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The war on fathers’ rights in adoption proceedings continues and fathers are starting to win a few battles, like the one described in this article (Toledo Blade, 9/24/10) and this Ohio Supreme Court opinion (Leagle, 7/22/10). Benjamin Wyrembek had a brief affair with a married woman. She became pregnant in 2007 and, along with her husband, decided to place the child for adoption. Wyrembek had no way of knowing if the child was his or not and possibly neither did the woman, although neither the article nor the opinion says. But he timely filed his claim of paternity with the...

The ideal father is hardworking, fun-loving, a good provider, understanding, wise, sometimes stern and, above all, inspiring. Yet a century ago, the popular image of the father was less radiant. Groucho Marx observed that in those days, there were many hymns to motherhood, but "nobody ever wrote any song about fathers. Father was the town schlemiel in almost every place."

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, June 2, 2009) -- The Army wants Soldier-dads to know there is a new paternity leave policy available to them and spread the word to military bloggers at the Pentagon today. The policy, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 14, 2008, allows new dads up to 10 consecutive days of administrative leave after the birth of a child. Leading the roundtable was Col. Larry Locke, chief of compensation and entitlements for the Army G-1. He said the policy is one way of showing appreciation for Soldier-dads, because leave time can take...

Video here. Great interview with Sarah Palin in her own home kitchen as she prepares dinner and talks about what an awesome father to their kids Todd Palin is and related topics in the best four minutes and twenty eight seconds from the most recent home interview by Greta Van Susteren.

Tim Robbins in Toronto at celebrity hockey game over the weekend...

In the third week of June 1972, Richard Milhous Nixon committed an injustice with which the Western world is still struggling. Yes, two men broke into the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate building - but we're no longer bothered about that. What still affects us today - or rather tomorrow - is that the then President that week brought the American nation together by making Father's Day a public holiday. For this high crime and misdemeanour, his name should live on in the annals of infamy. Now, of course, it's over here. It's just like Hallowe'en - another American...

Walter Dean Myers, a best-selling author of books for teenagers, sometimes visits juvenile detention centers in his home state of New Jersey to hold writing workshops and listen for stories about the lives of young Americans. One day, in a juvenile facility near his home in Jersey City, a 15-year-old black boy pulled him aside for a whispered question: Why did he write in "Somewhere in the Darkness" about a boy not meeting his father because the father was in jail? Mr. Myers, a 70-year-old black man, did not answer. He waited. And sure enough, the boy, eyes down, mumbled...

HAPPY FATHERS DAY, DADS!!! My Father When I was ... 4 years old: My daddy can do anything. 5 years old: My daddy knows a whole lot. 6 years old: My dad is smarter than your dad. 8 years old: My dad doesn't know exactly everything. 10 years old: In the olden days, when my dad grew up, things were sure different. 12 years old: Oh, well, naturally, Dad doesn't know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood. 14 years old: Don't pay any attention to my dad. He is so old-fashioned. 21 years old: Him?...

The darker the egg, the better the dad 15:50 12 November 2007 NewScientist.com news service Roxanne Khamsi Male spotless starlings seem to be better dads when eggs are dark (Image: Carlos Navarro) Females in poorer condition tend to lay light coloured eggs (Image: Carlos Navarro)In a dark twist to parenting, it appears male spotless starlings make better dads if the eggs their mate lays look healthier. Male spotless starlings tend to feed offspring that hatch from darker blue eggs twice as frequently as those that hatch from pale eggs, a new study shows. Scientists had wondered why some birds lay...

(AP) WEARE, N.H. First, a father was charged with beating up his daughter's boyfriend last week after learning the two had sex. Now, police are preparing to charge the boy with sexual assault. The 17-year-old boy from Henniker, who admitted to having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, will "absolutely" be charged, police said. Weare Detective Lou Chatel said the boy will be charged as an adult and could face up to a year in jail. Both teens admitted to having sex during school hours on Sept. 10, but off school property, Chatel said. That afternoon, he said, the girl's father...

It’s back-to-school time so load up with those pencils, notebooks, rulers and, of course, a bullet-deflecting backpack, if you buy the pitch of the security accessory’s Danvers inventors. Dads Mike Pelonzi, 43, and Joe Curran, 42, dreamed up the bullet-proof backpack, which also blunts knife attacks, to protect their own children after witnessing the Columbine massacre in 1999. “It was after seeing what happened in Columbine that we started thinking about this. I’m a parent and so is Joe and we wanted a way of keeping kids safe at school and this is what we came up with,” said Pelonzi,...

Father's importance no laughing matter http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/berman/422242,CST-FTR-berman11.article http://tinyurl.com/yrp9wc Dad may not always know best, but he knows far more than contemporary TV sitcoms suggest June 11, 2007 BY LAURA BERMAN Black-and-white sitcoms such as "Leave It to Beaver," "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" and "Father Knows Best" constructed Dad as the center of the American family. The fathers in these shows did it all -- they were the breadwinners, the coaches, the teachers, the advice-givers and the loving guides who saved their children from danger. But if you turn on your television today, fathers on recent sitcoms like "Everybody Loves...

Picture a world where your father walks with you down a starlit road, pausing to point out Orion. He recites Robert Frost, knows how a battery works—and all the rules about girls. "The Dangerous Book for Boys," by brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden, is peaking on Amazon's best-seller list (No. 5 last week) by recalling just that world. The compendium of trivia, history and advice is geared toward preteen boys, but it's found a surprising audience in men in their 30s and 40s, too. The book's marbled endpapers, archival illustrations and dry, humorous tone ("excitable bouts of windbreaking will not...

When I had a son of my own six years ago, I looked around for the sort of books that would inspire him. I was able to find some, but none with the spirit and verve of those old titles. I wanted a single compendium of everything I'd ever wanted to know or do as a boy, and I decided to write my own. We began with everything we had done as kids, then added things we didn't want to see forgotten. History today is taught as a feeble thing, with all the adventure taken out of it. We wanted...

Fathers deserve a special salute for all they do http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/06/17/opinion/doc4675cd32b9bbf793658538.txt http://tinyurl.com/2gq4t5 Sunday, June 17, 2007 7:18 PM CDT Fathers don’t always get the respect they deserve — and we don’t just mean children ignoring their pleas to take out the garbage or mow the lawn. On television and in the movies today, the theme seems to be “Father Knows Nothing” rather than “Father Knows Best.” Instead of Ward Cleaver in “Leave It to Beaver,” we have Homer in “The Simpsons.” A larger percentage of Father’s Day greeting cards lean toward humor rather than the sentimental variety more often seen on...

If you believe popular culture, the man we're honoring today is a complete idiot. You don't have to watch much TV to believe that. The dads who populate the small screen are mostly dorks, dunderheads or dimwits. Recent ads show dad as the ineffective homework coach (who only gets in the way, to his daughter's utter contempt), as the immature moron who gloats when he beats his small daughter at pingpong, or as the klutz who falls down the stairs. And wise, gently authoritarian dads like Howard Cunningham (Happy Days ) and Cliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show) are nowhere to...

The father factor: Fathers and sons http://www.antiguasun.com/paper/?as=view&sun=281935077507132005&an=410802067106152007&ac=Opinion http://tinyurl.com/38wf8g Saturday June 16 2007 Men become biological fathers in a moment. Not much is required except the right anatomical equipment and opportunity. The father need not love the mother. The father does not need a course in parenting, nor does he need to even desire to be a parent. The father does not always even know of his progeny. Nevertheless, each child born into this world has two parents, and one of them is, by definition, the father. For many men, that is where their input begins and ends. Children need fathers....

The 'Dangerous' book puts girls on the side http://www.star-telegram.com/408/story/80188.html By JILL LAWLESS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON -- Nostalgia ain't what it used to be. In these frenzied, media-saturated times, the lure of a simpler past is more powerful than ever. That may explain the success of The Dangerous Book for Boys, a deliberately retro tome that has become the publishing sensation of the year in Britain. Exuding the brisk breeziness of Boy Scout manuals and Boy's Own annuals, The Dangerous Book is a childhood how-to guide that covers everything from paper airplanes to go-carts, skipping stones to skinning a rabbit....

First, there was the question of the title: "The Dangerous Book for Boys." HarperCollins Publishers' Chief Executive Jane Friedman just didn't understand what it meant. Sure, the book had been a hit in England and Australia, but that didn't mean it would work in the U.S. But the sales staff urged her to stick with it, and in just two weeks, "Dangerous" has become the breakout hit of the season. The News Corp. unit initially ordered up 91,000 copies. There are now 405,000 copies in print. One senior HarperCollins executive, extrapolating from overseas sales and population data, projects that "Dangerous,"...

The media image of fathers--long portrayed as bumbling, inept and irresponsible--is changing. This has been a good year for dads in the media. One example is Sony Pictures’ new movie The Pursuit of Happyness. Happyness stars Will Smith as Chris Gardner, a homeless, hard-luck single father with a five year-old son. Through sheer force of will, Gardner raises his boy and pulls them out of poverty, eventually becoming a multi-millionaire. The movie is based on a true story and co-stars Smith’s eight year-old son as Gardner’s son Christopher. As Gardner, Will Smith strives to create a ''normal'' environment for Christopher,...