Happy Fathers' Day! I hope all of you have found some good way to celebrate it.

Barack Obama honored the holiday by addressing thousands of people in a predominantly black church - Apostolic Church of God. The topic of his speech was a very sensitive one: the absence of fathers in the African-American community. Obama has personal experience with this, since his own father was absent during his childhood. He addressed the fact that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households. Sad fact. From an article in The New York Times:

“Too many fathers are M.I.A, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said, to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”

On Friday, he announced that he would be a co-sponsor of a bill that will address absentee fathers. If passed, the bill will increase the enforcement of child support payments and help prevent domestic violence (yay).