'MARRIAGE' In The NEWS- April 2008: The REAL Proposal For Marriage magazine

Young, gay marrieds: BENJAMIN & JOSHUA In their living room in Boston. Each 25, they were sweethearts in college and married soon after

Young, gay, married GetReligion.org, Posted by Mollie, April 28, 2008
When I saw the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine this week, I groaned. Beaming out from the pages in ridiculously campy, 1950s-style photos reminiscent of June and Ward Cleaver were two perfectly domestic gay men. The Newlywed Gays! the text read and I just knew that we were going to get yet another installment about how perfectly normal gay marriage is. I’ve complained before about the “We’re perfectly normal and boring” meme that all reporters use when describing, say, polygamous families or gay parents and their genetic material donors forming multi-parent families. I don’t want sensational coverage, but it always smacks of advocacy. It also subtly denigrates others’ views as opposing, say, polygamy only because it’s not “normal.” Well, Benoit Denizet-Lewis’ story might be advocacy, but it completely surprised me. It’s long, but really interesting and it feels no need to present readers with 5,000 words claiming that young gay marrieds aren’t just normal, they’re better than normal. Not that I would expect him to, having read his rather provocative pieces on men on the down low and the teen hook-up culture. Instead, Denizet-Lewis used the piece to satisfy a curiosity. He’d heard about a bunch of young gay men getting married in Boston and he was curious how they might choose to construct and maintain their unions, particularly with no model for how to build a gay marriage. Much of the article deals with whether young gay men expect monogamy, as is a normal expectation (even if not always the reality) with straight couples who marry. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: The 'Real' New Gay Marriage GayWired.com, By Ross von Metzke, May 7, 2008
What we aren’t, however, is Norman f*****g Rockwell… we’re not Ivy League, bucking for country club membership or any other idealistic relationship stereotype—which is probably what bothered me so much about a recent cover story in The New York Times Magazine, documenting what writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis dubs “the new gay marriage.” . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: The New Face of Gay Marriage The Christian Post, By R. Albert Mohler, Jr., April 28, 2008
Denizet-Lewis's article raises at least one final thought. If the legalization of same-sex marriage is changing homosexual culture, is it also changing heterosexual marriage? We can only wonder how long it will take for some heterosexual couples to decide that "emotional fidelity" and "sexual fidelity" can be separated. . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Young Gay Rites New York Times, By Benoit Denizet-Lewis, April 27, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples Family Research Council, By Timothy J. Dailey, Ph. D. (Posted March 2008)
The “I’m boring.” down-home portrayals of homosexual couples are meant to provoke the question: Since gay couples really differ only in that both partners are of the same sex, what rational basis exists for denying them full marriage rights? Are homosexual households, as the article suggests, simply another variant of human relationships that should be considered, along with marriage, as “part of mainstream American society”? On the contrary, the evidence indicates that “committed” homosexual relationships are radically different from married couples in several key respects:

· relationship duration
· monogamy vs. promiscuity
· relationship commitment
· number of children being raised
· health risks
· rates of intimate partner violence . . . .

Tightening the Belt and the Return of the Vegetable Garden

Tightening the Belt and the Return of the Vegetable Garden Townhall.com, By Jackie Gingrich Cushman, April 27, 2008
The AP article title “Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise,” by Marcus Kabel, caught my eye. Just last night, as my mother fixed rice for my children’s dinner, she mentioned the increase in its price. At the time, I did not pay much attention, and certainly did not expect to read about U.S. rice rationing in the headlines the next day. And it’s not just rice. The average price of gas is at an all-time high of more than $3.50 per gallon; this year, rice prices have risen 70 percent. Total food costs are projected to rise 5 percent this year. Based on the recent price stickers I have seen in the grocery store, my guess is that it will be higher. In a recent CNN article, “Mom’s new battle: The food price bulge,” cancer researcher, mother and wife Amanda Richardson noted that the price squeeze has taught her an important lesson, while she has managed to lower total food costs while prices have climbed. "Before, we were incredibly wasteful. We'd let food go bad. I am more conscientious now," she said. "If prices go back down, I won't return to my wasteful ways.". . . . Maybe as a counter to higher oil prices and food prices, we can begin to tighten our belts a bit – and I mean literally. Following are a few ideas:
1. Drive less, walk and bike more. . . . . . 2. Eat less and better at home. . . 3. Reduce the size of portions in restaurants. . . . 4. Plant a garden. . .

Did Georgia judge and Cosby go to far? ABC 7-KABC Los Angeles- AP, April 25, 2008
-- Bill Cosby says apathy among some black Americans about violence, drugs, profanity and teenage sex has sunk to a level of asking someone to "pass the salt." The comedian, who has made waves by criticizing the black community in the past, appeared Thursday night with a Georgia judge who kicked whites out of his courtroom while he lectured black defendants. Cosby and Superior Court Judge Marvin Arrington spoke at a forum for at-risk youths from the Atlanta area. Both men are black. "Our children are trying to tell us something," Cosby said to the predominantly black audience at Benjamin Mays High School as he talked about the importance of education and family. He amused the invitation-only crowd of about 600, which included teenagers identified as "at-risk" by juvenile authorities, with a lament about nonchalant reactions to common problems. "Well, the mother's on crack cocaine. Pass the salt." "That girl's baby has no father. Pass the salt." "Oh, he shot him in the head? Pass the salt." Cosby, dressed casually in sneakers and a Morehouse College T-shirt, said there are examples of success, and there are examples of failure. "We look at failure and we're like, pass the salt." He dismissed critics of his approach who have said that he is airing dirty laundry in the black community. "That's crazy," he said. "There are black people who have to walk around this dirty laundry.". .

FOX Plans Reality-TV 'Bad Dads' Colosseum 'Lynching' of Poor Men

FOX Plans Reality-TV “Bad Dads” Colosseum "Lynching" of Poor Men Men's News Daily, By David R. Usher, April 24, 2008
I was astonished to see that FOX Television, in its nauseating quest for ever tawdry reality-TV shows, plans to turn the problems of poor fathers into an extermination in the Fox Colosseum. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Fox tagged Jim Durham, Director of the “National Child Support Center”, as the leading lion of the event. Interestingly, this organization does not exist. The real name of the company Durham runs is named "National Child Support" (NCS). The NCS is not a national or official organization — it is a private for-profit fee-based collections agency located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Their website cannily does not identify Durham on its website, but Zoominfo tagged the truth. Both Fox and Durham lied about the name of the company, appending "agency" to the name apparently to confer a false appearance of governmental authority upon Fox's assault on poor or underemployed fathers. When folks start out lying about who they are, the future is predicable. . . . For those unaware of the dynamics of the child support problem, understand the following truths now. Approximately 80% to 85% of men behind on support are poor or involuntarily under-employed men unable to earn what some bureaucrat ordered them to earn. Court orders commonly include “imputed income” to reflect what a judge thinks the father should earn (which most often is equal to or more than what the State was giving her in welfare). Child support orders are rigid, and do not change with economic downturns. . . . The systemic problem is this: states hand out large sums of welfare entitlements under TANF and other programs. This stimulates women to have children out of wedlock or get a divorce because they think that government will be a better provider. Very quickly women find out that her "baby daddy" cannot support two households, and that she has to work full time and "do it all" on less money. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Anne Heche: I Can't Afford Child Support People magazine, By Mike Fleeman, May 14, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: "Bad Dads" a Bad Idea Townhall.com, By Kathleen Parker, May 2, 2008
"Bad Dads" is just the latest insult to men and especially fathers who feel, appropriately, that they've been maligned and minimized through television programming and advertising. In sitcoms, men are typically buffoons. And fathers, if they exist, are inept and unreliable, while Mom is a paragon of virtue and competence. Television executives and advertisers may profit from such "entertainment," but who's having fun? Apparently, women are. . . . The more accurate picture of a deadbeat dad is an unemployed or underemployed bloke who sees more jail cells than golf courses. A common sequence of events for the poorest deadbeat dads goes something like this: Fall behind in child support, get arrested and put in jail, lose your job, fall further behind in child support. Not exactly a formula for rehabilitation or future employment. . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Fox zeroes in on 'Bad Dads': Unscripted series focuses on making deadbeat fathers pay The Hollywood Reporter, By James Hibberd, April 24, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Welfare 'reform' threatens to leave dads behind USA Today, April 24, 2002

How the web stole our children: Chilling report reveals under-16s spend more than 20 hours a week online

Parenting Issues: How the web stole our children
Chilling report reveals under-16s spend more than 20 hours a week online The Daily Mail- UK, By Winifred Robinson, April 24, 2008
The other day my eight-year-old son asked: 'Mum, what was your favourite website when you were little?' The question illustrates the yawning gulf dividing today's parents and their children. We were raised in an age when the sum total of what could be viewed on screen was four television channels with content strictly controlled. Spool forward just 25 years and our children can choose from scores of channels and - via the internet - visit thousands of uncensored virtual worlds at the click of a mouse. Such is the influence of these worlds on young minds and such is the lack of understanding among parents, that a report from the think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research - "Behind The Screen: The Hidden Life Of Youth Online" - describes a generation of teenagers effectively being raised by the internet. They spend all of their free time on websites such as Facebook and MySpace which offer free and easy access to videos posted by other users including, on occasion, real scenes of rape and violence plus links to websites advocating anorexia and even suicide. Parents worried about these developments are often dismissed as hysterical participants in something sneeringly termed "moral panic". But the simple fact is that we lack the knowledge to take charge when it comes to how our children use the internet. Our ignorance is eroding our confidence to act. And so children, rather than their parents, are winning the battles over computer use, battles being fought out daily in thousands of caring middle-class homes. . . .The report from the IPPR is the first to seek to answer some of the basic questions troubling parents like the Joneses and Graysons about children's internet use and in particular about the social networking sites which have grown massively in popularity in the past two years. It examines how long our children are spending online, what exactly they are experiencing there, how the facts square with what parents believe is going on, and how sustained exposure to this new world of virtual friendships and experiences might influence the moral, social and intellectual development of a child. . . .

As teenage pregnancies soar, meet the thirtysomething grandmothers The Daily Mail- UK, By Daniel Bates, April 24, 2008
It wasn't the life Tara Bailee had in mind. Pregnant at 20, she had to resign herself to growing up quickly and learning about motherhood. Then, at 36, she became a grandmother. Her story may sound surprising, but Miss Bailee's is not an isolated case. As a result of Britain's high teenage pregnancy rate - the worst in Europe - many women are becoming accustomed to looking after their grandchildren while still in their thirties - and without any sign of a husband. The new phenomenon raises questions about the social consequences of generations of children being brought up without fathers. The majority of the women involved don't regret having babies but some who became parents in their teens told a BBC documentary they wished they had done things differently. Miss Bailee, whose daughter became pregnant at 15, and has an eight-month-old daughter, said: "I put Rickeita on the Pill as soon as she started her periods at 12 or 13. . . . The trend for young grandmothers looks likely to continue. There were 39,000 pregnancies among under-18s in 2006, compared with 39,800 in 2005. More than 20 girls between 13 and 15 become pregnant every day. Norman Wells, of Family and Youth Concern, said: "In previous generations it was not unusual for girls to marry and start having children in their late teens and early twenties, and for women to become grandparents in their late thirties."The key difference now is that most teenage pregnancies occur outside marriage and their children frequently lack the involvement of a committed father." . . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: The teenage mums who become nightclubbing, 30-something grannies The Daily Mail- UK, By Jenny Johnston, April 25, 2008

As teenage pregnancies soar, meet the thirtysomething grandmothers:From left, Rickeita, her daughter Lexie, and grandmother Tara Bailee, 36

RELATED ARTICLE: The High Cost of Immorality Crosswalk.com, By Michael Craven, April 21, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Continued Good News on Teen Pregnancy and Abortion Townhall.com, By Janice Shaw Crouse, April 17, 2008
In a study released this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports record declines in the rates of teen pregnancies and abortions. The drop in teenage pregnancy rates continues a long trend: the decline of 38 percent is a fall from an all-time high in 1990 to an historic low in 2004. Significantly, the CDC, the nation’s largest public health agency, stated that their report is the most comprehensive study of this decade. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Meet the families where no one's worked for THREE generations - and they don't care The Daily Mail- UK, By Sadie Nicholas and Diana Appleyard, March 21, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: The Collapse of Marriage and the Rise of Welfare Dependence The Heritage Foundation, By Jennifer A. Marshall, Robert Lerman, Ph.D., Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, Ph.D., Hon. Wade Horn, Ph.D., Robert Rector- Heritage Lecture #959, August 15, 2006 (Delivered May 22, 2006)

RELATED ARTICLE: Mothers' and Children's Poverty and Material Hardship in the Years Following a Non-Marital Birth FRAGILE FAMILIES RESEARCH BRIEF- Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing- Princeton University, Social Indicators Survey Center, Columbia University, January 2008

Why I wish we'd kiss goodbye to this plague of PDAs (Public Displays of Affection, that is)

Why I wish we'd kiss goodbye to this plague of PDAs (Public Displays of Affection, that is) The Daily Mail- Uk, By Carol Sander, April 23, 2008
At an Eastbourne pub, quaintly - and perhaps appropriately - called the Nuthouse, the landlord has got himself into hot water. Faced with a couple heatedly kissing, apparently unable to keep their hands off each other, he ordered them to stop their canoodling, sit still and behave themselves. Unfortunately for him, they happen to be lesbians so, with tedious predictability, they have accused him of discrimination. This, he says robustly, is "c**p" - it's not the sexuality that bothers him, it's the sex. He thinks that his customers ought to be able to come in for a quiet pint without being distracted by other people's intimacy. No matter who or what they are. And so do I. Further, I think that his customers should buy him a drink. And make it a large one. Public displays of affection, which in my schooldays we sniggeringly shortened to "PDAs", have changed from what was then a spot of hand-holding bravado to increasingly flamboyant, grotesque displays of sexual activity that nobody should have to put up with, but which most of us - except, it seems, especially plucky publicans - do. It's not all late-night smooching on a darkened dance-floor or the traditional back row of a cinema, either - for some couples, any hour and any excuse is fine by them. . . .Whatever the pantomime is about, it isn't about anything resembling love or desire as either is genuinely experienced. For some people, male and female alike, it's a personal statement: look at me, it begs; you might have thought I'm a dull little loser - but no! I can attract a gorgeous creature like this one, who is all over my body, day and night! Well, bully for you and your insecurities: I still don't see why they need to involve me, a stranger who honestly couldn't care less. . . .

And the bride's mother wore white...or how to avoid wrecking your child's wedding The Daily Mail- UK, By Helena Frith Powell, April 23, 2008
They say your wedding day is the most important day of your life. Preparation often starts a year or more before the big day with dress fittings, gym memberships and debates about whether or not to risk falling up the aisle in your the seven-inch stilettos in order to be taller than the bridegroom's infuriatingly tall and slim younger sister. Weeks before the event you stop living a normal life: eating and sleeping become a thing of the past. No single day will cause you such angst and trauma - until your daughter announces she is going to get married. I am now at the age when I am no longer going to the weddings of friends, but rather the weddings of children of friends. I have been through several weddings with girlfriends and although the stress was palpable, it is nowhere near as bad as it is for the mother of the bride. . . .The problem for the mother of the bride is that she has a double whammy to contend with. First, people are going to be checking her out to see how well-preserved and well-dressed she is and second, they want to see what the bride is going to look like in a few years' time. . . .

And the bride's mother wore white... Or, how to avoid wrecking your child's wedding

RELATED ARTICLE: 20 hot wedding trends for 2008: How to make your wedding one to remember The Sunday Times, By Deborah Joseph, January 20, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Paris Wedding Trends 2008: The Black Wedding Dress Parisian Party, Posted by Kim, November 23, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Top Wedding Trends for 2008 The Knot.com
What's hot now? This year, bigger is definitely better, from luxe place settings to statement-making gowns and hairstyles.

RELATED ARTICLE: 2008 Wedding Trends About.com, By Nina Callaway
A Guide to the Hottest Wedding Trends of 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding AlterNet, By Emily Wilson, June 15, 2007
Pre-World War II, many couples got married in clothes they already owned. Today, they spend thousands. In her new book, One Perfect Day, Rebecca Mead shows how the wedding industry became so powerful and who it has exploited in the process.

WEDDING PLANNING RESOURCES: Big City Bride Colin Cowie Preston Bailey

Star Jones Files For Divorce From Husband Al Reynolds

Star Jones Files For Divorce Entertainment Tonight Online, April 23, 2008
Entertainment Tonight breaks news that Star Jones (46) has filed for divorce from husband of three-and-a-half years Al Reynolds (39). The filing took place on March 26 in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan. Starlet M. Jones versus Al S. Reynolds was marked as an "Uncontested Matrimonial" case by the court and the records were sealed. In a statement released exclusively to Entertainment Tonight, the former "View" co-host says: "Several years ago I made an error in judgment by inviting the media into the most intimate area of my life. A month ago I filed for divorce. The dissolution of a marriage is a difficult time in anyone's life that requires privacy with one's thoughts. I have committed myself to handling this situation with dignity and grace and look forward to emerging from this period as a stronger and wiser woman." Yesterday, New York divorce attorney Stanford Lotwin (who represents Reynolds and worked on the high profile divorces of Howard Stern, Donald Trump, and Diana Ross) filed a notice of appearance with the courts. Upon learning of the filing, Entertainment Tonight producers discovered the original divorce decree. . . .

Is Planned Parenthood Above The Law? Townhall.com, By Maggie Gallagher, April 22, 2008
Planned Parenthood likes to think of itself as above all reproach -- a champion of women's rights and also (as its annual report claims) the nation's "social justice movement." But this week, in front of Planned Parenthood offices at 1108 16th St. NW in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, a group of black pastors and pro-life activists (joined by two GOP congressmen) will demand a congressional audit of what the group alleges are a pattern of racist practices, funded by taxpayers, at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. Planned Parenthood's latest trouble began when a feisty pro-life student magazine called Planned Parenthood offices in seven states, posing as an openly racist donor seeking to make sure his check could be earmarked to abort "a black baby." The resulting phone conversations are horrifying listening. . . . According to the group, Planned Parenthood officers in at least four states agreed not only to accept the racists' check, but to actually earmark the donation for that purpose. "The less black kids the better," the caller tells one Planned Parenthood employee. "For whatever reason we'll accept the money," was one typical response. . . .The current racism charge can't help but revive memories of a similar sting operation that revealed many Planned Parenthood clinic employees were willing to tell a caller posing as a 13-year-old girl with a 22-year-old boyfriend how she could avoid triggering mandatory child sex abuse reporting requirements at the clinic. In each case, Planned Parenthood's national leaders have responded poorly, seeking to deflect attention away from the behavior of its own employees to the motivations of those who made the phone calls. . . .

RELATED VIDEO: PART I: Planned Parenthood Racism Investigation

RELATED VIDEO: PART II: Planned Parenthood Racism Investigation

Parenting Issues: Who’s Better Equipped to Love and Raise Kids in America -- The State or Their Parents? BlackAmericaWeb.com, By Joseph C. Phillips, April 22, 2008
California State Assemblywoman Nancy Lieber has reintroduced her anti-spanking bill to the California state assembly. The bill amends the current child abuse statute to now define as child abuse spanking with an implement such as “a stick, a rod, a switch, an electrical cord, an extension cord, a belt, a broom or a shoe.” There are more than a few grandmas that will find themselves on the way to the pokey if this bill passes. My knee-jerk response was that this is but more liberal, narcissistic nosiness, an appeal to protect children as a pretense to supplant individual rights with state dictates. The current law already makes it a crime for any person to “willfully cause harm … or inflict upon a child unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering.” What can be gained by amending this language, other than to have social workers and police officers second-guessing parents when they choose to use corporal punishment to discipline their children? . . . . . .There are among my neighbors those that would disagree with my methods. I would encourage them to observe that my children, while spirited, are well-behaved, honest and respectful. Where my sons are concerned, they need not fear for their safety or their property. I would also note that while they are free to privately disagree with my methods and free to raise their children as they choose, they are not and should not be free to use the power of government to determine how I raise mine. The bill introduced by Lieber (and no doubt coming to a state assembly near you) suggests something very different. This bill suggests that children do not belong to parents; they belong to the state. . .

Who's Better Equipped to Love and Raise Kids in America -- The State or Their Parents?

RELATED ARTICLE: In Praise of Spanking Townhall.com, By Doug Giles, December 1, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Approaches to Discipline Family.org, By Focus on the Family

RELATED ARTICLE: Does Spanking Work for All Kids? There are other explanations   Family.org, Answered by Dr. James Dobson

RELATED ARTICLE: Child Abuse Worsens as Families Change Townhall.com, By Michael Reagan, November 28, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Disciplining Someone Else's Chid?? Scripps Howard News Service, By BETSY HART, September 26, 2006
I've been taking note of how I interact with other people's kids for a few months now. Ever since Jeffrey Zaslow wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal, "Why Don't We Reprimand Other People's Children?"

RELATED ARTICLE: Hate other people's kids? Here's what to do  MSNBC.com— TODAY, By Ruth A Peters, Ph.D., April 19, 2006
What do you do when kids are ruining your restaurant meal, wrecking your movie, or taunting your child? Dr. Ruth Peters offers this advice. . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Tennessee Mother Makes Daughter Stand on Street Corner Wearing Sign Listing Bad Behavior FOX News- AP, June 25, 2007

RELATED ARTICLE: Dishing out some Hart-felt wisdom Townhall.com, By Rebecca Hagelin, September 20, 2005

RELATED ARTICLE: The politics of the Supernanny   Boston Globe, By Ellen Goodman, May 15, 2005

RELATED ARTICLE: Is Spanking a Religious Duty?   ABC News, May 3, 2005

Sports great Deion Sanders and wife Pilar bask poolside at their mansion in the Oxygen reality series 'Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love.'

Deion and Pilar Sanders: How To Keep Your Marriage 'Spicy' AOL Black Voices, By Cheryl Thompson, April 21, 2008
What happens when a former flashy athlete, his model perfect wife and their five children, live in a hot 40,000-square-foot mansion and have their lives videotaped to find out what happens when black families get real? 'Prime Time' gold. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Oxygen's 'Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love' set network records in its premiere airing, becoming the channel's most-watched original series premiere ever. Following the lives of sports star Deion Sanders and his family, the reality show scored big in the desirable demos of women ages 18-34 and 18-49 and men and women 18-49. While a plethora of reality shows focus on the booty hookup (read: 'Flavor of Love,' 'I Love New York,' 'Rock of Love' .... sensing a trend?), Deion and Pilar strive to produce a show based on genuine love and togetherness. So what keeps a marriage hot and sexy (and more importantly, out of divorce court)? Losing the granny panties, for one. What else? In the ~~above~~ exclusive video segment for Blackvoices.com, Deion and Pilar share how they've kept the flame burning in their marriage. (Feel free to take notes.). . . .

RELATED TV REVIEW:    Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love Variety magazine, By Brian Lowry, April 14, 2008
Deion Sanders and his wife Pilar, a onetime model, are a gorgeous couple, and they have three adorable kids together plus Deion's two teenagers who live with them. What they cannot do, unfortunately, is convincingly play themselves in this virtual sitcom crafted around their lives. Instead, they find themselves at the center of a bad reality-based sitcom, complete with Looney Tunes-type music and carefully scripted situations, such as "Deion's daughter goes on a date" or "Pilar challenges Deion by saying she can (handicap) football games." The show is many things, but ready for primetime isn't one of them. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: No sex and the City: As a survey reveals that 75 per cent of women would marry for money, our correspondent describes the pitfalls of life with a busy big earner   The Times Online- UK, By Karen Barichievy, January 11, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE:   The hardest job in the world: It may look like the ultimate cushy number, but the life of the celebrity wife is not for the faint hearted TimesOnline-UK, By Wendy Holden, June 24, 2007

How Gay Activism Shapes U.S. Politics CBN News, By Heather Sells-CBN News Reporter, April 22, 2008
He's considered to be America's biggest gay donor. And his out-of-the-box political strategies are reshaping public policy in the areas of marriage, family and gay rights. You probably haven't heard the name Tim Gill. And that's just the way he wants it. . . . . He ties the money to so-called "non-discrimination" policies and establishes himself as a community pillar. But it's in the area of politics where his giving is starting to get the most attention. . . . . Today, Gill's no secret in the gay world. Out magazine just named him the fifth most influential gay in the country. But Gill, his spokesperson, and big-time gay rights organizations all refused requests from CBN News to talk about Gill. Perhaps it's because Gill fears the spotlight could hurt his current plans. Gill did tell Atlantic Monthly that he has an even "larger target list in 2008." CBN News found that the New York statehouse is one of those targets. . . . . Why did Gill pick New York? For starters, the Empire state teeters on the brink of legalizing same-sex marriage. The state assembly has already passed a bill and lawmakers agree: If Democrats can pick up one more Senate seat and take control of that chamber - same-sex marriage will pass. . . . But for many pro-family advocates, Gill's multi-millions make it a David-and-Goliath fight. Matt Barber with Concerned Women for America says "we don't have an evangelical Christian Tim Gill that has stepped forward." It's ironic that Gill himself uses spiritual language to define his detractors. In Atlantic Monthly he called his opponents "the forces of darkness." It's a warning, say his observers. . .

How gay rights activists like Tim Gill are shaping US politics

"Gay" Sex Kills Townhall.com, By Matt Barber, Monday, April 21, 2008
. . . By recently admitting that “HIV is a gay disease,” Matt Foreman, outgoing Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, acknowledged what the medical community has known for decades: the homosexual lifestyle is extremely high-risk and often leads to disease and even death. . . . . . On April 25, 2008, the pro-homosexual indoctrination of your children comes to a boil. Homosexual activists and like-minded liberal educators will be pushing the so-called “Day of Silence” on kids in thousands of schools across the country. . . . To be sure, bullying and harassment should not be tolerated against anyone, anywhere for any reason, and those who engage in such activities should be firmly disciplined. However, DOS has very little to do with “bullying” and has everything to do with propaganda. During DOS, children and teachers are encouraged to disrupt the school day by refusing to speak, in a show of support to self-described “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual” and “transgender” students. Kids are additionally taught that Biblical truth, which holds that human sexuality is a gift from God shared between husband and wife within the bonds of marriage, is “homophobic,” “hateful” and “discriminatory.” Our schools are supposed to be places of learning, not places of political indoctrination. It’s the height of impropriety and cynicism for “gay” activists and school officials to use good-hearted but misguided children as pawns in their attempt to further a deceptive, highly controversial and polarizing political agenda. . . .

RELATED STUDY (PDF): Modelling the Impact of HIV Disease on Mortality in Gay and Bisexual Men International Journal of Epidemiology Vol 6, No.3

RELATED SITE: Coalition Opposes Pro-Homosexual 'Day of Silence"
At DOS-participating schools all over the country, parents are joining with dozens of pro-family organizations, such as Concerned Women for America (CWA), in a “Day of Silence Walkout.” They’re keeping their kids home from school on DOS as a show of protest.

RELATED SITE: Day of Truth: The Truth Cannot Be Silenced
Parents and children are also strongly encouraged to participate in the Alliance Defense Fund’s non-disruptive “Day of Truth,” which will follow DOS on Monday, April 28, 2008.

RELATED ARTICLE: Till Death Do Them Part: The Deadly Consequences Of Homosexual Unions Catholic Citizens.org, By Dr. Brian Kopp, December 5, 2003
According to Dr. Kopp, "The best scientific evidence suggests that putting society's stamp of approval on homosexual partnerships would harm society in general and homosexuals in particular, the very individuals some contend would be helped. A large body of scientific evidence suggests that homosexual marriage is a defective counterfeit of traditional marriage and that it poses a clear and present danger to the health of the community. . .

RELATED ARTICLES & INFO: HIV/AIDS and Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) Centers For Disease Control and Prevention

RELATED ARTICLE: The Health Risks of Gay Sex Catholic Education Resource Center, By John R. Diggs, Jr. M.D.

RELATED ARTICLE: The Negative Health Effects of Homosexuality Family Research Council- Issue No.: 232, By Timothy J. Dailey, Ph. D.
Homosexual activists attempt to portray their lifestyle as normal and healthy, and insist that homosexual relationships are the equivalent in every way to their heterosexual counterparts. Hollywood and the media relentlessly propagate the image of the fit, healthy, and well-adjusted homosexual. The reality is quite opposite to this caricature which was recently conceded by the homosexual newspaper New York Blade News. . . .

Giants' Eli Manning married in Mexico New York Daily News, By Jo Piazza, April 20th 2008
Giants quarterback Eli Manning wed his college sweetheart Abby McGrew during a beachfront ceremony at sunset Saturday. About 60 loved ones flew to Mexico to join Manning and his bride for the intimate ceremony at the One & Only Palmilla, a swank resort along the Sea of Cortez on the Baja Peninsula. Manning, 27, and McGrew, 24, exchanged vows while standing on a platform in the sand as waves crashed over rocks behind them. The bride, carrying a bouquet of white roses, made her entrance through a wrought-iron gate and walked down the aisle to an altar covered in pink wildflowers. McGrew looked splendid in a strapless white gown with gold embroidering and a large bow and short train in the back. . . . . Some guests estimated the wedding cost Manning around $500,000, a modest sum compared to most celebrity weddings. . . . . Manning and McGrew met when they were students at Ole Miss. He proposed last March during a quiet date in Hoboken. The couple is famously low-key and kept their wedding plans under wraps until just last week. Wedding guests remarked all weekend about how relaxed Manning had made the celebration for all of them. The bride and groom chose the ultra exclusive resort to celebrate their wedding after vacationing here several times. . . .

JAMAICA: The Manley Memoirs (Part I) The Jamaica Gleaner, By Sacha Walters, April 20, 2008
She is not afraid of taking a second look at life and, if necessary, shaking everything up and rearranging it. Beverley Anderson Manley, journalist and former wife of late Prime Minister Michael Manley, created waves when she married a man 17 years her senior, and with three other marriages behind him. This dark-skin Jamaican, who proudly wore an afro, came from humble beginnings and would marry a man who, on the surface, was completely different from her. He was of mixed race, the son of Norman Manley, former premier, and a member of the upper class. Beverley and Michael were very similar, with a love for life, a zeal to initiate political change in their country and, at that time, an insecurity about their race. For some, they became the John F. Kennedy and Jackie Onasis of Jamaica. They brought youth, glamour and transformational politics to the country. Anderson-Manley would confront head-on the politics of change in the country, playing an integral part in campaigning and connecting with the people. She believed strongly in her husband's democratic socialist stance. They made it through wins and defeats at the polls. But there came a time when they too drifted apart. Anderson-Manley has hosted the 'Breakfast Club', was a Gleaner columnist and has written about her experiences in The Manley Memoirs, which will soon hit the shelves of bookshops. To launch the serialisation of the book in The Gleaner, Flair sat with her to discuss this revealing book. . . .

Beverley Anderson Manley, wife of late Jamaican prime minister Michael Manley, gears to release her memoirs

RUSSIA: Paper Closes After Tabloid 'Marriage' Story Involving Russian Premier Vladimir Putin And Former Olympian Gymnast Alina Kabayeva

RUSSIA: Paper Closes After Putin Marriage Story The Moscow Times, By Anatoly Medetsky and Matt Siegel -Staff Writers, April 21, 2008
A Russian tabloid that published a story claiming that President Vladimir Putin had left his wife to marry a 24-year-old former Olympic gymnast suspended operations on Friday, sparking fresh criticism about withering press freedoms in Russia. "We proved that Russia is not a democracy," Igor Dudinsky, first deputy editor of Moskovsky Korrespondent, which ran the story earlier this month, said Sunday. On Friday, Putin categorically denied claims made by the tabloid that he was planning to marry former rhythmic gymnast and current State Duma Deputy Alina Kabayeva at a news conference in Sardinia with Italian Prime Minister-elect Silvio Berlusconi. "There is not one word of truth in what you have said," he told reporters. "I have always reacted negatively to those who, with their snotty noses and erotic fantasies, prowl into others' lives." Artyom Artyomov, head of billionaire Alexander Lebedev's National Media Company, which publishes the paper, denied that the decision to suspend publication of the magazine was made on political grounds, Interfax reported. . . Dudinsky, a veteran tabloid journalist and former dissident who spent two years in internal exile in Magadan for angering the Soviet government, disagrees. . .

The High Cost of Immorality Crosswalk.com, By Michael Craven, April 21, 2008
For more than five decades, self-proclaimed experts and so-called sexual reformers, beginning with Alfred Kinsey, have worked to advance the belief that there are no public consequences to private sexual behavior. And Americans, for the most part, have bought into this notion, proving what Lenin said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth!” This ideological offensive, which gained traction during the sexual revolution of the 1960s, led to the erosion of all prior social and legal boundaries, which restrained sex to monogamous marriage. This exclusive union—which strictly limited the acceptable relationship for sex and esteemed the traditional family—was reinforced through the stigmatization of sex outside of marriage and the criminalization of certain acts. . . . While only a handful of states maintain fornication and adultery laws on the book, none actually enforce these statutes and most people today would likely regard any attempt to do so as ridiculous. But are they right? Are there, in fact, no public consequences to any private sexual behavior? If there are, does the individual’s right to privacy trump the greater good of society? . . . . First, our right to privacy does not extend to any and every consensual behavior. . . . . Secondly, contrary to the propaganda of the last five decades; there is recent data which demonstrates there is in fact a public consequence to certain private sexual behaviors. In first-ever research, a scholarly study, entitled The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and All 50 States quantifies a minimum $112 billion annual taxpayer cost from high rates of divorce and unmarried childbearing. This amounts to more than $1 trillion in taxpayer expense over the last decade that is directly attributable to marital breakdown and out-of-wedlock births. . . . . Add to this, the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease among all other industrialized nations, the highest rates of teen pregnancies, the largest producing and consuming nation of pornography, the highest rape rates, and more than 40 million abortions since 1972 and one must be willfully blind to suggest that there are no public consequences to any private sexual behavior. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: The $112 Billion Annual Taxpayer Cost for Family Fragmentation Townhall.com, By Thor Tolo, April 17, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Study: Cost of divorce to taxpayers high The Washington Times, By Cheryl Wetzstein, April 15, 2008
The breakdown of marriage in America costs at least $112 billion a year, owing to costs of health care, criminal justice, welfare programs and lost income-tax revenue, according to a study released today. . .

RELATED STUDY: The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and for All Fifty States AmericanValues.org, By Benjamin Scafidi, Principal Investigator, April 15, 2008

The Divorce Generation Grows Up: These are their stories-in their words.

The Divorce Generation Grows Up:
Grant High School's class of '82 were raised on 'The Brady Bunch'-while their own families were falling apart. These are their stories-in their words. Newsweek, By David J. Jefferson, April 21, 2008 Issue
. . . It's been more than a quarter century since the Grant High class of '82 donned tuxes and taffeta and danced to Styx's "Come Sail Away" at the senior prom, and nearly four decades have passed since no-fault divorce laws began spreading across the country. In our parents' generation, marriage was still the most powerful social force. In ours, it was divorce. My 44-year-old classmates and I have watched divorce morph from something shocking, even shameful, into a routine fact of American life. But while it may be a common occurrence, divorce remains a profound experience for those who've lived through it. Researchers have churned out all sorts of depressing statistics about the impact of divorce. . . . Yet all these statistics fail to show the very personal impact of divorce on the individual, or how those effects can change over a lifetime as children of divorce start families of their own. When we were growing up, divorce loomed as the ultimate threat to innocence, but what were my peers' feelings about it now that they were adults? What I wanted to know was how divorce had affected our class president and Miss Congeniality, the stoners and the valedictorian. Did it leave them with emotional scars that never healed, or did they go on to lead "normal" lives? Did they wind up in divorce court, or did they achieve the domestic bliss their parents had sought in suburbia? I decided to open my yearbook, pick up the phone and find out. These are their stories—or at least their side of their stories, since each breakup is perceived so differently by every family member. . . . But my generation was trained in the art of having to move from relationship to relationship. It begins when the judge determines custody and the children start shuttling between parents. . . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Study: Cost of divorce to taxpayers high The Washington Times, By Cheryl Wetzstein, April 15, 2008
The breakdown of marriage in America costs at least $112 billion a year, owing to costs of health care, criminal justice, welfare programs and lost income-tax revenue, according to a study released today. . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Divorce Family.org, By Glenn T. Stanton
According to Divorce Magazine, "Statistics tell us that about half of all marriages now end in divorce."1 It's a statistic we hear regularly, but is it true? Here's how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for Health Statistics measure this question:. . .

Broadway Divorce Becomes YouTube Drama People magazine, By Stephen M. Silverman, April 16, 2008
Heather Mills, move over. An actress in the middle of a nasty breakup with her Broadway mogul husband is not only taking her case to court but to the entire audience of YouTube in what is considered a first. In her six-minute video (which as of Wednesday morning had received more than 287,000 hits), British actress and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith lashes out at husband Phil Smith, president of the Shubert Organization, the largest theater owner on Broadway – and the man who now wants her out of his life. On camera in the Park Avenue apartment from which she says she is being forcibly evicted by him, Walsh-Smith (who is 25 years her spouse's junior) reveals candid facts about the marriage and at one point gets on speaker phone and calls Smith's assistant to ask what she should do with her estranged husband's Viagra and porn collection. "This is absolutely a new step, and I think it's scary," Bonnie Rabin, a divorce lawyer who has handled high-profile cases, tells the Associated Press. "It brings the concept of humiliation to a whole new level.". . .

Broadway divorce of Philip Smith, president of the Shubert Organization, and his estranged wife Tricia Walsh Smith become a YouTube drama (Click For Related Video)

RELATED VIDEO: Tricia Walsh Smith You Tube.com

Nojud Mohammed Ali, an 8 year-old Yemen girl who got a divorce from her 28 year-old husband who beat her for sex

Forced to marry 28-year-old who beat her for sex
Yemen annuls 8-year-old girl's forced marriage Al Arabiya News Channel, April 16, 2008
A Yemeni court on Tuesday granted a divorce to an eight-year-old girl on the grounds that she had not yet reached puberty after her unemployed father forced her into an arranged marriage this year. The girl's lawyer and human rights activist Shatha Nasser said the minor had filed a suit in April asking for a divorce and told the court that her husband had been physically abusing her and forcing her to have "sex with him after hitting her". "I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school," the young Nojud Mohammed Ali said, after a public hearing in Sanaa's court of first instance. Her former husband, 28-year-old Faez Ali Thameur, said he married the child "with her consent and that of her parents" but that he did not object to her divorce petition. In response to a question from Judge Mohammed al-Qadhi, he acknowledged that the "marriage was consummated, but I did not beat her." Nojud was a second grader in primary school when the marriage took place two and a half months ago. . .

RELATED ARTICLE: Yemeni child bride gets divorce BBC News- BBC Arabic.com, By Rachid Sekkai, April 16, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Scourge of child sexual abuse takes toll on girls in sub-Saharan Africa International Herald Tribune, By Sharon LaFraniere, December 1, 2006

RELATED ARTICLE: Health Consequences of Child Marriage in Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, By Nawal M. Nour— Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachussetts, USA, Volume 12, Number 11–November 2006
Abstract:
Despite international agreements and national laws, marriage of girls <18 years of age is common worldwide and affects millions. Child marriage is a human rights violation that prevents girls from obtaining an education, enjoying optimal health, bonding with others their own age, maturing, and ultimately choosing their own life partners. Child marriage is driven by poverty and has many effects on girls' health: increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases, cervical cancer, malaria, death during childbirth, and obstetric fistulas. Girls' offspring are at increased risk for premature birth and death as neonates, infants, or children. To stop child marriage, policies and programs must educate communities, raise awareness, engage local and religious leaders, involve parents, and empower girls through education and employment. . .

CANADA: The error that dare not speak its name National Post, By Michael Coren, April 16, 2008
What makes the national mistake of legalizing same-sex marriage unique in Canadian history is that to even discuss the issue is considered by many, particularly our elites, to be at the very least in extraordinarily bad taste. Although this is a valid and vital debate about social policy, anyone critiquing the status quo is likely to be marginalized as hateful, extreme or simply mad. Social conservatives aren't just wrong, they're evil. The discussion, we are told, is over. Which is what triumphalist bullies have said for centuries after they win a battle. In this case, the intention is to marginalize anyone who dares to still speak out. In other words, to silence them. It's important to emphasize that this is not really about homosexuality at all, and has nothing to do with homosexual people living together. Opponents of same-sex marriage may have ethical and religious objections to homosexuality, but they are irrelevant to the central argument. Which is not about the rights of a sexual minority but the status and meaning of marriage. Indeed, the deconstruction of marriage began not with the gay community asking for the right to marry but with the heterosexual world rejecting it. The term "common-law marriage" said it all. Marriage is many things, but it is never common. Yet with this semantic and legal revolution, desire and convenience replaced commitment and dedication. The qualifications, so to speak, were lowered. And one does indeed have to qualify for marriage; just as one has, for example, to qualify for a pension or a military medal. People who have not reached the age of retirement don't qualify for a pension, people who don't serve in the Armed Forces don't qualify for a military medal. It's not a question of equality but requirement. A human right is intrinsic, a social institution is not. . . .

Canada Same-Sex Marriage: The error that dare not speak its name

RELATED ARTICLE: Some gay couples are having trouble obtaining divorces Washington Post- AP, By Ray Henry, April 15, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: An Overview of the Same-Sex Marriage Debate Pew Research Center, By David Masci, Senior Research Fellow, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, April 10, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: The "Gay Gene" Controlling The Media The Real Proposal magazine, April 1, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Responding to Homosexuality & Gay Marriage: “Love the Sinner. Hate the Sin”   The Real Proposal magazine, March 21, 2008

RELATED ARTICLE: Comparing the Lifestyles of Homosexual Couples to Married Couples Family Research Council, By Timothy J. Dailey, Ph. D. (Posted March 2008)

RELATED ARTICLE:   APOLOGY MANIA: Canadians apologize for all 'gay' marriages
'Our warning is to avoid repeating our mistakes'    WorldNetDaily

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