Gregland

I've been assured that the people in this article are NOT Simon and Jo. __________________________________________________________________

Twins separated at birth meet, get married
British case forces review of rights of children to know identities

The Associated Press
Fri., Jan. 11, 2008

LONDON - Twins who were separated at birth got married without realizing they were brother and sister, a lawmaker said, urging more information be provided on birth certificates for adopted children.

A court annulled the British couple's union after they discovered their true relationship, Lord David Alton said.

"Everyone has a right to knowledge about their lineage, genealogy and identity. And if they don't, then it will lead to cases of incest," Alton said during a telephone interview Friday.

Alton first revealed details of the unusual case last month during a five-hour debate about a bill that would change regulations about human embryology.

"I was recently involved in a conversation with a High Court judge who was telling me of a case he had dealt with," Alton said according to a transcript of the Dec. 10 debate. "It involved the normal birth of twins who were separated at birth and adopted by separate parents.

"They were never told that they were twins," Alton said. "They met later in life and felt an inevitable attraction, and the judge had to deal with the consequences of the marriage that they entered into and all the issues of their separation."

Alton gave no additional details and would not reveal the name of the judge who told him about the case.

The High Court's Family Division declined to discuss or confirm Alton's account about the twins.

A child's right to know
Alton, an independent legislator who works at Liverpool's John Moores University, said the siblings' inadvertent marriage raises the wider issue of the importance of strengthening the rights of children to know the identities of their biological parents, including kids who were born through in vitro fertilization.

Under British law, only a mother has to be named on a birth certificate. Such certificates also are not required to identify births that result from IVF or to identify the sperm donor.

In addition, British law does not require parents to ever tell children that they were the result of donated sperm.

Alton believes this should be changed.

Alton said he favors an amendment to the Human Fertility and Embryology bill — which is still being debated in the House of Lords — that would require birth certificates of children born from donated sperm to say that and to identify the genetic father.

Referring to the twins' case, he said: "If you start trying to conceal someone's identity, sooner or later the truth will come out. And if you don't know you are biologically related to someone, you may become attracted to them and tragedies like this may occur."

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22612314/

Tonight I turned on the TV and America's  Funniest Home Videos was on.

And I didn't turn the channel.

And I watched.

And I laughed.

And I laughed a lot.

I had every reason to laugh. There were pants falling down. Dresses falling off. Christmas trees falling down. People falling in to Christmas trees. People jumping out of garbage cans. Cats attacking babies. Robots attacking babies. Kids falling off chairs. Adults falling off chairs. Dogs playing drums. Dogs peeing. What's not to love?

I feel just horrible.

As I've mentioned I've  become a regular reader of food blogs. I add new blogs right and left and rarely delete any. That is unless they commit the one crime that cannot be tolerated - the excessive mention of the author's pets or children.

While these two meats are delectable, their consumption is frowned on by polite society.

Rack of Airedale? Toddler bolognese? Chihuahua gratinée? Not here, my friend. Not here.

I haven't given anyone much to read here. So I guess I'm not a blogger by any stretch of the imagination. But I am a blog reader and I read lots of them. Well, read might be overstating - I go through lots of them and stop to read the ones that catch my eye that day.

I read them all through a reader that lets me create a mini feed of the ones I want to share. So now if you look to the right, there's a module called "Other Blogs" where you can see what I find interesting from what I've been reading. Most of the blogs I read are food-related so there'll be lots of recipes. But there'll also be celebrity gossip tidbits and other odd stuff.

And if you go to here, you can see more than the ten shown on the right. 

(Photo above from the blog 101 Cookbooks illustrates the recipe for Cauliflower Soup with Gorgonzola.)

Memo from headquarters:

Goatees and shaved heads were over about five minutes after they started. If you are still sporting one - or god forbid, both - please stop now! (The term "goatee" also encompasses soul patches and other minimalist facial hair configurations.)

Please forward to Howie Mandel.

Next issue: Unisex issues - fake boobs, bleached teeth and "highlights."