Marriage
Tony Abbott, a Conviction Politician with a Blind Spot for Fathers
EXTRACT
Not since the Constitutional crisis of 1975, when an elected Australian Prime Minister was spectacularly sacked by the very same Governor General that Labor itself appointed, has a Labor-led government limped from one self-inflicted crisis to another, in such monotonous repetition, as it does today.
For many reading the papers of the last few days, one would be forgiven for the misconception that Laborâs woes began with Julia Gillardâs broken promise on the Carbon tax, or her lack of political judgment on the asylum seeker situation, or even her political assassination of a first term Labor Prime Minister.
In fact the seeds of Laborâs demise were sown well before Julia Gillard even became Prime Minister……….back to when Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister blinked on the carbon Tax mark I, while Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who many thought was on a hiding to nothing given public opinion at the time, kept his eyes wide open.
……..For a politician openly reviled by the ugly underbelly of many of Australiaâs liberal/feminist organisations, one cannot deny that Tony Abbott has shown tremendous courage in staring down an at-the-time popular policy put forward by an at-the-time popular Prime Minister, and the outcome has left almost everyone surprised, except perhaps for Tony Abbott.
However, as a man and as a father, I must add that my opinion on Tony Abbott as a politician of conviction does not find favour in one select community within Australia, that being the ever growing list of separated fathers who have little or no contact with their children post-divorce.
Jake Roberts  exclusively for Ezine4Males
Read Full Article at:Â Ezine4Males
Why women marry the wrong men
“Did you know you were making a mistake as you were walking down the aisle?” This was the question Jennifer Gauvain and Anne Milford asked 1000 women as research for their book How Not to Marry the Wrong Man.
A staggering 30 per cent of respondents said ‘yes’ they did know. But, they did it anyway.
Gauvain, a licensed clinical social worker, wrote about it in this blog for the Huffington Post. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given divorce rates in the US are around 40 per cent – versus about one third in Australia – it caused an uproar.
Of the thousand-odd comments on the article, some that captured the general mood included this:
“Marriage is for idots and poor people. Divorce is too easy for women. It’s not hard for a woman to navigate a divorce. The only thing she’s navigating is how much of this man’s hard earned money she’s going to take from him for the rest of his life.”
And this:
Family Court lets wealthy wife keep the lot
IT is taken as given that when a man gets divorced after 21 years he’s going to lose a chunk of whatever fortune he has made to his ex-wife.
What, though, if it’s the wife who has made all the money? Does she lose half too?
Not in every case, according to a recent judgment of the Family Court, which has allowed a wife to keep the bulk of the $4 million in assets she holds in her name, while leaving the husband with pretty much nothing.
The judgment, known as Stiller and Power, was made in September but has only now come to light. It concerns a Brisbane couple, described as “intelligent and creative” who got married in 1991, when both were 53. Each had “a reasonable level of unencumbered assets” including properties held in their own names before they tied the knot.
Judicial Fraud and Entrenched Discrimination: Labor Govt stays silent on Serious Allegations
Serious Allegations of Judicial Fraud unanswered
It has now been over 5 years since Australia’s High Court delivered a stunning judgment in the Magill v Magill paternity fraud case in Australia, effectively creating two remarkable precedents in terms of the perpetuation of fraud in this country.
According to Anti Paternity Fraud Advocate Cheryl King, “Paternity fraud was effectively endorsed by Australia’s highest court, the High Court, denying the plaintiff Mr Liam Magill any legal recourse against the woman who fraudulently deceived both Mr Magill and two of his three children into believing that he was their father.”
King further stated that “this deception continued even after separation, involving financial fraud which the Court deemed as not required to be re-paid”.
King alleges that in the second, another type of fraud was exercised by one of the presiding judges, Justice Susan Crennan.
Children need mum and dad for best mental health
THERE is no substitute for parents of both genders. Happy heterosexual marriages are the best environment for the mental health of children.
Many people think – but have been afraid to express it – that married couples in a loving relationship provide our children the best opportunity to prepare for a fulfilling and happy life.
A report released this week, titled For Kids’ Sake and authored by Professor Patrick Parkinson of the University of Sydney, is a sober reminder of this.
It says, in part: “The wellbeing of Australia’s children and young adults has declined sharply in the past decade, and …sliding marriage rates are partly to blame”.
Female teacher arrested for having sex with five students
A 27 year old married teacher with three children, Â has been jailed after being accused of having sex with five of her students during an orgy at her home.
Police said Brittni Nicole Colleps also exchanged sexually-explicit text and picture messages with the students prior to her arrest.
Brittni Colleps, invited the boys to her home for the sex romp and the encounter was filmed on their cell phones.
The 27-year-old’s husband was away overseas on duty serving with the US military.
Colleps, an English teacher and girl’s basketball coach, faces up to ten years in jail after being charged with five felony counts of inappropriate relationships between a student and a teacher.
Although all five of the teens involved with Colleps were 18 years of age or older, Texas law prohibits sex between a teacher and a student, regardless of the studentâs age.
According to a police arrest warrant affidavit, the investigation into Colleps began after a 19-year-old student told investigators about his sexual relationship with his English teacher.
The student told police the relationship began with sexually explicit text messages and photos that they sent to each other for about a week in late April.
Later that month the student drove to Colleps home in Arlington, Texas where they had sex.
He later received a text message from the teacher saying they ‘had fun’ and an invite back to the house.
When he arrived there were four other students from Kennedale High School present and they told police they all had sex with Colleps.
When police analyzed the teen’s phone they found video footage of him and Colleps having sex. They also found sexually explicit photos and text messages the pair had sent each other.
Police later interviewed a second student who said he was present when the sex romp took place.
School officials learned about the teacher’s alleged relationships and put her on leave with pay.
Schools Superintendent Gary Dugger posted a letter on the schoolâs website saying that the district was cooperating with investigators.
‘As the alleged acts occurred off campus, once Kennedale ISD personnel were put on notice, immediate action was taken,’ the letters says.
Colleps is being held in the Arlington jail on $125,000 bail after turning herself into police on Monday.
Ms Colleps could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 if convicted.
American Woman found guilty of HK ‘Milkshake Murder’ of Husband
A Hong Kong jury on Friday unanimously found an American woman guilty of murdering her Merrill Lynch banker husband in 2003, ending the lengthy retrial of a case that riveted the territory with tales of rough sex, marital violence and adultery.
Nancy Kissel, who has appeared in a wheelchair during nearly 10 weeks of proceedings at Hong Kong’s High Court, had already been sentenced to life in prison in 2005 for murdering senior Merrill Lynch investment banker Robert KisselĂÂ ĂÂ by giving him a milkshake spiked with sedatives and then clubbing him to death with a metal statuette.
Kissel, in her mid-40s, had been convicted of murder. But in the retrial, she had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, with the defence arguing that she suffers from depression and had been provoked into the crime after years of sexual and physical abuse by her husband.
After the verdict from the jury of seven women and two men was read out, Kissel, looking pale and thin, rocked backwards and forwards slowly as members of her family broke down in tears and held one another.
Justice Andrew Macrae described the retrial as a “difficult and very serious one” while saying that his “hands were tied” in upholding Kissel’s life sentence in accordance with Hong Kong punishment for murder, despite mitigating arguments put forward by Kissel’s lawyers.
“I don’t wish to say anything to add to your anguish,” Macrae said simply to Kissel, who struggled to stay on her feet as prison wardens led her from the courtroom.
Speaking outside the court building to reporters, Kissel’s elderly mother, Jean McGlothlin, said with tears in her eyes that she was “shocked by the outcome,” while expressing concern for the frail physical condition of her daughter.
Kissel’s step-father, Michael McGlothlin, said he thought the unanimity of the decision by the jurors was bewildering. “Certainly there are grounds for appeal,” he said.
The so-called “milkshake murder” case engrossed Hong Kong with its tales of domestic violence, rough sex and adultery that fractured the high-flying expatriate lifestyle that many financial professionals in the former British colony enjoy.
Prosecutors said Kissel gave Robert a milkshake laced with a “cocktail of drugs” before cracking his skull several times with a statuette. They said Robert had planned to divorce Nancy and wanted custody of their children after discovering she had an affair with a TV repairman in the United States.
After the killing, she left the corpse in the master bedroom for several days before rolling it up in the living room carpet and having it carried into a storeroom at the couple’s luxury apartment complex perched in the lush hills of Hong Kong island.
The defence had sought to argue that Kissel was suffering significant emotional problems and psychological distress from years of bullying by her husband that led to the killing in an “abnormality of violence.”
Last February, following an appeal to Hong Kong’s highest court, Kissel won a stunning reprieve when the panel of judges quashed Kissel’s conviction and ordered a retrial, saying the case had been flawed and riven with conflicting evidence.
The retrial which began in January and lasted 10 weeks clearly took an emotional toll on Kissel, who often appeared listless and pale in court, at times breaking down and even once screaming that she could see her dead husband in the courtroom.
Many Kissel supporters were bitterly disappointed, including her father Ira Keeshin who hobbled away with a walking stick and refused comment. But many echoed the view of her lawyer Colin Cohen who said: “We regret the verdict … but in my view, we have had a very fair trial.”
(Reporting by James Pomfret, editing by Miral Fahmy and Sugita Katyal)
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/9078019/american-woman-found-guilty-in-hk-milkshake-murder/
Court refuses to keep mum’s baby a secret
A mother who kept her baby a secret from her husband has been told she can not have the boy adopted after judges refused to back ââŹĹa great lieââŹÂ.
The woman did not realise she was expecting a child until she was six months pregnant and, even though she lives with her husband, managed to give birth to the boy last year without his father knowing.
She wanted to hide the birth from her husband because he was traumatised by his experiences in the refugee family’s native Afghanistan, and she believes that knowledge of his fatherhood could further damage his mental health.
The family are refugees from Afghanistan and the father is deeply traumatised by his experiences in the war-torn country.
The Taliban murdered his sister, who died in his arms and the mother fears that knowledge of his fatherhood may further inflict damage on his mental health.
The ââŹĹunpredictable and volatileââŹÂ father suffers severe depression and ââŹĹpsychotic symptomsââŹÂ, endures flashbacks to violence in his homeland and ââŹĹhears the voices of dead family members asking for helpââŹÂ, the Appeal Court in London was told.
The little boy was taken into care immediately after his birth and the mother has told social workers she wants him adopted and has demanded that the father not be told of the babyââŹâ˘s existence or be allowed to play any part in the adoption process.
The birth has not been registered but, last September, Mr Justice Mostyn ruled that the father must be told of his son.
Observing that the parents ââŹĹare married and living togetherââŹÂ and ââŹĹa full family life existsââŹÂ, the judge said it would be wrong for the court to ââŹĹendorse and formalise a great lieââŹÂ.
The court heard that the women in the family know about the birth, but the men have no idea.
Mr Justice Mostyn said that, if the mother was granted secrecy, ââŹĹthe family would live in a tangled web of deceit with the female members knowing all about this episode and pretending it never happened, while the male members were oblivious to it.ââŹÂ If the father ever found out about the baby, family chaos could result and he would be legitimately ââŹĹupset to find out that his mother and sisters, supported by me, had in a calculated way withheld knowledge of his existenceââŹÂ, the judge added.
Rejecting the motherââŹâ˘s appeal against the judgeââŹâ˘s decision yesterday, Lord Justice Thorpe said it would require ââŹĹa very high degree of exceptionalityââŹÂ for the court to co-operate in the father being deliberately kept in the dark about the birth of his legitimate son.
The judge, sitting with Lord Justice Longmore and Lady Justice Black, said there was ââŹĹno medical or other expert evidence that supports the motherââŹâ˘s caseââŹÂ and her attempt to keep her baby behind a veil of secrecy was ââŹĹhopelessââŹÂ.
Lady Justice Black said the motherââŹâ˘s concerns that the knowledge ofĂ fatherhood might badly affect her traumatised husband were based on ââŹĹpure suppositionââŹÂ.
Although ââŹĹa degree of upset and confusionââŹÂ was inevitable when the father was told the truth, the judge said: ââŹĹThis was not the sort of harm that would justify keeping the father ignorant of his sonââŹâ˘s existenceââŹÂ.
By Murray Wardrop
Husband faces jail for reading wife’s email
Man faces prison for reading wife's email.
Prosecutors, relying on a Michigan statute typically used to prosecute crimes such as identity theft or stealing trade secrets, have charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony after he logged on to a laptop in the home he shared with his wife Clara Walker.
Using her password, he accessed her Gmail account and learned she was having an affair. He is now facing trial.
His wife filed for divorce after the incident.
Legal experts said it was the first time the statute had been used in a domestic case and it might be hard to prove.
“It’s going to be interesting because there are no clear legal answers here,” lawyer and electronic privacy expert Frederick Lane said.
“The fact the two still were living together and that Leon Walker had routine access to the computer may help him. I would guess there is enough grey area to suggest that she could not have an absolute expectation of privacy.”
About 45 per cent of divorce cases involve email snooping.
