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*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* The DesertLight Journal Volume 1, Number 8*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* July 25, 2001 __________________________________________ The bi-weekly e-zine of the International Men's Rights Movement.For all the news all the time, visit our buds http://www.mensactivism.org in the USor http://www.angryharry.com in the UK.__________________________________________"A woman needs a man like a fish needs the river."__________________________________________~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BERLIN HUNGER STRIKE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~DAY 15The Hunger Strike began in Berlin on Wednesday, July 11th Location :ALEXANDER PLATZ (in front of store KAUFHOF close to the Weltzeituhr) 8 parents gather on the Alexanderplatz every day from 10 am till 17 pm. Join them !For updates:http://www.isonet.fr/berlin/ MEN IN CRISIS PRAYER CIRCLEThe Men in Crisis Prayer Circle is administered by Rev. Trudy Mackay of Yuma AZ. The group consists of volunteers in many locations worldwide who offer prayer to assist men and families in need. To request prayer, or to volunteer, visit the website at http://www.desertlightjournal.homestead.com/prayercircle.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE INTERNATIONAL MEN'S NETWORK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Radical Recruitmentby Alan Carr"The men's movement" means different things to different men. Some feel itis the right and just battle to restore patriarchy, saying the P word got abad press and the alternatives are dreadful (and that's a tough one todisagree with) others say we should accept that society has moved on but nowwe must search for equality for men whilst others don't give a hoot aboutthe ideology surrounding them, they just want to be dad to their kids. Allof these are valid viewpoints that don't have to cancel each other out,equality for men would at least make a patriarchal family a choice betweenpartners, it brings daddies home to their kids and sits comfortably atopboth groups. Only those who support chivalry along with patriarchy may baulkbut bluntly, it's a bit late for such sentiment.Since there are so many men who are affected by the problems we face andsince there are so many problems - why have men not organized themselvesinto a serious force, why is it that the one group that can point at notonly discrimination but legally binding and enforced discrimination in the"civilized" West, seem to have such little voice?If you study the history of the men's movement you realize it's not new,it's just seemingly silent. Yes, much of that is due to censorship, the"Lace Curtain" but there is more to it. The author of the Sherlock Holmesstories (Doyle) was involved in a men's group, there have been men's groupsfor over thirty years. Why is it you can mention you're in this movement toa man today and receive a blank look? Most men don't even know we exist! Amajor part of all this is that men DO tend to follow at least some of thestereotypes - we argue, we seek rank and status and all to often wedemonstrate "passive aggression". By passive I mean we go silent, we turnour backs and walk away, we bite our tongues, we swallow our pride andbecause we see the common enemy of feminism as being female - we don't fightback. Enough already!Some men do try and get organized and fight back but such groupshistorically seem to be plagued with the same problems, there are many butwhen designing a new form of protest or group I emailed a few men andasked - "What are the main problems men's groups face?". The answers werenot only good answers (they must be good as they agreed with me...) but wereconsistent, the same things kept coming up. The list below is the top sixreasons given.1. The lace curtain. We're not ALLOWED to be noticed, those in power hideour existence, the truth and our voice.2. Members often don't find us until they've been damaged or destroyed bythe things we fight, at that point they are invariably short of time, moneyor in prison. Those who are "Alright Jack" are pretty darn busy trying tostay all right and juggle life's problems, their major problem being tocompete against other men, not helping each other. They have also beensubject to the anti-male bias and feel that whilst THEY are OK, other menare as bad as we're painted.3. Whenever large numbers of men get together it is common for them tojostle for rank and argue, the very spirit that leads men to lead becomes aproblem when we fight on behalf of ALL men, not just the group, organizationor tribe we belong to, fighting against another such group.4. One of the biggest drawbacks for men is that if we're honest, we needwomen's approval, few men want to publicly fight whilst keeping an eye overthe shoulder to make sure their not upsetting the wife, also they can beattacked, accused of being a woman hater, homophobic, having a small dick,gay, being a wimp, not getting any sex etc, etc. We let ourselves be shamedinto shutting up.5. The biggest reason men tend to become inactive, disillusioned andapathetic is because they feel it's hopeless, they can't imagine change anddon't believe their one little letter, their one little email, their onelittle vote, will make a difference. When men give up other men give up withthem.6. Competition. As some men have more disposable time, more disposable moneyor more understanding wives or girlfriends then some people will feeluncomfortable that they aren't doing enough or that they're doing more thanthe others, creating resentment.Spookily when asked what do we need to move forward the same answers cameagain - tight knit groups, achievable targets, co-operation, focus, an endto the problems above and a new way of doing things.If you were shown a system that overcomes every single problem, thatdelivers every single improvement and doesn't distract from any othergroup - would you take a serious look at it? When we approach someone new weexpect them to suddenly absorb data (the truth) that is so far removed fromperceived reality that they tend to switch off. How about an easy andrepeatable formula in bite-sized chunks? How about YOU practice feelingpresented with something new? Are you open minded, can you see the biggerpicture, grasp the potential and are you serious about men's rights? It's achallenge I was going to deliberately separate from the existing men'smovement but why not kick start it? Take a close look, ignore the slow serverand the ads, don't worry about the advertising plug-in that never works,it's a beginning. Look through the eyes of a newby and ask yourself, are youcapable of recruiting just two men a year? If we all did that the men'smovement would double in size every year, if just two hundred of us startthis year in five years time we could have a group of almost six and a halfthousand men. Check it out.The International Men's Network.http://menswebclubuk.themenscenter.com/network.html~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PATERNITY FRAUD VICTIMS TO UNITE IN TEXAS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATLANTA, GA-- Announcing the formation of a new chapter of Citizens Against Paternity Fraud. Carnell Smith, Director & Founder of Citizens Against Paternity Fraud (CAPF) is happy to announce that Morgan Wise will be the Director of our Texas chapter. Morgan is the man that found out 3 of 4 kids were not his after taking one kid to the doctor. The little boy was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF). The doctor alsoconfirmed that Morgan does NOT have the genetic trait / disease. Visit our site: http://dna.paternityfraud.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PROSTATE STAMP GOING OFF THE MARKET~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's now or never. Get out there and buy the Prostate Cancer Awareness Stamp while you can. Yes, it's only 33 cents, but Prostate Cancer and the lack of research going on needs all of the awareness it can get. After September 30, 2001, it will no longer be carried by the Post Office. . Learn more at:www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/healthprostate.html#stampout ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DIVORCED DADS: SHATTERING THE MYTHS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another excellent review of Dr. Stanford Braver's groundbreaking work, this from the conservative view, can be found at:http://frontpagemag.com/columnists/locke/2001/locke06-29-01.htmMainstream social scientists have known for years that much, but not all, of the "data" quoted as justification for increasingly draconian laws and regulations surrounding divorce and financial child support were inherently flawed. Some of the resultant public policy has had a debilitating effect on families, especially men and their children. Dr. Braver, perhaps the most respected of divorce researchers, takes some of the myths surrounding those "data" to task in this excellent analysis. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WOMEN ARE AS VIOLENT AS MEN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There's an interesting article at http://www.lewrockwell.com/mercer/mercer9.htmlwhere Ilana Mercer echoes what I've been saying for some time. The girls are every bitas dangerous, and far more devious! One day the rest of the world will get with theprogram, maybe sooner than we'd hoped as more women stop being afraid of 'thesisterhood' and start thinking for themselves.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A NOTE FROM LEN MISKULIN~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My appeal against the criminal conviction was turned down, but, there is a twist to the story. Apparently, the probation services knew about this the DAY BEFORE it happened. I have received a letter from them which has a postal mark of 4th of July, my hearing was on the 5th.I am hoping to find out what I can now do about getting the case thrown out and my conviction quashed, (I have always sworn my innocence). From the beginning I maintained that there was something very strange about the way the whole thing was handled and have on several occasions said that it stinks of conspiracy.Seems that I was right.I have put the whole of my criminal proceedings on our web site under the heading JUSTICE ? for everybody to see the truth about the British corrupt system. A scan of the envelope is there as well (under www.lbduk.org, follow the link JUSTICE ? then click on the GUILTY REGARDLESS LINK), including the postage (date) stamp and franking stamp which will prove where it came from. I can e-mail a copy to anybody interested in almost any format requested.I would be much obliged if you can spread this to other mail lists or if anybody can assist in publishing it. Links from sites from all over the world would be welcome, so the exposure of "British justice" gets good airing. Len Miskulin Chairman Live Beat Dads UK www.lbduk.org +44 (0)20-8508 6980 CHILDREN NEED BOTH PARENTS~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "YOU'RE MY WORLD"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Randi KreagerI have co written a book about borderline personality disorder, a braindisorder that affects mainly women. (It is called "Stop Walking onEggshells"; please see www.Amazon.com under authors Mason and Kreger). More and more often, I was finding that men were reluctant to leave the relationship--no matter how abusive--because they felt threatened or worried that they would lose their relationship with children. At the time, I had just had shoulder surgery. So to address these issues, I created a CD (which turned out to be 3 CDs with a running time of 2.5 hours) of a conversation with a mental health expert and one of the country's foremost experts on child custody (i every US State), whom I happen to be related to. His name is Ken Lewis, Ph.D., a Registered Custody Evaluator (R.C.E.) who specializes in interstate cases. Over the past 22 years, he has been court appointed as either custody evaluator or guardian ad litem (child advocate) in 29 States and Canada. He is the director of Child Custody Evaluation Services of Philadelphia, Inc.I also asked a mental health professor with an interest in personality disorders to provide a mental health perspective for all involved in a custody dispute.The resulting three-CD pack discusses Should I Seek Custody?;Documentation; The legal process, from start to finish; Common MistakesPeople Make; Financial Considerations; Therapists: Can They Testify?;Parental Alienation Syndrome; Parental Abduction; Judging false vs truereconciliations; All about the custody evaluation process; Gender Discrimination; Relevant vs Irrelevant Info to Judge; Custody modification process; Sexual Allegations in Divorce (SAID); and Public Awareness of BPD. I wanted to let people here know that the set is available at cost for peoplein charge of children's or father's rights groups. The 2.5 hour CDs costs $35to defray the costs of paying one of the experts, the dubbing, the linernotes, shipping, the CDs themselves, and my time in taking addresses andsuch. However, if you are in this situation and can't afford $35, please letme know (at BPDCentral@aol.com) and I will see what I cam do. The health ofthe children is my first priority and cost should not be an obstacle. The setis called "You're My World" and you can find more information atwww.BPDCentral.com or write BPDCentral@aol.com. If you lead a group, please write me and I will get you a copy at cost. Randi KregerList owner, Welcome To Oz ListsCoauthor, Stop Walking on EggshellsLove and Loathing, Hope for Parentshttp://www.BPDCentral.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering awayat his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing init. Yet, at the hundred and first blow it will split in two and I know itwas not that blow that did it - but, all that had gone before."- Jacob Riis, American Journalist and Author, 1849-1914~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~We leave you with the 'Zonie blessing--"May you always have a full tank ofgas and underwear that doesn't ride up!"~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~Trudy W. SchuettPublisherhttp://www.desertlightjournal.homestead.com/PO Box 1252 Yuma AZ 85366©2001 TWSchuettThis e-zine may be shared or forwarded provided the entire publication is sent.To subscribe to the DesertLight Journal, send a blank e-mail to dsrtlite@mindspring.comwith "subscribe" in the subject line. To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.Commentary and contributed articles are not necessarily the opinion of the DesertLightJournal. We strive to include all views in the emerging men's rights movement, andtherefore cannot be expected to agree with everything.