Free Republic

A mother who "deliberately and unjustifiably frustrated" a father's attempts to visit his child was appropriately stripped of child support and primary custody, an appellate panel in Albany has held. The Appellate Division, Third Department, unanimously affirmed a Schuyler County Family Court judge in a case where the custodial mother had repeatedly hindered her estranged husband's efforts to establish relations with his daughter, even though the father made no attempt to enforce his visitation rights for six years. Luke v. Luke, 510880, centers on a child born in 2001 to Melvin W. and Heidi L. Luke. The Lukes, who are...

A Long Island man was stunned to find out that his 4-year-old twins weren’t an accidental pregnancy at all — his desperate girlfriend secretly stashed away his sperm and used it for an in-vitro procedure, he charges in a lawsuit. Elmont resident Joseph Pressil, 36, wasn’t planning on having children with Anetria Burnett, with whom he was in a relationship for six months in 2007, he said. So she took matters into her own hands, he told The Post, in order to remain in his Texas house and make a legal bid for half of his possessions. -snip- The real...

Fiddler on the roof is more than a movie. It is an experience. It brims with pathos and human emotions. It is overpowering, touching, meaningful. Its protagonist, Tevye (Topol), is a very particular man in very particular circumstances. He is many things: a Jew, a dairyman, a man in continual correspondence with God, a mensch, and a father. Yet, he is every man, universal. Ironically, this immanent cultural immersion opens to a transcendent understanding of the human condition before God. Perhaps Jesus partly alluded to this possibility when he said to the Samaritan woman at the well that "salvation is...

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they're quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark. When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency...

On a daily basis, I sit in awe at the amount of nonsense that pervades the world’s media. The latest is the preoccupation with the ethnicity of Steve Jobs’s biological father. Steve Jobs was adopted at birth. And until his untimely death last week, as far as almost anyone in the world knew, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jobs. In fact, as far as Steve Jobs himself was concerned, his only parents were Paul and Clara Jobs. As the New York Times reported nearly 15 years ago (“Creating Jobs,” Jan. 12, 1997): “Jobs holds a firm...

A lawyer who donated sperm to pay his way through college has learned that he has fathered an astonishing 70 children. More than 15 of those have already attempted to contact 33-year-old Ben Seisler. The donor confessed to his fiancée as part of a new reality show, Sperm Donor, that aired on the Style Network on Tuesday. Seisler donated sperm for three years while attending law school at George Mason, Virginia. He earned around $150 per donation.

Things change when you have a child. You begin to feel differently about a multitude of life’s experiences. The entire world takes on new meaning and nuance. Take Dirty Dancing. Pre-fatherhood, I watched Patrick Swayze tell Jerry Orbach that “Nobody puts baby in the corner” and thought, “Hell yeah, Johnny Castle! You let that patronizing old fool have a piece of your mind! He doesn’t deserve Baby for a daughter! Damn straight nobody puts Baby in a corner!” Now that I’m a father, things have changed slightly. Now I watch Patrick Swayze tell Jerry Orbach that “Nobody puts baby in...

Yet another bill opposed by the state’s Catholic bishops is on its way to the governor for his signature – this one co-sponsored by homosexual advocacy groups that seek to redefine fatherhood in a way that favors children with same-sex parents. The bill, AB 1349, sponsored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, passed the state Senate by a vote of 23-14 on July 14. It cleared the Assembly 52-22 in May. The measure was co-sponsored by Equality California and the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “AB 1349 is a bill that is intended to redefine fatherhood for children born to...

Dads, when you let the National Education Association, Hollywood and the cast from Glee raise your daughters, you shouldn’t be surprised if they turn out to be self-absorbed, painted little Paris Hilton wannabes. As Doug Giles, TownHall.com columnist and host of the nationally syndicated Clash Radio program puts it: “Fathers, don’t let your babies grow up to be Snookie!” I know: easier said than done. Ever wish that fatherhood came with an instruction manual? Well, with his latest book, Raising Righteous and Rowdy Girls, Giles comes as close to anyone in producing it. Throughout this page-turner, Doug’s unique blend of...

Police are looking for a woman accused of beating a fellow TTC passenger, using a child as a weapon. Police said the woman boarded the streetcar last Friday around 5 p.m. with the child in a stroller and got into an altercation with another passenger. The woman picked up the child and started hitting the other passenger with the child, police said. When other passengers intervened, the woman pulled one of them by the hair, police said.

How do we defend fatherhood in a culture that seems to alienate fathers thru false premises and downright lies? It can’t be just me. I read online of men complaining that they’ve been marginalized in a society that — let’s face it folks — would not have advanced to the point it has without the spirit, competitiveness, drive, desire and even the testosterone of men. A recent report by the Heritage Foundation points to statistics that suggest children growing up in homes where both mom and dad are present and active are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and...

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People magazine loves Obama. In the top right corner of the June 20 issue is a picture of the president tenderly sitting with younger daughter Sasha on the White House lawn and the words “President Obama On Being a Good Father: Plus Exclusive Family Photos.” Inside are five pages of pictures of adoring daughters getting moments with Daddy...by Obama’s White House photographer Pete Souza. The newest one’s from last August. The White House pictorial also comes with an essay titled “Being the Father I Never Had, by Barack Obama.”

Neil Richards was so excited about the impending birth of his child 10 years ago he discussed building a home in the Blue Mountains for himself and the lesbian couple who had used his donated sperm to conceive. Mr Richards, who answered the couple's advertisement in a magazine, said they agreed he should be involved in his daughter's life but exactly how was never decided. He said he provided sperm to Jesse Star, now 49, paid $5000 for her fertility treatments at a Woollahra clinic and paid for the midwife who managed the home birth of the child in August...

Like so many “lost” civilizations, her rollercoaster ride history is hard for politically-correct elites to process. But why ignore or edit her lessons? One clue: Professor Anthony Esolen of Providence College says, “In some ways ancient Rome, especially during the centuries of the Republic, was as politically incorrect a place as you can imagine.” To Christians, Rome strengthened the church through persecution. That said, not all Romans were bloodthirsty tyrants, and Christians and Jews weren’t always at odds with warring imperialists. Table-turning Christ (no pacifist) openly applauded the Centurion. In the Bible, “righteous pagans” (even turnaround prostitutes) were given credit,...

The European Union Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that Spain’s law providing paid leave for mothers to breast feed their babies is discriminatory against fathers. Employers were ordered to grant 30 minutes of breast feeding time off per work day for all fathers of newborns. “The assumption that mothers are the only ones capable of breast feeding infants contradicts the state’s obligation to treat every member of society equally,” the ruling read. “If the law grants mothers time off for breast feeding then it must grant an equivalent time to fathers.” As has been the case with mothers granted...

Recently, I watched a promotional video for the movie, Courageous, a Christian movie which will be available in 2011 (the video can be viewed here). The movie is the story of four law enforcement officers who are called, in very challenging situations, to serve and protect others and their families. Watching this video reminded me that as Catholic men, we are constantly bombarded in the media with images of men, husbands, and fathers that are not only negative, but counter to the biblical image of who we are in Christ as men. The video also reminded me of the series...

The new US government Fatherhood.gov is full with helpful tips: Take Time to Be a Dad Today Tips Bake a cake, cupcakes, or cookies with your children. Following directions and measuring ingredients help improve children’s reading and math skills. What a sweet way for children to learn while spending time with you. Let’s see how this would work: OK, honey, go relax; I am planning to have some Dad-time with the boys. We’ll bake some cup-cakes. What is that thing in the jar? Which one is the sugar? It doesn’t say ‘sugar’ on it! Don’t worry, I got that. We...

Caroline was fathered by a sperm donor - so why does she bitterly resent the stranger who gave her life? 24th June 2010 The act will have been brief, impersonal and utterly bereft of emotion - but 25 years on, the moment that Caroline Halstead was conceived is causing her lasting heartache. For she was fathered by an anonymous sperm donor and, like a growing number conceived in this way, she has struggled to come to terms with the fact that she is the product of a scientific process rather than a loving union. 'I was conceived in a petri...

U.S. President Barack Obama makes remarks about fatherhood in Washington June 21, 2010 From www.upi.com WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Monday announced plans for an initiative to promote responsible fatherhood in healthy families and communities. In remarks at the Town Hall Education Arts and Recreation Campus in Washington, Obama announced plans for the Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative, which he said moves forward his effort to counter absentee fathers through partnerships with fatherhood- and family-service groups, and role models around the country, the White House said. The president has proposed a Fatherhood, Marriage and Families Innovation Fund...

Jesse Lee Peterson Radio Show! Uniting the Races with Truth Instead of Dividing them with Lies! THE JESSE LEE PETERSON RADIO SHOW TUNE INTO JESSE'S SHOW HERE 6 am to 9 am PST, 9 am to 12 pm EST BOND Action, Inc. has been created to educate, motivate and rally Americans to greater involvement in the moral, cultural and political issues that threaten our great country ”Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man”... Tickets for BOND's 20th Anniversary Fundraising Celebration are now available! Come join BOND Founder and President Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson and Special Guest Speaker Pat Boone for...

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the...

You’ve got a long way to go, baby. And don’t you forget it. This oasis of freedom and equality we call the United States? It’s all a mirage, says leftist feminist Jessica Valenti. In fact, “We’re suffering under the mass delusion that women in America have achieved equality.” Well, thanks for the armchair diagnosis, Jessica, but I won’t play a victim character in the live action role playing game you call feminism. And that’s exactly what leftist feminism is: an elaborate fantasy world spun from ginned up scare-tistics and cherry-picked anecdotes. Like Trutherism and Birtherism, it provides participants with the...

"Don’t you live for that moment right there?" That was former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason’s take on the final scene of Super Bowl XLIV: The Most Valuable Player, Saints quarterback Drew Brees, was holding his young son in his arms while his wife, young Baylan’s mother, looked on with a face full of joy — a loving family sharing a momentous personal, cultural, and historic moment. It’s an image America needed. "Given that about one in four American boys are living apart from their dads at any one point in time, it is great to see a Super Bowl champion...

Strains our credulity to image that this man was really given the Father of the Year Award...by anyone.

More than one in three children never see their father again after their parents split up, research into family breakdown shows. And nearly one in ten is so traumatised by the separation that they have considered suicide. Children are often used as ‘emotional footballs’ and left feeling ‘used, isolated and alone’, with many turning to drink, drugs and truanting. Sandra Davis, head of family law at Mishcon de Reya, which carried out the survey of more than 4,000 people, said: ‘This research highlights that despite their best intentions, parents are often using their children as emotional footballs. ‘They can be...

LISTEN TO THE REAL REVEREND JESSE ON THE INTERNET OR A RADIO STATION IN YOUR AREA......BOND Action, Inc...Educating, Motivating and Rallying Americans! The Jesse Lee Peterson Radio Show Streamed live online from 6-9 a.m. PST / 9-12 a.m. EST. Call in the same times usually. For Live Questions or Comments Call 1-888-77-JESSE(5-3773) You can email comments and questions to radio@bondaction.org For more information on getting The Jesse Lee Peterson Show picked up on a station in your local area call Ermias Alemayehu at 1-877-WE ACT77 (932-2877) Go to HERE and order a truckful of these bumper stickers as Jesse says.....

Dan Brewington is among the latest casualties in a war against fathers that is tearing our nation apart, family by family. The Ripley and Dearborn County (Indiana) court system recently stripped him of his parental rights without reason or cause. He is no longer able to see his daughters despite his history of loving care for them and their strong bond with him. Mr. Brewington has neither a criminal history nor a Social Services history. He is loved by his children whom he has taken excellent care of their entire lives. He has also demonstrated his ability to successfully parent...

"Swedish father Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, has entered into an experiment that he hopes will help him breastfeed his future children. ... "Anything that doesn't do any harm is worth trying out. And if it works it could prove very important for men's ability to get much closer to their children at an early stage," Bengtsson told The Local. His efforts are to be documented by Swedish TV8, with the first instalment scheduled to air at 9pm on Wednesday on the Aschberg show. Bengtsson also maintains a blog on the station's website, the title of which translates as: 'The Milkman -...

See front page of Drudge Report with Obama on the cover of Parade Magazine. Obama uses his daughters as a tool to boost his popularity constantly while telling the press that the daughters are to be left alone and their privacy respected.

Charles Davenport: Too many fatherless children Sunday, August 23, 2009 By Charles Davenport Jr.Freelance When a young man was shot to death three weeks ago at Hickory Trails in Greensboro, this newspaper's editorial board declared the broad-daylight killing "unacceptable." Rightly so. "Also inexcusable," the editors continued, "is the neglect by the institutions responsible for the safety and welfare of the residents of this public housing complex."Those who dig deeper into this and other senseless killings, said the editors, will find that "the stories get darker: gangs, drugs, guns and fear."Nudged and nearly trampled by an unacknowledged elephant in the room,...

Since playing Jesus in “The Passion of the Christ,” Jim Caviezel has been anything but idle. Catholic Digest caught up with him by phone to discuss his latest news, including how being a dad has changed his life and how he hopes his new film, “The Stoning of Soraya M.” — out in theaters June 26 — will change others’. Caviezel, 40, spoke with us from one of his favorite haunts, a Jewish restaurant called The Meating Place in Agoura Hills, California, where he says he enjoys the best Israeli food he’s had outside Israel. You and your wife Kerri...

In the Parade Magazine interview he told the interviewer: “…we need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one. As fathers, we need to be involved in our children’s lives not just when it’s convenient or easy, and not just when they’re doing well — but when it’s difficult and thankless, and they’re struggling. That is when they need us most.” At the Town Hall meeting following the White House Barbecue for young men...

On his first Father’s Day in the White House, Barack Obama exalted the role of surrogate dads: “We also honor those surrogate fathers who raise, mentor, or care for someone else’s child. Thousands of young children benefit from the influence of great men, and we salute their willingness to give and continue giving.” Ann Dunham married Barack Obama’s father, the focus of his “autobiography.” Barack Senior abandoned the family before the child was two years old. Dad was not exactly father of the year. He is described as a “drunk and a bigot,” who was a cruel man, prone to...

With Father’s Day almost upon us, expect a host of media stories on men and family life. Some will do a good job of capturing the changes and continuities associated with fatherhood in contemporary America. But other reporters and writers will generalize from their own unrepresentative networks of friends and family members, try to baptize the latest family trend, or assume that our society is heading ceaselessly in a progressive direction. So be on the lookout this week for stories, op-eds, and essays that include these five myths on contemporary fatherhood and family life. 1. THE ‘MR. MOM’ SURGE Open...

“Behind every great woman, you will find her dad.” According to an article by Joanne Richard in the Edmonton Sun, that’s the kind of extraordinary power that a father has over his daughter. Dr. Mary Jo Rapini, a psychotherapist and author, declares that the way a dad treats his little girl determines how she will feel about herself as a woman. If fathers admire their daughter’s achievements, character, and looks, says Dr. Rapini, that girl will become a confident and self-assured person who will choose a husband who treats her the same way. In fact, Dr. Rapini echoes the old...

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."

When does a boy become a man? The answer goes far beyond biology and chronological age...

This Father’s Day sets up a special call to greatness for Catholic men, as it falls the day before the feasts of Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher. The first was a model family man, the other a passionate pastor. Both died for the Catholic faith, demonstrating the devotion all Christian fathers must give their families (See Ephesians 5:25). Fathers of nuclear families and spiritual families can learn much from these two English martyrs. “St. Thomas More taught his children, by both word and action, that we’re all called to be God’s good servant first,” says Father Roger Landry, pastor...

BITTER William Ireland is taking revenge on the dad he says abandoned him as a child - by auctioning his ashes on eBay. William, 50, claims he was six when dad Ken left his mum and broke contact to start a new life. He later tracked him down. The bidding for his ashes starts at 99p. William said: "I spent a lot of childhood pining for dad. 'Abandoned family' ... Ken 'Abandoned family' ... Ken Caters News Agency "When I found him we started seeing each other then he died in 2006. I found out his estate was going to...

Obama for Father's Day: Stay Home, US Dads By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS June 19, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Growing up without a father left a painful hole in his heart, President Barack Obama told a lawnful of boys at the White House Friday in a remarkably personal Father's Day weekend message. He implored fathers everywhere -- and the kids when they're a bit older -- to stay home and stay involved in the lives of their own children. ''This isn't an obligation,'' said the father of two in a message to millions of wayward dads. ''This is a privilege to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Growing up without a father left a hole in his heart, President Barack Obama told boys at the White House Friday in a remarkably personal Father's Day weekend message. He implored fathers everywhere—and the kids when they're older—to be involved in the lives of their own children. "This isn't an obligation," said the father of two in a message to millions of wayward dads. "This is a privilege to be a father." Obama spent hours on Friday with teenagers, young men, community mentors and everyday dads in hopes of launching what he called a national conversation on...

Washington—With one in three children in the United States living apart from their biological fathers, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) are renewing their efforts to promote healthy families and support American fathers who are trying to earn a livable wage and take a more active role in the lives of their children. Bayh today introduced his Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act of 2009, a bill cosponsored by then-Senator Barack Obama in the last Congress. Bayh’s bill is co-sponsored by Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AK) and Roland Burris (D-IL).

It is news to no one that, in the Western world in general and the United States in particular, the call to fatherhood is being heeded less and less. Anyone unfortunate enough to pick up a newspaper is painfully aware that one-third of American children live without any father and that, in many inner cities, the out-of-wedlock birth rate exceeds seventy percent. Also well known, though rarely acknowledged, is the devastation that such a lack of paternity has wreaked on children and society more generally

As the father of two young girls who have shown such poise, humor, and patience in the unconventional life into which they have been thrust, I mark this Father's Day—our first in the White House—with a deep sense of gratitude. I observe this Father's Day not just as a father grateful to be present in my daughters' lives but also as a son who grew up without a father in my own life. My father left my family when I was 2 years old, and I knew him mainly from the letters he wrote and the stories my family told....

Father’s Day 2009: “An End to Buffoonish Fathers” Ah, Father’s Day is upon us. I can’t think of a better time for dads and men to remember how to be dads and men. Flip on the tube any time during the day and you’ll see fathers portrayed as hapless buffoons – saved from themselves by their wives and all-knowing children. The real life of the modern dad isn’t much prettier. To be sure, the state of the American male is in a shambles – though I’m not fully sure how we got here. I remember the ‘60s. The women’s movement...

Menomonie (Dunn County) Harold Albert Smalley was born Jan. 13, 1894, in Mount Auburn, Iowa. He died Jan. 4, 1972, in Vinton, Iowa. Those towns are only seven miles apart, so what do I remember of those 78 years and seven miles? These will only be samples of my remembrances about my dad, for I still hear him saying: "You boys are so good to your mother. If she broke her leg you would bring the cow up on the porch for her to milk." His satire was generally not understood by us kids, for we did not even have...

Desmond Hatchett's children have 11 different mums and their ages range from a newborn to 11-years-old. The prolific father even boasted of fathering four tots by different women in the same year His giant brood came to light after authorities in Tennessee took Hatchett to court for non payment of child support. [snip] Hatchett, who earns minimum wage, told reporters he knows the names and ages of all his children. [snip] Hatchett's lawyer Keith Pope said: "The children can't all be supported by Desmond, so the state of Tennessee has had to step in."

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 20, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A member of Obama's Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships advisory board has stated that one of the main challenges in promoting "responsible fatherhood" in America will be to dismantle a perception that fatherhood is "heteronormative" - i.e., that heterosexuality is the norm.In addition to his role on Obama's faith advisory board, Knox is the director of the religion and faith program at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual activist group.  "Responsible fatherhood offers us an immense opportunity to speak to a real need in the country," Knox said in a May 11 PBS...

Strong families need strong fathers, but American television has come a long way from the 1950s series "Father Knows Best." Now Lifetime TV, a network known for its movies about women being endangered by men, has sunk to a new low - a reality program called "Deadbeat Dads." In the beginning of gotcha TV, viewers enjoyed watching the police bust down a door and haul away the bad guy on a show like "Cops." That same format migrated over to Animal Planet, where the cops bust down the door and arrest the man who has been starving his dogs or...