Free Republic

Men have evolved to choose young wives Last Updated: 12:01am BST 29/08/2007 There is a 25 year age gap between Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas Men have evolved to seek wives and girlfriends who are younger than they are to maximise their chances of reproducing, researchers have found. Couples are most likely to have a greater number of children if the man is about six years older. A team from Vienna University studied more than 11,600 Swedish men and women, aged 45-55, and their partners and found that relationships in which the man was six years older than the...

FORT DRUM, N.Y., April 30, 2007 – Being an Army wife can be difficult. Being an Army wife at the 10th Mountain Division’s Fort Drum can be even more challenging, since the 10th is one of the Army’s most deployed divisions. Carrie Murray, with her daughter Ellie, 9, and son Austin, 7. Murray's husband, a soldier with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, at Fort Drum, N.Y., has been deployed five times in their 14 years of marriage. Courtesy Photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Of the three brigades at Fort Drum, one can usually assume that two...

Jakarta - A 74-year-old Indonesian with 107 wives has reportedly been jailed for beating one of them in front of three others - because he suspected she had been unfaithful. The victim recounted the crime to police on Muslim-majority Indonesia's main island of Java, the Koran Tempo newspaper said. A local police chief was quoted as saying that the husband, Abdurahman, was guilty of torturing Tariah, his second wife. Islam permits up to four wives and polygamy is thought to be widespread in Indonesia. Only four of Abdurahman's wives were still living with him. He said he had 41 children...

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2007 – Understanding the critical role spouses play in the recovery of wounded warriors, Operation Homefront has created the Wounded Warrior Wives Project to help them navigate the challenges they may face. “While the military sees to their physical health, the key to the short- and long-term stability and full restoration of our wounded warriors lies in the support of their spouses,” Meredith Leyva, founder of Operation Homefront, said. “It is the spouses, not the wounded warriors, who are most responsible for key family issues such as financial viability and seeking assistance.” The Wounded Warrior Wives...

Wives and mothers of Cuban political prisoners urged U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan on Monday to visit the island's state-run jails during her weeklong trip to Cuba to call for the closure of the U.S.-operated Guantanamo prison. The Ladies in White, a group of women demanding the release of their loved ones, described what they called "inhumane" conditions at Cuba's prisons in a letter for Sheehan that was sent to international reporters. The group said it was trying to get a copy to Sheehan as well. "At the same time you and your noble followers fight for the closure of...

If I recall correctly, the term “crunchy con” does not refer to someone who has stolen a box of Captain Crunch. It refers to the term “crunchy conservative” and was popularized (if not invented) by Rod Dreher of National Review. For a sample discussion, check out this link. Yes, I know what you’re thinking—“First William F. Buckley comes out for legalization of drugs, and now supposed conservatives are talking of Birkenstocks! Fifth Columnists, all of them!” I wouldn’t blame you for thinking like that. I used to think that way myself. But that was before I joined the ranks of...

Army wives get phone death threats from Iraq By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 25/06/2006) Wives and family members of soldiers fighting in Iraq have received telephone calls, believed to include death threats, from insurgents, according to military documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph. The "nuisance" calls have been made with increasing frequency over the past few weeks after insurgents managed to obtain home numbers from soldiers' mobile telephones. The growing number of calls has led to an investigation by the Royal Military Police, which has issued a warning to all soldiers in Iraq to take great care when using...

Twenty-five years ago, most men in the Tampa Bay area married by age 35. But since 1980, the number of never-married men 35 to 55 has jumped sevenfold. ST. PETERSBURG - On the eve of his 50th birthday, Robert Mendenhall was trying to decide whether to spend the big day with someone new or with his ex-girlfriend. She had held his interest the longest: eight months. Mendenhall, who works in regional sales for a roofing and window company, hangs out with half a dozen never-married men in their late 40s and early 50s. They are successful at their jobs, keep...

by Jim Curley Other Articles by Jim Curley Opening Our Hearts to Ephesians 5 04/17/06 It has a reputation as a hard teaching; Ephesians, Chapter 5 — you know, that passage which many preachers dodge or avoid, (either because they can’t figure out what it means, don’t agree with St. Paul, or are afraid of backlash from the congregation). Yes, I am talking about “let women be subject to their husbands…” (Eph 5:22). We need to contemplate and embrace St. Paul’s teachings on marriage, and this is part of it. In This Article...Seeking UnderstandingOthers of SignificanceDignity and Service Seeking Understanding First,...

MUSLIM men in Australia are trawling "marriage websites" looking for second wives in what Immigration officials say is a growing illegal trade. And Muslim leaders have warned that men who take second wives from overseas face jail or deportation. A Sunday Herald Sun investigation has found Muslim men are using the internet to attract second wives with promises of financial security. Immigration officials are investigating a growing number of second marriages and say anyone found to have committed bigamy will be prosecuted. "Muslims are required to follow the law of the land and since the law of Australia prohibits a...

SELMER, Tenn. - Mary Winkler was the quiet, unassuming wife of a small-town, by-the-Bible preacher, seemingly devoted to church and family. But now her husband, Matthew, is dead and she is charged with shooting him in the back with a shotgun. Authorities won't discuss a motive, and church members say they didn't see any indication she was unhappy. But experts say preachers' wives often struggle with depression and isolation, expected to be exemplars of Christian virtue while bearing unique pressures on their private and public lives. Gayle Haggard, author of "A Life Embraced: A Hopeful Guide for the Pastor's Wife,"...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (March 30, 2006) -- When 24-year-old Emily Dieruf learned that her husband of three months, Cpl. Nich Dieruf, had been killed in an ambush in Al Anbar Provence, Iraq in April 2004, the blissful newlywed was devastated. Initially after the tragic news, Dieruf and other family members decided to establish the Cpl. Nich Dieruf Memorial Fund in an effort to keep Nich’s name alive. The fund was to provide financial assistance to Marine families living in the Dieruf’s hometown of Lexington, Ky. Through a family friend, Dieruf learned that another Kentucky based non-profit organization, USA...

The U.S. Army in Iraq has at least twice seized and jailed the wives of suspected insurgents in hopes of "leveraging" their husbands into surrender, U.S. military documents show. In one case, a secretive task force locked up the young mother of a nursing baby, a U.S. intelligence officer reported. In the case of a second detainee, one American colonel suggested to another that they catch her husband by tacking a note to the family's door telling him "to come get his wife." The issue of female detentions in Iraq has taken on a higher profile since kidnappers seized American...

Eyeing an intricate DVD player or clunky home theater speakers? Better check with your spouse first. The idea of checking with a mate before purchasing a big-ticket item may not be a new idea, but its name, spouse acceptance factor -- usually called wife acceptance factor for the greater number of men interested in electronics -- is building steam among technology gurus and electronics manufacturers. Women control 88 percent of electronics purchases, whether they make the purchase or influence what their spouse buys, according to research by the Consumer Electronics Association. Whether an item passes the wife acceptance factor, or...

Beverly Moody poses seductively on a bed, wearing an old-fashioned slip over vintage bra and panties, a vintage telephone in hand. With the cord wrapped provocatively around her legs, the 27-year-old hairdresser smiles teasingly as photographer Lori Mann snaps away at the Pink Kitty Studios in Eagle Rock, a studio that specializes in turning out pinups like those that kept G.I. morale high in World War II. Moody's photos are meant for only one person - her boyfriend, a Navy SEAL stationed in Afghanistan. "This is our wartime," she explains. "Our generation, we're the young ones who have our husbands...

[Presenter] A loving heart is not a crime. The members of the most famous family in Evenki Autonomous Area are sure of that. A married quartet has been established there instead of a married couple. The modern Siberian harem raises grounds for gossips for some and wins respect among others. Our special correspondent Ayrat Shevaliyev reports from Evenki Autonomous Area. [Correspondent] The Evenki village of Nidym is the end of the world on its own and the house of Ivan Divonis is the end of the end. The house is at the end of the village and the endless taiga...

I find it unacceptable when some people twist the meaning of a particular verse in the Holy Qur’an — especially the one which permits a husband to beat his disobedient wife. Those who do the twisting must understand that the permission is only given under certain circumstances and that the beating is intended as a remedy for specific situations. It is unfortunate that some well-known and respected Muslim scholars have either willingly or unwillingly joined a campaign seeking to distort the meaning of that particular verse. In many cases, they have given a different meaning from the one actually intended...

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2005 – A group based here at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here has stepped forward to help families of wounded servicemembers with expenses to stay in the area while their loved ones recover in this high-cost area. Out of concern for the overwhelming number of family members of war-wounded servicemembers showing up at the hospital's doorstep needing financial assistance, the Walter Reed command asked the Walter Reed Society to help. "So on March 19, 2004, we created the Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom Family Support Fund," said retired Army Sgt. Maj. Daniel J. Bullis, the society's...

MCAS CHERRY POINT, N.C. (July 6, 2005) -- “All that she knows is that daddy is fighting the bad guys. She wants to go and fight the bad guys so daddy can come home. To hear a four-year old say that is enough to break your heart.” Carley’s daughter, Isabela, has been without her father, Staff Sgt. Robert Jacobson, since he deployed to Iraq with Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 4 approximately six months ago. And, six days before he left, his wife bore his firstborn son, Xander. The Jacobsons’ occupy a rare place in American society, but within the...

Spanish men will have to learn to change nappies and don washing-up gloves under the terms of a new law designed to strike a blow at centuries of Latin machismo. The law, due to be passed this month, is likely to provoke a revolution in family affairs in a country where 40% of men reportedly do no housework at all. It will oblige men to "share domestic responsibilities and the care and attention" of children and elderly family members, according to the draft approved by the Spanish parliament's justice commission. This will become part of the marriage contract at civil...