"MARRIAGE" In The News
(November 2005)

The news articles and features presented below are simply an indication of how topical, controversial, and all-encompassing the issues surrounding marriage are throughout our society--and the world-- today. Some of the views and opinions expressed, and their respective web sites, do NOT reflect the views or opinions of The Real Proposal™ magazine. Many are highlighted largely to reiterate that the alarming statistical trends on the chaotic state of "Marriage" and "Family"--outlined in "A Mere Glimpse"--will continue unabated without a fundamental grasp and purposeful dissemination of TRUTH on the issues.

• Team Aniston or Team Jolie? Your marriage hangs on which you back  Times Online- LA Notebook- UK, By Chris Ayers, Nov 29 2005
  MANY THINGS can ruin a marriage: infidelity, politics, scheming in-laws, and, of course, poisoning through bad cooking. Nothing, however, can match the destructive power of the most modern source of marital squabbles: taking sides in a celebrity divorce. Celebrities, after all, are powerful brands these days. And we judge people on the brands they choose. None of which I had fully realised until I casually expressed my support for Jennifer Aniston while watching the former Friends star being interviewed on CNN. “Oh my God,” hissed my wife, Lucie, who was sitting next to me on the sofa. “You’re Team Aniston!” . . .

• Why conversation is as important to a marriage as sex  Globe and Mail, Canada, By Judith Timson, Nov 26, 2005
  Even before I met my husband, I knew he was a big talker. How did I know this? He had rented the apartment directly beneath mine and his voice -- loud to begin with --occasionally boomed up through my floor boards when he got excited. From what I could glean, his side of the conversation seemed relatively interesting. One night, he invited me down to his apartment for a chat over a glass of port. Twenty five years later, he's still talking -- and so am I. In fact, as our son grumpily says whenever he's home from university and forced to listen to our early-morning gabfests over the newspaper (how does any marriage survive without a morning paper?): "It sounds like a freakin' seminar going on down there." I thought of this recently when a news item out of Britain caught my eye: Research has revealed that "millions" of couples are so busy "they often don't speak to each other for a whole week." Is this what modern life has come to? No dialogue? . . .
  
  

• Moral turpitude aint what it used to be  Townhall.com, By Kathleen Parker, November 26, 2005
  What a funny world. Where once it was scandalous to be unmarried and pregnant, now it is scandalous to disapprove of another's being unmarried and pregnant. . . So what's the answer? Do schools have any say-so when it comes to how teachers comport themselves in their private lives? Do parents have a right to voice objections when a teacher's private behavior contradicts the moral values they're trying to teach at home?. . . Ultimately, these concerns will be determined by courts along legal rather than moral lines. But the moral questions beg open debate in a culture that increasingly denies the importance of marriage as a prerequisite to childbearing. . .

• Bring real sparkle to marriage Whidbey News Times, WA, By Joan Bay Klope, Nov 26, 2005
  . . . When I take my focus off the TV and move it over to the people who inhabit my world, I realize that very few of my friends have been presented Yuletide gifts with great bling. I remind myself that TV scenarios, packaged in 30-second scenes, are not only prefabricated but also unreachable for a whole lot of us who live modestly—even during Christmas. Besides all that, I reason, a great number of us cannot possibly look that good, capture such poetry in a sentence, or justify spending a goodly portion of our savings. Our lives are not defined by clarity, cut, and color. . . Early on in our marriage I determined we would create the best marriage on the planet. I understood that my husband and I had been blessed with a gift from God, for we had shared a love for each other that began when we were youngsters. I also understood, even back in those early years, that to keep our love intact we would need to work at it. . .

• The Funny Side of Marriage Cup Scene Daily, FL, Nov 26, 2005

  * One woman said to another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?" The other replied, "Well, yes, but I married the wrong man."

  * Getting married is very much like going out to a restaurant with friends. You order what you want, then when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.

  * Marriage is an institution in which a man loses his bachelor's degree and the woman gets her master's. . . .

• TV's newlyweds in ruins  Toronto Star, Canada, By Vinay Menon, Nov 24, 2005
  Oct. 26, 2002: Nick and Jessica get married. Jessica enters matrimony a virgin. Nick does not. Experts predict trouble.
  Dec. 6: Rumours of "marital friction" surface. But since Nick and Jessica are not yet A-list celebrities, nobody cares.
  Aug. 19, 2003: Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica premieres on MTV. In the fourth episode, Jessica is annoyed when Nick visits the Playboy Mansion. . .
  Oct. 17 2005: Us Weekly runs a cover story saying Jessica and Nick have "Split!" Life & Style runs a cover story saying, "It's Over!" The couple issue a statement: "Nick and Jessica have not separated!"
  Nov. 1: Jessica tells Teen People relentless gossip about her marriage forced her into therapy. Therapist later needs therapy.
  Nov. 23: Jessica and Nick release an announcement: "After three years of marriage and careful thought and consideration we have decided to part ways. This is the mutual decision of two people with an enormous amount of respect and admiration for each other."
  Across the free world, no presses were stopped.

• No Ideology can Eradicate True Meaning of Marriage say Maltese Bishops
  LifeSiteNews.com, NY, By Hilary White, Nov 25, 2005
  The Catholic bishops of the tiny Mediterranean island nation of Malta have issued a letter pleading for the retention of traditional moral values and opposing the push to include homosexual partnerings into the legal definition of marriage. The bishops’ statement calls the meaning and nature of natural marriage, “an evident truth and an undeniable fact.” They write, “The word ‘marriage’ does not just mean any relationship between two human beings, but means a union between a man and a woman for reasons determined by nature itself.”  The Maltese bishops reiterate the confidence expressed by many who have said that no matter what legal fictions are created, marriage will remain what it truly is. “No ideology, has the power to erase from humans the certainty that marriage exists solely between a man and a woman, who through their personal gift to one another, which they give to each other in a proper and exclusive way, work towards the holiness of both of them and cooperate with God in the procreation and formation of new human lives.”. . .

• O'Malley Urges Parishioners To End Discrimination Against Gays   WCSH-TV, Boston- MA, Nov 25, 2005
  Archbishop Sean O'Malley says the church's opposition to gay marriage should not be interpreted as hostility toward homosexuals. O'Malley is sending a letter to Roman Catholic parishioners in which he urges them to end discrimination against gays and lesbians. In the letter, he says the archdiocese's opposition to same-sex marriage is "not based on an animus against people with a homosexual orientation," but rather an effort to defend the institution of marriage. O'Malley's letter comes just days before the Vatican is expected to announce a policy banning gays from entering the priesthood. . .

• Furnish praises laws which allow Elton marriage   Contactmusic.com- UK, Nov 24, 2005
  SIR ELTON JOHN's long term lover DAVID FURNISH has praised the British government's decision to allow homosexual marriages, insisting it is "one of the defining issues of our times". . .  He says, "As far as I'm concerned, I've always considered myself committed to Elton and he's the person that I want to spend the rest of my life with. So in that sense I don't feel like the dynamic of our relationship is going to change. "But from a social standpoint, I think it's hugely significant. . .

• Lawmakers urge Medicaid benefits for same-sex couples  The Boston Globe- MA, By Scott S. Greenberger, Nov 25, 2005
  A year and a half after Massachusetts sanctioned the first gay marriages in the United States, two dozen state lawmakers are pushing a measure that would force the Romney administration to give same-sex couples the same government healthcare benefits as other married couples. Supporters of the bill say it will protect gay couples who might otherwise be forced to sell their homes and other assets when one of them taps into MassHealth, the state's Medicaid program, to pay for care in a nursing home. Governor Mitt Romney, who opposes gay marriage. . .

• Author fights for parental rights  Cape Cod Times, By Robin Lord, Staff Writer, November 22, 2005
  Best-selling author Jacquelyn Mitchard creates fictional stories. But the tale of her own experience with a surrogate birth is stranger than anything she could have made up, she says. ''What people will do for each other and to each other, it's something I always knew as a writer, but it never fails to amaze you,'' said Mitchard, who gained fame with her first novel, ''The Deep End of the Ocean'' and now lives in Madison, Wis., after a short stint in Harwich. Mitchard and her husband, Christopher Brent, are in a pitched battle with the estranged husband of a woman who was the surrogate mother of their 3-week-old baby. A judge in Barnstable Probate Court could decide the outcome. Arletta Bendschneider gave birth Nov. 1 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. The baby, named Atticus Stuart Brent by Mitchard and Brent, has been with the couple ever since. But Jack Bendschneider of Kings Mountain, Ky., Arletta's estranged husband, has refused to sign a paper releasing his claim to the boy. . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE:  Man at center of surrogacy case speaks. Says pregnancy for best-selling author dominated his wife's life  Lexington Herald-Leader, KY, By Valarie Honeycutt Spears, November 13, 2005

• Christina Aguilera wed over weekend  Access Holywood-MSNBC.com - Nov 21, 2005
  Christina Aguilera has tied the knot, Access Hollywood has learned. The “Dirrrty” diva said “I do” to boyfriend Jordan Bratman on Saturday evening at the Staglin Family Vineyard in northern California’s Napa Valley. The couple said their vows in front of 130 guests, including actress Sharon Stone. .  . Christina and Jordan have been dating for more than two years after meeting in 2002. They got engaged in Februrary 2005. Aguilera, 24, and Bratman, 28, were on vacation when he popped the question. . .

• Kidman sparks marriage rumours FemaleFirst.co.uk, UK, Nov 18, 2005
  Nicole Kidman is wearing a ring on her wedding finger - sparking rumours she has married country singer Keith Urban. The beautiful Oscar winner, who began dating fellow Australian Urban in July, was seen strolling through Boston last week wearing the ring. Urban - who was one of the big winners at the US Country Music Awards in New York last week - has sold millions of records in America. . .  Meanwhile Nicole Kidman is allegedly devastated that ex-husband Tom Cruise is expecting a baby with new fiancée Katie Holmes. A close friend of the actress said: "Nicole can't believe it's happening. It was so sudden she shut down. Obviously she must still have feelings for Tom; she's been crying and has been really upset". . .

• Bo Bice Shows Off Baby Son Aidan People Magazine, By Jennifer Wulff and Beverly Keel, Nov 17, 2005
  American Idol runner-up Bo Bice has had quite a year. In less than 12 months, he's married Caroline Fisher, 25, his longtime girlfriend; moved into a new home in Nashville (while offering his old house in Alabama to a family who had lost their home in Hurricane Katrina); and changed his son Aidan's diaper for the first time, PEOPLE reports in its latest issue. . . It was around that time that he met Caroline, who was a waitress at the bar next door to the Birmingham, Ala., music store where he worked. Although they were just friends at first, "she was a big part of me turning my life around," he says. "We knew we were soulmates." Bice also began attending a local church. "My perspective on life changed," he says. "There’s not a morning I see a sunrise and don’t give full glory to God for it." . . .
  

• First Comes Gay Marriage then Comes Bestiality in Massachusetts   Lifesite, NY, By Hilary White, Nov 17, 2005
   Four legislators in Massachusetts are quickly following up on their success at legalizing homosexual unions by pushing for softening laws against other forms of sexual deviance. They have introduced a bill that proposes to reduce the penalties associated with the state’s criminal prohibition on sex acts with animals. The four Democrat legislators, Cynthia S. Creem, Robert A. O'Leary, Michael E. Festa, David P. Linsky, are all vocal supporters of abortion, homosexual unions, and are all endorsed by all three of Massachusetts’ gay lobby groups. Family lobbyists opposed to the redefinition of marriage were frequently ridiculed for their warnings that dissolving the natural basis of marriage in law would end with legalizing and normalizing a host of sexual perversions including polygamy, incest and bestiality. . .
  

RELATED ARTICLE:  Bill softens bestiality statute  WorldNetDaily, OR - Nov 15, 2005

• Gay marriage opponent decides he won't seek another term   Boston Globe (Free Subscription), By Scott Helman, MASS.- United States, Nov 17, 2005
  State Representative Philip Travis, the preeminent gay marriage opponent in the Legislature, announced yesterday that he will not run for reelection next year. . . ''I just think that we're losing our moral compass," Travis, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, said in an interview at his State House office. After the Supreme Judicial Court legalized gay marriage in November 2003, Travis helped lead a fight in the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex weddings. In the summer, with support for that amendment waning, Travis became a lead proponent of a separate proposal for a gay-marriage ban aimed for the 2008 ballot. . . ''I stand on principle, and principle leads me to be more conservative," said Travis, 65. ''I could say, for who I see in the House today, that I am probably the most conservative Democrat in the House. And I'm proud of that.". . .

• Gay marriage hurts society, Gallagher says   Daily Princetonian.com, By Euphemia Mu, Nov 17, 2005
  Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy and a coauthor of "The Case for Marriage," argued in a lecture Wednesday that legalizing same-sex marriages would result in the overall degeneration of society. "Gay marriage is not some sideline issue," Gallagher said.  "Losing [the gay marriage debate] means losing the idea that children need mothers and fathers. It means losing the marriage debate. It means losing limited government. It means losing American civilization. It means losing, period." Gallagher told a large audience in McCosh 10 that legislation supporting gay marriage would be an abuse of government power. "By embracing gay marriage, the legal establishment will have declared that the public purposes of marriage no longer include anything to do with making babies, or giving children mothers and fathers,". .

• Raping wife now a crime in Mexico  AZ Central.com, AZ (NY Times), By Elisabeth Malkin and Ginger Thompson, Nov 17, 2005
  MEXICO CITY - The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled Wednesday that rape within marriage is a crime, bringing Mexico's laws into line with much of the world and removing one of the many obstacles women here face in reporting rape. The ruling marks the end of a legal battle waged since 1994, when a majority of the justices agreed that because the purpose of marriage was procreation, forced sexual relations by a spouse was not rape but "an undue exercise of conjugal rights." The unanimous ruling on Wednesday said the earlier decision had denied women the right to exercise their sexual freedom and was based on an interpretation of rights relating to property, not human beings. . . .

• Pregnant 37-Year-Old Charged With Molesting 15-Year-Old Husband   ABC News - Nov 16, 2005
  A 37-year-old pregnant woman is in custody on charges of child molestation after having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old neighbor. Now the couple has gotten married, using a little-known loophole in Georgia law, and the boy's grandmother is hopping mad. Lisa Lynette Clark met her 15-year-old husband when the boy befriended Clark's teenage son and he began staying the weekends for sleepovers. . . Clark took the boy to dinner, to the mall, to the skating park, always footing the bill. At first, the efforts were appreciated by Hayles, a housecleaner, who did not have the resources to provide those kinds of luxuries. But while her grandson was serving 45 days in juvenile detention for burglarizing a local home, Hayles discovered a love letter and erotic pictures that Clark allegedly sent to the boy. Hayes confronted her grandson, and he confessed to the affair. A neighbor told Hayles that Clark was pregnant with her grandson's child. . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  GA Looks at Closing Child Marriage Loophole abc11tv.com

• Early to wed may make marriage happy, survey says   USA Today, By Sharon Jayson, Nov 16, 2005
  
  Americans are waiting longer to get married, but they shouldn't wait too long: The odds for a happy marriage may favor those who tie the knot between the ages of 23 and 27, says a survey out Thursday. The average age at first marriage in the USA has been inching upward; it's now 26 for women and 27 for men. The survey asked a variety of questions about marriage and divorce, including attitudes toward cohabitation and raising children. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said marriage should be a lifelong commitment. . .

• Splitting up a business can be hard to do Rockford Register Star, IL , By Bob Schaper, Nov 14, 2005
  No divorce is likely to be pleasant, but divorces involving a business asset can be hairier than most. Like campfire ghost stories, nightmare tales of outrageous settlements and bankrupted businesses have circulated through the business world for years. How about the husband who told his wife their business was worth $5 million ... then sold it after the divorce for $25 million? Or the wife who won so much in the divorce settlement that her husband’s company couldn’t survive the debt and spiraled into bankruptcy? These scenarios are unlikely, but they are certainly avoidable. If both parties remain levelheaded and seek competent professional advice, experts say a business divorce can be survivable for everybody involved. . . An important term to understand when heading into a divorce is “marital property,” which is everything accumulated by spouses during the marriage. . .

• California's assault on the family  Townhall.com, By Star Parker, Nov 14, 2005
  November has been a banner month so far in California for assaulting the traditional family.
  . . . Now, in the state of California, a 15-year-old girl has full and exclusive sovereignty over the production and destruction of life. However, her 40-year-old parents have only limited jurisdiction over the values that this child learns and how she lives her life. The absurdity speaks for itself. Aside from the angst that comes from watching the long-term implosion of a society, I have immediate concerns that California's assault on the traditional family is simultaneously an assault on blacks and the poor.  The nation's highest rate of teen abortions is among blacks. It is more than double the national average and more than three times higher than the rate among whites. . .

• What was all that stuff about love and marriage? Castration, more like   Times Online- UK, By Julie Burchill, Nov 11, 2005
  I HAD A BIT of a “this-is-the-modern-world!” wake-up call the other day, and though it made me laugh I’m sure it would strike the censorious freaks at the Daily Hell, say, as a terrible symptom of our unnatural, self-serving, pleasure-seeking times. My friend — in her twenties, posh, cute, clever — asked me if I knew what the bad side-effects of this new sexually transmitted disease were meant to be. When I answered that I thought it might render one infertile, she didn’t so much as miss a beat: “Yeah, but what about the bad effects?!” While my working-class sisters are still popping out the puppies at a young age — and in the light of their snootier sisters’ reluctance to, isn’t it time we thanked them rather than called them names? — educated young women are showing a marked reluctance to breed. . .

• Ten Commandments for a Happy Marriage The Jewish Journal of Greater LA, By Rabbi Ephraim Z. Buchwad, Nov 11, 2005
  For those preparing for marriage, as well as those already wed, Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, director of the National Jewish Outreach Program, offers his Ten Commandments for a successful marriage. His advice is based on the 3,300-year-old Jewish tradition, is timeless and applicable to modern couples of all backgrounds:

1.  Marriage Unplugged — From sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, observant Jewish families turn off the TV, shut down the computer, ignore the phone and spend time together without the distractions of daily life. Set aside a night each week to tune out the world, tune into each other and focus on the reality of your own lives.
2.  United We Stand — The chuppah, or canopy, that a couple stands under during a Jewish wedding ceremony signifies the home they will build together — symbolically reminding all present that the couple is becoming a unit. It’s OK, even healthy, to have differing opinions from your spouse, but when dealing with outside challenges, remember that you’re a team.
3.  Marriage Ain’t All Wine and Roses —  a Jewish wedding ceremony, wine is sipped to symbolize joy; later, the ceremony concludes with the breaking of a glass calling attention to the fact that life is not always joyful. . . .

• How successful marriage deals with incompatibility Fayette County Review, TN, By Robert McGowan, Nov 11, 2005
  “What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.” George Levinger, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts. If you want reliable information regarding financial investing, you should go to an experienced investor. If you want information about an infected wisdom tooth, you go to a dentist. Therefore, logically, if you want information about success in marriage, you will most likely find it from those who have experienced many years of marital success. So, here I am, a veteran of more than 60 years of marriage to the same partner. . .

• Traditional marriage under fire: Who's really to blame?  Houston Chronicle, United States, By DANIEL ALLOTT, Nov 9, 2005
  Texas has become the 19th state to pass a constitutional amendment to preserve marriage as between one man and one woman. For traditional marriage activists, this vote represents another victory on the path to what they hope will be a federal marriage protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution. But, if and when a federal marriage amendment is ratified, marriage advocates may be surprised to discover that passing marriage protection laws may not be enough to save an institution in free-fall. . .  But the most striking reason for marriage's breakdown is neither legal nor political, but cultural. The foundation of any successful marriage is, of course, love. And for marrying couples, romantic or emotional love naturally dominates. But there is another dimension of love that is not simply about feelings or sentiment but about decisions. To quote C.S. Lewis, "It's a deep, mature love sustained by the will and purposely strengthened by habit." . .

• Is Angelina Jolie Working Voodoo on Brad Pitt? Softpedia.com, By Simona Gherman, November 9, 2005
  Was the reason Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston for Angelia Jolie discovered? Was it bat powder? Angelina Jolie gave her buddy a vial of gray powder to ward off accidents. A close friend of the actor discovered the thing in the glove department of Brad's car, according to the New York Daily Times. Pitt told his friend that the vial contained the remnants of a bat. . . Doctor Snake, the author of cult best-seller “Voodoo Spellbook”, thinks that Jolie is working voodoo on Brad. “That vial sounds suspiciously like a voodoo ‘mojo hand’, or magical charm”, he says. Snake is skeptical that the charm is for warding off accidents, as voodoo spells using ingredients from bats are normally used in workings of black magic. . .
  
  

• Judaism and Same-sex Marriage Jewish.com, GA, By Amber Powers - Nov 9, 2005
  The major Jewish denominations, not surprisingly, have come to different conclusions about same-sex marriage. The issue of same-sex marriage has been debated in the United States for many years now, and American Jewish communities have joined in on the discussions, adding Jewish values and ethics to the conversation. For Jewish communities, there are two primary questions. First, should the United States government legalize same-sex marriage, offering homosexual couples the same legal benefits that married heterosexual couples have? Secondly, should rabbis perform same-sex Jewish weddings, and if so, can these ceremonies be considered kiddushin (the Hebrew term for holy unions)? . . .

• Red Skelton's Formula for a Good Marriage ChronWatch, CA - Nov 8, 2005
  (Excerpts reprinted with permission from Red Skelton's Formula for a Good Marriage)
  

1.  Two times a week, we go to a nice restaurant, have a little beverage, good food, and companionship.  She goes on Tuesdays, I go on Fridays.

2.  We also sleep in separate beds.  Hers is in California and mine is in Texas. . .

• Bringing a Couple's Dinner-Table Repartee to MSNBC   NYTimes.com (Free Subscription)- Business, By Jacques Steinberg, November 7, 2005
  Connie Chung, not seen regularly on television since CNN canceled her prime-time program in early 2003, will return to cable news in January as the host of a weekly show on MSNBC that the network president hopes will allow her to play Katharine Hepburn to her co-host's Spencer Tracy. Her on-screen sparring partner is the man who already has the job off camera: her husband of 20 years, the talk show host Maury Povich. . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  Love and marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and ... mediabistro.com, NY - November 7, 2005

• Q & A: Old mortgage with ex, new marriage won't mix  Bankrate.com, November 7, 2005
  Q: My daughter and her boyfriend want to get married. However, his name is on a house with another woman (she's a lawyer in another state). They were never married, and he has never been married. He is concerned his ex-friend will cause him problems, when she finds out he is getting married to my daughter, and that his credit will be ruined or else he won't be able to get another house. The house they bought together is a $250,000 model. He doesn't make as much money as the lawyer as he is just a construction worker. How can he get out of this house deal?
  A: There's a difference between being on the note and being on the deed. Getting his name off the deed is a fairly straightforward matter. He can file a quitclaim deed to convey his interest in the property to the Tennessee woman without too much trouble. . . Getting his name off the loan isn't so easy. . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  Sell high, rent low: The Bubble Sitters 

• North of border, gay marriage spurs social revolution  Star Tribune MN (Subscription), By Katherine Kersten, November 6, 2005
  A proposal to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman in Minnesota's Constitution is one of the biggest issues our state will face in the next legislative session. Some people argue that same-sex marriage wouldn't change anybody else's marriage but merely expand the institution to provide equal rights for all. Canada made same-sex marriage the law of the land in June. What's happened there in recent months suggests a different story. . . How could a simple law redefining marriage as a union of "two persons" have such a revolutionary effect? There are two reasons. First, marriage is Western society's most fundamental institution. As such, it is embedded throughout our law, child-rearing practices and culture in general. When marriage is redefined, other social institutions are likewise transformed. Second, when male-female marriage and same-sex marriage become equal in the eyes of the law, treating them differently becomes discrimination. In Canada, "privileging" male-female marriage in any way is now a violation of human rights. . .

• Painful promise: 50-year marriage ends in mercy killing, suicide  Akron Beacon Journal, OH, By Suzanne Hoholik, Nov 6, 2005
  - In long love letters, Inge Brown called her husband "Lovey" and signed them "Your Wifey.". On Fridays, Harry drove to a Gahanna Dairy Queen to buy her the ice-cream cakes she loved. Married almost 50 years, the couple devoted their lives to each other. . .Last spring, Inge and Harry, like countless others, were consumed by the court battle over Terri Schiavo - the Florida woman who was kept alive in a vegetative state for years with a feeding tube. They watched daily until life support was removed March 19, and Schiavo died 13 days later. Inge (pronounced Inga) told Harry that was a horrible way to live, and the two made a pact: Neither would ever let that happen to the other. Within weeks, that promise would be tested. . .
  

• Who should propose a marriage? The Tide, Nigeria - Nov 6, 2005
  With the rate at which ladies age today without getting married, it may seem it’s right for ladies to take the lead and ask for a man’s hand in marriage. Since the men seem reluctant in “saying it” should the eager ones do it for them? . . . some women feel opening up and saying it even if it means getting a negative response is better than dying in silence. They maintained that by the time about five men have been asked, one must surely succumb. The fact is, ladies are actually no longer comfortable with the so called system of waiting for the men to take the first step. To these women, the system seems no longer favourable to the women folk. . .

• Oddities you must avoid in marriage  Vanguard, Nigeria, By Folake Aina, Nov 4, 2005
  Have you ever wondered when marriage really begins? Have you ever wondered what marriage really is?  Love on its own, though very important does not make a marriage. Feelings come and go. Marriage is meant to endure in spite of them.  Marriage begins with a vow. Marriage is a commitment. It is a lifetime contract. Marriage begins when two people make the clear unqualified promise to be faithful each to the other until the end of their days. The spoken promise makes the difference.  Marriage is such an intimidating commitment that we need a strong inducement to make it. . .
  

• Charlie Sheen Says His Marriage Is on Mend  Washington Post- AP, November 4, 2005
  LOS ANGELES -- Actor Charlie Sheen says his relationship with actress and wife Denise Richards is on the mend. Sheen told the CBS "Late Late Show" with Craig Ferguson that "things are really good." Sheen then lifted his left hand to show his wedding ring. "That's a pretty good indication," the 40-year-old actor said Thursday. Richards filed for divorce in March after three years of marriage. The relationship appeared to disintegrate publicly just months before Richards, 34, gave birth to their second child. . .
  

• Beatty + Bening Top New Hollywood Marriage Poll Contactmusic.com, UK - Nov 4, 2005
  WARREN BEATTY and ANNETTE BENING have topped a new poll of Hollywood's most perfect married couples, beating Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. The Beattys have been given an 'A++' rating in the new USA TODAY newspaper poll, which also features newlyweds Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, Denzel and Paulette Washington, and gay couple Ellen Degeneres and Portia De Rossi. . . Faring less well in the latest celebrity marriage poll are Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez (a 'C-')  and Reese Witherspoon and Ryan and Phillippe. . .

• Did a Co-op Insist On Marriage?   NYTimes.com (Free Subscription), By Patrick O'Gilfoil Healy, Nov 4, 2005
  COULD buying a Manhattan co-op be any more maddening? To get past the board, buyers already must lay bare their lives to prove what they are, and what they are not. They have to reveal their net worth, at the very least, and sometimes promise they will be full-time residents, swear that they have no pets, and insist that their rowdy children will never use the place as a crash pad.   Boards are allowed to - and supposed to - care about these things. But when marital status becomes a trigger for rejection, have they crossed the line from discriminating taste to pure discrimination? . . . The case is one of the first of its kind, and lawyers who represent tenants and litigate discrimination suits have pricked up their ears. Any decision is at least months away, but could have profound effects for gay partners and unmarried heterosexual couples trying to buy homes in the city. . .

• Q & A: Will a threesome hurt my marriage? MSNBC, The Today Show- Dr. Gail Saltz, Nov 3, 2005
  Q. I recently married my second husband and am the happiest I have ever been. I am much more sexual with this man than I have ever been with anyone. My question is a bit embarrassing but I just need to know. I am fantasizing more than ever and am contemplating fulfilling a fantasy with my husband. This is not a joke. Is it destructive to a marriage to engage in a threesome?
  
  A: Yes, it is. Fantasize all you want — but engaging in a threesome is almost guaranteed to damage your marriage. . .
  
  

• Interracial dating rises, but marriage still lags    Newsday.com, Albany-NY, Nov 2, 2005
  When John Smallwood's relationship with his Filipino girlfriend started getting serious, he thought about how her family would react to him. "We celebrated holidays differently, and I thought about what it would mean for our kids," said Smallwood, a 30-year-old white Kingston resident. Such concerns as relationships become more intimate explain in part why people become less prone to interracial relationships as they get older, according to a new study by researchers at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania. The study found interracial relationships, although on the rise, are significantly less likely than same-race relationships to lead to marriage. Though this trend has weakened in recent years, the rate of interracial marriage was still relatively uncommon in 2002, with only 2.9 percent of all marriages being interracial, according to the Census Bureau. The study found interracial relationships were most common among young people, and not only because they live in times of increased racial tolerance. . . .
  

• Woman whose marriage ended over surrogacy gives birth to author's son  Kentucky.com, By Valerie Honeycutt Spears, Nov 1, 2005
  Danville city building inspector Arletta Bendschneider, a surrogate mother for best-selling author Jacquelyn Mitchard, gave birth to a boy shortly before 2 p.m. today in Boston. . . The case has received national attention because of Mitchard's fame and because Bendschneider's husband became so angry about the surrogate arrangement that he ended their marriage and won custody of their two children. Jack Bendschneider, a factory supervisor in Danville, has temporary sole custody of Madison, 7, and Max, 2.  Kentucky law complicates the surrogacy arrangement. Neither of the Bendschneiders has biological ties to the baby, but Jack Bendschneider is considered the surrogate child's legal father because he and the surrogate mother were married when she became pregnant. . .

• After 40 years of marriage, husband is seeing old girlfriend   Houston Chronicle- US -Dear Abby UPS, Nov 1, 2005
  Dear Abby:
  Q: "Homer" and I have been married for more than 40 years. Last year he started sneaking around with "Mary," his girlfriend from high school who lives out of town. She came into town for a visit last year. This year, on the very same weekend, he went there. Last year Mary told Homer he should divorce me and marry her. (She has buried two husbands already.) I spoke with Mary, and she told me that what the two of them have is "untouchable! No one can touch it!" But he's still living here. Homer keeps saying he's going to leave because Mary is a Christian woman. Abby, Homer doesn't even go to church. I do! It doesn't seem Christian to me to run around with a married man. Mary is promising him a lot of material things, like a big-screen TV, a recliner and two cars. He keeps coming home with things Mary has bought him: a watch, cuff links, a pair of shoes, a wallet, sweater and pants. Is she trying to buy his love? . . . 
  

• Gabrielle Union and Husband Split   CBS News.com- AP, November 1, 2005
  Gabrielle Union and her husband have separated after four years of marriage. Union and Chris Howard announced the split in a statement released Monday by Lisa Kussell, the actress' publicist. "The couple remains close and asks that you respect their privacy at this difficult time," the statement said. Union, 32, married Howard, a former NFL running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars, in 2001. . .
  

More "Marriage" News (October 2005)

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