Picture/ Jobs/ Hispanic / Anger / Tax Breaks/ Looking for Instructors in TX / Joke - 8/26/08

Tue Aug 26 14:58:38 EDT 2008

- WHEN A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
- JOB NOTICES
- HISPANIC MARRIAGE DAY CELEBRATIONS
- HOW MISUNDERSTANDING ANGER CAN HARM MARRIAGE
- IF WE COULD BE MORE LIKE THE EUROPEANS
- THIS SO RINGS MY BELL
- MARRIAGE JOKE 

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- WHEN A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
We've got a new winner of the best book cover award - the Russian cover of
How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It by Pat Love and Steven
Stosny. Click to see what I mean: /uploaded/Without.Talking.About.It.jpg

Order Without Talking About It (hardcover or paperback from $11.20) and also
check out the Marriage and Caste in America by Kay Hymowitz cover (this book
held the "best cover" prize for years) at:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/app/Media.Booklist

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- JOB NOTICES
If you have marriage education positions to fill, send me job notices to
post at: http://www.smartmarriages.com/jobs.html

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- HISPANIC MARRIAGE DAY CELEBRATIONS

1) Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday Oct 12 - cosponsored by Dasi-Ziyad Family 
Institute, Hispanic UMADAOP (Urban Minority Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Outreach Program), Cuyahoga County's Strong Start Program, and the Spanish
American Committee  - celebration will include: a keynote address by Luis &
Edith  Vazquez, entertainment from the Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance Group
(a youth  group), and an Hispanic father/son guitar duet, a delicious
feast, induction of 5 couples into the Cleveland Marriage Hall of Fame
and many other Hispanic couples re-affirming their marriage vows. - contact:
Krsnanandinidevidasi Dasi
dzfamilyinstitute at yahoo.com
http://www.dzfi.org

2) Marriage Resource Center, Wayne County, Michigan - contact:
Steven Hernandez
community at mimarriage.org
313 278 4400 
http://www.mimarriage.org

Send your celebrations and I'll list them. Check out the Hispanic Marriage
website for info: http://www.nationalhispanicmarriageday.com/

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- HOW MISUNDERSTANDING ANGER CAN HARM MARRIAGE

Diane,
Readers of the Smart Marriages list might be interested in an article I have
written for marriage educators and therapists entitled "How Misunderstanding
Anger Can Harm Your Marriage" available on the middle column of the main
page at http://www.nire.org.
Rob Scuka
Executive Director 
National Institute of Relationship Enhancement

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- IF WE COULD BE MORE LIKE THE EUROPEANS

Marriage benefit
The Telegraph (UK) 
August 23, 2008

[> The statistics are clear: children with married parents perform better in
> school, are happier and less likely to commit crime. Yet Britain is almost
> alone in Europe in not recognising marriage in the tax system.
And, it's not just the tax break - it's the message. - diane]

NEW TAX BREAKS FOR MARRIED COUPLES will be "an early priority" for a
Conservative government, George Osborne reveals in our interview with him
today.

The Shadow Chancellor should be congratulated on this announcement, which
bears the personal stamp of David Cameron. But let us not forget that these
tax breaks were put back on the Tory agenda by Iain Duncan Smith in his 2007
report on social breakdown commissioned by the party.

That report proposed a transferable married couples tax allowance, worth
about £20 a week - a sum that, despite inflation, now seems more substantial
than it did in the sunnier economic climate of a year ago. Add it up and,
over the course of a year, you have the cost of a family holiday.

This sort of modest tax cut would have little effect on the economy. But
that is not the point. The purpose of a benefit for married couples is,
simply, to strengthen the institution of marriage.

The statistics are clear: children with married parents perform better in
school, are happier and less likely to commit crime. Yet Britain is almost
alone in Europe in not recognising marriage in the tax system.

Now, at last, the Conservatives are preparing to break the taboos against
boosting marriage and against tax cuts. But there are much bolder moves to
be taken in both areas.

Just as there are many ways of supporting marriage, so tax cuts can achieve
many things - including the revival of the British economy.

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- THIS SO RINGS MY BELL

Can't help but feel optimistic reading this - they're beating the bushes
searching for marriage educators.  - diane

Teachers sought for state¹s new healthy marriage initiative
Daily Progress, Jacksonville, Texas
August 20, 2008
By Kelly Young

The healthy marriage initiative known as Twogether in Texas begins Monday,
Sept. 1, and program organizers need area preachers and counselors to help
teach the class. A representative from the Longview Wellness Center will be
holding a training session, at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 21, in the county
courthouse, for clergy, counselors and anyone else interested in assisting
with the state¹s new marriage education program.

Created by last year¹s legislature, Twogether in Texas is a skills-based
marriage education class that focuses on communication skills, conflict
resolution and the elements of a healthy marriage. The eight-hour course is
designed to benefit couples in all stages of their relationship ‹ those who
recently began dating seriously, those engaged to be married and those who
have been married for any length of time.

³Those local preachers and counselors who are interested in teaching the
class need to be here on Aug. 21, and they will be teaching us all how to do
this,² said Shannon Cornelius, deputy county clerk. ³The training will begin
at 9:30 a.m. and there¹s no set ending time, but that will probably depend
on how many people show up and how many questions they ask.²

According to Cornelius, the cost for a marriage license in the state of
Texas is increasing from $42 to $75 on Sept. 1, but couples who complete the
Twogether in Texas class will receive a substantial discount on their
license. Graduates of the marriage enrichment course will only pay $15,
instead of $75. Completion of the course will also allow a couple to waive
the state¹s 72-hour waiting period to get married.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, roughly 80,000
divorces take place in Texas each year. The class is intended to prevent
divorce by providing couples with the tools they will need in order to meet
the inherent challenges of a relationship. Research has shown that couple
who receive premarital and marriage education improve their communication
skills and increase their martial satisfaction.

Twogether in Texas will not be religious in nature, however, couples who
complete a similar faith-based course ‹ which has been approved by the
program¹s organizers ‹ will also be eligible for the $60 price reduction.

The Longview Wellness Center has been named Twogether for Texas¹ regional
intermediary for the East Texas area. The state has allotted $950,000 to
each of the 12 regional intermediaries.

Organizations interested in offering classes are encouraged to contact Debra
Riniker, program assistant for Twogether in Texas, at the Longview Wellness
Center for more information. She can be reached at 903-758-2610 ext. 203.

For more information on the Aug. 21 training session, contact County Clerk
Laverne Lusk at 903-683-2350.

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- MARRIAGE JOKE 

Diane, 
A bad marriage joke....but I laughed. - Cheryl
>
> After 20 years of marriage, a couple was lying in bed one evening, when
> the wife felt her husband begin to touch her in ways he hadn't in quite
> some time.
> It almost tickled as his fingers started at her neck, and then began
> moving down past the small of her back. He then slid his hand across her
> shoulders and neck, slowly worked it down over one breast, then the other,
> stopping just over her lower stomach.
> He then proceeded to place his hand on her left inner arm, caressed past
> the side of her breast again, working down her side, passed gently over
> and then in between her buttock and down her leg to her calf. Then, he
> proceeded up her inner thigh, stopping just at the uppermost portion of
> her leg.
> He continued in the same manner on her right side, then suddenly stopped,
> rolled over and became silent.
> As she had become quite aroused by this caressing, she asked in a loving
> voice, 'That was wonderful. Why did you stop??'
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 'I found the remote,' he said.

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13th Annual Smart Marriages® Conference, Shingle Creek Resort,
Orlando, Florida, July 6-12, 2009 (General Conference July 8-11)
Pre-Conference Training Institutes July 6-8
Post-Conference Training Institutes July 12

Shingle Creek Resort: http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/

Conference schedule, registration, & exhibit information will be posted as
it becomes available at:
http://www.smartmarriages.com/conferencedetails.html

List your program and resources on the Directory of Classes at
http://www.smartmarriages.com/directory_browse.html

Order conference audio & video CD/DVD/MP3s: 800-241-7785 or
http://www.iPlaybackSmartMarriages.com

Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education, LLC (CMFCE)
Diane Sollee, Director
5310 Belt Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015-1961
http://www.smartmarriages.com
202-362-3332

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