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The St. Louis Post Dispatch has been keeping tabs on Rep. Lacy Clay's (D-Mo.) impending divorce. Sadly, it was news - literally - to Clay's wife, Ivie. Yesterday the St. Louis Dispatch reported that the congressman had his divorced filings sealed. (This after a reporter asked to see the file.) And today, Ivie Clay released a stinging statement regarding her husband, whom she married in 1992 when he was a state senator. Turns out, Ivie and her children found out about the divorce only through the media. She released the following statement: “I and my children are devastated and embarrassed...

FORT LAUDERDALE — On a typical Saturday, Elite Cake Creations delivers 18 wedding cakes from Miami to Palm Beach. But it recently added a novelty to its traditional line: divorce cakes. No milestone should go unnoticed — even divorces, said Beatriz Otero, who co-owns the Pembroke Pines, bakery with her brother, Jorge Garcia. Divorce cakes look and taste like wedding cakes, but the cake-top depicts scenes of domestic discord, not bliss. A heart-shaped cake broken in pieces features a groom standing on one piece, the bride on another. A cake made to look like the blackened walls of a prison...

ROME — Less than a week after writing an open letter that criticized her husband for cavorting with much younger women, the second wife of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says she wants to file for divorce, Italian newspapers reported Sunday. “I’d like to close the curtain on our married life,” Veronica Lario, 52, said in an interview with La Repubblica that was published Sunday. A secretary for Ms. Lario confirmed the report.

I’m seeing a rash of marital problems among my friends and colleagues outside of the church lately and I am moved to speak again on marriage and family values. These are all first hand stories of spouses who have done terrible things to destroy their marriages – marriages that involved children. Children being hurt cuts me deeper than just about anything. It bothers me so bad that I have to shut out the details of these stories and even cut my communication with the parties involved in the divorces back. When the nightly news comes on, which always leads with...

THREE cheers for feminism. With a desperate lack of anything worthwhile to aim their gunsights at, they turn on self-made billionaire Mel Gibson to support his estranged wife Robyn's demands for half his $US1 billion fortune. The problem with absurd demands like this, underwritten by feminist approval, is that the girls always want it both ways. For many years Robyn was prepared to remain at home as a loving wife. Retired as a dental nurse, supported by her husband. Now, after the marriage has soured, Gibson has to pay for the life she apparently "gave up" to run their home,...

Mel Gibson may soon be writing one of the biggest checks of his life — to his wife. With no indication that the estranged couple — who married 28 years ago — had a prenup, Robyn Gibson, 53, is legally entitled in their divorce to half of everything the actor-director-producer earned from their marriage in 1980 to the date of their legal separation: A fortune estimated at close to $1 billion.

Though numbskull congressional spendthrifts are throwing our money at every misfortune these days, divorce is one calamity that’s losing out. “Two can live cheaper than one” seems to be an upbeat offshoot of the present recession. Divorce is just too darn expensive. “In these tough times many people are finding it's cheaper to stay together, even when they can't stand each other,” writes Marty Orgel for MarketWatch. “Circuit courts across the country report downturns in the number of divorce and separation filings.” With a tip of the oven mitt to home-making maven, Martha Stewart, “That is a very good thing.”

“Let’s go boatin’!” is the call that echoes off the walls of the Grand Canyon during my guided tours. It gets people moving and ready to head down river. In my years as a guide, I’ve had the privilege of taking thousands of people through the Grand Canyon, through what I now believe to be one of God’s true, created wonders. My love for the Grand Canyon started in 1980 when I went on my first river trip. The following year, I started working as a part-time guide, and in 1983, I left my corporate life to work in the...

LOS ANGELES – Court records show Mel Gibson's wife has filed for divorce after 28 years of marriage. Robyn Gibson filed the petition in Los Angeles, citing irreconcilable differences. The petition doesn't give any details about the split. Robyn Gibson is seeking jewelry and some other property, and has suggested joint custody for their 9-year-old son. The records show the couple were married in June 1980. They issued a joint statement Monday, saying they have "always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so."

Divorce papers filed in a New Jersey court claim rock and roll star Bruce Springsteen was having a long affair with another man's wife, says a report. Arthur Kelly alleges in papers filed in Monmouth County on March 27 that his wife, Ann, “committed adultery with one Bruce Springsteen, who resides in Rumson, N.J., and Colts Neck, N.J., at various times and places too numerous to mention," reports Star Magazine.

Shariah court approves SMS divorce JEDDAH: A Shariah court here has approved the divorce of a young Saudi woman in her 20s whose husband sent her an SMS text from Iraq saying he had divorced her.The husband, who is in Iraq to participate in what he described as “jihad,” also telephoned two of his friends who witnessed his marriage and told them that he had divorced his wife.The woman had approached the court and asked for an official document proving she was divorced.A judge summoned the two witnesses who confirmed that their friend called them from Iraq and told...

How's your marriage? No, seriously, because if you're not feeling the love, a man from Pampa wants to help you. More specifically, he wants the government to help you. The man is state Rep. Warren Chisum, R-Pampa, the government is the state of Texas, and the "help" is a particularly officious brand of interference in your private affairs. He had introduced legislation mandating that if you have kids and you want a divorce, you won't get it until you sit through 10 probably fruitless and possibly embarrassing hours of state-approved marriage counseling. Disclaimer: I'm not an anti-government crank. And I'm...

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s nominee for secretary of the Navy was involved in a divorce that drew national attention for his secret taping of a conversation between his wife and his family priest that he used against her in court proceedings. The nominee, Ray Mabus, is a former governor of Mississippi and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and he served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Mr. Mabus, a Democrat, was a strong supporter of Mr. Obama in the campaign last year. In 1998, as Mr. Mabus and his wife, Julie (now Julie Hines), sought to work out...

CEO's wife says $43 million isn't enough in divorce Associated Press Former United Technologies Corp. chief executive George David and his wife are doing battle in Hartford, Conn., in a divorce trial that shines light on the couple's extravagant lifestyle.

LONDON: Breaking up is hard to do. But lawyers, counselors, astrologists and lifestyle coaches at Britain's first divorce fair this weekend will aim to make the process easier. The fair, cheerily named the "Starting Over Show", takes place Sunday at a cozy hotel in the seaside resort town of Brighton. There will be live music, book signings and play areas for kids. Organizer Suzy Miller said the event would aim to focus on the positive, starting with a warming cup of tea and a chunk of homemade cake. "There are wedding fairs everywhere telling you how to tie the knot,...

Bai Macfarlane, the director of Mary's Advocates says, "When Catholics force no-fault divorce on their families, our American Catholic leadership remains silent bystanders. Pastors promote annulment and even divorce. We are asking the Holy See if we have the right to have canon law protections applied to our families by our local bishops and tribunals." .... ...Sheryl Temaat, who has been repeatedly publish by Homiletic and Pastoral Review says, "Petitioning the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts for assistance in helping American Catholic families overcome the plague of divorce is long overdue. Practically every day we read how children are abused...

Raleigh, N.C. — A judge in Wake County said three Raleigh children need switch from home school to public school. Judge Ned Mangum is presiding over divorce proceeding of the children's parents, Thomas and Venessa Mills. Venessa Mills was in the fourth year of home schooling her children who are 10, 11 and 12 years old. They have tested two years above their grade levels, she said. Her lessons also have a religious slant, which the judge said was the root of the problem.

LAS VEGAS – Billionaire Las Vegas casino magnate Steve Wynn and wife Elaine are again headed for divorce, a court official said Tuesday. Clark County District Court spokesman Michael Sommermeyer told The Associated Press on Tuesday that divorce papers were filed March 5 and sealed by a judge the same day. The sealing means no other details of the case are public. A spokeswoman for Wynn Resorts Ltd. told the AP that the company does not comment on the Wynns' personal matters. Steve Wynn is chief executive of the Las Vegas-based casino company, which reported $210.2 million in net income...

A North Carolina judge has ordered three children to attend public schools this fall because the homeschooling their mother has provided over the last four years needs to be "challenged." The children, however, have tested above their grade levels – by as much as two years. The decision is raising eyebrows among homeschooling families, and one friend of the mother has launched a website to publicize the issue. The ruling was made by Judge Ned Mangum of Wake County, who was handling a divorce proceeding for Thomas and Venessa Mills.

A group of Catholics whose marriages ended in divorce is asking the Vatican to clarify to bishops in the U.S. their appropriate pastoral response to no-fault divorce cases. A group of Catholics whose marriages ended in divorce is asking the Vatican to clarify to bishops in the U.S. their appropriate pastoral response to no-fault divorce cases. by Spero News Tuesday, March 10, 2009 A group of lay Catholics who have had their families split by no-fault divorce asked the Vatican to urge the American bishops to come to their defense. Five testimonies were sent by Mary's Advocates, a marriage advocacy group...

Hulk Hogan asks court for $300,000 Hulk_hogan Hulk Hogan needs money. Most of what the wrestler has is tied up in frozen bank accounts until his divorce is resolved. On Feb. 28, he had back surgery, so he won't be able to bring in any new money for a while. And the little bit of money he is allowed to spend is quickly disappearing. Hulk has just $410,985.84 in his bank account, and his bills are $312,686.35, according to a motion he filed in court Monday. Without an infusion of $300,000 from his frozen bank accounts, he won't be able...

If the West’s wholesale lack of understanding of fundamentalist Islam or its acquiescence to the pressures of political correctness affixed to the acceptance of Islamic culture was presented as a court case. The alleged beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan by her husband could effectively serve as “Exhibit 1.” Last Thursday, Aasiya Hassan was murdered and then beheaded.

A wife has spoken of her humiliation after she became the first woman to be "divorced" on Facebook. It simply said: "Neil Brady has ended his marriage to Emma Brady."

The website of a New York TV network whose aim is to improve American perceptions of Islam was shut down this morning, two days after its founder admitted to the beheading of his wife. And while that irony might bring a momentary smile, another attempt to conceal the facts behind an honor killing right here in America should stir nothing short of outrage. Muzzammil Hassan, CEO of Bridges TV, whose motto is "connecting people through understanding," apparently didn't think Thursday's honor killing -- and make no mistake about what this was -- at the station might somehow blur that message....

Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV Muzzammil “Mo” HASSAN, the founder and chief executive officer of Bridges TV, a Buffalo, NY based Islamic television Network he helped pioneer in 2004 amid hopes that it would help portray Muslims in a more positive light, reportedly admitted to police that he beheaded his wife at the television station yesterday afternoon.The victim was identified as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37, who just last month, filed for and received an order of protection against her husband. According to police, HASSAN walked into the Orchard Park police station shortly after...

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband -- an influential member of the local Muslim community -- reported her death to police Thursday. Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder. "He came to the police station at 6:20 p.m. [Thursday] and told us that she was dead," Orchard Park Police Chief Andrew Benz said late this morning. Muzzammil Hassan told police that his wife was at his business, Bridges TV, on Thorn Avenue in the village. Officers...

A popular Detroit radio station has held a unique Valentine’s Day contest: a free divorce to the most deserving dysfunctional couple. On at least one previous occasion the local Detroit news media publicized an objectionable radio stunt that was subsequently stopped due to public outrage. In this case, however, the news media is AWOL. Every year the media covers the Hallmark holiday we call Valentine’s Day with shallow, mushy stories about marriage proposals, make-your-own-valentine treats and the area’s most romantic restaurants. But this year, when 95.5 WKQI, a highly rated station in the market, had a very different, more cynical...

BOSTON – A lesbian couple who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts has filed for divorce. Julie and Hillary Goodridge were among seven gay couples who filed a lawsuit that led to a court ruling making Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriages in 2004. The couple became the public face of the debate in the state and married the first day same-sex marriages became legal.

Divorced father seeks equal protection Custody challenge cites discriminatory decisions Posted: January 28, 2009 10:09 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily A case is developing in a Tennessee divorce dispute that one attorney believes could impact custody decisions nationwide because it calls down the authority of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause to help fathers who are good parents and want to remain involved in their children's lives. The attorney, Stanley Charles Thorne, told WND the issue in the case at hand will be significant, since there are 3,000 divorce or custody cases in courts across the U.S....

Maryland Residents - Please contact your state representatives and urge them to support the Shared Parenting Bill now being debated in the Judiciary Committee. Maryland is only one of 13 remaining states NOT to support the right of father's to have shared custody of children in divorce. Many fathers such as myself have had their children stolen from them by the courts as a result of a contentious divorce. I was personally denied all access to my 4-month old son by a judge in Montgomery County for nearly 16 months and am still only permitted to see him one hour...

Long Island doctor Richard Batista to estranged wife: Give me my kidney back or $1.5M By LARRY McSHANE and DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Updated Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 5:36 PM Warga/News Dr. Richard Batista donated his kidney to his wife, Dawnell, in 2001. A Long Island surgeon who donated a kidney to his wife wants it back - or $1.5 million in cash - because she cheated on him. Dr. Richard Batista said Wednesday he felt nothing but joy when he gave his wife, Dawnell, the lifesaving organ transplant in 2001. "Theres no value you can put on...

Few family law cases are as heartbreaking as those involving Parental Alienation, where one parent has turned his or her children against the other parent, destroying the loving bonds the children and the target parent once enjoyed. Many of my readers have experienced it in various forms and to varying degrees. Feminist groups, including the National Organization for Women, contend that Parental Alienation is a myth and a ruse used by abusive fathers to win control of their children in custody cases. To pick one example of many, Helen Grieco, until recently the Executive Director of California NOW, calls Parental...

The No Blame Game by Stephen Baskerville    1/03/09     America is in revolt over marriage. Some 30 states have now passed amendments to protect the definition of marriage, and more will follow. Same-sex marriage has also shaken the decades-long loyalty of African-Americans to the Democratic Party. Only a short time ago, few would have predicted such a public uprising in defense of marriage and the family.   And this may be only the beginning. Bill Cosby's celebrated 2004 remarks on family morality -- and the largely positive response -- has placed a once-taboo subject at the top of...

Ed Hale of Plains Radio has secured a copy of the Dunham/Obama divorce decree as promised. He has registered this at the courthouse and has turned the document over to lawyers who are reported to be happy and enthused over the contents. This is the first page. This is all that can be divulged at this time as those who have seen the decree are sworn to silence. You may hear information about it tonight on Ed's plainsradio show.

A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty. The divorce plea was filed in August by the girl's divorced mother with a court at Unayzah, 135 miles north of Riyadh just after the marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.

Domestic dispute ends in a deadly shooting Conroe police say altercation arose when father tried to take children Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Dec. 20, 2008, 9:26PM Share Print Email Del.icio.usDiggTechnoratiYahoo! BuzzA woman's 80-year-old grandfather fatally shot her estranged husband after he tried to take their two children from the grandparents' house, Conroe police said Saturday. Brice Wade Boudreaux, 32, died Friday evening at the home on Silver Creek Drive in Conroe, police said in a statement. The investigation was ongoing Saturday, and it was not immediately clear whether the grandfather would face charges. He was questioned by police and released....

After a recent landmark millionaire divorce case judgment, couples in UK would soon be making "post-nuptial" agreements about how to divide their wealth instead of pre-nuptial ones. Senior judges have ruled that deals drawn up during the course of a marriage can be legally binding. The Macleod case involves an adulterous wife who was trying to claim 5.6million pounds in a divorce settlement with her businessman husband. But, during the course of the judgment, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council came close to declaring that pre-nups should have the full force of the law behind them, and claimed that...

DONNY Deutsch shouldn't expect much from Santa Claus this Christmas, if St. Nick really knows who's been naughty or nice. The advertising mogul, whose CNBC show "The Big Idea" was put on hiatus last week, has allegedly been fooling around with a married woman - and they got caught. Sources say hedge-fund manager Andrew Sandler, whose father, Harvey, founded Sandler Capital Management in 1980, grew suspicious of his wife, Lisa, with whom he has two children, and hired a private detective a few weeks ago. The private eye shadowed the attractive blonde until he was able to take surveillance photos...

The economic crisis may be doing what pastors, family therapists and matrimonial counselors have long struggled to accomplish: keeping troubled marriages together. Marriage counselors and divorce lawyers nationwide say more distressed couples are putting off divorce because the cost of splitting up is prohibitive in a time of stagnant salaries, plummeting home values and rising unemployment. While the stress of economic uncertainty often worsens already shaky unions, it also can make couples more financially dependent on each other, said Pamela Smock, a researcher at the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

A couple have divorced after the husband was caught having a “virtual affair” with a female character in an online game. David Pollard and Amy Taylor met in an online chat room in 2003 and married after discovering a shared love of the internet game Second Life. In the game, players create characters known as avatars, which then interact with others in a virtual world. To his wife's horror, Mr Pollard's interaction included virtual infidelity with a female character playing the role of a prostitute. Ms Taylor said yesterday that her husband had been guilty of the “ultimate betrayal”, even...

Woman arrested for killing virtual husband in Maple Story Nico Hines A Japanese piano teacher has been arrested for the murder of her virtual husband after an abrupt but messy online divorce. The 43-year-old from Kyushu province in southern Japan faces a maximum sentence of five years in jail if she is found guilty of killing off her digital partner. She is accused of hacking into the profile of a 33-year-old office worker from Sapporo 620 miles away, whose avatar on the Maple Story computer game was married to her character until he unexpectedly demanded a divorce. The spurned make-believe...

For many people, a 'second life' can become just as real as the first one. Take the Japanese woman who killed her virtual husband after he divorced her in a game called Maple Story, and now finds herself under arrest in the real world. Maple Story is a free to play South Korean MMORPG which has been tailored for an international audience via country or region specific play portals. The 2D side-scrolling game is hugely popular, with some claiming as many as 50 million subscriber accounts around the world.

A 43-year-old Japanese woman whose sudden divorce in a virtual game world made her so angry that she killed her online husband's digital persona has been arrested on suspicion of hacking, police said Thursday.

Man Sues Marital Counselor Priest For Stealing Wife September 27, 2008 11:29 a.m. EST Amy Beeman - AHN Joliet, IL (AHN) -- An Illinois man is suing a priest for stealing his wife. Stephen Crane is suing on the grounds that he and his wife, Maureen, went to see the priest, Christopher Floss, at their church for marital counseling. According to reports, after many one-on-one sessions between the priest and Maureen in 2006, the Cranes broke up in January 2007, Floss left the priesthood, and Mrs. Crane moved in with the former priest in February. Crane is suing Floss and...

Riyadh - A Saudi court will next month hear a plea for divorce from an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man in his fifties, the Arabic-language daily Al-Watan reported. It said the girl’s mother had filed the divorce case with the court at Unayzah 220 kilometres (135 miles) north of Riyadh, and cited lawyer Abdullah Jtili as saying the father had arranged the marriage without telling the girl. "She doesn’t know yet that she has been married," added Jtili of the girl who is about to begin her fourth year at primary school. Al-Watan said relatives...

LOURDES, FRANCE–Pope Benedict said yesterday the Roman Catholic Church could not recognize "irregular unions" of Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church. "Initiatives aimed at blessing irregular unions cannot be admitted," he said in an address to French bishops in the shrine city of Lourdes. Throughout the developed world, the church has been struggling with how to administer to Catholics who have divorced and remarried without an annulment – an ecclesiastical declaration that their first union is null and void – but want to remain fully active in the church. The church does not recognize divorce. It considers the...

Given that we’re more than halfway to the century mark in Palin smears, I think it’s time to take another brief look at the left’s method of smear dissemination.

Nutcase bloggers will have to find another smear against Sarah Palin … again. Did you hear that Todd Palin’s former business partner tried to get his divorce records sealed? Conspiracy theorists immediately began speculating on line that Sarah Palin — that vixen! — must have had an affair and broken up the marriage. Why else would the partner suddenly act to seal his records? As the Smoking Gun discovered, Scott Richter wanted them sealed — to protect himself from conspiracy theorists: --------------------- So when the blogosphere discovered today (via an online court docket) that Scott Richter, a Palin associate, personally...

This woman leads a double life. Her boyfriend thinks she’s a secretary. In fact she is one of Japan’s new breed of professional seducers, hired by embittered spouses to entrap their straying partners. And she’ll stop at nothing to get the desired results.Case 1: Mr A and Kyoko 3.30pm. Mr A is outside a bank in a busy part of Ikebukuro, a faintly seedy area of Tokyo, waiting for his date. He beams as she teeters across the road on high heels. Kyoko, 20, is half his age. She has a mane of black hair, sloe eyes, a fetching smile...