'MARRIAGE' NEWS- July 2007: The REAL Proposal For Marriage magazine

"Marriage In The News" is not a representation of The Real Proposal magazine...

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.

The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting. . .

The Whys of Mating: 237 Reasons and Counting The New York Times, By John Tierney, July 31, 2007
Scholars in antiquity began counting the ways that humans have sex, but they weren’t so diligent in cataloging the reasons humans wanted to get into all those positions. Darwin and his successors offered a few explanations of mating strategies — to find better genes, to gain status and resources — but they neglected to produce a Kama Sutra of sexual motivations. Perhaps you didn’t lament this omission. Perhaps you thought that the motivations for sex were pretty obvious. Or maybe you never really wanted to know what was going on inside other people’s minds, in which case you should stop reading immediately. For now, thanks to psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin, we can at last count the whys. After asking nearly 2,000 people why they’d had sex, the researchers have assembled and categorized a total of 237 reasons — everything from “I wanted to feel closer to God” to “I was drunk.” They even found a few people who claimed to have been motivated by the desire to have a child. . . .

SEE RELATED QUESTIONNAIRE: Why Have Sex? (YSEX?) Questionnaire Developed by Dr. Cindy Meston and Dr. David M. Buss

UK: Cohabiting law changes proposed   BBC NEWS, July 31, 2007
Couples who are living together should have more legal rights, according to a report by the Law Commission. It says the 2.2m cohabiting couples in England and Wales should have more protection if they split up. It does not suggest cohabiting couples get the same rights as married ones, but says they should be able to make a financial claim if they break up. Ministers are studying the proposals but some critics complain they amount to a "kind of marriage lite". The Law Commission suggests couples without children should have lived together for at least two years for them to be able to make a financial claim. Any financial compensation would be based on the contribution to the relationship, and the scheme would allow for couples to opt out. Unlike in divorce, there would be no principle for co-habiting couples that assets should be shared equally, and no ongoing maintenance payments. . . . But Jill Kirby of the Centre for Policy Studies criticised the plans as introducing a "kind of marriage lite". "If a man and a woman want to create a family together, then the most durable contract available to them is marriage," she said. "If they decide not to marry, then I think consequences must flow from that, and that if we introduce... a kind of substitute version, as the Law Commission proposes, then it does detract from that institution and I think will lead to more confusion.". . . The commission said many believed in the "common law" myth - the idea that partners would be entitled to a share of the assets when a relationship broke down. However, at present, cohabiting couples have very little legal protection. . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: How we split: It's not just divorcing couples. Now even unmarried partners are heading for the courts   The Independent Online- Legal, UK, By Sophie Goodchild and Martin Hodgson, May 28, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: 'Cohabitation is replacing dating'   USA TODAY, By Sharon Jayson, July 18, 2005

RELATED ARTICLE: The Verdict on Cohabitation vs. Marriage   Marriage & Families, By Jeffry H. Larson, January 2001

RELATED ARTICLE: Reversing the Trend- Avoiding the Myths of Cohabitation Marriage & Families, By Thomas B. Holman, January 2001

Alan Jackson’s wife on saving their marriage
Denise Jackson says God helped her forgive her husband and get him back MSNBC.com- TODAY Show, By Mike Celizic, July 30, 2007
Denise Jackson had what seemed like a fairy-tale existence with her husband, country-music star Alan Jackson. But when her marriage — and her life — began to unravel, she found that life isn’t about money and big houses; it’s about surrendering to God’s love. “Life is not a fairy tale, and even the most perfect spouse can not be your all-in-all,” she told TODAY’s Ann Curry. “We all have our faults, and every adult alive has regrets.” In her new book, “It’s All About Him: Finding the Love of My Life,” Denise Jackson writes about what she went through and what she’s learned. The “Him” of the title isn’t her husband; it’s God. Ten years ago, regrets were all Denise Jackson had. The man she had married at 19 and lived with for 18 years while he became a superstar had told her he was moving out of the 19,000-square-foot dream house they had just built for themselves and their three young daughters in Tennessee. Her husband had been unfaithful and, according to media reports, had told her she was too controlling. They were separated for more than three months, which she said she spent “trying to manipulate and control and get Alan back, and I was so exhausted." One day, as she was driving her daughters home from dance practice, she simply broke down at the wheel and surrendered to God. . .

Country star Alan Jackson's wife Denise says God helped her forgive her husband and get back to him

Three sisters celebrate 185 years of marriage in style

Three sisters celebrate 185 years of marriage in style The Daily Mail-UK, July 30, 2007
According to the three Douglas sisters, there's nothing to beat a long and happy marriage. And they should know, since they have clocked up 185 years of wedded bliss between them. In an age when marriage is increasingly out of fashion and divorce rates are soaring, Agnes, Peggy and Mary have all reached their diamond wedding anniversaries. They have been congratulated by the Queen and Guinness World Records is investigating if their achievement is unique. . . . Agnes, of Woodbridge, Suffolk, said: "I would advise anyone thinking about marriage to think about it seriously. It isn't one long honeymoon. "You help each other through the hard times and you enjoy the good times. Things go wrong but you get through them together.". . . . The way it was when the Douglas girls wed: AGNES AND IDWAL HUMPHREY. . . . PEGGY AND PETER LEVETT . . . MARY AND DOUGLAS HUGGINS. . . .

Catholic Adoption Agency Will Close Before Giving Children to Homosexual Parents, Bishop States   LifeSiteNews.com, By Elizabeth O'Brien, July 30, 2007
- The Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, Scotland, Reverend Joseph Devine, stated that a Catholic adoption agency would close rather than comply with the recent UK Sexual Orientation Regulations (SOR) and allow children to be adopted by homosexual couples. . . . . .The highly controversial SOR's, which became law in the United Kingdom this March, are supposed to protect homosexuals from discrimination and give them equal access to goods and services, including adoption. Nevertheless, many people have expressed their fear that the SOR's will in effect be a means of trampling on people's freedom of speech and religion. For a brief period of time the government considered allowing a conscience clause in the new regulations that would give Catholic adoption agencies the ability to refrain from serving homosexual couples. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Tony Blair eventually rejected the notion on the basis that "there is no place in our society for discrimination." Last year when the Scottish government was discussing the possibility of homosexual adoption, Bishop Devine vehemently came down against the proposal as "yet another violation of family life."   "What started as a tolerance and compassion for gays had developed into the suppression of the majority heterosexual lifestyle," he continued. "Traditional family values are in the dock and the judge and jury are composed of politically correct extremists.". . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Evangelical leaders promote 'orphan care': Idea is to take positive steps beyond opposing abortion, same-sex adoption   MSNBC- AP, May 3, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Surprise! You Are Now a Bigot The Pilot, By Michael Pakaluk

RELATED ARTICLE: Oppressive Sexual Orientation Regs Pass in UK Parliament; House of Lords Tomorrow LifeSiteNews.com, By Hilary White, March 20, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: "Homosexuality Is Not Hardwired," Concludes Head of The Human Genome Project By A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D, MBA, MPH, LifeSiteNews.com, March 20, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Banned in Boston: The Coming Conflict Between Same Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty Cover Story- The Weekly Standard, By Maggie Gallagher, May 15, 2006 Issue

RELATED ARTICLE: Scotland Bishop Says Homosexual Adoption Being Pushed by "Politically Correct Zealots" LifeSiteNews.com, By Gudrun Schultz, April 6, 2006

RELATED VIDEO:  Religious Liberty Under Fire

Sex for the Motherland: Russian youths encouraged to procreate at camp

Sex for the motherland: Russian youths encouraged to procreate at camp The Daily Mail-UK, By EDWARD LUCAS, July 29, 2007
Remember the mammoths, say the clean-cut organisers at the youth camp's mass wedding. "They became extinct because they did not have enough sex. That must not happen to Russia". Obediently, couples move to a special section of dormitory tents arranged in a heart-shape and called the Love Oasis, where they can start procreating for the motherland. With its relentlessly upbeat tone, bizarre ideas and tight control, it sounds like a weird indoctrination session for a phoney religious cult. But this organisation - known as "Nashi", meaning "Ours" - is youth movement run by Vladimir Putin's Kremlin that has become a central part of Russian political life. Nashi's annual camp, 200 miles outside Moscow, is attended by 10,000 uniformed youngsters and involves two weeks of lectures and physical fitness. Attendance is monitored via compulsory electronic badges and anyone who misses three events is expelled. So are drinkers; alcohol is banned. But sex is encouraged, and condoms are nowhere on sale. . . . . .Twenty-five couples marry at the start of the camp's first week and ten more at the start of the second. These mass weddings, the ultimate expression of devotion to the motherland, are legal and conducted by a civil official. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: The End of Motherhood? But somehow the United States better mixes child rearing and the job market than do other advanced societies Newsweek- By Robert J. Samuelson, May 29, 2006 Issue

RELATED ARTICLE: Children for Sale: Would $36,000 convince you to have another kid? Slate.com, By Daniel Gross, May 24, 2006

MODERN LOVE: I made him what he is. But who is he?

MODERN LOVE: I Made Him What He Is, but Who Is He? New York Times, By Thomas Anthony Donahoe, July 29, 2007
LAST December I got a call from a health and fertility clinic in Cambridge, Mass., asking if I would be willing to respond to a male teenager inquiring about his sperm donor. I donated there in the late 80s, and it seemed any children I had helped create were just now becoming of legal age to contact me if I would allow it. At 50, I have never married, never raised any children. And about a month before the call, I had reached a point where I was feeling anxious and socially disconnected, no longer relaxed with my friends and sensing there had to be something more meaningful in my life. Perhaps this predisposed me to say yes, the boy could call me, and shortly thereafter I received the following message on my answering machine: "Hello, Anthony. I know this may come as ... a surprise. But I knew you might be waiting for it. But uh ... I, uh ... guess you're my ... sperm donor." . . . . I felt a little paranoid on my way to meet him, not knowing what to expect. We didn't tell each other what we look like, and I was still idly wondering if there might be a camera to take photos of me to account for some potential child support. Of course, he also could just have been a child wanting to meet his biological father. . . . .

RELATED ARTCLE: Sperm Donor Seen as Source of Disease in 5 Children New York Times Online (Free Subscription)- By Denise Grady, May 19, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Who's your daddy? And does it really matter in the end? SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE- By Mark Morford, April 12, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: WANTED: A Few Good Sperm New York Times (Free Subscription)- By JENNIFER EGAN, March 19, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Deleting Dad Townhall.com, By Kathleen Parker, Mar 22, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: The Parent Hood: How technology and social progress are turning procreation into self-actualization. The Daily Standard, By Claudia Anderson, December 4, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: The Revolution in Parenthood: The Emerging Global Clash Between Adult Rights and Children's Needs AmericanValues.org

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Steve Martin Marries Girlfriend Anne Stringfield FOX News-AP, July 29, 2007
— Steve Martin married girlfriend Anne Stringfield during a ceremony at his Los Angeles home, his publicist said. Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, a friend of Martin's, presided over Saturday's ceremony, Alan Nierob said. "Saturday Night Live" creator Lorne Michaels was Martin's best man, he said. Most of the roughly 75 guests — who included Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, Carl Reiner and Ricky Jay — were not told that he and Stringfield would wed when they were invited to his home for a "party," Nierob said. The ensuing nuptials were a surprise to them, he said. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Steve Martin Gets Married at L.A. Home People magazine, By Stephen M. Silverman, July 29, 2007

Usher-Tameka Foster wedding is canceled USA Today, July 28, 2007
— The wedding between Usher and his pregnant fiance has been canceled, his publicist told The Associated Press on Saturday. The wedding between the multiplatinum singer and his longtime girlfriend, Tameka Foster, was scheduled for Saturday. The pair are expecting their first child together sometime this fall. However, a statement released by publicist Patti Webster exclusively to the AP read: "It was announced today that the wedding ceremony for Usher Raymond, IV and Tameka Foster was canceled. No additional information will be given regarding the circumstances of the cancellation, but we hope the privacy of this matter will be respected.". . . .

Usher and fiance Tameka Foster have cancelled their wedding plans

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher's Fiancée Speaks Out About Canceled Wedding People magazine, By Isoul H. Harris, July 30, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher's Canceled Wedding: What Happened? People magazine, By Stephen M. Silverman, July 29, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher Speaks Out on the Rumors About His Relationship People magazine, By Tiffany McGee, July 12, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE:  Stork due at house of Usher New York Daily News, By Rush & Molloy, June 28, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher's Fiancee Tameka Foster Speaks Out on the Rumors, Romance and the Rock: Tameka's Turn - PART I     Essence.com, By Keyna N. Byrd, June 21, 2007
As rumors swirl around her engagement to R&B superstar Usher, celebrity stylist Tameka Foster shares a few confessions of her own with essence.com about the end of her marriage, her alleged pregnancy and being labeled a gold digger.

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher's Fiancee Tameka Foster Speaks Out on the Rumors, Romance and the Rock: Tameka's Turn - PART II Essence.com, By Kenya N. Byrd, June 21, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Usher, Stylist Girlfriend Are Engaged People magazine, February 23, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Marriage: if you don’t know, then don’t do it Times Online- UK, By Sandra Parsons, July 26, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: One woman too many? Trinidad & Tobago Express, Trinidad and Tobago, By The Man'hood- Sateesh, July 7, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Calling off the Wedding - How to Survive a Broken Engagement   American Chronicle, By Cori Russell, December 1, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: GOT COLD FEET? What To Do When You Want To Say "I Don't"   Elegala.com,
RELATED ARTICLE: MIFFED BY HIS MOM? How to Make Amends With Your Mother-in-Law   Elegala.com

Parenting Issues: I’m single, I’m sexy, and I’m only 13
Teenage girls are strutting their stuff in the revealing styles of their pop idols. But such rampant sexualisation is taking its toll on their mental health Times Online- UK, July 28, 2007
In 2002 the Big Brother housemate Jade Goody stripped naked on primetime TV. The following year Paris Hilton starred in a sex tape posted on the internet that was viewed by millions. Last year Britney Spears flashed her genitalia to the paparazzi, setting off a string of celebrity copycats. And two weeks ago the singer Beth Ditto clambered out of her knickers live on stage, tossing her undies into the crowd. You’re nobody, it seems, until everybody has seen your never-nevers plastered across the cover of Heat magazine. And it’s not just show-biz exhibitionism that’s on the rise. Teenage girls are being swept up by reality TV-style tits-out culture, becoming more willing than ever to bare all. Log on to social networking websites such as MySpace or Facebook, view the videos on YouTube and you’ll find explicit photos of girls, as young as 14, posing in their underwear or flashing for the camera. It’s not only socially and morally worrying, but new research indicates that such practices may cause long-term damage to young women’s mental and physical health. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Those Bawdy Bratz Babes Townhall.com, By Janice Shaw Crouse, Thursday, April 12, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Girls Gone Bad- Paris, Britney, Lindsay & Nicole: They seem to be everywhere and they may not be wearing underwear. Tweens adore them and teens envy them. But are we raising a generation of 'prosti-tots'? Newsweek- MSNBC.com, By Kathleen Deveny with Raina Kelley, February 12, 2007 Issue

RELATED ARTICLE: What’s Wrong With Cinderella? The New York Times (Free Subscription), By PEGGY ORENSTEIN, December 24, 2006

Nicole Richie sentenced to 90 days for DUI. She is pictured here with boyfriend Joel Madden, by whom she is said to be pregnant.

Nicole Richie sentenced to 90 hours in jail CNN.com, July 27, 2007
-- Television personality Nicole Richie was sentenced Friday to serve 90 hours in jail for driving under the influence in December. Richie, 25, was sentenced to 96 hours, or four days, but was given credit for the six hours she has already served in jail. She will also be on probation for three years, and was fined $2,048. It was not immediately known where the time would be served. Richie entered the courtroom in Glendale, California, on the arm of her boyfriend, Good Charlotte band member Joel Madden. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Nicole Richie: I'm Pregnant CNN.com, July 31, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Lionel Richie to Nicole: 'Baby, Call Me!' People magazine, July 9, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Parenting Issues: "Mom, It's Not Right" Huffington Post, By Jamie Lee Curtis, June 10, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: America’s Obsession with Stupid Sluts Townhall.com, By Doug Giles, Saturday, June 9, 2007

Girls Gone Mild TownHall.com, By Mona Charen, July 27, 2007
Wendy Shalit is loathed by a certain kind of feminist. When as a twentysomething college graduate she published her first book, "A Return to Modesty," she was scorned by The Nation's Katha Pollitt as a "twit," a "professional virgin" who should be given the task of designing "new spandex chadors for female Olympians." Others were less civil. Shalit, who had raised eyebrows even while at Williams College for opposing co-ed bathrooms in student dorms, has now probably put herself even further beyond the pale by marrying young, giving birth to a son, and looking radiantly happy on the jacket cover of her new book, "Girls Gone Mild." Her skepticism about the bacchanal we call modern sex is undiminished. The book opens with a discussion of Bratz dolls (sold by MGA Entertainment), apparently aimed at ages "four-plus.". . . . . . . American popular culture seems determined to obliterate innocence -- even in the crib! But Shalit's critique is not so much prudish as pitying. Her deepest insights concern the new repression that has been imposed on young women. Repression? In this "liberated" age? Read on. Consider the "hook-up" scene on college campuses (and many high schools). Under the new dispensation, with Ludacris providing the soundtrack, young women are expected to have casual sex with no strings attached. Some girls consent to be "friends with benefits" for their male friends. Magazines like Cosmo and Seventeen, cultural bellwethers, advise young women to "keep your heart under wraps." The very worst thing a woman can do, apparently, is to express a desire for some sort of emotional connection or (gasp) commitment from her sexual partner. That amounts to being "boring and clingy," declare the magazines. . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Britney backlash? Author says girls have gone mild   Kansas City Star, By Cynthia Hubert- Scaramento Bee, July 25, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Girls Going Mild(er): A new 'modesty movement' aims to teach young women they don't have to be bad, or semiclad. MSNBC.com- Newsweek Society, By Jennie Yabroff, July 23, 2007 Issue

RELATED ARTICLE: Get Chaste: The Dawn and the Eden of a countercultural revolution National Review Online, By Kathryn Jean Lopez, December 5, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: The politics of the bedroom   RenewAmerica.org, By Christian Hartsock, July 2, 2006

RELATED SITES:  Pure Fashion: A Celebration of Style and Virtue

                         ModestApparelUSA.com   ModestByDesign.com    DressModestly.com

Parenting issues: The Myth About Boys Time magazine, By David Von Drehle, July 26, 2007
My son was born nearly 10 years ago, and I remember telling him that morning that he was one lucky baby. Forget Dr. Spock or Dr. Brazelton--I took my cue from Dr. Pangloss. If this was not the best of all possible worlds, it was certainly the best time and best place to be starting out healthy and free in a land of vast possibilities. In the months and years that followed, however, there came a steady stream of books and essays warning that I had missed something ominous: our little guy had entered a soul-crushing world of anti-boy influences. . . . The more I probed, the more I realized that the subject of boys is a bog of sociology in which a clever researcher, given a little time, can unearth evidence to support almost any point of view. I also came to the sad realization that this field, like so many others, has been infiltrated by our left-right political noise machine. Our boys have become cannon fodder in the unresolved culture wars waged by their parents and grandparents. On one side, concern for boys is waved off as a mere "backlash against the women's movement," as two writers declared dismissively in the Washington Post last year. The opposing side views any divergence from the crisis theme as male-bashing feminism. Then I came across a new report from the Federal Government: Uncle Sam's annual attempt to paint a broad statistical portrait of the nation's young people. In long rows of little numbers printed on page after page of tables, this report told a different story from that of either the woe bearers or the myth busters. WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY: "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007" is the work of many agencies, from the Department of Justice to the Department of Education to the Bureau of the Census and beyond. It gathers a trove of data, and as I made my way through it, I concluded that there's real substance to the boy crisis, and there have been good-faith reasons for sounding an alarm. . . .

Marriage: If you don't know, then don't do it

Marriage: if you don’t know, then don’t do it Times Online- UK, By Sandra Parsons, July 26, 2007
This summer of floods seems also to be shaping up as the summer of the reheat. Kate Middleton is, we are told, on course for a reunion with Prince William – the couple were last seen, apparently, draped around each other at Camilla’s 60th birthday bash. Then we have Amy Winehouse, who recently married Blake Fielder-Civil, her on/off boyfriend. And now – oh dear – I see that Kylie Minogue is reportedly hoping for a reunion with Oliver Martinez, the too-good-to-be-true Frenchman who stuck by her through breast cancer and chemo. The couple broke up in February amid reports – which Martinez denied – that he was having an affair with an Israeli model. Now, the thing about the reheat is that it rarely, if ever, ends happily. . . . I write as one who spent several years wondering whether to marry one particular boyfriend, who loved me and was lovely. Three or four years into our relationship he proposed to me, beautifully but unexpectedly, on a boat in the Ionian Sea. I haven’t been able to bring myself to return to Ithaca since. I can still remember the horrifying lurch as my stomach fell to the floor and my knees buckled. It always seems a miracle, in retrospect, that I didn’t fall overboard from the sheer awfulness of the shock. But because I didn’t want to hurt him, and because I really did care about him, I did the worst possible thing and stalled. I wore the diamond ring he gave me – just on the wrong finger. . . . . So here, for what it’s worth to anyone currently single, is what I learnt along the way. . . .

Adventures of the wife hunter The Daily Mail- UK, By NATALIE CLARKE, July 26, 2007
Longing for love, Allan sent out a worldwide plea: I want a wife! The response was staggering. So after 53 dates in 13 countries, has he finally found The One? There can be few men on Earth who have not, at some time, dreamed of devising a method of attracting women which was so ingenious it would lead to hundreds of offers from beautiful women all over the world. Women from whom he could pick and choose, dating one and then moving on to another as it suited him, with none of the fallout and recriminations that so often accompany such behaviour. Allan Wills is the man who devised just such a system - the man who hit the babe lottery when he dreamed up the website, areyoumywife.com. . . . By now, Allan was receiving e-mails critical of what some saw as his "cavalier behaviour". There were bitter women out there. Allan says, however, that while the impression he might have given was that he was going out with lots of different women, falling in and out of different beds, that was not the case. "I was very aware that I had to respect the women I met. Aside from anything else, I was terrified of women posting details on my website." . . .

Happily ever after? 'Wife Hunter' Allan Willis and Claire Marjoram are now sharing her flat in London

Melanie Brown pictured here with new beau Stephen Belafonte, who says he is no relation to Harry Belafonte

Mel B: Eddie Murphy and I Planned Baby, Marriage People magazine, By Sara Hammel, July 25, 2007
"Scary Spice" Melanie Brown says that when it came to her now-damaged relationship with Eddie Murphy, the original plan was to marry after the birth of their now 3-month-old daughter. "This was a completely planned pregnancy," Brown, 32, says in an interview that appears on Essence.com. "This wasn't some random, 'Oops I fell over and I'm pregnant.' I don't live my life like that," says Brown. "I'm a responsible parent and have been a responsible single parent since I got divorced" from Jimmy Gulzar, in 1999, after eight months of marriage. Referring to Murphy, she added, "As soon as I had my IUD removed we proceeded to get pregnant. It happened quicker than we expected but it was perfect timing.". . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Eddie Murphy/Melanie Brown saga: Part 1 - Moving On: Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown Essence.com, By Kenya N. Byrd, July 24, 2007
In the first part of their exclusive interview, ESSENCE.com speaks to Mel B on her former flame Eddie Murphy and the DNA results.

RELATED ARTICLE: Eddie Murphy/Melanie Brown saga: Part 2 - Moving On: Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown Essence.com, By Kenya N. Byrd, July 25, 2007
In the second part of their exclusive two-part interview, ESSENCE.com speaks to Mel B about her new beau, her tough-as-nails attorney, and whether her daughter Angel will ever meet her famous father.

RELATED BLOG: Hollywood Unhooked (Unglued, more precise) The Real Proposal magazine BlogSpot, December 11, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Melanie Brown: 'Eddie Is A Poor Role Model For Black Fathers'. Femailfirst-UK, May 3, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Don't Jump into bed before marriage Vanguard Online, Nigeria- By Folake Aina, May 27, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Black Men and Child Support: Should Men Be Able to Opt Out of Parenthood? AOL Black Voices- By Angela Bronner, Updated Apr 19, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Dads: No cash for unwanted children- In lawsuit, activists argue if women have right to decide fate of fetus, fathers can decline financial role The Detroit News- David Shepardson and Eric Lacy, Mar 9, 2006

When Sarah Gore married Bill Lee Taipei Times, By Dan Bloom, July 25, 2007
When the US media reported recently that former US vice president Al Gore's daughter Sarah Gore had married Taiwanese-American businessman Bill Lee in a California ceremony attended by both the Lee and Gore families, the local media in Taiwan took the news as a happy omen. However, a racist comment appeared on an Internet chatroom in the US just after the wedding that read: "Al Gore's daughter is marrying a chink? Boy, that is one Inconvenient Truth." For readers here who might not be familiar with the insult, "Chink" is a derogatory word for people of Chinese or Taiwanese origin. It is sad to see such racism in the US. But it's also interesting to note that none of the US news reports about the marriage mentioned that Lee's family was originally from Taiwan. This shows how multicultural the US has become, in that none of the wire services or gossip magazines felt the need to mention Lee's ethnicity. . . .

Where’s the Ring? WE TV Takes the Stigma Out of Shacking Up.
Is this any way to empower women? Culture and Media Institute, By Colleen Raezler and David Niedrauer, July 24, 2007
Pink curtains and closets full of empty beer cans just don’t seem to mix. Can slovenly men and obsessive-compulsive women ever get along? In the series She’s Moving In, which premiered on the Women’s Entertainment television channel on July 21, a team of interior decorators help young couples arrange living spaces both parties can live with. All very entertaining, but where’s the marriage license? She’s Moving In profiles cohabiting couples in their 20s. The couples are “hip” and funny, and they do finally learn to live together, but it’s a life where the traditional family has no place. The idea of marriage, or even long-term commitment, never comes up. WE’s Web site claims the company is trying to “empower” women to reach their “full potential.” Is living together a goal young women should be shooting for? Cohabitation is a poor bet for most women. . . As funny as it is to watch a “guy who won’t give up his drumming set and his girlfriend who will not let go of her bright pink sheer curtains, there’s also the depressing element of knowing their relationship might not make it. Doesn’t WE realize newly-married couples have to go through the same conflicts? She’s Moving In may have a droll twist, but the show turns what might have been a wry inquiry into gender differences into yet another media assault on the family. . .

Ali in the Family- Laila Weds New York Post, July 24, 2007
-- GIRL fighter Laila Ali, 29, married former football player Curtis Conway, 36, in L.A. on Sunday, according to reports. Ali, the daughter of boxing champ Muhammad Ali, turned heads last winter during a star turn as a competitor on “Dancing with the Stars.” Ali was wed in front of about 200 guests, including her dad, mom - Veronica Porsche Anderson - and bridesmaid sister Hana Ali, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey. “Laila’s approach to the wedding was simple but elegant,” wedding planner Juliet Ryan told People.com. “There were no lions and tigers and bears. It was about the love.”. . . .

Curtis Conway, Muhammad Ali, Laila Ali and her mom Veronica Porsche Anderson at the wedding

Lindsay Lohan's July 24 mug shot, after she was arrestes- again- for DUI. Photo by: Courtesy Santa Monica Police Department

Parenting Issues: INSIDE EDITION Breaks News of Arrest to Lindsay Lohan's Father Inside Edition, July 24, 2007
INSIDE EDITION spoke with Lindsay Lohan's father, Michael Lohan, about her DUI and possession of narcotics arrest. Lohan who has not spoken to his daughter since she last entered rehab said, "I was shocked. I tried to call Lindsay three times yesterday, three or four times and I just felt that I needed to speak to her and unfortunately she was in her tango lesson for her next movie I was blind-sided with this information. I don't know what to say." Lohan told INSIDE EDITION this second alleged DUI happened for a reason and that his daughter needs to get proper help. "Obviously it's a call for help," he said. "I mean come on things happen for a reason. And, I really feel that sometimes we have to be brought to our knees. And, I just think Lindsay needs both of her parents there by her side now as do all my children. But, right now Lindsay's the one in jeopardy and I just want this resolved. I want everything taken out of court. Dina and I have to put our differences aside and just be there for our kids.". . . .

RELATED VIDEO: Michael Lohan: Lindsay Lohan's dad goes 'On the Record Fox News

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Tammy Faye Bakker, 65, Emotive Evangelist, Dies New York Times, By Anita Gates, July 22, 2007
Tammy Faye Bakker, the diminutive and elaborately coiffed gospel singer who, with her first husband, Jim Bakker, built a commercial empire around television evangelism only to see it collapse in sex and money scandals, died Friday at her home near Kansas City, Mo. She was 65. Her death was reported on her Web site and by her booking agent, Joe Spotts, The Associated Press said. She had been suffering from colon cancer, which had spread to her lungs. . . . In 1974, the Bakkers founded the Praise the Lord network, based in North Carolina, and achieved wide popularity as hosts of the syndicated “Jim and Tammy Show.” At its peak, in the ’80s, the PTL show reached as many as 13 million households, always to a drumbeat of appeals for donations. The Bakkers’ enterprises, including Heritage USA, a 2,300-acre religious theme park and resort in Fort Mill, S.C., grew in value to more than $125 million. Ms. Messner, who stood 4 feet 11 inches, was known for appearing on camera in overstated outfits and heavy makeup. . . . The Bakker business suffered a crippling blow in 1987, when it was revealed that Mr. Bakker had in 1980 had a sexual encounter with Jessica Hahn, a young church secretary from Massapequa, N.Y., and had paid her $265,000 to keep quiet. . . .

Tammy Faye Bakker, 65, Emotive Evangelist, Dies

The Absurdity of the Marriage Debates BlogCritics magazine, By John Bambenek, July 20, 2007
This week a study came out that shows how unilateral divorce laws make divorce more frequent. The empirical research shows what any sensible person would already guess — easy divorce laws make for more divorces. This is only magnified by the fact the divorcing party usually has great incentives to divorce and few incentives to stay (independent of whatever marital problems may exist). The fact that this is even a debate in academia shows how politicized and irrational the academy has become. Sure, there are plenty of other reasons to divorce that also drive the high rate of marriage failures, but government incentivizes failure, not success. That certainly doesn't help. Add into this debate on divorce law the current debate on gay marriage. With easy divorce, marriage has been demoted to the status of a contract. If it's just a meaningless contract, why can't any combination of participants enter into it? A good question that cannot be easily answered when framed that way. First off, marriage in this society (independent of its religious roots) is not even a contract. . . . . . . If there is going to be public recognition and support of marriage, there needs to be a corresponding public good and duty. Government shouldn't give out money simply because someone wants a paycheck. What public good is fostered by the recognition of gay marriage? The same could be asked of marriage in the way it is practiced here also. The fact is, until the promises made and the obligations uttered on the wedding day are actually binding in any real way, it's hard to find much of a public good. Instead of arguing the particulars of marriage and haggling over the petty details, it's time the question of marriage in its fundamentals enters the public discourse. What should marriage mean? Should its obligations be actually binding? What public good is to be fostered? These are the questions that really matter. . . .

Alimony provides a same-sex union test
An Orange County man appeals an order to pay spousal support to his ex-wife, who is in a domestic partnership Los Angeles Times, By Maura Dolan, July 22, 2007
Ron Garber knew his former wife was living with another woman — and had taken her last name — when he agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. What he didn't know was that the two women had registered with the state as domestic partners under a law that was supposed to mirror marriage law, Garber said. State marriage laws say that alimony ends when the former spouse remarries, and Garber reasons he should be off the hook, given that domestic partnership is akin to marriage. But an Orange County judge has decided that registered partnership is cohabitation, not marriage, and that Garber must pay. . . . The case, which Garber intends to appeal, highlights gaps between the legal status of domestic partners and of married couples, an issue the California Supreme Court is considering as it ponders whether to legalize same-sex marriage. Proponents of same-sex marriage typically argue that gay couples will not have the full rights of heterosexuals until they too can marry. The Orange County case, however, shows how heterosexuals can be the collateral damage of the lesser legal status of domestic partnership. . . . Lawyers in favor of same-sex marriage are watching the Orange County alimony case and say they will cite it to the state high court as an argument for uniting gay and heterosexual couples under one system: marriage. . .