"MARRIAGE" In The News
(June 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.

• American Idol Runner-Up Bo Bice Marries   Yahoo News, June 30, 2005
  NEW YORK - Bo Bice didn't win the fourth season of "American Idol," but he did win his girlfriend's hand in marriage — and the No. 1 spot on next week's Billboard hot singles sales chart...Bice, 29, and Fisher, 24, met when he worked as a guitar store clerk and frequented the Ragtime Cafe in Hoover, where Fisher worked as a waitress. . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  American Idol's Bo Bice Gets Married    People Magazine, By Nancy Wilstach, June 30, 2005

• Affleck and Garner Wed, Expecting Baby  Yahoo News- AP, By Jake Coyle, June 30, 2005
  NEW YORK After months of speculation, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have tied the knot--and she's pregnant. Representatives for both actors confirmed the marriage to The Associated Press on Thursday. Their publicists, Ken Sunshine and Nicole King, also confirmed that Garner is pregnant with her first child... The confirmation came after Us Weekly reported that Affleck, 32, and Garner, 33, were wed Wednesday at the Parrot Cay resort in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos. . . . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner wed  People Magazine, June 30, 2005

• All You Need is Love (and a Prenup)  CBN.com, By Chuck Colson, June 30, 2005
  --The picture in the Washingtonian magazine perfectly symbolized a nation with the highest divorce rate in the world. It featured a wedding cake with a bride and groom on top. Lurking behind them were two gloomy, dark-suited figures: two little lawyers, each one holding a copy of the prenuptial agreement. “Love is all you need—unless the marriage ends in divorce,” wrote Washingtonian editor Kim Eisler. “Then a prenuptial agreement is the best defense.” He called the prenup “a divorce insurance policy.” Well, that’s probably true—but wouldn’t it be better for couples to have a marriage insurance policy?. . . . . .

• Parenting Issues: Namby-pamby nation Townhall.com, By Michelle Malkin, June 29, 2005
  The left-wing Kumbaya crowd is quietly grooming a generation of pushovers in the public schools. At a time of war, when young Americans should be educated about this nation's resilience and steely resolve, educators are indoctrinating students with saccharine-sticky lessons on "non-violent conflict resolution" and "promoting constructive dialogues." Peaceniks are covering our kids from head to toe in emotional bubble wrap. . . . . Just what we need to combat throat-slitting, suicide plane-flying Islamists: young eunuchs swaying to moldy old folk music while their "Peace Place" signs flap in the wind. . . . .

• Parenting Issues: As Young Black Girls Continue to be Preyed Upon, Where Are Their Fathers? BlackAmericaWeb.com, By Gregory Kane, June 29, 2005
  A man, 31, convicted of statutory rape and sentenced to prison for “consensual” sex with a 12-year-old girl, had teary eyes as he told the judge he didn’t know that was illegal...My daughter turned 12 over 20 years ago. Let me give the scenario of what would have happened if someone like Raysor even thought about having sex with her (You daddies of daughters who are or were once 12 might back me up on this.) . . . . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  Fatherless in America  The Patriot Post- By Mark Alexander, June 17, 2005

• Parenting Issues: Bill Cosby: African-Americans 'Not Holding Up Their End of the Deal'   ABCNews.com, June 29, 2005
  -- It came as a shock to many last year when Bill Cosby, one of America's top TV dads and comedians, strongly criticized low-income African-Americans, and then took that message on the road. . . . .He has lambasted "lower-economic people," parents who spend more on athletic shoes than education, and children who use poor English and curse constantly. He has said blacks need to stop blaming whites and take control of their children and their communities. . . . . Martin asked Cosby if his own failures of judgment disqualify him from speaking about others. "No," Cosby said flatly. "I couldn't care less what you think of me as long as you begin to execute that which will save your children.". . . .

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• Top Ten List Of What To Do And What Not To Do In Relationships   Exzibit.net, By Kim Oliver, June 29, 2005
  Most of us who have been intimately involved with someone beyond the infatuation stage know that relationships are like a rollercoaster ride. When things are good, they are very, very good. When things are bad, they are very, very bad. . . . . Learn the Top Ten Dos and Don'ts of relationships and take charge and control of your life... don’t become one of the statistics of divorce or perhaps worse, stay in a miserable relationship to honor your marriage vows while having so many regrets about your life as the time ticks away. . . .
  
  
• Bride calls off wedding, throws party for the homeless   Seattle Post Intelligencer-WA,  June 29, 2005
  -- A young woman decided to call off her wedding 12 days before the event and her parents knew they'd be stuck with the bill, so they decided to have a party anyway and invited the homeless...Her mother said she was happy to demonstrate an alternative to the case of Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, who got cold feet and vanished shortly before a 600-guest wedding in Georgia. . . . .

• Your house could be a parking lot   Townhall.com- By John Stossel, June 29, 2005
  --Think your house is your castle? Our country's Founders thought so. They put three provisions into the Bill of Rights to protect it. . . . .
  
  
• Confiscating property  Townhall.com- By Walter E. Williams, June 29, 2005
  --Last week's U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 ruling in Kelo v. New London helps explain the socialist attack on President Bush's nominees to the federal bench. First, let's look at the case...The framers of our Constitution gave us the Fifth Amendment in order to protect us from government property confiscation. The Amendment reads in part: "[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Which one of those 12 words is difficult to understand? . . . . . I think the socialist attack on judicial nominees who'd use framer-intent in their interpretation of the Constitution might also explain their attack on our Second Amendment "right of the people to keep and bear Arms." Why? Because when they come to take our property, they don't want to risk buckshot in their butts. . . . .

• Why marriage today takes more love, work - from both partners  The Christian Science Monitor, By Stephanie Coontz, June 28, 2005.
  For hundreds of years, marital advice books have been written for women rather than men, because women were responsible for making a marriage work. And over all that time, their advice to women could be summed up in a single word: submit. . . . Yet many marriage-advice books still claim that the secret to a successful marriage is for women to "surrender" to their husbands' traditional views about gender roles. But recent research shows that this is a bad idea. Today men with traditional ideas about male and female roles are more likely to divorce than men with non-traditional views. It's particularly bad advice to tell women to play games to catch a man, because women tend to grow more discontented with their marriages over time, while men grow more content, even if they initially resisted pressure to change their behavior. . . .
  

• Canada Lawmakers OK Gay Marriage Bill  San Francisco Chronicle-CA, Beth Duff-Brown, June 28, 2005
  Canada's House of Commons voted Tuesday to legalize gay marriage, passing landmark legislation that would grant all same-sex couples in Canada the same legal rights as those in traditional unions between a man and a woman. . . . . The bill passed as expected, despite opposition from Conservatives and religious leaders. The legislation drafted by Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority Liberal Party government was also expected to easily pass the Senate and become federal law by the end of July. . . . . The Netherlands and Belgium are the only other two nations that allow gay marriage nationwide. . . . .
  
  
• Martin cabinet minister Joe Comuzzi resigns over same-sex marriage   National Post- CANADA, June 28, 2005 
  -- Prime Minister Paul Martin has lost a cabinet minister over the controversial same-sex marriage issue. Joe Comuzzi, minister of state for northern Ontario's economic development, has told the prime minister he will resign. Comuzzi will side against the federal government's same-sex marriage bill in a landmark vote later today. . .

• The joy of divorce: The Newly Single are celebrating with voodoo dolls and drinks all around Kansas City Star- By Rachel Dodes, June 28, 2005
  . . . . Philip Tabor, a 30-year-old actor, gave himself a breakup party in September. “My godmother said, ‘When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,’ ” he said. “I added tequila.” Tabor, who broke up with his male partner of eight years last summer, sent out invitations with a script-written header, “El Divorcio,” for his margarita-drenched party at a Mexican restaurant in New York City. . . . . “Without sounding too Lifetime television, it was very therapeutic,” he said. His friends gave him plenty of liquor, erotic videos and a self-help book titled Finding the Boyfriend Within. . . . . The divorce party, a hybrid of a bachelor-bachelorette party and bacchanalian exorcism, is emerging as a celebratory occasion, complete with gift registries and a set of social protocols. Once a source of shame, divorce has become its own peculiar rite of passage, so commonplace that more people are looking to commemorate the occasion with friends — and in public. . . . .
  
  
• Children of Divorce More Likely to End Their Marriages Newswise (press release), June 27, 2005
  Children of divorced parents often bitterly vow not to repeat the same mistakes. They want to avoid putting themselves and their own children through the pain that comes from the dissolution of a marriage. But, according to University of Utah researcher Nicholas H. Wolfinger, these children’s aspirations face unfavorable odds. . . . . a phenomenon called the divorce cycle or the intergenerational transmission of divorce,” says Wolfinger, assistant professor in the University of Utah’s Department of Family and Consumer Studies. . . . .

• Being Bobby Brown' the pit of trash TV Rocky Mount Telegram-Cox News Service, By Diane Holloway, June 28, 2005
  Let's stipulate, right here and now, that some lives are more interesting than others. Stephen Hawking is fascinating. So is Lance Armstrong. . . . .To go one step further, let's also stipulate that some lives are so sad and superficial they are best left private. They might not be boring, but they're too painful to watch. Nobody has been enlightened by "The Gastineau Girls," the spoiled-rotten ex-wife and daughter of former pro-football player Mark Gastineau who have their own E! Entertainment TV show. . . . . Ditto the daughter and punk grandsons of the late mafia don John Gotti on "Growing up Gotti" And has-been model Anna Nicole Smith or, heavens knows, pregnant pop star Britney Spears and her new hubby, Kevin Federline. But all of the aforementioned nauseating celebs, including the sordid unraveling of Anna  Nicole, pale next to the tawdriness in Bravo's new show "Being Bobby Brown", which oozes into Prime time Thursday at 9 p.m. . . . We've brought this trend on ourselves, and we should have known better. . . .

• Epilogue For 'Stella' author: A Messy Divorce San Francisco Chronicle- CA, By Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross, June 27, 2005
  --In a tale rich in lost love, closeted secrets and acrimonious divorce, it turns out that famed local writer Terry McMillan -- whose celebrated romance and subsequent marriage to a man 23 years her junior became the subject of her fictionized best-seller "How Stella Got Her Groove Back" -- actually got her groove back with a man who now says he's gay. The story is spilling out in made-for-Hollywood detail in Contra Costa County Superior Court, where McMillan has filed for divorce from her Jamaican- born husband of six years, Jonathan Plummer. . . . . "It was devastating to discover that a relationship I had publicized to the world as life-affirming and built on mutual love was actually based on deceit,'' she wrote in her declaration. "I was humiliated. . . . .

• Author seeks divorce from gay husband Gay.com- CA, By Christopher Curtis, June 27, 2005
  Author Terry McMillan has filed divorce from the man who inspired her best-selling novel, "How Stella Got Got Her Groove Back," claiming her Jamaican-born husband -- who is 23 years her junior -- is gay. . . . McMillan added Plummer revealed his sexual orientation after she confronted him over several phone calls to a male friend living in Jamaica. . . . Both parties have filed restraining orders against each other. McMillan filed one to keep Plummer from their Danville house in the San Francisco Bay Area. Plummer filed a restraining order against McMillan, claiming she walked into his dog-grooming business and tossed a ceramic object across the room. He claims McMillan left him a bottle of Jamaican hot pepper sauce with the writing, "Fag Juice Burn Baby Burn.". . . . . Boykin said he would understand why a gay man would want to escape Jamaica. "Jamaica is a very homophobic place; I've been there before. So it's not at all surprising that someone would want to escape the culture there. (Homophobia) is accepted there in a way it would never be tolerated in our country. I mean you hear music about beating up gay men in department stores."...

• Katie 'Home' Schooling in the Future   FOX News- By Roger Friedman, June 27, 2005
  . . . .  I wonder how Cruise explained to Marty and Kathy Holmes how he picked the famous Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan as the place where the new families should get to know each other. After all, the Carlyle is where Cruise lived with Nicole Kidman and their children for months at a time during their marriage. . . . . Indeed, Isabella and Connor Cruise, like John Travolta and Kelly Preston's kids Jett and Ella, are home-schooled with an emphasis on the works of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. . . . . Martin Holmes, Katie's attorney father, may want to vet the Scientology Code of Honor that his daughter will have to live by now that she's converting as well...

• Cruise should put marriage in dry dock for a while Fort Wayne News Sentinel- IN, By ERIC EDWARD(KRT), June 27, 2005
  -- I generally pay about as much attention to celebrity romances as I do to e-mails from millionaire African dignitaries. But every so often, one of these relationships has such gravitational pull that it demands the same attention given to a Los Angeles car chase. . . . For those who confess to reading romance novels, let me say I'm not opposed to lightning-fast engagements. They're cute. But they are less cute when they are a person's third engagement. In fact, they stay cute only as long as the two people stay married. . . . .

• Parenting Issues: Generation P  Townhall.com- By Mike S. Adams, June 27, 2005
  . . . . . For those who don’t know, Ben (Shapiro) is an underachiever. At 21, he is a Harvard Law Student, a nationally syndicated columnist, and now the author of his second book, Porn Generation. . . . . Porn Generation also deserves credit for criticizing some of the “cultural icons” who have profited immensely from the corruption of our children and our culture. For example, Shapiro describes Madonna as “a fabulously successful musician, a failed actress, and a cultural icon.” He goes on to say that “She is also a whore, selling her promiscuity for power and financial gain.” And that “She isn’t just any whore either. She’s a whore with a microphone.” .   .   .  . Sticking with the most important theme of the book-the sexualization of children-Shapiro correctly observes that TV portrayals of casual sex itself are not the problem. It is the fact that TV depicts these characters as having casual sex without experiencing negative consequences that causes harm. . . .

• Parenting Issues: Fighting the Michael Jackson Culture Townhall.com- By Ben Shapiro, June 27, 2005
  Last week, Michael Jackson was cleared of all charges in his child molestation case. As the verdict was announced, Jackson's fans cheered. Four days later, 400 Jackson fans gathered at the Chumash Casino in California to celebrate the pop star's acquittal. . . . Americans have always been fascinated by celebrity, but it is only in the past few decades that scandalous celebrity behavior has been accepted by a willing public. For years, Hollywood covered up the private lives of its biggest stars. . . . The Hays Code was voluntarily implemented in 1934 by the movie industry in response to public outcry over the antics of the sultry Mae West. The Code stated, "No picture shall be produced that will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrongdoing, evil or sin." The Code remained in force until the early 1960s. The Hays Code has been derided since its demise as quaint and oppressive, but it is no coincidence that the greatest movies ever made were filmed during this period. . . .

• Parenting Issues: Bottling Up Smut-- Cleaning Up the Public Square   Breakpoint.org- By Chuck Colson, June 27, 2005
  --We expect Christians to complain about our sex-saturated culture. But when a self-described "sex-industry insider" complains, people ought to take notice. . . According to a new book, we have failed our children because we haven't fulfilled "our function as guardians of their cultural environment." The "American media's obsession with sex," says the author, "has gotten so out of hand" that "even the provocateurs are being provoked."  Whose words are these? Chuck Colson? Jim Dobson? No. They're the conclusions of a "provocateur" himself, a "staunch believer in the First Amendment" and a "member of the American Civil Liberties Union" -- someone who opposes "any element of government control of human expression."  That's how Gil Reavill describes himself in his new book, Smut: A Sex-Industry Insider (and Concerned Father) Says Enough is Enough. . . Getting older made him “put away,” as he put it, the “arrogance that delights in offending others.” And then he had kids, and that’s when he really came to realize that smut is what he calls the “cultural equivalent of second-hand smoke.”. . . . .

• Parenting Issues: Why Virtues Still Matter   Townhall.com- By Armstrong Williams, June 27, 2005
  --From a young age our parents teach us the difference between right and wrong. As we grow up and our perspective broadens, we naturally question those early lessons. We observe the all too human shortcomings of our parents and wonder whether there truly exist moral absolutes to arbitrate our lives. For a teenager feeling those first twangs of shortcoming in his parents, the world can seem like a meaningless universe. . . . .For the better part of two thousand years, religion helped fill that void. Still, every once in a while, the elevated primate makes a power play and places himself at the center of the universe. . . .

• Leave all the worries of the big day to wedding planners Greenville News-SC, By Kathy Spencer-Mention, STAFF WRITER, Jun 26, 2005
  -- It wasn't the "luck" that came with slipping into something borrowed or tying on something blue that made things run smoothly on Leslie Kouvolo's wedding day last weekend. . . . . Over at the Ryan Nicholas Inn in Simpsonville, Kim Becherer, the proprietor, was turning up the romantic ambience — putting out fragrant rose petals and setting crystal candelabras on tables — in the lilac-filled Southern estate's reception hall. . . . .
  
  
• The Perfect Match: A Wedding of Hope to Reality... Houston Chronicle-TX, By STEPHANI COONTZ, June 26, 2005
  -- We have great expectations for modern marriage, and that's not a bad thing after all-- The problem with modern marriage, according to conventional wisdom, is that today's couples don't make marriage their top priority and put their relationship above all else. As one of my students once wrote, "People nowadays don't respect the marriage vowels." Perhaps she meant IOU. But my research on the history of marriage convinces me that people now place a higher value on marriage than ever before in history. In fact, that's a big part of the problem. . . . 

• He overcame cancer and the collapse of his marriage to build a new life. But Nick Leeson will always be the rogue trader that brought down a bank Sunday Herald,UK, By Barry Didcock, June 26, 2005
  . . . . . “I was giving a lecture at Leeds University once and some guy, who I think had been asleep, just stood up and said: ‘What’s it like to be an anarchist icon?’ I said, ‘What the f*** have you been listening to for the last 40 minutes? I. Didn’t. Mean. To. Do it!’” The speaker is Nick Leeson. The “it” in question is the collapse of Baring Brothers, one of the world’s oldest financial institutions, brought to its knees by an unauthorised £860 million debt Leeson racked up in the Japanese futures market in the mid-1990s. . . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  Nick Leeson: From Rogue Trader to Star Survivor  Icon magazine- UK

• Marriage Penalty   Washington Post, By Ruth Marcus, June 25, 2005
  --Remember the 1986 Newsweek cover warning that a college-educated woman older than 40 had a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than of finding a husband? (My mother does.) Now National Journal magazine has come up with a 21st-century corollary: Women who work in the top ranks of the Bush administration are five times more likely to be single than their male counterparts. Delving into the demographics of 367 top administration officials, it found that a scant 7 percent of men were single -- compared with 33 percent of the women. . . . . Far better, for matrimonial purposes, to be Henry Kissinger than Condoleezza Rice. . . .
  
  
• Economics of marriage Hindu Business Line- India, By B Venkatesh, June 25, 2005
  --My friend is economically motivated to get married! No, he does not intend on taking dowry. On the contrary, he strongly believes that marrying a non-working girl can economically improve his life. . . . His belief comes from a working paper published by the Institute of Social and Economic Research, UK. . . . So, how is marriage linked to economics?. . . .

• Next up for MPs: same-sex legislation Globe and Mail- Canada, June 25, 2005
  -— Opponents of same-sex marriage effectively conceded defeat yesterday on the government's bill to change the definition of marriage, after the Conservatives' bitter loss in a surprise budget vote Thursday night. "The fix is in to finish the job, to ram this through at an unconscionable speed," said independent MP Pat O'Brien, who quit the Liberal caucus three weeks ago over his opposition to same-sex marriage. . . . .
  
  
• Dirty Tricks in Parliament Pave Way for Gay 'Marriage' Bill ...  Lifesite- Canada, June 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com)
  - The last hurdle standing in the way of passage of the gay 'marriage' bill was swept away last night by political manipulations that make the Canadian Parliament an embarrassment to traditions of democratic process. . . . .

• Spain Same-Sex Marriage Law Delayed in Senate after Massive Catholic Rally   ChristianToday-UK, June 24, 2005
  Spain's Senate has rejected on Wednesday a bill on same-sex marriage proposed by the liberal Socialist government. The upper house voted 131 to 119 to throw out the bill, according to BBC News. The massive rally against the legalisation of same-sex union through central Madrid sponsored by a Catholic pro-family group last Saturday is said to have influenced the decision of the Senate. . . . . .

• Pope urges Italy to defend marriage, right to life Swissinfo- Switzerland, June 24, 2005
  In his first official foreign state visit, Pope Benedict told Italy on Friday the separation of Church and state was "legitimate," but urged lawmakers to defend traditional marriage and the right to life. . . . . "My hope is that the Italian people not only don't reject their Christian heritage which is part of their story, but they look after it with particular care," he said...He has also condemned same-sex unions as expressions of "anarchic freedom" that threatened the future of the family. . . .
  
  
• Pope Defends Speaking Out on Ethics Issues Guardian Unlimited- UK- By DANIELA PETROFF. ROME (AP), June 24, 2005
   Pope Benedict XVI visited Italy's president Friday and acknowledged the secular nature of the Italian state, but said that won't stop the Roman Catholic Church from intervening in ethical matters or issues that deal with man's "eternal destiny.'' . . . .
  

• In reversal, NBC's 'Today' accepts gay couples in wedding contest   Sovo.com (Southern Voice)-By Steve Koval, June 24, 2005
  GLAAD welcomes change but fine print excludes all but Mass. gays...NBC announced on Wednesday that the "Today" show will accept submissions for its "Hometown Wedding" contest from eligible gay couples — rejecting earlier rules that limited entries to "currently engaged couples consisting of a male and female.". . . . . The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation said the network made the decision after consulations with the gay media watchdog group. . . . 
  

• Homosexuals Challenge Jerusalem for Refusing 'Gay Pride' Parade CNSNews.com- By Julie Stahl- Bureau Chief, June 23, 2005 
  Jerusalem's homosexual community on Thursday challenged the city's decision to cancel this year's "Gay Pride"parade because it might offend city residents and disrupt the public order, the city's general manager said in a letter. . . . . In a rare show of solidarity, Jews, Christians and Muslims from Israel and the U.S. launched at least two initiatives calling on the government to ban the international event for religious reasons. . . . .
  

• Bush calls for gay-marriage amendment   MSNBC, By Alex Johnson, June 21, 2005
  Reviving a major plank of his re-election campaign, President Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Tuesday. The president’s address to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention — the fourth year in a row he has spoken to the conservative evangelical gathering — was crafted to rally the social religious conservatives who make up a crucial part of Bush’s governing coalition. . . .

• International Media Massively Under-Report Numbers at 1,000,000 ...  Lifesite (LifeSiteNews.com)-Canada, June 20, 2005
  MADRID: Given massive discrepancies in numbers reported for Saturday's demonstration for traditional marriage in Spain, LifeSiteNews.com directly contacted sources in Spain to determine what the real numbers were for the event that received huge advance international support.  Organizers of the event insist that actual attendance was between 1.5 and 2 million, making it by far the largest protest ever against attempts to impose same-sex marriage. . . . .

• Marriage brings financial changes Metro Toronto-Canada, June 21, 2005
  
  Tie the knot, but not around your necks. Discuss your current and future financial goals with each other. He may want to drive a Porsche but may have to settle for a Mazda sport. She wants that $10,000 diamond ring but may have to settle for the $9,999 diamond ring. . . . A bride or bridegroom's bad credit before marriage will affect the other's credit after the wedding because lenders base their loans on both credit ratings. . . .

• 9 reasons why people have sex before marriage Daily Express- Malaysia, June 21, 2005
  President of The Society for Caring Youths, Kota Kinabalu (CARYS), Josephine Wan-Wen Hadikusumo, said many of the incidences of sexual activity which result in unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) occur in the heat of the moment when one thing leads to another. . . . . Premarital abstinence will also spare your spouse of insecurities based on wondering if you are really satisfied with him sexually. These insecurities over time can erode a marriage. . . . . "Also, a partner who finds himself or herself frequently remembering past partners, who may have been better in bed, can cause guilt or conflicting emotions which will erode a marriage,". . . .

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Happy Fathers' Day to every strong man who is operating within the foundational principles of TRUTH within his home to ensure a blessed future for all of us through the lives of his children!

• Dad, we need you Townhall.com, By Rebecca Hagelin, June 17, 2005
  It's a simple message, but one rarely heard in today’s culture. The sad reality is that we live in a society where the message to fathers is, 'You’re irrelevant. You’re useless. You are a loser.' Just flip on the television: commercials and sitcoms portray fathers as wimpy and ignorant.  Men are depicted as lazy, uninvolved, unwanted, and/or impotent. Dads, I’ve got news. Your family needs you. Society needs you.  Your sons and daughters need you.  Good dads have been the backbone of strong families, the secret behind happy children, and the zing in the step of satisfied wives throughout history. So dear dads, this Father's Day, I honor all of you who have rejected the messages of a crazy culture that seeks to devalue you. . . . .
  
  
• Cinderella Man: A Father's Day Message Breakpoint.org- By Chuck Colson, June 17, 2005
  The children are huddled together in one bed, trying to keep warm. The gas and electricity have been turned off; the last of the milk is gone. What stands between these children and complete disaster? Their father. . . .

• Father Is the Best   Townhall.com- By Rich Lowry, June 17, 2005
  Dad is countercultural. If he is responsible, loving, and married, he might seem boring and a constant provocation to his eye-rolling teenage children, but he stands at the ramparts of a movement to save the country from the most destructive trend of the past 30 years: father absence. . . . . . The proportion of out-of-wedlock births rose 600 percent from 1960 to 2000, and the divorce rate more than doubled between 1965 and 1980. Roughly 24 million children now live in homes where the biological father is absent — about one out of every three children. This is a social disaster. Children need their fathers, and they need them in the home, which, as a practical matter, means their fathers have to be married to their mothers. . . . . .
  
  
• Fatherless in America  The Patriot Post- By Mark Alexander, June 17, 2005
  Many families will celebrate Father's Day this Sunday, but the tragic reality is that some 24-million children live absent or apart from their biological fathers. One in three children -- and only one in five inner-city children -- are in homes with their fathers. Of course, any assertion that fathers are critical to the well-being of children will undoubtedly offend the PC NOW crowd -- you know, those enlightened liberals who have, for the past four decades, insisted that mothers can do it all. Indeed, they've dismissed men as little more than a nuisance -- one necessary for procreation but detrimental to proper parenting. . . .
  

• Ooh La La! Tom Proposes Sky News.com- UK, June 17, 2005
  Actor Tom Cruise is to marry his girlfriend Katie Holmes. The star popped the question at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The couple have been dating snce April- but have constantly had to deny reports that it was all a publicity stunt. Speaking at a Paris news conference alongside Katie, who was wearing an outsized ring, Tom said: "Yes, I proposed to her. It was early this morning at the Eiffel Tower, so I haven't slept at all.  "Today is a magnificent day for me, I'm engaged to a magnificent woman," he added. . . . . At the world premiere of her new film Batman Begins recently in Tokyo, the 26-year-old actress gushed: "I couldn't be happier. I'm so happy.  "He's the most amazing man in the whole world." The twice-married actor recently told chat show host Oprah Winfrey: "Honestly, I haven't had this kind of experience before." This will be Tom's third wedding, he was married to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990, then Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001. . . . 

• Liz Plans Giant Wedding Sky News- UK, Jun 16, 2005
  It seems Nicole Richie isn't the only celeb who wants elephants at her upcoming wedding. Liz Hurley's getting hitched to her current beau Arun Nayer next year - and she's also planning to invite some jumbo guests. According to The Mirror Liz, who turned 40 lastweek, wants a traditional Hindu ceremony in keeping with her fiance's religion. And that means she'll be ditching the white wedding frock in favour of a red sari, and - if she gets her wish - turning up to the ceremony on an elephant.  In fact, Liz's plans are so lavish that she's reportedly told family and friends to keep an entire month free for the celebration - set to take place in North-east India next February. . . . 

• Humanist wedding is legal first BBC News- UK, June 17, 2005
  Britain's first legally recognised humanist wedding has taken place in Edinburgh, at the city's zoo. Karen Watts and Martin Reijns were united by a humanist celebrant after it was agreed that previous rules were restrictive and discriminatory. . . Humanists believe that people can live ethical lives without religious beliefs. . . . . Mr Reijns, 27, from the Netherlands, and Ms Watts, 29, from County Clare in Ireland, live in Polwarth, Edinburgh. Ms Watts, a community development worker, said: "Neither of us are religious and it would have felt hypocritical to get married in a church. . . .

• Divorce may affect health, study says Pittsburgh Post Gazette-PA, By Sue Shellenbarger (The Wall Street Journal), June 17, 2005
  When my creaky joints ache in the morning, I blame a lot of things -- too hard a workout at the gym, drizzly weather, advancing age. It never occurred to me to blame my divorce -- until now. The breakup of my marriage five years ago could actually be fueling my persistent aches, new research suggests. . . . . Coining a new term, "marital biography," to denote your entire lifelong experience with marriage, divorce and remarriage, the study's co-authors, University of Chicago's Linda Waite and Duke University's Mary Elizabeth Hughes, will show how that history has a cumulative effect on health. Indeed, your marital biography has an even bigger impact on long-term health than whether you are married or divorced at any particular time. . . .

• Rocker Lewis divorces sixth wife BBC News- UK, June 17, 2005
  A judge in Mississippi has approved a divorce settlement between rocker Jerry Lee Lewis and his sixth wife. . . . Lewis had accused his wife of adultery. . . . .

• Strong marriages, the biblical way Townhall.com, By Marvin Olasky, June 16, 2005
  This is marriage month, but leading academic and media institutions, captive to feminism, are not about to provide much guidance on how to build strong marriages. Nor will most people, even those wed in a church, take the time to see what the Bible says about marriage. That's a shame, because the Bible clearly shows the error both of feminists who claim no differences between men and women, and of sexual segregationists who argue that women are to be concerned only with marriage and motherhood. . . . .

• Estranged wife sues King Fahd in London for share of $22bn fortune Independent-UK, By Jonathan Brown, June 14, 2005
  --The ailing King Fahd, one of the world's richest and most powerful men, is facing an embarrassing public showdown in a British court later this year with a woman who claims to be his estranged wife...Her action, if successful, could prove to be the most lucrative maintenance settlement awarded by a British court. . . . . "What she is doing is without precedence in the Middle East, for a wife of a ruler to sue him for maintenance, but she wants to see justice done." . . . .

• Dating after divorce Morgan Hill Times (Subscription) CA, June 13, 2005
  When 38-year-old Brian Snyder got divorced after eight years of marriage, a sense of freedom washed over him... He frequented singles hot spots, joined online dating groups and attended get-togethers organized by friends. At first, the singles scene was new and exciting. But for Snyder - and countless others who have been divorced - the thrill began evaporating once the fear of dating edged its way in. . . . . delving back into the dating scene too quickly is one of the biggest and most common mistakes divorced people make, she said, and the key to successful dating has much more to do with yourself than other people. . . . 
  
  

• Alicia Silverstone weds in Lake Tahoe   AZ Central.com- AZ, June 13, 2005
  The 28-year-old "Clueless" star wed longtime boyfriend Christopher Jarecki at Lake Tahoe on Saturday, said Silverstone's publicist, Elizabeth Much, confirming . . . . .
  
  
•  King marries for 12th time - two weeks after 11th wedding Telegraph.co.uk- UK, June 13, 2005
  King Mswati III, the ruler of Swaziland, has taken an 18-year-old as his 12th wife - barely two weeks after his 11th marriage. Nothando . . . . . The 37-year-old has drawn criticism for spending money on luxury cars while many of his 1.1 million subjects struggle by on food aid, ravaged by the world's highest rate of HIV/Aids which affects around two in five adults. . . . .

• Teens Report Surge in Dating Abuse  CNSNews.com, June 10, 2005
  -- A new survey on teen dating indicates that a quarter of all girls who are in a relationship have been pressured to perform oral sex or engage in intercourse. Thirteen percent of the teenaged girls surveyed said they had also been physically hurt or hit by their dates. The survey, commissioned by Liz Claiborne, Inc. and conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited (TRU), questioned 337 boys and 346 girls aged 13 to 18. Verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, the poll results showed, is not limited by race or geographic location.    ..This rise in teen dating violence can be attributed to a generational cycle. . . . . This surge in teenage domestic violence has motivated fashion label, Liz Claiborne, Inc, to develop Love Is Not Abuse, an educational curriculum designed to reverse the trend. Claiborne has enlisted the help of several programs and organizations, including Break the Cycle and the Empower Program. . . .
  
  RELATED ARTICLE:  The abusive date. Why are we surprised?   Townhall.com, By Cal Thomas,  August 9, 2001
  

• Ruling convinces Neb. senator to support marriage amendment   BP News-TN, By Michael Foust, June 10, 2005
  --A federal judge's ruling in May striking down Nebraska's marriage amendment has persuaded one of the state's senators, Democrat Ben Nelson, to support a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. . . . As late as last summer, Nelson said he opposed an amendment, believing it was best to leave the issue of "gay marriage" up to the states. . . . Nebraska's amendment is not the only one being challenged in federal court. A federal lawsuit was filed June 8 against Michigan's marriage amendment. Oklahoma's amendment also is being challenged in federal court. . . .
  
  
• Latinos played key role in California marriage defeat   Houstonvoice.com- TX, June 10, 2005
  After a close vote on a bill that would have legalized same-sex marriage in California, advocates on both sides of the issue are examining the role of Latino lawmakers and religion in dooming the measure. . . . Five of the nine Democrats who abstained or voted no were members of the Latino Caucus, prompting some observers to blame Latinos for the bill’s failure. . . .
  

• 100 Couples to Tie the Knot as Part of Centennial's 'Once Upon 100 ...   PR Newswire (PRNewswire/press release) -LAS VEGAS, June 10, 2005 
  -- The Las Vegas Centennial partnered with Southwest Airlines to pay tribute to the "Wedding Capital of the World" by marrying 100 couples, two from Las Vegas and 98 from around the world, in a joint ceremony under the canopy of the Fremont Street Experience on Thursday, June 9. . . .
  
  
• Viva Las Weddings   Chicago Daily Southtown, IL - Jun 9, 2005
  . . . . A hundred couples — picked from around the country, Germany, England and Korea — will descend on the gambling mecca for a group wedding Thursday under the canopy at the Fremont Street Experience. The five-day vacation to Sin City includes a suite at the Golden Nugget, gift certificates for wedding dresses and tuxedos, bachelor and bachelorette parties, hairstyling and make-up application for the bride, and seats in a poker tournament. . .

• Mayor to walk daughter down aisle, then perform her wedding   Newsday- NY, June 9, 2005, New York (AP)
  Mayor Michael Bloomberg will walk his 26-year-old daughter down the aisle at her wedding this weekend, and then perform the ceremony. . . .
  

• J. Lo engaged — after being married   MSNBC - June 8, 2005
  “It sounds a little odd, but Marc and Jennifer were never really engaged — they just got married. So, to mark their first anniversary, Marc officially proposed, this time presenting Jennifer with an engagement ring from exclusive jeweler-to-the-stars Neil Lane. . . . .
  
  
• Who is the marrying kind?    Globe and Mail, Canada - June 8, 2005
  Susan Crompton is a self-described older, single woman not interested in marriage but curious about other women her age and their attitudes towards marriage. . . . What she learned is that how people feel about tying the knot can make or break their expectation of doing so. . . .

• Brides and Grooms -- Test Your Financial Compatibility   Yahoo News (press release), June 8, 2005
  . . . . Talking about money matters can be awkward, but an open, honest discussion before you begin life together can resolve differences before they become disagreements. "Think of it as relationship insurance,". . . .The Illinois CPA Society recommends that all engaged couples take this financial compatibility quiz before heading to the alter. Answer "true" or "false" to each of the following statements in our financial compatibility quiz. . . .

• Canadian Bishop Proposes Solution to Same-Sex “Marriage”    Lifesite- Canada, June 8, 2005
  In the House of Commons committee hearings on the same-sex ‘marriage’ Bill C-38 Monday, Calgary Bishop Fred Henry was asked by Liberal MP Anita Neville for suggestions on possible action by government on the issue. . . . Bishop Henry, a man very attuned to human suffering proposed a solution which, while being consistent with Catholic teaching, would also accommodate the basic needs of any adults in interdependent relationships.  Thus homosexual couples would fall under this category of interdependent relationships along with, for instance, two adult siblings who live together with one looking after another with a disability. His basic message: no gay ‘marriage’, no civil unions, but adult interdependent relationships. . . .

• Midtown Bridal Insanity Extravaganza   Gothamist- NY, Jun 7, 2005
  Gawker reported this brides gone even more bridezilla-y PR stunt for the new WE show, Bridezillas, this morning in Times Square. . . . The promotion was to (1) dress up in a bridal gown and (2) hunt for a $50,000 check in a wedding cake. Upon seeing even more pictures from the WE site (and there's video), Gothamist wondered the following things: 
  - Did the brides get their dresses at Kleinfeld's?
  - Is $50,000 even going to cover a decent NYC wedding for at least 100 guests?
  - Did they take off their engagements rings while in the tussle?
  - Was Martha Stewart Weddings editorial director Darcy Miller shuddering in disgust?. . . .

• Victoria Beckham: The Big Interview...   Mirror.co.uk- UK, From Caroline Hedley in LA, June 6, 2005
  VICTORIA Beckham yesterday defended her husband David against new claims of straying - then candidly disclosed she feared she was losing her figure. After new pictures emerged of Becks ap