visiting Sydney from the Netherlands and Ken Thompson who is well known to listeners in connection with the Hague Convention and more generally in the area of reforming the law on International Parental Child Abduction.

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Breaking the Silence on Male Victims of Domestic Violence

With special guests:

• Dr Elizabeth Celi
• Emily Tilbrook

In the wake of White Ribbon Day 2011 and the recent amendments to the Family Law Act relating to domestic violence our show today presents an opportunity to discover the real story.

We speak first to Dr Elizabeth Celi an internationally recognised expert in the field of men’s health.

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Our Grande Finale Salute to International Men’s Day

With special guests:

• Geneuvieve Twala
• Diane Sears
• Donald Berment

Today we present the final show in our series on International Men’s Day (IMD) 2011 where the theme is:

Giving Boys the Best Possible Start in Life

We start out in Africa going to the home of the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, namely Botswana, and finish up in Trinidad and Tobago via the USA.

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International Men’s Day on different continents

With special guests:

• Glen Poole
• Cathleen Williams
• David Hatfield 

International Men’s Day (IMD) 2011 will be celebrated in over 50 countries around the world on 19 November and the 2011 theme is:

Giving Boys the Best Possible Start in Life

This week we drop in on the IMD coordinators in the UK, the USA and Canada to hear directly from the organisers some of their achievements since being appointed and what they have planned for 2011. The speakers are all entertaining and inspiring as we go across the world to hear from them. IMD is fast approaching as we devote the second of three shows to this important event.

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What International Men’s Day Means to Me

With special guests:

• Mick Kenny
• John D Evans  

International Men’s Day (IMD) 2011 will be celebrated in over 50 countries around the world on 19 November and the 2011 theme is:

Giving Boys the Best Possible Start in Life

IMD interfaces with MOVEMBER and also with Universal Children’s Day on November 20 and in focussing on the main challenges boys all over the world face, asks how we can come up with local solutions to global problems.

At Dads on the Air this week we explore what IMD means to organisers in Ireland and the USA. Listeners are invited to share their own thoughts on giving the best start to boys by contacting the IMD coordination team at http://www.international-mens-day.com/ The best solution oriented approach will be awarded a prize certificate for the IMD FLAGSHIP PROJECT.

Across the sea to Ireland

Our first guest today is Mick Kenny, the Chair of Men in Childcare Ireland coordinating a celebration of IMD in Ireland. Mick has been working in childcare for 19 years, for the last 15 years in the early years sector (preschool / kindergarten) and he speaks to us from Kilkenny.

Mick is fortunate to be working in an area he loves. He is working towards his vision of seeing children feel it is normal to be cared for by both men and women.

Hear what the community gains from accessing men for this career and also the benefits to the male childcare workers themselves.

Mick’s efforts to increase the contribution of men in raising boys fits neatly with the IMD theme in 2011 and it is told with a lilting Irish accent.

The IMD Poet in the USA

Today we are honored to welcome back to Dads on the Air John D Evans who is the Illinois Regional Coordinator for IMD in the USA. John is an educator, humanitarian, folklorist, author and poet whose literary work Diary of a Renaissance Man was named Children’s Choice 2008 by the International Readers’ Association, the Children’s Book Council and 10,000 school children.

In talking to John we find out how IMD will be celebrated in the Illinois area of the USA in 2011 as well as hearing something of what was achieved in 2010. We hear about a writing competition that is open to writers around the world.

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The Journey

 With special guests:

• Ken Thompson and
• Heath Cole.  

 
 

Both our guests today have been on a bicycle journey.

Ken Thompson became well known when he decided to take direct action after his child was abducted overseas by the other parent. After riding on his bicycle around Europe publicising his quest to find his child Ken was contacted by Interpol with news that his child had been located. Ken is now part of an international movement to help parents who have been the victim of this destructive behaviour and to agitate for changes in the law to make this type of child abduction a crime in all countries, including Australia. Ken presents a lucid explanation of the problem of international parental child alienation, what is being done about it and what we all hope is the way forward.

Our second guest is Heath Cole. Last Friday Heath completed with his team of four other riders a 1000 kilometre ride in the Riverina to raise funds and awareness of mental health. Heath received a warm welcome in the towns of Tumbarumba, Tumut, Cootamundra, Temora and Griffith and finishing the course where he started in Wagga Wagga. Heath spoke candidly about his own battles with the “Black Dog” and how the bike ride has helped in raising his own spirits as well as raising funds for Riverina Bluebell, the local charity dealing with mental health issues. Heath talks about the warning signs of depression and what you should do about it. This is very to pical in view of World Mental Health Day on Monday 10 October 2011 and the ongoing Mental Health Month in NSW.

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Australian MP Slams 'Trojan Horse' Family Law Amendments

With special guest:

• Greg Andresen.

The proposed Australian Family Law amendments came under attack from one of Australia’s more enlightened Federal Parliamentarians, George Christensen MP, this week, who likened them to taking the George Orwell approach to ranking considerations in his classic novel ‘Animal Farm’. Mr Christensen slammed the proposed amendments as being like a ‘Trojan Horse’ loaded full of terrible consequences that will undermine some of the most basic human rights of parents and children.  

On this week’s program we take another look at the proposed Amendments and speak with Greg Andresen, spokesperson for Men’s Health Australia, who has exposed many of the domestic violence myths being promoted by the Gillard Government and draws attention to some of the misleading claims made recently under Parliamentary privilege, by the Federal Minister for the Status of Women, the Hon Kate Ellis MP.

This is particularly troubling as it is impossible to develop fair and just legislation based on flawed information provided by self-interest groups, whose main focus in life is to protect their government funded existence, while the evidence provided by victim groups has been discounted, ridiculed and ignored.  

While Men’s Health Australia and the Minister both agree that child abuse and Family Violence are real, Men’s Health rightly question the alleged need to throw away due process in order to protect children from abuse and violence. They correctly point out that it is impossible to protect people from both abuse and false allegations of abuse at the same time as is proposed in the amendments, especially since each of them are considered abuse and cause immeasurable harm to the lives of the victims.   

George Christensen maintains that “what is inside this Trojan horse, the malicious code that will infect society, is an attempt to undermine equal access for both parents. This change would invite the court to ignore the requirement to consider the second pillar—the benefit to the child of having a meaningful relationship with both parents”.  

In his address to Parliament, George expressed his concern about the proposed broadening of the definition of family violence and made a passionate plea for sanity to prevail.  “The broadened definition of ‘family violence’ would mean that a wide range of everyday activities could potentially be construed as violence.

The broader definition includes as violence such things as repeated derogatory taunts. Under the proposed definition, much of what happens right here in the parliament would be construed as violence. Also included as violence is this little nugget: ‘preventing the family member from making or keeping connections with his or her family, friends, or culture.’ Under this broad definition, a parent could not prevent a young teenager from spending 20 hours a day talking to friends on Facebook, for fear of being accused of family violence”.

“What happens when a parent acts in a way that a reasonable person would describe as good parenting? What happens when a father says to his 13-year-old daughter, ‘No, you can’t go to Julia’s party because there will be alcohol and no adult supervision’? I will tell you what happens. An upset teenage daughter talks to a vindictive mother, who then claims the daughter is a victim of family violence—and it is their right under this definition. Another child loses the right to have a meaningful relationship with her parent. Under this definition, a parent would be too scared to ground a child as punishment for bad behaviour, for fear of ‘depriving a family member of his or her liberty.’  

Speaking in one voice with hundreds of thousands of powerless, dispossessed Australian parents and children, he concludes his Parliamentary address with:

“These amendments should be seen for what they are. They are a Trojan horse, full of malicious code designed to deprive fathers of their rights. The best thing we can do to protect the safety of children and to prevent family violence is to leave this act as it is.”    

While the rest of his Parliamentary colleagues prance about like frustrated show ponies, desperately chasing media attention to feed their inflated egos, George Christensen is scrupulously researching the subject matter of his Parliamentary responsibilities.             

Fortunately and belatedly, the Australian public has finally discovered a quite achiever to represent them, who is ethical and has the intelligence, ability and courage to challenge some of the many injustices, that an uncaring, self-centred establishment has caused to be imposed on an unsuspecting electorate over many decades.

We look forward to seeing and hearing a lot more in the years to come, from George Christensen, a principled man.  

Editor

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White House Council on Boys to Men

With special guests:

• Tom Golden and
• Jack Kammer.

This week on Dads on the Air we talk to two members of the recently established “Proposal for a White House Council on Boys to Men”, Tom Golden and Jack Kammer from the USA. They are two leading members of a multi-partisan Commission of thirty-four nationally-known scholars and practitioners, who have submitted a proposal that President Obama create a White House Council on Boys to Men.  

The mere presidential announcement of a White House Council on Boys to Men makes visible an invisible crisis. A White House Conference on Boys to Men to present “best practices” within one year after the Council is created, will prove invaluable to the future well- being of our Men.

Designed to tackle a nationwide crisis of boys and men, the Commission identifies the following five main components:

• Education. Boys are behind girls in almost every subject, especially reading and writing. Yet boy-friendly programs (e.g., recess and vocational education) are being curtailed.      

• Jobs. Our sons are not being prepared for jobs where the jobs will be. Yet women rarely marry men in unemployment lines.    

• Fatherlessness. A third of boys are raised in father-absent homes; yet boys and girls with significant father involvement do better in more than 25 areas.    

•   Physical health. Life expectancy has gone from one to five years less for males than for females, yet federal offices of boys and men’s health are non-existent.  

• Emotional health. Boys’ suicide rate goes from equal to girls to five times girls’ between ages 13 and 20, as boys feel the pressures of the male role.  

Each of the five crisis components is potentially handled by a different department of the government; therefore coordination and prioritisation is best handled at the White House level.

With a Short-Term Investment of One million dollars, the Long-Term Savings will add up to Many billions of dollars. (For example, boys who are cared for become men who care for–men who pay taxes for schools rather than drain taxes for prisons.) The quality-of-Life Savings will be Priceless.

Tom Golden, LCSW is the author of two books about men’s unique paths to healing. The first is titled Swallowed by a Snake: The Gift of the Masculine Side of Healing and the second is called A Man You Know is Grieving: 12 Ideas for Helping Him Heal From Loss. Tom has given workshops on this topic in the U.S.,  Australia, Canada and Europe. His work has been featured in the NY Times, the Washington Post, on CNN, CBS Evening News, ESPN, the NFL Channel and others. Tom serves on the Maryland Commission for Men’s Health and lives outside Washington DC.

Jack Kammer, MSW, MBA returned to school at the age of fifty-four to earn Masters degrees in Social Work and Business Administration. He did so to document, highlight and take action on male gender issues and the social problems that arise when those issues are ignored and mishandled. He specialises in the Race and Gender effect on marginalized African-American men and boys in urban settings. He is also the author of If Men Have All the Power How Come Women Make the Rules: and other radical thoughts for men who want more fairness from women and Good Will Toward Men: Women Talk Candidly About the Balance of Power Between the Sexes. He has a new book (2009) for boys and young men, titled Heroes of the Blue Sky Rebellion: How You and Other Young Men Can Claim All the Happiness in the World.

Editor

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In Support of Men

With special guests:

• Paul Elam and

• Mark Brooks.
  

On today’s show, as we cross from one continent to another, we witness the widespread, humiliating, emasculation of men and boys, which is now deeply embedded in the way we view equality and social justice in the western democracies.   

The manipulated silent majority which makes up our communities, blindly accepts the incredible debasement of the male of the human species, and laughs at their demise and discomfort, as they struggle with the constant attacks on their dignity and persona.   

As happened with other human rights abuses of the past, an ignorant community led by weak leadership, unquestioningly accepts the demonizing, stereotyping and marginalizing of members of a particular societal group, and fails to recognize this bigoted behaviour as an abuse of fundamental human rights.    

First up we speak to American social commentator Paul Elam, former Editor-in-Chief of Men’s News Daily and founder of A Voice for Men, who speaks about his new AVfM Radio program and issues around marriage and chivalry in modern times. Paul makes the following observations: 

“We live in an age where men are open targets.  Family law has developed into a dystopian system of government tyranny against men, on the supposed behalf of women, that represents the biggest roll back of civil rights since  the age of Jim Crow.  False accusations against men for all manner vileness including rape, child molestation, domestic abuse and the like have become epidemic and the perpetrators remain largely unpunished”. 

“This is just a part of a modern system of feminist governance that has gone to such extremes that we now have women who are murdering their husbands, often shooting them in their sleep, and walking away because they claim it was an act of defense from domestic abuse”.

“Our sons presence in institutions of higher education is dwindling rapidly, as is there performance in grades K-12. With 40% representation in college compared to women, and falling, there is also expected to be 18 million American men between the ages of 25 and 54 in the near future that will be unemployed and unemployable”. 

We then speak with Mark Brooks in the UK, who is chairman of the ManKind Initiative (UK).  In an article written by Mark on the 14th October 2010, he  draws attention to the gender divide and how comfortable the establishment is to engage in the bigoted denigration of men.    

“When Judge John Milford was sentencing Dennis Long, who stabbed his partner of 30 years to death, he said “You are a placid, unassertive, rather weak man”, as well as stating that as the bread-winner he should have permanently moved out of the family home”.

“The key litmus test is whether the judge would have made the same comments if the genders had been reversed. Rightly, I cannot see any possibility where a judge would say or even feel comfortable in stating that a woman who had been a victim of domestic abuse for 30 years was “a rather weak woman”, but the judge felt comfortable in saying this to a male victim”. 

“The same applies when Long was told he should have left because he was the ‘breadwinner’ - an irrelevant issue. Would a judge say that if Long was female. I think not. What is so appalling about these out-of-date, out-of-touch and sexist comments is that at its heart it places the responsibility on the victim not on the person carrying out the domestic abuse”.  

“Male victims, like female victims, are not weak, and it sends out the wrong message to say they are. No wonder twice as many men as women choose not to tell anyone about the domestic abuse they are suffering when this is the attitude of the judiciary. No victim of domestic abuse, whether female or male, should ever be described in this way and the judge obviously needs a better understanding of the power and control that perpetrators hold over their victim”.  

Editor

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Family Law and Feminism

With special guests:

• Wayne Butler and
• Suzanne Venker.

Hot on the heels of the Pink Bats fiasco, the Gillard Government in Australia, is now rushing headlong into another policy debacle, that of the proposed Family Law Amendments [Family Violence] Bill 2010, which will cause many thousands of Australian men, women and children, to lose contact with their families. It will also result in an increased associated loss of life, as a growing number of desperate parents and children see no alternative, but to put an end to the extreme emotional pain they are experiencing as a result of appalling legislation, forced upon them against their will.  

Under the guise of needing to protect children from ‘alleged’ abuse while on contact visits with their non-custodial parents, the proposed [Family Violence] amendments will provide a perfect platform, from which toxic custodial parents will be able to launch their perjurious, child-kidnapping raids, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to do so successfully with absolute impunity.   

In a further act of Political arrogance, the Attorney General, the Hon Robert McClelland MP, has refused to publish any of the publicly invited submissions from organisations and affected members of the public. There is widespread community dismay at this contemptuous, secretive behaviour, which many believe to be because publication of the submissions would expose the glaring flaws in the proposed amendments.  

Once again we witness an example of a bungling Government, happy to engage in a deliberate attempt to keep the electorate in the dark for Political expediency. It has been suggested that perhaps this is the Gillard example of what’s  ‘In the Best Interest of Children’?    

Our first guest this week is Wayne Butler, Executive Secretary, Shared Parenting Council of Australia (SPCA), who will speak in detail about the issues involved with the proposed Family Law Amendments [Family Violence] Bill 2010, and discuss the contents of the combined media release of a number of like minded, concerned parenting organisations.   

Wayne was a foundation member of the Shared Parenting Council of Australia which was formed by Geoffrey Greene in 2002, and was appointed as the Executive Secretary role in 2003 and has retained the post since.  

Wayne has been involved in preparing extensive submissions and representations to Government since 2000 in relation to Family Law and Child Support Legislation changes. In particular the HORISP report, Child Support Taskforce and submissions / attendances to various Senate committees, review work on the SRL project in the Family Court and other legislative reform submissions including works on relocation cases, and Change of Circumstance submission. 

Our second guest is American Author and Freelance Writer Suzanne Venker, who will discuss her insightful new book ‘The FLIPSIDE of FEMINISM: What Conservative Women Know — and Men Can’t Say’  

Suzanne’s writing tends toward the provocative — as evidenced by her first book, 7 Myths of Working Mothers, which argues that young children and demanding careers are incompatible. Her book is a Main Selection of Bookspan’s American Compass Book Club and is listed on Jeff Rubin’s Guide to Best Conservative Books.

Suzanne has appeared on ABC, CNN, FOX, C-Span, PAX, EWTN — as well as hundreds of radio shows throughout the country. Suzanne’s work has also appeared in Human Events, National Review, World Net Daily, and the New York Post.  

“Since the 1960s, American feminists have set themselves up as the arbiters of all things female. Their policies have dominated the social and political landscape. The “spin sisters” in the media (aptly named by Myrna Blyth in her book of the same name) and their cohorts in academia are committed feminists. Consequently, everything Americans know — or think they know — about marriage, kids, education, politics, gender roles, and work/family balance, has been filtered through a left-wing lens.  

But what if conservative women are in the best position to empower American women?   Forty years have passed since the so-called women’s movement claimed to liberate women from preconceived notions of what it means to be female – and the results are in. The latest statistics from the National Bureau of Economic Research show that “as women have gained more freedom, more education, and more power, they have become less happy.”  

Enough, say Suzanne Venker and Phyllis Schlafly. It’s time to liberate America from feminism’s dead-end road. Cast off the ideology that preaches faux empowerment and liberation from men and marriage. While modern women enjoy unprecedented freedom and opportunities, Venker and Schlafly argue that this progress is not the result of feminism.  

Women’s progress has been a natural evolution – due in large part to men’s contributions. American men are not a patriarchal bunch, as feminists claim. They have, in fact, aided women’s progress. And like women, they have been just as harmed by the feminist movement”.

Editor

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'New' Versus 'Radical' Feminism

With special guests:

• Erin Pizzey and

• Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly.

Most young women today no longer support the extreme views expressed by radical feminists, with many of them considering these views to be held by “hairy legged man haters”, who will not be satisfied until all power and control over every facet of our existence rests in the hands of women. Today’s women know, that if they wish to attain high positions of power in our modern society, being a woman is no longer a barrier to their ambitions.   

Modern women actually love their men, and already know that the only barriers to achievement depends on their willingness to commit to the long hours and dedication required in their chosen field of endeavour, and not the fact they are a woman. Female role models in powerful positions abound in the western democracies, thus forcing the radical feminists to resort to hysterical anti-male fear  campaigns, such as the alleged world wide Domestic Violence epidemic, in a desperate attempt to remain relevant.    

On today’s program we explore these modern expressions of feminism and take a closer look at the history of feminism, with two highly respected ‘NEW’ feminists.   

First up we speak with Erin Pizzey, founder of the Modern Women’s Shelter Movement and International Author. We will discuss her new book “This Way to the Revolution - An Autobiography” which is is ready for pre-order.  

The opening of a small community centre for maltreated women in Chiswick in 1971 was to bring Pizzey to the front line of what was becoming a national issue in a time when feminists were still treated with hostility and derision by right-wing figures, but also when left-wing radicals scorned anyone, like Pizzey, who put humanity before ideology.  

By the mid-seventies, Pizzey found herself under bomb threat and picketed by feminists for allowing men to staff refuges: this led to a long exile from the UK where she kept up her activities and achieved international recognition, while also re-inventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzeys life and trials have been unique: her story is a compelling one, vital to any understanding of a more revolutionary age and burning issues that still resonate today.  

Next we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Farrelly, who is  an opinion writer with the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’, Author and Architect.  Elizabeth writes a weekly opinion column and has written critical columns on architecture, urban design and planning for the Sydney Morning Herald. She has also written insightful essays in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Spectrum, and articles in international journals as well as The Age, the Bulletin, the Architecture Bulletin, Architecture Australia, Architectural Theory Review, Interior Design, Pol Oxygen and Monument.

An articulate and engaging speaker, Elizabeth Farrelly has made several television and radio appearances and spoken publicly, often sharing the stage with Hon. Paul Keating.   

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New Feminism

With special guests:

• Dr. Elizabeth Celi and

• Barbara Kay.
  

Today is International Women’s Day, and in sharp contrast to the struggling International Men’s Day, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate their achievements. On this day a global web of rich and diverse local activities, connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatre performances, fashion parades and more.         

Women now hold many positions of power in a huge variety of endeavours and rightly so, yet the catchcry of victimhood continues to dominate the debate and is promoted by the views of the vocal radical feminists, who relentlessly attack and ridicule men at every opportunity. Unfortunately these extreme and outdated relics of a past era, persist with blaming all men for the world’s ills and support their distorted view of reality with a steady flow of corrupt data and statistics.          

They speak about the gender wage gap and the great need for equal pay for women. However, in most countries it is illegal to engage in paying a woman less for doing the same job and working the same hours as the man. We therefore challenge them to produce just one woman who finds herself in that position.

The fact is that some industries and professions just happen to pay more than others, and it therefore has more to do with women working less hours and/or that many of them work in industries or professions that happen to pay less. Or are they perhaps suggesting that every industry and profession should have the same rate of pay?          

Thankfully, the next generation of NEW Feminists are the more enlightened women in our communities who have moved on, and can see through this facade of victimhood and consider it counter productive to persist in engaging in a destructive power struggle with men. They understand the need for true equality and readily support the needs of men, and in turn are supported by the men.         

We speak to two such women today, and begin the show with an informative interview with Dr Elizabeth Celi, Psychologist, Author and social commentator. Dr. Celi completed a First Class Honours degree in Psychology and Psychophysiology and successfully achieved her Doctoral qualification from The Department of Psychiatry at The University of Melbourne. In addition to her workshops, advocacy and clinical practices, in regional and inner city, Dr. Celi currently sits on the Board of the Australian Psychological Society.          

Through regular TV and radio appearances and interviews, lectures, workshops, seminars and publications, Dr. Celi helps to debunk the negative myths and stereotypes about Men – our fathers, husbands, uncles, grandfathers, sons and brothers. Elizabeth champions the need for more positive male role models through a renewed appreciation and mutual respect for the strengths and skills of men and masculinity, as they now apply, in the 21st Century.          

To get an International perspective we speak to well known Canadian journalist Barbara Kay, who is a Columnist for the National Post newspaper. Barbara has an Honour BA in English Language and Literature, University of Toronto, and an M.A. in English Literature, McGill University as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.          

She is an outspoken supporter of the equal rights of Men and Fathers, to enjoy the same rights as those currently awarded to women through the feminist inspired policies of our Governments, and is appalled at the bigotry and gender divisive mentality which continues to dominate in some of our Government Departments and Agencies, such as the Family Courts and the Domestic Violence Industry. Barbara will be talking about her upcoming column on feminism which is being released later this week for the Centenary of IWD.   

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Brazil Criminalizes Parental Alienation

With special guests:

• Brian Ludmer
• Dr. Tamara Brockhausen and
• Judge Elizio Perez.

Finally the world has witnessed the first Government with the courage and insight to recognize and legislate for the criminalization of Parental Alienation. Brazil is the first country in the world to actually enshrine the cursed criminal behavior of Parental Alienation into its criminal code of justice. By so doing, Brazil is now leading the way into facing up to the  world’s human rights responsibilities, which obliges every country to protect the human rights of it’s nations’ children, by ensuring all their children enjoy a continuing relationship with both of their responsible parents.  

First up we speak with Brian Ludmer, Lawyer and Expert on Parental Alienation in Toronto Canada. Brian is a highly credentialed lawyer with expertise in corporate /commercial and securities law and Family Law, most particularly with Parental Alienation.

The advantages of having exposure to both fields is that his commercial background brings a perspective to what Family Law could be or should be when Family Law is often dysfunctional. The understanding promotes negotiations between parents. The difference is that in business the benefits are often shared which may not be the case in Family Law. In Family Law it is often a zero sum with winner takes all instead of the optimal situation of two healthy homes.

Brian has written many papers on PA. He defines PA as a pattern of behaviour or a strategy by an aligned parent leading to a rejection in whole or in part of the other parent. You look at the results to determine if it is mild, moderate or severe. It is sometimes called “Parental Alienation Syndrome.”

We then speak with Tamara Brockhausen Psychologist and writer on Parental Alienation from Sao Paolo, Brazil, who is the wife of Judge Elizio Perez, the Brazilian Judge who wrote the world’s first Law criminalising Parental Alienation from Sao Paolo, Brazil. Tamara kindly volunteered to translates the interview with Judge Perez.

Judge Perez commented that although parental alienation occurs in Brazil as it does in other countries the justice system ignored it until the legislation that he introduced.

The law has been in place in Brazil since August 2010. There is still some resistance in Brazil to even the existence of PA among professionals such as therapists so the Judge sees this as a good thing that the law is in place.

The broader application of the law is that parents who are worried that there may be PA occurring can read the law for themselves and then ask questions. They are worried about the penalties to which they may be exposing themselves.

A good thing about the new law is that PA is set out and defined so Judges can do something without having to wait for a report from Psychologists or other professional experts.

Judge Perez said that the list of symptoms set out in the law came from the professional advisers such as therapists and affected parents. When proved in Court the Judge can impose a fine or one of the other penalties.

The penalties available include uncapped fines. The Judge determines the amount of the fine after taking everything into account including the severity of the alienation and the means of the parents. Fines have ranged from $100 to $1000 a day while the alienation continues. Other remedies include increasing the time with a parent or making it joint. If joint is not possible the Judge can reverse the residence order.

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Family Court's Reward Perjury, Punish Victims

With special guest:

• ‘Rick’

Welcome to 2011, a year that will see more Australians denied access to their families than ever before in our history. At the start of this new decade, 5.2 million Australian men, women and children find themselves having been forcibly torn from their loved ones, since the Family Justice Industry began waging its reign of terror in 1975.  

We live in a dark period of our history, where, under the self serving leadership of six different Prime Ministers, not one politician has had the courage to stand up in Parliament and challenge this multi billion dollar juggernaut, by saying loud and clear “this is wrong and indefensible and I will no longer offer my support”.

Instead, collectively, we choose to silently tolerate the following examples of reprehensible behaviour by those engaged in the perjury riddled Family Justice Industry, which richly rewards perjurers and punishes the victims. Incredibly we continue to remain mesmerized by the mythical ‘Best Interest of the Children’ slogan, so deceptively used to remove many million’s of Australians from their families, and causing 35,000 of the nations’ father’s to commit suicide since 1975.  

If anyone should still be in doubt about the abhorrent extend of the family destructive outcomes meted out by a judiciary, which goes about rewarding perjurers and punishing the victims in our Family Courts, while at the same time fraudulently claiming they have no alternatives, please note the following:

Perjury Rewarded 1
Perjury Rewarded 2
Perjury Rewarded 3

In order to further illustrate the depth of Government complicity through the multitude of agencies which administer their family destructive policies, on today’s program we speak to one such dispossessed parent ‘Rick’ [not his real name for legal reasons], who was jailed for sending a birthday card to his young daughter.   

Today’s newsletter, the first for 2011, has been forwarded to every Australian Politician, who has been elected to represent all Australians in our Federal Parliament, taking away any future option to plead ignorance.     

We repeat our invitation to any Australian Politician who would like to join us on air, to publicly defend and justify the proposed Family Law Amendments, which stand to further encourage perjurers, destroy family relationships, and cause increasing numbers of the nation’s children to be abandoned into the care of the most dysfunctional of their parents.   

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Parents Under Siege

With special guest:

• ‘Daniel’

Biological parents around the globe, both mothers and fathers, are under siege from the brutal excesses of their own government’s crippling Family Law legislation, which sees many millions being dispossessed of their children on the bases of the flimsiest of allegations made by toxic ex partners, aided by State functionaries.    

Today we speak to one of those biological parents ‘Daniel’ [not his real name for legal reasons], a distraught Australian father who has spent the past 13 years desperately trying to have his son returned to his care and protection, following the boys’ removal from his parents’ care by Docs of NSW,  on the ground of allegations of abuse and neglect, which were subsequently proven to be false.

The desperate emotional trauma of having their son removed on the basis of false allegations, eventually resulted in the marriage breakdown, and this father is almost at the end of his tether at not having had contact with his long lost son for many years.

More questions therefore urgently need to be asked in order to establish the possible underlying causes for such a disturbing high level of government involvement in the lucrative child stealing racket that appears to be taking place.

Of particular interest is the fact that the governments’ own reports show that tens of thousands of the nation’s children are removed from one or more of their parents every year with the help of a number of government agencies such as the Family Courts, the Domestic Violence Industry and the Departments of Community Services. This has resulted in 5.2 million innocent Australians having been denied contact with their loved ones since 1975, on the say so of the country’s worst perjurers, child kidnappers, and State functionaries, who consider this to be in “Our Best Interest”.  

Instead, the Gillard Government in Australia is proposing further Family Law amendments in 2011, which define the raising of your voice or throwing a threatening glance as abusive acts, and will immediately brand every Australian both as an abuser and a victim,  making it even easier to make vexatious claims. Currently similar barbaric State DV legislation is used to separate parents from their children, property and savings, since false allegations can be made with absolute impunity. This establishes a parenting arrangement which favors the perjurer and accommodates the insidious practice of parental kidnapping. Yet perjury is a crime that strikes at the very heart of justice!  

Any toxic parent, either a mother or father, who makes a pre-emptive first strike by taking such action becomes a winner, as such parenting arrangements obtained by deception, are generally rubber stamped by the Federal Family Court. Incredibly, in such cases the FCA in its infinite wisdom, does not want to upset the established living arrangements with the perjurer, as it considers this to not be “In the Best Interest of the Children”.  It is common knowledge, that those working in the lucrative divorce industry regularly suggest this course of action to their clients, as for them the priority is money, not children.  

Many of the children who were dispossessed of their families in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, are now adults with children of their own. Unfortunately a large number are still of the false belief that their other parent was a horrible, unworthy person who abandoned them, not caring about their child’s well-being. In most cases, nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly these children were not only denied a happy wholesome childhood, but lost half of their biological family as well. Even as adults, most still live with the indoctrinated false perceptions of reality, which were implanted during their childhood, blissfully unaware that 35,000 of their fathers have committed suicide, due to the forcible loss of their children since 1975. Countless others have turned to substance abuse as they self medicate to kill their pain.  

Our elected representatives of all political persuasions, continue to blindly accept the distorted views of the anti-shared parenting lobby, while conveniently choosing to ignore all the available data that suggests otherwise, for reasons of political expediency.

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She-Wolves and Parental Alienation

With special guests:

• Elizabeth Willmott Harrop and

• Professor William Bernet M.D.

As the year draws to a close, we wish we could draw a line under the demise of fathers and their children, but there is no end in sight to the level of ignorance that prevails in our community, about the destructive practices of the divorce industry. Not until they face the somber prospect of being permanently separated from their children, do parents start to look around at what they face. In most cases it is far to late, and the outcome for the vast majority is soul destroying.   
She may not be the first, nor will she be the last, to speak out in abhorrence at the level of accepted community bigotry. However on the subject of female child abusers, nobody does it better than Elizabeth Willmott Harrop, “She-Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing”. Elizabeth resides in New Zealand, is a freelance writer, and has a Masters Degree in Human Rights and Social Change.

If anyone should be in doubt about the true state of who is actually involved with the abuse of children in our communities, they should listen to this weeks’ excellent interview with Elizabeth. As a well informed social commentator from New Zealand, she has carefully researched the subject, and articulates her findings with a passion, reserved for those stung by a horrible truth.

Elizabeth details her research, which includes statistics from the USA , Australia and the UK, as well as that of her native New Zealand, and the global findings are frighteningly similar.

What is most distressing is the level of Government unwillingness to recognize the findings of a plethora of studies, which reveal that female child abusers not only exist, but in actual number, almost equals the number of male abusers.

Unbelievably, despite the wealth of credible information available, elected representatives in the western democracies, persist in turning a blind eye to the truth about this issue, resulting in the drafting of hopelessly ineffective child protection legislation, which continues to be founded on a distorted perception of reality.  

Our second guest is Professor William Bernet M.D, who is Professor of Psychiatry at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, USA.  Dr. Bernet has been a member of the faculty since 1992, and is the director of Vanderbilt Forensic Services, the program that applies psychiatric expertise to legal situations.  Professor Bernet’s research provides valuable insight into the Parental Alienation Syndrome, and his work and efforts for better recognition of this phenomenon is to be applauded.   

The many parents and children who have had this unwanted abuse inflicted upon them, are well advised to listen to the interviews with these highly respected experts, and perhaps find some understanding and solace, for their undoubted emotional torment at having been forcibly separated from those they love most.

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Wrap-Up of a Men's Month

With special guests:

• Diane Sears
• Warwick Marsh and
• Yousaf Jamal.

This week signals the end of November, a month which has seen a number of men centric initiatives take centre stage around the world, as it celebrates and honours the importance of men in our societies. The Movember campaign, along with International Men’s Day, head the list of actions taken by men, to draw attention to societies’ current devaluation of the role of Men, Fathers and Boys. 

Our first guest is Diane Sears, who is the USA Coordinator of International Men’s Day [IMD] 2010 and who is a member of the IMD Coordination Committee. Sears is a member of the University Council for Akamai University’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies Program, which is located in Hilo, Hawaii.  She advises the President of Akamai University on Fatherhood issues and assists him in the enhancement of the institution’s Fatherhood and Men’s Studies curriculum and in forming strategic alliances with national and international Fatherhood organizations.  

Diane Sears is also a celebrated author and the following is an excerpt from one of her books ‘IN SEARCH OF FATHERHOOD’. “Men play an important role in our lives. They are the glue that holds our families, our communities, and our world together. Yet, despite the valuable contributions Men make, as a whole, they are generally taken for granted, summarily dismissed, ridiculed and negatively stereotyped in television situation comedies, and mis-characterized as emotionless automatons. Men laugh, love, grieve, dream, and cry. They are very complex individuals. Their hearts and souls can be easily crushed. Men want to be treated with dignity and respect. They have valuable life lessons to teach about integrity, courage, sacrifice, faith, commitment, compassion, loyalty, unconditional love, transcending boundaries, and successfully navigating the world outside of our immediate environment”.

“When Men know deep within their heart of hearts that we respect them and when we have demonstrated that we are nonjudgmental and willing to listen, they will bare their souls. It is a magical and moving moment when a Man shares his innermost thoughts and feelings – when he tells his story. The next time your father, uncle, grandfather, son, brother, husband, cousin, nephew or “significant other” engages you in a conversation, stop what you are doing and listen —really listen with an open mind and an open heart. He is telling you his story.”  

Our next guest is Warwick Marsh, who is the Media Coordinator for IMD 2010 and Founder of the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation. The Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation is honoured to work with the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr Jerome Teelucksingh, as well as many other family-friendly men and fatherhood groups all over the world. Working together, in order to promote a unified celebration of manhood and the positive contribution that men make to society.  

Actively involved with improving the image and well being of men and boys, the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation is also an Australian Harm Prevention Charity. Formed in 2002, their aim is to help turn the tide of fatherlessness as well as resource and encourage fathers. The mission of the Fatherhood Foundation is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the proportion of children growing up with involved, responsible, committed and loving fathers.  

Our final guest is Yousaf Jamal, who is the Pakistan Coordinator for International Men’s Day and the President and Founder of the first and only Men’s activism organization in Pakistan Rights and Rights International. Yousaf lives in Kot Addu and is the father of 8 children - 3 boys and 5 girls.   

Yousaf has observed in Pakistan over the last few years, that a lot of feminist organizations paint the whole male gender as cruel. Likewise in some prevailing laws there are many discriminatory clauses against men, particularly in Family Law. The Harassment in the Work Place Act is totally anti-male. And he has witnessed the steady decline of male participation at Higher Education and University level.

He also believes that the observance of an International Women’s Day by the United Nation without a counterpart is discriminatory. In order to highlight the issues being faced by men in Pakistan he started the male activist organization Rights and Rights International, this year in 2010.  

Yousaf Jamal held a very successful seminar on International Men’s Day, with many lawyers, educationists, social activists and representatives of Women’s organizations attending the seminar. Special tributes were paid to prominent male role models. Problems such as the under-representation of males in university and other education settings were discussed at the seminar. Female students in Karachi University total 90%, in Punjab University 70%, while in BZ University 52% students are female. This is really an alarming situation for males in Pakistan.  

Yousaf cautions that we should avoid the “EACH GENDER FOR ITSELF” approach and instead promote better gender relationships. He proposes that we should celebrate both Men’s Day and Women’s Day and asks everyone to join hands with Rights and Rights International for the elimination of Gender Based Discrimination.

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The New Manhood

With special guests:

• Steve Biddulph and

• David Hatfield.      

Our first guest this week is Steve Biddulph, ‘The New Manhood’, who is one of the world’s best known psychologists and a celebrated author of many books. We will discuss in detail the content of his latest book ‘The New Manhood’. His books, including Secret of Happy Children, Manhood, and Raising Boys, are in four million homes and 31 languages. They have influenced the way we look at childhood and especially the development of boys and men.

Steve was voted Australian Father of the Year in 2000 for his work encouraging the role of fathers. He lives in Tasmania with his wife Sharon, a large extended family, and assorted wombats.

Speaking about his first new book in 6 years, Steve says “The New Manhood contains everything I have learned about being male, from working as a therapist and educator with men, and living for almost sixty years, struggling, reflecting, and researching about how a man’s life either works, or does not.” The central message of the new book is the importance of purpose, and the idea that there is a single change that delineates a man from a boy. A man is someone who has gone beyond self, he enjoys life, but he lives for others.

The New Manhood is influenced by much powerful and new thinking – from elders like Richard Rohr, David Mowaljalai, David Schnarch, young men like Donald Miller. It features special sections on outstanding practitioners in education and therapy – preventing rape in South Africa, teaching manhood to boys in Melbourne, healing family violence in Northern NSW. Its message is for teenage boys, young men, family men, mid-life men and men growing old.The book is full of stories and is simple and easy to read. Steve counts this book as his best effort, perhaps of a lifetime, to affect the course of the times we live in.

Our second guest is Canadian David Hatfield, “Manology” who is an independent facilitator, experiential educator, trainer, and consultant. His professional interests revolve around issues of social justice, masculinity, and leadership. His passions lie in the meeting place of gender empathy and empowerment, rites of passage, conflict transformation, creativity, communication, and leadership training.

David’s engaging program design, facilitation, and keynote addresses are masterful and have been contracted nationally and internationally. As a specialist in male issues, David is a powerful guide in exploring notions of masculinity and a catalyst in illuminating and supporting new possibilities for both genders.

David is also the Canadian coordinator for International Men’s Day, and is proud to host the IMD event in Vancouver.  This is Vancouver’s first public celebration of International Men’s Day. The event will begin with an introduction to men’s day, a proclamation from the City of Vancouver, and several speakers and entertainers. Then everyone is welcome to mingle and meet the numerous participating organizations who will be sharing information and inviting participation in diverse ways. There will be games to play, food, fun, and creative opportunities to add your opinions and ideas into the mix!!

This event celebrates Men’s positive contributions, offers information about issues facing boys and men, and a chance to meet a diverse number of organizations in the community that are working to support the needs of boys, men and families.

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International Men's Day 2010

With special guests:

• Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh
• Samuel Nii Teiko Tackie
• John D. Evans and
• Cathleen Williams.

At a time when governments consider it their noble duty to send our young Men off to fight and die in far away foreign wars, supposedly in order to fight for the human rights of others, these young Men’s own human rights are being cruelly abused at home by their own governments.

Back home, it has become fashionable and acceptable, to engage in both overt and covert male-bashing, which is used to manipulate and massage community attitudes, and in so doing, paving the way for the subsequent removal of a Man’s children, home and savings.

However community outrage is growing, as it starts to question the validity of the spin, which supports the abhorrent government policies, that are decimating their families and destroying their men.

Many groups of enlightened Men and Women around the world are calling for better scrutiny, of the destructive anti-male propaganda, that is inflicting so much damage. These groups work hard at organizing the celebration of men, and drawing attention to the important roles Men play, in the shaping of the physical and emotional health of the next generation.

Today we dedicate the program to International Men’s Day, which is one such global occasion, used to celebrate the positive contributions and variegated experience of being male.

Our first guest is the founder of International Men’s Day, Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, of Trinidad and Tobago. The citizens in Trinidad and Tobago were the first to celebrate IMD on the 19th November, 1999. The event was conceived and coordinated by Dr. Jerome Teelucksingh, history lecturer from the University of West Indies, and the first event was held at the Families in Action Headquarters in Port of Spain.

Dr. Teelucksingh chose the date partly to coincide with his father’s birthday, whom he felt was an excellent male role model, and also because it was the day in which the football team in his country created a level of unity which crossed gender, religious and ethnic divisions. He added, “I realized there was no day for men… some have said that there is Father’s Day, but what about young boys, teenagers and men who are not fathers?”

Our second guest is Samuel Nii Teiko Tackie, who is the President and Founder of Ghana Fatherhood Initiative Foundation (GFIF) and National Coordinator of International Men’s Day in Ghana. He is married and together with his wife has two wonderful children. Ghana Fatherhood Initiative Foundation (GFIF) is established to promote and encourage Committed, Available and Responsible (C.A.R) fatherhood in Ghana. It hopes to complement the efforts of mums and encourage dads who are dedicated and available to their families.

Samuel started GFIF in 2007, after doing some personal research on the effects of father absenteeism in the family. His aim was to create awareness of the social issues and family breakdown that arose from father absenteeism. At the same time fathers who are involved and present in the life of children need to be appreciated and encouraged to keep up with the good work. And for those who are yet to be fathers there is a need for education.

Our next guest is John D. Evans, who is an educator, humanitarian, folklorist, author, and poet whose literary work, Diary of A Renaissance Man, a component of The Evans Poetry Collection was named Children’s Choice 2008 by the International Reading Association, the Children’s Book Council, and 10,000 schoolchildren.

Mr. Evans has written several volumes of poetry over the last decade capturing over 200 years of African American poetry. Mr. Evans will coordinate the participation of individuals, organizations, institutions, and communities throughout the State of Illinois in connection with the worldwide observance of 2010 International Men’s Day.

We close the show with Cathleen Williams, a successful and multi-talented professional, who is the Executive Producer and Chief Executive Officer of an empowering and informative New York-based cable television news-magazine and contemporary forum, I’m Just Saying, that airs weekly. A public speaker, and trainer in health care, education, parenting, diversity, and personal development, Ms. Williams is the author of a unique parenting book, Single Mother: The New Father, Volume I: Sports, The Mother’s Playing Field.

Cathleen holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from the University of Delaware, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, and a Master’s degree in Health Law from Seton Hall School of Law in New Jersey. Ms. Williams is a member of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (TAANA), the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and the New York County Lawyers Association.

We leave you with an extract from one of his poems that John D Evans recited on today’s show, which was truly a moving moment. It is an excerpt from Book Five of The Evans Poetry Collection, “Diary of a Renaissance Man: Axioms, Aphorisms, Art, and Poetry” by John D Evans.

“With veins that run deep in my soul
Vessels more precious than pure gold
A being so uniquely defined
Beauty that cannot be denied
Full of life
Hope
History
Of goodness
Grace
Destiny
From a perfect model molded by
Mighty, masterful hands
An awesome creature
No small wonder
I am a man”

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The Men's Network

With special guest:

• Glen Poole.

On today’s program, we focus on the work of Glen Poole, who is chair of The Men’s Network, in England. While based in the UK, this movement is sure to expand across the globe, due to the parallel anti men/father bias, prevailing in most of the western democracies.

The Men’s Network in England – is a charitable organisation committed to improving the lives of men and boys in all areas of life – health, education, criminal justice, social justice, fatherhood etc. The aim of The Men’s Network is to take one small UK city – Brighton & Hove – and make it an international beacon of best practice that inspires other cities and countries around the world to take radical action to help all men and boys reach their fullest potential

Glen is 41 – works as a campaigns and communications consultant – and is best known his work as PR Director and Media Spokesman, for the infamous Fathers 4 Justice campaign, that he helped become a global phenomena 2003/2004. Glen was a stay-at-home dad in the late nineties and wrote for several parenting magazines in the UK about his experiences as a father.

He discovered the failings of the family law system at first hand after his wife left him when their only child was 2 years old. He found he was unable to win sole custody of his daughter, despite being her primary carer, but was successful in his fight for shared custody. He has shared parenting of his daughter for 11 years and is a passionate advocate of the need for radical reform and intervention worldwide to ensure that every human being has the best possible chance of having a great relationship with both their parents.  

Having worked extensively in the public and not-for-profit sectors Glen has observed at first hand the failings of the these services to meet the needs of men and boys in areas such as health, social care, education, housing etc – and as a result, Glen has long believed that there needs to be a Ministry For Men in the UK – and other countries too.

In March 2010 he joined forces with men in one city – Brighton & Hove, England – to form The Men’s Network – a charitable organisation that he believes will – in time - help transform the way the world works for men, boys and fathers. Glen has 5 years to complete the UK phase of this project, as he is heading for Australia in 2015 with his partner, who is a dual nationality citizen who spends her time between Byron Bay and England.

Glen is also dedicated to the promotion of International Men’s Day, and enthusiastically supports this upcoming event, due to be celebrated around the world on the 19th November 2010.

Last year, Dads on the Air dedicated a whole program to this important event, which will be repeated again this year. Accordingly next week’s program will  be totally focussed on International Men’s Day 2010, with a host of guests from all corners of the globe participating. 

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