From: dgross@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Dave Gross)
Subject: Men's Issues Newsbriefs #38
Reply-To: dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross)
Organization: Zen Fascists for Jerry Brown
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 03:42:16 GMT

Subject: Men's Issues Newsbriefs #38

	CLINTON GRABS THE "DEADBEAT DAD" ISSUE
	======================================

It's an election year, folks, so it should be no surprise that the most popular
bogeyman since the welfare mother -- the "deadbeat dad" -- is making a
reappearance.  The first to hold up this scary figure this year comes from the
Democrats.  Presidential candidate Bill Clinton, in a series of speeches on a
number of topics, repeatedly returned to this theme.

"We will try to strengthen families and protect them," he said, "but when they
fail, we should insist on the toughest possible child support enforcement.
Governments don't raise children, parents do....  Family responsibility became
an oxymoron for deadbeat fathers, who were more likely to make their car
payments than pay their child support....  When fathers pay their child
support, they restore a connection they and their children need."

For some fathers, it may be a little difficult to pay child support if their
car has been reposessed and they can't get to work, but details like that might
get in the way of a convenient message.  Clinton's "New Covenant" is based on
responsibility, which seems to be defined as working your butt off for the
government in exchange for the return of some of your tax dollars.  Deadbeat
Dads join Welfare Mothers in the bestiary of those mysterious people who are
maliciously sucking tax dollars from the middle class for their own benefit.

"If the New Covenant is pro-work, it must also be pro-family.  That means we
must demand the toughest possible child support enforcement.  We need an
administration that will give state agencies that collect child support full
law enforcement authority, and find new ways of catching deadbeats.  In
Arkansas, we passed a law this year that says if you owe more than a thousand
dollars in child support, we're going to report you to every credit agency in
the state.  People shouldn't be able to borrow money before they take care of
their children."

And if they don't have any credit, this is going to help them pay their child
support?  Show me the connection.

	Clinton's campaign office is:
		Clinton for President
		PO Box 615
		Little Rock, Arkansas 72203

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	From: jxxl@taurus.cs.nps.navy.mil
	Napa Writer Blames Maleness for Crime
	Original article by Ron Sonenshine
	Source: San Francisco Chronicle (April 6, 1992)
 
A Napa author has filed another salvo in the battle between the sexes, arguing
in a new book that the nation's annual $300 billion crime tab is exclusively a
masculine problem for which men alone should pay.

The thesis of [June Stephenson's "Men Are Not Cost Effective"], which was
published in October, is that men are bankrupting the country by the cost of
their incarceration.  Nationwide, she said, 50,000 men are added to prison
populations each year, and males account for 93 percent of all people
incarcerated.  According to the Criminal Justice Institute of New York,
approximately 800,000 prisoners occupy the nation's prisons.  The U.S.
Department of Justice estimates that it costs from $12,000 to $24,000 per year
to house an inmate.

Stephenson believes that problems having to do with being born male are to
blame for rising inmate populations--not poor housing, bad schools or single-
parent families, as others have suggested.

"I'm not saying all men are criminals. But most criminals are, in fact, men."

She proposed that men--not women--should bear the cost of imprisonment, perhaps
through a special tax.  According to Stephenson, women outnumber men in only
two of 25 crime categories listed by the U.S. Department of Justice--runaways
and prostitution.

"Boys are just geared for action," she said. "That's the testosterone."

{ Note: The book is being published by:
		Diemer, Smith Publishing Company, Inc.
		3377 Solano Ave., Suite 322H
		Napa, CA 94558
  Advertisments in "Harper's" use the following copy:  "Why do so many boys
  grow up to be criminals?  Prison inmates are 94% male.  Whether it's murder,
  rape or the S&L scandal, crime costs about $300 billion a year ... a national
  tragedy.  Why is crime essentially a male pursuit?  It's not drugs, unem-
  ployment, single mothers or male hormones.  Discover why.  Read...  MEN ARE
  NOT COST EFFECTIVE: Male Crime in America -- by June Stephenson, Ph. D."
  Also are photos of what appear to be a Father Knows Best-era catholic school
  boy posing in suit & tie for a school photo captioned "How does this boy"
  and a fierce, mustacioed man in a black vest, a stocking over his head, and a
  shotgun captioned "become this man?" }

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	From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
	Source: New Liberation News Service (2/3/92)
	LEGISLATION FILED TO CUT SELECTIVE SERVICE

Every year, $27 Million is spent on the Selective Service System to establish
a list of people who could be drafted in a couple of weeks notice in the event
of a war against the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union doesn't exist any more.
But the Selective Service System remains.

"The office of 277 employess has been on STAND-BY since 1973," said Congressman
Pete Stark (D-CA), who has drafted legislation to end this nonsense.  Said
Stark, "We're pouring millions of dollars and names into this data base that's
like a 'black hole.'"

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	Original article by Steve Painter
	Source: alt.activism
	MEN BRUTALIZED IN MONTANA PRISON

Prisoners in the US state of Montana were stripped naked for four days after an
alleged riot at the state prison last September, says the American Civil
Liberties Union.  Authorities sent in a SWAT squad after an incident described
as a riot, but which involved only a few inmates.

An ACLU lawyer has established that the SWAT squad forced the prisoners to lie
face down on the floor, amid water and broken glass, and remove all their
clothing.  Their hands were cuffed behind their backs and they were tear-
gassed.

After about 30 minutes, most of the prisoners suffered cut feet when they were
forced to run barefoot and still naked down a hallway littered with broken
glass.  Later, they were forced to run a gauntlet of up to 100 officers armed
with clubs and chains.  Still handcuffed, the prisoners were slammed to the
ground.

The prisoners were then forced to lie in a field while guards continued to
brutalise them.  Guards broke prisoners' spectacles and kicked and taunted
them.  Most suffered sunburn, and they were told to urinate and defecate where
they lay.

Towards evening, the prisoners were given a blanket each and ordered to the
reception unit, where they were held for 23 days.  For the first four days
they were naked except for their blankets, and for 12 days they were not
provided with soap, toothpaste or towels.  They were not permitted to shower
and were given two sheets of paper towel daily for toilet paper.

In the unit, prisoners were fed two meals daily, consisting of two sandwiches
and a biscuit.  They had to drink from a tap with their hands.  Many developed
scurvy.

When the investigation into the riot began, prisoners who refused to talk were
beaten and tortured with mace.  Several who became rebellious as a result of
this treatment were hogtied, hands cuffed behind their backs and ankle cuffs
attached to the handcuffs.

The prisoners were isolated from the outside world for four days, until an
ACLU-assisted lawyer obtained a court order directing the Department of
Corrections to allow contact.  The ACLU's National Prison Project says such
``extremely brutal maximum security conditions ... breed the exact response
they are meant to prevent, that is, they contribute to the problem and invite a
future riot''.

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	CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE IN SHINING ARMOR
	---------------------------------------

The California State Assembly is debating legislation (AB 2725) which "would
require the Office of Criminal Justice Planning to develop a statewide plan to
reduce and prevent violent crimes against women."

This bill is even more blatantly sexist than the bill being debated in the
U.S. Congress (Biden's "Violence Against Women act"); every section of AB 2725
is designed explicitly to assist only those victims of crime who are women.
The majority of violent crime victims are men, and they will be further hurt
if this bill passes.

The bill has passed the Public Safety Committee and is currently before the
Assembly Ways and Means Committee.  AB 2725 was introduced by Assemblywoman
Jackie Speier.  Members of the California State Assembly can be reached at the
State Capitol, Sacramento California 95814.
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
A 1988 survey of sexually active college students found that 46.3% of the women
and 62.7% of the men reported having had unwanted intercourse.

Xref: sparky soc.men:8413 soc.women:8942 alt.flame:6764 alt.fan.q:416