Category: Blog

Los Angeles, CA–This new form of reversible vasectomy sounds good–they place a device in the vas deferens which can be signaled to expand or contract, thus opening or closing the tube.

It’s certainly not perfected yet, and over time the valve may clog with protein and remain shut, rendering the man permanently infertile. If and when it’s perfected, it would be an ideal thing for young men–they could get the protection they need when they’re young, then open the valves once they’re married and want to have kids, and then close them again afterwards.

From Radio-controlled sperm ‘tap’ turns off vasectomies (NewScientist.com, January 2008):

A radio-controlled contraceptive implant that could control the flow of sperm from a man’s testicles is being developed by scientists in Australia.

The device is placed inside the vas deferens – the duct which carries sperm from each testicle to the penis. When closed, it blocks the flow of sperm cells, allowing them to pass again when it is opened via a remote control. The valve could be a switchable alternative to vasectomy, the researchers say.

Although women can choose from several long-term contraceptive methods, for men vasectomy is really the only option. With this procedure, the vasa deferentia are cut or blocked, a process that requires surgery and can require a week of recovery. The procedure cannot be reliably reversed, leaving some men to later regret their decision.

Now, a team from the University of Adelaide, Australia, may have come up with a more easily reversed alternative. They have designed a small radio-controlled valve that would “push-fit” snugly inside the vas deferens and block the passage of sperm.

The silicone-polymer valve can be flipped between open and closed positions with a pulse of radio waves. A set of conducting “fingers” on the valve act as antennae and convert the signal’s energy into sound waves that travel through the polymer and create stresses inside the device.

“Since it is flexible, the polymer either contracts or expands as a result, and this movement allows the valve to be opened or closed as needed,” explains team leader Said Al-Sarawi.

“It will be like turning a TV on and off with a remote control,” added team founder Derek Abbott, “except that the remote will probably be locked away in your local doctor’s office to safeguard against accidental pregnancy or potential misuse of the device.”

To secure the device against accidental activation, the device works in a similar way to a car’s remote key-fob. Each valve responds only to a radio-frequency signal with a unique code.

Another advantage of the microvalve is that would not require open surgery, unlike a vasectomy. The 800 micron-long device could simply be inserted using a hypodermic needle. “The procedure could be performed in a special clinic rather than in a hospital,” says Abbott.

The researchers have finished the design of all parts of the valve, and are convinced it will work effectively. The next step is to test it in the lab with a tube of pressurized water. After that, trials could begin in live sheep and pigs, they say.

Read the full article here. Thanks to Jean, a reader, for sending it.

Below are some recent articles and items of interest from Fathers & Families’ latest News Digest.

Lend a hand to those going through divorce (Houston Chronicle, 7/8/08)

Child support payers have a chance to settle (WALB News, 7/8/08)

Failure to pay child support leads to prison (Associated Press, 7/9/08)

Divorce still damaging to children despite being more acceptable (Telegraph.co.uk, 7/9/08)

Infertile man forced to pay for child he claims isn’t his (Telegraph.co.uk, 7/10/08)

Stalled child support payments resume (Indianapolis Star, 7/10/08)

Price of Norman’s freedom: $103 million (Palm Beach Post, 7/11/08)

Wanted man arrested when in town for mom’s funeral (Chicago Tribune, 7/12/08)

NY law often makes for messy divorce (Newsday, 7/12/08)

Bracelets may better monitor child-support offenders (Newark Advocate, 7/14/08)

Hollywood, CA–Peter Cook–ex-husband of supermodel Christie Brinkley–settled last week for $2.1 million and visitation with his kids–a clear loss, considering his expressed love for his kids and Brinkley”s $80 million plus in assets. Cook”s bad behavior was fodder for endless tabloid TV reporting, including his relationship with an 18 year old assistant, and the alleged thousands spent on internet porn. And yet, far from vengeful, Cook appears to be the mature adult in the aftermath, introducing a concept so rare in Hollywood–shame.

In a televised interview this week, Cook said he didn”t regret his ten-year marriage to Brinkley, but denounced the court battle. “Christie has been waving a victory sign as though she just a won a war and I just don’t see how there’s a victory for anyone at the end of a fourth marriage and what these children were exposed to unnecessarily, I don’t see the victory in it.” 

Readers may remember our June 30 joint blog post with Glenn Sacks, warning of Brinkley”s legal strategy to use the kids as pawns: “Most stars want their divorces private, she”s fighting to keep it as public as possible.’

In the interview, Cook took responsibility for the breakup, stating he wished he remained faithful to the marriage, but said, “We learn from our mistakes’ and credited the marriage with producing “two beautiful children.’ Cook said he planned to be “very involved’ with the children, “as I have been their whole lives.’

In general, it”s hard to sympathize with any of the parties in these celebrity cases. Yet, the tabloid TV shows, magazines and web sites work overtime to amplify the pettiest of the adults” actions on a nightly basis while minimizing the kids” concerns.

There was extensive and live coverage of Britney Spears” various breakdowns, her “shopping therapy,’ but the average watcher might have missed Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline”s turn toward a more kid-focused approach–an approach driven largely by Federline gaining sole custody since Spears” implosion.

Federline (‘K-Fed’) says he wants Spears to remained involved with their boys, “in a very substantial and meaningful way,’ and Spears has already won court permission for weekly visitation – a lot better than the “every other weekend’ template most non-custodial dads get.

In late June, Spears and Federline began custody mediation to avoid a trial set for August. Federline”s attorney says the kids” “stability’ and “structure’ are central to any permanent order.

One final note: it appears that pornography has become a recurring accusation in these kind of cases. We”re not here to defend porn, but given its widespread acceptance in the adult population, and the salacious nature of popular culture, we think porn charges are a cheap shot against men in custody battles unless there is substantiated inappropriate exposure of children to such material. After all, if adult use of porn were a true measure of bad parenting, the courts and child welfare agencies would come to a standstill with an avalanche of neglect cases.

Indeed, a small footnote story on Extra”s web site says their poll found a “surprising’ 9.4 million women access internet porn monthly; and 1 in 3 visitors are female.

London, England–No surprise here–a UK study found that adult children of divorce are more likely to end up unemployed, unskilled, on welfare, and depressed. Moreover, divorce’s increased social acceptability seems to have no ameliorating effect on the damage. That’s not surprising, considering that in either case what children of divorce are often really losing is their dads.

From the UK Telegarph’s UK Study: Divorce Still Damaging to Children Despite Being More Acceptable (7/9/08):

A study run over several decades has shown that children whose parents split up are more likely to end up without qualifications, claiming benefits and suffering depression.

The National Child Development Study has tracked around 17,000 people born in Britain during one week in 1958 over the course of their lives.

As those people approach their 50th birthdays, researchers have compared their lives with those of other sample groups born in earlier and later years.

The lengthy study has confirmed that children born in 1958 were much less likely to experience parental divorce than children today.

Family break-up was subject to much greater social stigma at the time, something that was sometimes thought to contribute to the problems experienced by the children of divorced parents.

Yet the study’s data suggest that greater social acceptance of divorce has not reduced its impact on children.

“It might be expected that as divorce has become more commonplace, its effects might have reduced,” the researchers write. “Yet a comparison with children born in 1970 shows that this is not the case.”

Comparing the outcomes of people born in 1958 and those born in 1970 when they reached their early 30s, the researchers found that the children of divorced parents in both groups were equally likely to lack qualifications, be on benefits and suffer from depression.

“The estimates across cohorts are surprisingly similar in magnitude and not significantly different from one another,” the NCDS team say.

Summarising the effects of divorce, the report says it “has repercussions that reverberate through childhood and into adulthood.”

The report says: “Children from disrupted families tend to do less well in school and subsequent careers than their peers. They are also more likely to experience the break-up of their own partnerships.”

Pardeeville, Wisconsin–First an excerpt from the article, then a few comments.  From Man returning to city for mother’s funeral arrested on child support charges (Portage Daily Register, 7/12/08):

A former Pardeeville man wanted for five years for failing to pay more than $12,000 in child support was picked up by authorities Thursday after he returned to Portage for his mother’s funeral. Todd W. Bubolz, 42, of Brownsville, Texas, remains in jail on $2,500 cash bail after he was arrested at a restaurant Thursday evening. He was in town for the funeral of his mother, Karen Bubolz of Portage, who died Tuesday. An arrest warrant for Bubolz was issued in March 2003 after five counts of failure to pay child support were charged against him, but the Columbia County Child Support Agency could not locate him for more than five years.
Bubolz was ordered in April 2001 to pay $152 per week in support for his four children, according to a criminal complaint. The Columbia County Child Support Agency received no payments from Bubolz between May 2001 and December 2002, the complaint stated. Bubolz owes about $12,920 in payments. If found guilty of all charges, he faces up to 50 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Paying $600 a month to support for children doesn’t seem like much, and I would imagine that he probably could have paid it if he wanted to.  This is not always the case, of course.  As always, the article tells us nothing about what else might have happened in this case — what reason or excuse the father may have for nonpayment, whether his custody rights were respected, etc.  We don’t know if the father had an injury or an illness, or has mental problems, or God knows what.  Maybe he really did take off one day and leave the wife and children who loved him in the lurch purely out of selfishness.  It happens, but that’s not usually the case. But what really strikes me is this — he faces up to 50 years in prison.  50.  That is outrageous — murderers don’t even get that much sometimes.  Hell, for the lousy $13,000 he owes he could have robbed a Brink’s armored truck, stolen that much and more, shot and wounded a security guard, and he still might not have been facing 50 years.  I haven’t studied the issue, but it seems as if these draconian sentences (or possible sentences) are becoming more and more common. Read the full article here.

Trenton, NJ–We’ve discussed on many occasions the massive violations of men’s and fathers’ rights that occur under the guise of fighting domestic violence. Nowhere is this more true than with  restraining orders–all a woman has to do is tell a court that her husband “threatened her” or she is “in fear of him” and the court orders a restraining order booting the man out of his own home and prohibiting him from contacting his own kids.

A new New Jersey court decision is a step forward in curbing these abuses–a justice of the Superior Court of New Jersey has ruled that a key element of the New Jersey Domestic Violence Act (DVA) is unconstitutional. David Heleniak, Esq. is the attorney who represented the victorious husband in the case.

There is now a blowback against the ruling from domestic violence groups and the New Jersey Attorney General. From Restraining order picture clouded (Associated Press , 7/11/08):

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Women’s rights groups and the state Attorney General’s Office are preparing to challenge a judge’s ruling that determined it’s too easy to get a restraining order in New Jersey.

The decision is not binding on any other state judge and appears headed for an ultimate ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court. That showdown could be many months away, and the outcome could have broad impact.

Although the numbers have declined over the past five years, about 40,000 domestic violence complaints are filed annually in New Jersey. From those, roughly 30,000 temporary restraining orders are issued, with most of the rest withdrawn by the accuser. Nearly 80 percent of the complaints are filed by women.

The recent ruling by a Hudson County judge, however, threatens to make it more difficult for victims to prove they have been beaten or threatened and could scuttle the state’s Prevention of Domestic Violence Act.

State Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz found that some elements of the 17-year-old law are unconstitutional. Among them: a low threshold of evidence — just a “preponderance” — to get a restraining order violates due process protections. Instead, judges need “clear and convincing” evidence to issue a restraining order, Schultz said…

“If it’s allowed to stand, it certainly would be a significant problem for victims of domestic violence,” said Sandy Clark, associate director of the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women.

“They are typically the only witnesses to the abuse. So to have to show by clear and convincing standard would certainly be challenging,” Clark said.

She considers New Jersey’s law among the best in the country, since it provides restraining orders of indefinite length, along with mandatory training for police and judges. Other states have tougher standards to obtain restraining orders, she said.

Prosecutors are also alarmed at what would happen if the ruling stands.

“You’re going to have a chilling effect. That’s the bottom line,” said Deputy Chief Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Debra Cannella, who led the office’s domestic violence unit for 11 years.

“We’re very concerned about this because elevating the standard of proof will make it more difficult for victims of domestic violence who desperately need relief,” Cannella said. “The next time that victim is assaulted, they may not come back to court because there were rebuffed.”

On the other side of the debate are groups that include fathers who maintain the domestic violence law has been unfairly used against them in divorce proceedings.

Continue reading “Women’s groups to challenge ruling that determined it’s too easy to get a restraining order”

Los Angeles, CA–Remember, if a woman is violent to a man, it’s not violence. You’d think Burger King and its ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, would know better.

To watch the ad, click here or see below. Thanks to Dan, a reader.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aUOibCglL4]

New York, NY–I couldn’t help but notice this wonderful headline–Cynthia Rodriguez To Let A-Rod See Children (wxii12.com, 7/10/08):

Cynthia Rodriguez has agreed to let her husband, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez (pictured together), see the couple’s two children, the New York Post reported.

Cynthia Rodriguez filed for divorce from the All-Star on Monday, citing his citing his “extramarital affairs and other marital misconduct.” Alex Rodriguez was linked to Madonna before his wife sued for divorce. He was also spotted with a stripper last summer.

The newspaper reported Wednesday that Cynthia Rodriguez was making it difficult for A-Rod to see his two children — Natasha, 3, and Ella, two months. But on Thursday the Post reported that Alex Rodriguez will be able to see his daughters Friday in Toronto, where the Yankees will play the Blue Jays…

Cynthia Rodriguez has asked for primary custody of their children, as well as child support and alimony.

Both A-Rod and Madonna deny the rumors of a sexual liaison, but A-Rod did have an affair with a woman last year, earning the nickname “Stray-Rod.” Still, there’s no excuse for Cynthia Rodriguez to impede the relationship between A-Rod and his daughters. She’s a psychologist–you’d think she’d know better.

I also can’t help but be annoyed that lately when we do see media coverage of the problem of mothers blocking fathers’ access to their children, it’s only been in divorces with cheating husbands–Peter Cook/Christie Brinkley and here with A-Rod. In most divorces, that’s not the case.

I’ve defended Rodriguez’s much-maligned reputation as a baseball player a couple times–see my blog post Athletes’ Attitude Towards Fans and A-Rod’s Revenge.

Los Angeles, CA–I’ve discussed the Christie Brinkley/Peter Cook divorce trial on a couple radio shows–to listen to one audio archive from Tuesday, click here or on the tab at the bottom.

It’s hard to tell who’s less likeable in this sordid New York divorce trial/boxing match. In one corner of the ring we have Peter “I’m banging an 19-year-old on the side while we’re still married and if you divorce me I want some of your money” Cook. In the other, we have Christy “I’ve been married and divorced four–count ’em–four times but I’m an innocent, wounded victim and by the way dad won’t be seeing much of his kids anymore” Brinkley.

Also, we have the former mistress, Diana Bianchi (pictured, right), who collected several hundred thousand dollars worth of Cook’s (and Brinkley’s) money during and after her sexual relationship with Cook, and who also claims she’s an innocent victim.

I discussed the case in my recent blog post Christie Brinkley’s Divorce: Vengeance First, Kids Last. I condemn Brinkley’s decision to make the divorce trial public. Also, before she discovered Cook’s affair she had told the national media that Cook is “just the greatest father,” but now she’s interfering with Cook’s access to his children and trying to minimize his role in their lives.

On the other hand, I have limited sympathy for guys like Cook, as if he had no idea that there would be hell to pay (and his kids harmed) once Brinkley found out about his affair. I guess the sex was more important to him than his kids.

[audio:http://fn4.putfile.com/getfile/1202092920video1234sslash18921023756.mp3]