I've heard of a lot of reasons why people avoid "Old McDodald's", as the famous fast food chain is known around our house -- the general unhealthiness of the food, the destruction of the rainforests, their marketing through school notices, and so on -- but the American Family Association has come up with a new one.

The AFA is calling for a boycott of the golden arches because the company is "promoting the homosexual agenda, including homosexual marriage." According to AFA founder and chairman Rev. Don Wildmon, McDonald's is "promoting a lifestyle that would utterly destroy the traditional family." He's right, of course -- now that my neighbors are allowed to get married, my wife and I are required to get a divorce and I have to shack up with a guy.

McDonald's has said in the past that it is "a company that actively demonstrates its commitment to the gay and lesbian community" -- I guess for some, that's a reason to boycott them; for me, it's a reason to support them.

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According to the rumor mill, which has been churning for a while now on this one, actress Naomi Watts is pregnant with her second child. The Aussie is allegedly four months along.

Watts is married to fellow actor Liev Schreiber, with whom she has son Alexander, who will turn one this July. Watts' best friend, Nicole Kidman, is due this year as well, just a few months before Naomi, if the rumors are true. Hey, no time like the present to get moving with making your family. Have all the kids now and then get back to your original shape and all that movie-making business, eh?

Good luck and congratulations to Naomi and Liev!

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Hey, remember Molly Ringwald? Well, she's back, and in more ways than one. The former teen star, memorable for such culture- and era-designing movies such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, is now starring in a television drama about teens. This time, however, the forty-year-old is playing mom to one of them.

And that teen happens to be pregnant. You may recall Molly is no stranger to the teen pregnancy plot. She played a pregnant teen in the movie For Keeps. Perhaps she'll be drawing from that experience for her latest project. Another project Molly has going for her is motherhood, so this role should be an easy one (as if being a mother, even playing one, was EVER easy!).

According to Molly, the key between moms and teen daughters is really communication. Her hope is to spread that message and curtail as many unplanned pregnancies as possible. The movie is titled The Secret Life of the American Teenager as is set to debut July 1st.

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When I was single, online matchmaking was pretty much unheard of. There were a few sites where you might hook up with another person (anyone remember Prodigy.com?), but chances were good that person wasn't actually single. Or employed. Or remotely attractive. Things have come a long way since then and online matchmaking is quite popular and for some, very successful. And now, online dating has taken the next, logical step: online marriage counseling.

Created by Les and Leslie Parrot, the same people who brought you eHarmony.com, eHarmony Marriage is a computerized program promising to help couples communicate better, rekindle romance, and resolve conflicts more compassionately. Leslie Parrott is a marriage a family therapist who says that this is the perfect solution for those who aren't quite ready for traditional counseling, but want to improve their relationship.

The program involves each partner answering an online questionnaire covering everything from finance to spirituality. The responses generate a report outlining the couple's strengths and weaknesses and a proposed marriage action plan. "It will reveal where you guys are really strong and where you will find the most benefit if you invest in this area," Parrott says.

As far as the investment, the program costs $150 and takes six to eight weeks to complete. Dr. Parrott admits that online therapy might not be the best choice for couples on the brink of divorce, but sees it as a cost-effective option for those needing to open up the lines of communication.

I tend to agree. Whether you get it from a book, a counselor's office, or online, learning to communicate better is pretty much the key to everything, right?

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Back in the days before Eve Ensler, the word 'vagina' was the verboten V-word. Now, it seems, there is another V-word on the horizon that people -- well, guys -- refuse to discuss, let alone think about: the vasectomy. Women have long-regarded the vasectomy as an easier, safer way toward permanent birth-control. Well, it's semi-permanent, actually, because it is a reversible procedure. Men regard it as little more than butchery. Women could get their tubes tied, the men say. Men could wear a condom, the women say. Men say that would reduce their feeling. Women say, well, tough!

But what about the vasectomy, really? Modern medicine would say it is a simpler and safer procedure than tubal ligation. It's also cheaper. There's also a new non-scalpel version on the market (my husband says don't even think of mentioning the words 'scalpel' and 'penis' in the same sentence; it turns him green). The result of unwanted pregnancy after a vasectomy is also low at 1 in 1,000.

It's also a procedure no one is really using. Why? Well, there is the obvious concern that my husband put so well. Then there are the myths that having a vasectomy reduces testosterone, etc. that still float around us like so much hot air. There's also the fear of having a needle stuck in one's weewee, which has been replaced by jet-powered anesthesia.

What about your family? Once you reached the optimal number of children (or no children!) what method of birth control did you or are you employing? Was vasectomy an option, or was it verboten?

Pic by Marshall Astor-Food Pornographer.

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Actress Tori Spelling recently debuted her new baby girl, Stella, to the media and the world. She also revealed that it only took one try for her to get pregnant. According to OK Magazine, Tori is quoted as saying she'd been on one type of birth control pill and was feeling nauseous, so went on a different pill prescribed by her doctor. She somehow missed a day in between though, and it was on that day she claims she became pregnant.

Spelling also said Stella was rather an accident--or, I guess, that they weren't trying to get pregnant. In my opinion, they weren't not trying to get pregnant, though, as we all know it only takes one shot to seal the deal and they knew that Tori wasn't protected when they had sex! Good for them--as my friend wisely said, another baby in the world is a wonderful thing. Little Stella is a beauty and I'm sure is making her parents unbelievably happy.

I can also confirm that you can, indeed, get pregnant the first shot. I wasn't trying either, nor was I not trying. And, bam, the first time we did it without protection, I became pregnant with my daughter. Seems like Tori and I are on the same track--we both have toddler sons, both got knocked up after one try, and both either have or will have a daughter in the very near future. Another thing we have in common? Well, Spelling says she might like to have a third child, just like me. Too bad i don't have an acting career paycheck to go with my life though!

Good luck, Tori--and congrats on beautiful Stella!

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Is Gwyneth Paltrow expecting again? Well, the rumor mill would have us think so. For a while now, speculation has been building that the Oscar-winner is either with child or planning to be that way a third time.

Now, it seems more likely than ever that the star, who is married to and has two children with Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, is carrying a third proverbial bun in the oven. She was recently spotted with what is being called a fuller, more curvy figure. Now, that could mean she ate a sandwich or something--we all know how the media likes to jump all over any woman who bothers to consume anything other than iceburg lettuce.

Paltrow also recently commented to Harper's Bazaar Magazine that she is willing to go through a pregnancy a third time because the result is so amazing. She also commented that her father, the late Bruce Paltrow, regretted only having two children. Paltrow is already mom to Apple, who is four is you can believe it, and Moses, two. At least these sorts of rumors aren't as bad as the other kind that always circulate about Hollywood stars--that they're having a crisis in their marriages. You'll also recall not too long ago Paltrow commented she was interested in adopting, perhaps from Brooklyn.

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Earlier this year, when an unusually high number of girls began showing up in the Gloucester High School clinic asking for pregnancy tests, school officials began to wonder what was going on. Was it a fluke? Was it the influence of movies like Juno and Knocked Up? No, it was actually something much more disturbing : a group of girls at the Massachusetts high school had made a pact that they would all get pregnant and raise their babies together. By the time school was out for the summer, seventeen of them had succeeded in getting knocked up. On purpose.

What on earth would possess a group of high school girls to do this? Former student Amanda Ireland thinks she knows. She gave birth during her freshman year at Gloucester and says the reaction from her fellow students was not what you would expect. She wasn't shunned or pitied. She says she was envied by girls who wanted what they thought she was getting from her child: love. "They're so excited to finally have someone to love them unconditionally," Ireland says. "I try to explain it's hard to feel loved when an infant is screaming to be fed at 3 a.m."

Ireland was able to complete her education at Gloucester because the school goes to great lengths to support teen mothers. There is an on-site daycare and babies at school are a common site. But after administering some 150 pregnancy tests by May, the clinic's medical director, Dr. Brian Orr, and the school nurse, Kim Daly, began to advocate prescribing contraceptives without parental consent. That idea was promptly shot down and both have since resigned in protest. "Dr. Orr and Ms. Daly have no right to decide this for our children," says Mayor Carolyn Kirk.

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Lately I have been a little concerned about what seems to me to be the mainstreaming of teen pregnancy. Maybe it's just me, but movies like Juno and television shows like The Secret Life of the American Teenager make getting pregnant in high school seem like a viable option. I know teen pregnancies happen - it happened to me. And while having a child while I was still a child myself didn't exactly ruin my life, it sure made it difficult. And being the child of an unwed teenage mother was no picnic for my daughter, either.

Perhaps NBC's new show, The Baby Borrowers, is the antidote to all that. The whole purpose of the show is fight teen pregnancies. The show gives five couples ages 18 to 20 the opportunity to find out what it is really like to be responsible for the life of another person. The couples will live together and begin the journey with a simulated pregnancy. After the empathy belly comes off, they are charged with caring for an infant. For television purposes, life is fast-forwarded and after a few sleepless days of baby care, the couple is given a toddler to care for. After that, they get a tween, a teen and finally an elderly person.

The show, which which is based on a popular British show, debuts June 25. My girl is too young for it now, but I intend to tune in to this interesting social experiment. Will you watch? If you've got teens, will they be watching?

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Has success gotten to Alec Baldwin? Is he ready to throw in the sweaty, tear-soaked towel of Hollywood and make a go of it elsewhere? Quite possibly. Recently Alec, the eldest of the famous Baldwin brothers, took stock of all that has happened to him over the course of the last several years and feels he might be ready to say hasta la vista to Tinsel Town.

Between Alec's never-ending divorce from actress Kim Basinger, the ensuing very ugly custody battle, and some behavior Alec is ashamed to call his own regarding his daughter Ireland (he, uhm, referred to her as a selfish little pig, in case you don't remember), Alec has still found time to act and basically steal a show away from Tina Fey. Now, though, he is reconsidering what it's like to deal with the media non-stop and getting through it all just to act.

According to Alec, who recently spoke to the New York Post (which, by the way does nothing to ease your troubles in the media zealousness area), said that if you have four bad days in four years that is essentially all the public gets of you from the media. He also feels the business has changed and that there are other things outside of acting he'd like to get into. Alec also has repaired his relationship with his daughter and is looking for someone to love. Sounds like someone is having an epiphany!

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Actress and clothing maven Elizabeth Hurley says had she stayed with Hugh Grant she probably would have had five kids. The former model, still possibly best known for her work in Austin Powers, separated from the actor in 2000 but feels had they stayed together the inevitable would have occurred.

Hurley and Grant dated from the time she was twenty-one years old. Hurley says they are still close friends and often joke that had they stayed together, considering her young age at the time, they would have ended up with a big brood. Yet, she maintains that at the time neither of them wanted it.

Hurley, who has been married to Indian businessman Arun Nayer for over a year, and who has become a mom after all, says she'd like to see Grant settle down, comparing him to Austin Powers. Hmm. I don't know but she still talks to her ex and is still concerned about his personal life. Do I detect the embers of an old flame still glowing?

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When I completed the survey I wrote about last week on the subject of "Sex and the American Dad," there was one question I felt I was not qualified to answer. The question asked whether my wife found me more, less or equally attractive compared to before we had kids. Actually, I can't imagine that anyone would find me attractive, let alone a hot babe like my wife, so I just assumed she married me for my Land Rovers. When I asked her, however, she paused and then provided a measured, calculated answer: "More, because you are such a good father." Thanks, dear, you've got my vote.

So I asked a few other moms I know. One mom told me, simply, "I'm too tired to think about that." I can understand that, and suspect a lot of others can too. Having kids doesn't leave a lot of time for adult activities.

Another mom wrote back to say "I find my husband more attractive when he helps with our son, less attractive when he hides out with the computer or TV (you know, general avoidance behavior) while the rest of the house is unraveling." Raising kids is a lot of work and it's definitely easier when you've got two people helping out -- which leaves more time and energy for aesthetic considerations.

Out of all of the very loving, very devoted couples I know, I can't think of one that would survive -- sanity intact -- never being more than 15 feet from each other. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, isn't that what they say?

Buddhist teachers Michael Roach and Christie McNally have made extreme togetherness a lifestyle choice, and have vowed to never be more than 15 feet apart from one another.

They live in a yurt in the Arizona desert, but that's not all they share. They read the same book, eat off the same plate, even breathe at the same pace during yoga sessions. And never, ever are they more than 15 feet apart, even in the middle of the night when one of them needs to get up. I am antsy at just the thought of such an arrangement.

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Funny man David Spade is set to be a dad. The funny man and former Saturday Night Live star, 43, is set to be a first-time dad with ex-girlfriend, Playboy playmate Jillian Grace.

According to In Touch Magazine, the couple dated briefly last year and the Playmate has recently revealed she is expecting. Spade has not come forth and publicly acknowledged the child to be is his, but says he is prepared to accept responsibility is that is the case.

Well, it's only a matter of time before the truth is revealed--so good luck and hopefully congratulations to Mr. Spade! if he is the daddy, then the baby stands to be beautiful and funny.

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Actress Angelina Jolie claims that being pregnant is great for her sex life. Ms. Jolie is set to give birth to twins in the imminent future in her mother's native France.

Says Jolie, being round and full has given her a lust for life. She also comments that due to her size she and boyfriend Brad Pitt have had to become creative as traditional styles no longer are comfortable. Hence, sex is more fun.

Many women eschew sex in the late stages of pregnancy because it's uncomfortable or they feel too big to be sexy. Perhaps we should take some advice from Angelina. Also, there's no fear of getting pregnant when you're already there! Plus, I've heard sex is a good way to get labor going if the baby is late. Perhaps there is more up Ms. Jolie's sleeve then she is letting on (that's usually the case).

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