Families gather around TV to do their own thing

Carolyn Moynihan
Electronic media, once a force for togetherness as whole families gathered around the radio or television, are now pulling families apart, according to a report from the UK’s communication’s regulator, Ofcom.

James Thickett, Ofcom’s director of market research, said: “What we find is that there has been a trend for people to converge on the living room, to watch the 37in high-definition television, but when they get there they start to do something else like surf the internet as well.”

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/families_gather_around_tv_to_do_their_own_thing/

Obama's Science Czar: Traditional family is obsolete, punish large families

By: David Freddoso
President Obama's Science Czar, John Holdren, took a controversial and amoral approach to the science of population by recommending mass compulsory sterilization and even forced abortion (and/or forced marriages) under certain circumstances. His 1977 tome, Ecoscience, which he co-authored with Paul and Anne Ehrlich, also displays a revealing disregard for the institution of the traditional human family.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/More-Holdren-Traditional-family-is-obsolete-50807107.html

Equal Parenting

Finding an equitable arrangement in divorce is important. Better still are parents who can stay together
By Stefan Paszlack, Researcher, Institute of Marriage and Family Canada

Last summer National Post columnist Barbara Kay asked this question: “When can divorced Canadian fathers – and their children – expect justice, so long demanded, so long promised and so long deferred?” [1] She’s not the only one. Equal parenting has been getting more and more attention, in particular when Dr. Edward Kruk released Child Custody, Access and Parental Responsibility: The search for a just and equitable standard in December 2008. Then on June 16, 2009, Maurice Vellacott , Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin introduced Bill C-422. [2] It’s an equal parenting bill, which seeks to amend portions of the Divorce Act to change the legal presumption of sole custody in divorce disputes to one of joint custody.

http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/eReview_July1_2009.pdf

The Divorce Will Be Televised

by Maggie Gallagher

America's most televised parents of multiples made it official: They are splitting up. Kate minus Jon makes nine.Yes, the children will suffer. But no doubt it will be good for ratings. Well, there are worse tragedies than divorce, bigger problems in the world than the things that led Jon and Kate to break up their own family, as the headlines remind us. Even as Kate and Jon called it quits, a young Iranian woman named Neda captured the fickle attention of the world for her simple and defiant act of courage. Some things are worth dying for.

http://townhall.com/Columnists/MaggieGallagher/2009/06/24/the_divorce_will_be_televised?page=full&comments=true

More Than 10 Million Tune In for the Breakup of a Marriage

Lisa de Moraes

When "Jon & Kate Plus 8" announced Monday that Jon & Kate were splitting, it became cable's No. 1 unscripted series telecast. Ever.

[Note: Dr. Morse just made comments via podcast on this news and it will be going live soon.]

Here's a look at that historic development and last week's ratings ups and downs: WINNERS"Jon & Kate Plus 8." About 10.6 million of you tuned in to TLC on Monday night to watch Jon and Kate Gosselin announce they are splitting. Besides its No. 1 status among unscripted telecasts, it's also the second most watched cable series episode of any kind, ever -- behind only a "Hannah Montana" episode that immediately followed the premiere of "High School Musical 2" back in '07. I think it's safe to say those eight adorable children are going to continue leading their lives under the constant watch of TV cameras and paparazzi into their teens.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/23/AR2009062303419.html

Fighting parents drive teens to drink

Carolyn Moynihan

The research is clear: adolescents tend to fare better -- academicallyand behaviourally -- when they live with both biological parents. And that’s a couple of scientists talking. But there is an exception: when their parents frequently argue, young adults are much more likely to binge on alcohol; they also tend to smoke, and their poor school grades are similar to those of peers who don’t have their own mum and dad at home.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/fighting_parents_drive_teens_to_drink/

Private Choices, Public Costs: How failing families cost us all

http://www.imfcanada.org/article_files/Cost%20of%20Family%20Breakdown%20finalHR.pdf

This report measures the cost of family breakdown to the public purse in Canada for the fiscal year 2005-2006. It estimates the funding directed at poverty alleviation due to family breakdown. The results show the cost of serving broken families is almost $7 billion annually. If we were able to cut family breakdown in half, we would save $1.78 billion annually. $1.78 billion is not half of $7 billion because we assume that if 50 percent fewer families were broken, about 50 percent of those would still remain in poverty. These are very conservative estimates, based upon very realistic measuresof what could result if family stability were to improve.

Dr. J quoted in Washington Times

WETZSTEIN: Until death, or our term, do us part

Marriage has many peripheral issues, but its "essential and central purpose" is to provide a stable framework for a man and woman to attach themselves to each other and to the children they bear and raise, said Jennifer Roback Morse, who leads the Ruth Institute, an organization that promotes the traditional family structure.

A short-term renewable marriage contract "is a terrible idea" for children, said Mrs. Morse, who is an academic and author. "Let's say we bust up the partnership at the end of seven years. What happens to the little joint asset that you guys created?"


http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/05/until-death-or-term-do-us-part/

Ga. Supreme Court Sponsors ‘Get Married, Stay Married’ Billboards

Note: Leah Sears has been going to conferences sponsored by the Institute for American Values, a group that share many values with the Ruth Institute.

http://abajournal.com/news/ga._supreme_court_sponsors_get_married_stay_married_billboards

By Debra Cassens Weiss

A Georgia Supreme Court commission is so concerned about the impact of broken families that it is sponsoring a dozen billboards throughout the state with the message “Get Married, Stay Married.”

Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears told the Fulton County Daily Report that she hopes the billboards will help bring down divorce and crime rates, and push fathers to stay involved in their children’s lives.

"It's our job to say to the legislature, and to the executive, 'We see and notice this,' " she told the publication. “We do more than just read cases. We see a lot of human devastation. It's my job to speak out."

Sears is promoting intact families despite her own divorce after 20 years of marriage, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “It’s politically incorrect to say marriage has benefits,” she said. “Let’s not be afraid to say marriage is a good thing.”

The Georgia Supreme Court’s Commission on Children, Marriage and Family Law sponsored the billboards and convened a pro-marriage conference last week. Participants talked about topics ranging from the role of spirituality in supporting marriage to whether gay marriage promotes family stability. Sears moderated the gay marriage debate, but didn’t take a position. She told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the issue needs to be addressed by legislation.

The Georgia Bar Foundation paid the $50,000 cost to produce the billboards, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia donated the space, Sears said. Private foundations also picked up much of the cost of the marriage summit.

The billboards picture a happy looking family or a contented baby and carry an additional message, according to the story in the Fulton County Daily Report. The blurb on some billboards reads, "Children do better with parents together." The other message simply says, "For Children's Sake."

The billboards also list a website, www.getmarriedstaymarried.org.

Youth Violence and Family Breakdown

The Institute of Marriage and Family Canada is trying to get their fellow Canadians to take the data on family breakdown seriously.

Read about it here. (You may need to hit "Run Program."