Marriage rates in England plunge to lowest rate since records began.

The number of Britons tying the knot has collapsed to a record low, it has emerged.

The proportion of men and women getting married is below any level found since figures were first kept nearly 150 years ago.

And the number of weddings held in 2006 was the smallest since 1895, when the population was little more than half its present level.

The evidence that marriage is withering away at an increasing pace was met with a furious response from critics of Labour's benefits system, which disregards the status of husbands and wives and pays parents extra to stay single.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis claimed the Government had "fuelled family breakdown" and researcher Patricia Morgan, who coined the phrase "marriage lite" to describe cohabitation, said Labour had succeeded in "eradicating" marriage.

"This is what they have tried to achieve and they should be congratulating themselves," she added.

"But it is a disaster for children, families and society."

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics, said that in 2006, fewer than ten in every 1,000 single adults in England and Wales were married.

Among men the rate was 22.8 in every 1,000, among women 20.5. When marriage-rates were first calculated in 1862 the level was 58.7 for men and 50 for women.

Full story here.

What Are Obama's Real Views Regarding Israel?

A well known anti-Israel activist, who claims to know Barack Obama fairly well, says that Obama is masking his real views regarding Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The article sounds fairly plausible to me, especially since it's based on the word of someone who normally would not be opposed to Barack Obama. This is an issue that may well come up in the general election if Obama and McCain face off. So it'll be interesting to see how the media treats this story, and this issue...

(IsraelNN.com) Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is currently hiding his anti-Israel views in order to get elected, according to a well-known anti-Israel activist. The activist, Ali Abunimah, claimed to know Obama well and to have met him on numerous occasions at pro-Palestinian events in Chicago.

In an article he penned for the anti-Israeli website Electronic Intifada, Abunimah wrote:

"The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing.

"As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, 'Hey, I’m sorry I haven’t said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race.

I’m hoping when things calm down I can be more up front.' He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy [and said:] 'Keep up the good work!'"

Barack, Michelle, Edward and Mariam
Abunimah's report included a photo of Obama with his wife Michelle seated at a table with virulently anti-Israeli Professor Edward Said and his wife Mariam, in what Abunimah said was a May 1998 Arab community event in Chicago at which Said gave the keynote speech.
[see photo above]

full article here.

Damage Control

Obama responds to the furor over his former Pastor of 16 years' disgusting and inflammatory comments.

Obama, We Have a Problem

The racist, ultra-left wing, anti-American rantings of Dr. Jeremiah Wright , who's been Obama's pastor since 1992, is becoming a real problem for him.

He may still be able to win the Democratic presidential nomination, and it seems likely he will. But his association with this Rev. Wright might still cost him this election season. McCain might not want to play hardball on this issue, but the blogosphere, talk radio, conservative 527 groups and others will get the word out. Obama will try to distance himself from the man -- actually he's been doing it already. But I'm not sure how much it will help, though.

The Wall Street Journal has a good article on this issue, called "Obama and The Minister". An interesting tidbit from the article:

Mr. Wright thundered on: "America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God."

His voice rising, Mr. Wright said, "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic. . . . We care nothing about human life if the end justifies the means. . . ."

Concluding, Mr. Wright said: "We started the AIDS virus . . . We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty. . . ."

Considering this view of America, it's not surprising that in December Mr. Wright's church gave an award to Louis Farrakhan for lifetime achievement. In the church magazine, Trumpet, Mr. Wright spoke glowingly of the Nation of Islam leader. "His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening," Mr. Wright said of Mr. Farrakhan. "He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest."

Fall from Grace.

Of course, the big story today has been the fact that New York governor Elliot Spitzer has been exposed as being a client of a prostitution ring. My first thought was, how foolish that someone with so much to gain (and also so much to lose) would throw it all away. Then I felt bad for his wife and kids. It would be hard enough for them to deal with this if Spitzer was a private citizen; but the fact that this story is making national headlines must make it all that much harder for them to deal with it.

In reading various news articles on this topic, I did find this interesting tidbit from abcnews.com:

"In a interview two years ago, Spitzer, then-attorney general, told ABC News he had some advice for people who break the law. "Never talk when you can nod, and never nod when you can wink, and never write an e-mail because it's death. You're giving prosecutors all the evidence we need," he said."

Its ironic that apparently he didn't heed his own advice. Still, this is no time for anyone to gloat. The bible says we should pray for our leaders. Spitzer definitlely needs the prayers right now. Lets hope the people of New York and around the country remember him in their prayers tonight.

The Dream Ticket?

An interesting new development here...
Hillary Clinton is indicating some kind of "dream ticket" between herself and Obama. If that happens, I don't think McCain & the Republicans stand a chance in November.

I think McCain cold beat Hillary with "someone else" on the ticket... because she has a lot of negatives. And McCain could beat Obama with "someone else" on the ticket... because he is relatively inexperienced, especially on foreign policy & security issues.

But if you have a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. their negatives wont matter that much. Their positives would overcome anything McCain could bring to the table. I think they'd have a lock on the enough of the women, blacks, Hispanics, and white liberal voting blocs that they'd be practically shoo-in. It seemed there was enough bad blood between them that either of them who won the nomination would not choose the other as running mate. But now, they might simply decide to bury the hatchet , form a "dream ticket" and make sure the Democrats win. I'm sure this is the last thing the Republicans wanted.

At this point, Obama has the lead in delegates. It is almost mathematically impossible for Clinton to overtake him in delegates. So the nomination will be decided by the "superdelegates" at the upcoming Democratic convention. Even if Obama goes into the convention with the lead, it doesn't guarantee that he'll be given the nomination. A lot of this has to do with momentum. By Hillary Clinton winning Texas and Ohio last night, she has regained the political momentum. She's also expected to win Pennsylvania and New York, two other big states coming up. Voters are beginning to rethink Obama as being experienced enough to have the keys to the white house; buyers remorse is beginning to set in. Most of the superdelegates are still uncommitted, and if Clinton wins enough states going into the convention, she'll have all the momentum. We could easily see a scenario where the superdelegates then tip over to Clinton's side, especially if they're convinces she'll make Obama her VP running mate anyway.

Interestingly, even Fidel Castro seems to think it makes sense.