Britain's only gay flamingos Carlos and Fernando, are celebrating their fifth anniversary together with their adopted children at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire.

The pair surprised staff at the wildlife park after they came out five years ago and began to engage in a series of complex mating rituals. The pink birds have been inseparable ever since and have even raised chicks together after they stole eggs from neighbouring straight couples.

Whilst Flamingos are generally monogamous during the annual breeding periods, they tend to swap partners each year. Therefore, claim the birds' keepers, their enduring love is somewhat unique.

"They only have eyes for each other," said Nigel Jarrett, a keeper at the nature reserve.

"I have never seen two male flamingos fall for each other before, although homosexuality is not uncommon in the animal kingdom.

"Carlos and Fernando have been together for five years and seem very happy. They will probably stay together for the rest of their lives."

Mr Jarret added that they appear to have been accepted by the other birds in the flock:"'They are both large adult males, so as a partnership they are quite formidable.

'They are not picked on by the other birds. If anything, they are afforded more respect They are very good parents and behave just as the heterosexual birds do when rearing their young."

The pair have together raised three chicks.



Related ArticlesNew York’s Gay Penguins Split Up (and one turns straight)

__________________

Penguins can stay gay

A German zoo has scrapped plans to break up homosexual penguin couples following protests from gay rights groups.



The Bremerhaven Zoo had earlier flown in four female Humboldt penguins in an attempt to encourage three couples discovered to be all male to reproduce.

The zoo originally defended the experiment, claiming that the birds were an endangered species, but following protests from gay rights groups, director Heike Kueck has said that the zoo is abandoning the plan.

She said: "Everyone can live here as they please."

Kueck said that it was neither her intention nor possible to separate the gay couples by force and interest them in their new female companions.

She added that the penguins had shown little interest in their new female companions but said that the programme could have been started too late in the year.

Gay groups had earlier protested against "the organised and forced harassment through female seductresses" in an open letter to Bremerhaven's Mayor Joerg Schulz.

__________________

__________________
Dem neva Know,But dem Know Now !!

62 Year Old Women Give's Birth In California - I guess her bio-logical clock is not up yet..


http://www.happynews.com/news/2192006/calif-woman-62.htm

__________________

Blame it on the bird flu!

__________________
The horizon is not my boundry - rather an ever-expanding destination. Enjoy the ride!

__________________

Saw that story about the 62 year old lady on the news tonight OMG THats something....I guess at 43 I should not think I can't have any more


And why is everyone so worried about the sex life of birds already!!! LOL

Black and white twins

By LUCY LAING, Daily Mail 08:57am 21st February 2006


When Kylie Hodgson gave birth to twin daughters by caesarean section, she was just relieved that they had arrived safely.



It was only when the midwife handed them over for her to hold that she noticed the difference between them.

Remee, who weighed 5lb 15oz, was blonde and fair skinned. Her sister Kian, born a minute later weighing 6lb, was black.




Read the whole story here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...70&in_a_source

__________________

'TOT RAPE' SHOCK AT QNS. DAY CARE

By IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON, JOHN DOYLE and ERIKA MARTINEZ
SICKENING: Khemwhatie Bedessie (right) is taken into custody last night after cops say she admitted sexually abusing a 4-year-old boy at Veda's Learning World (above) in Richmond Hill.

March 2, 2006 -- A trusted female employee at a Queens day-care center yesterday confessed to a sickening crime — she repeatedly raped a 4-year-old boy she targeted because he was affectionate, police said.


Khemwhatie Bedessie, 37, had sex with the boy at least three times at Veda's Learning World in Richmond Hill between Jan. 1 and the first week of February, officials said.

On Feb. 20, the youngster told his mother that Bedessie had taken him into the bathroom on several occasions, pulled down his pants and forced him to have sex with her. The mother took her son to Jamaica Hospital, where doctors called cops.

Police said there was initially not enough evidence to charge Bedessie, based on the young boy's testimony.

But the perverted perpetrator came to the Queens Child Abuse Squad's offices yesterday, turned herself in and confessed.

Bedessie lives with her mother, sister, niece and brother in-law. A woman who answered the door at the home said, "Our family is having a crisis, we have no comment."

A neighbor, Edwin Jaudon, 50, says he's known the day-care worker for 12 years.

"This isn't her at all," he said. "She's a sweet person, and this is hard for me to believe."

Jaudon said Bedessie's sister is also employed as a day-care worker, but he didn't think she worked at the same center.

The suspect also baby-sits on the side, and has watched a boy from the neighborhood who is about the same age as the victim, he said.

"She's a respectable, upstanding citizen. That's how we know her," he added.

"The scary part of it is, if it's true. how did it happen?" Jaudon said. "The human mind is a monster."

At Veda's, concerned parents were horrified by the allegations.

"I'm totally shocked," said Sheetal Marken, whose 3-year-old son, Shiivam, has been enrolled for six months.

" 'Shocked' is the wrong word — I'm shaking right now," he said, holding his son in his arms.

"I don't like it at all; it's very disturbing," said Bebkha Rampersad, 43, father of a 3-year-old. "I'm concerned about it. I don't want anything like this to happen to my son. I just hope it's not true."

One man who didn't want to be identified called Bedessie "a good teacher."

The father of a 2-year-old said, "I've never had any problem with her. She's a nice lady."

A law-enforcement source said that the Bedessie would abuse the child between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. before the other teachers arrived.

var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 * Math.random())+1); document.write('');

Bedessie targeted the boy because "he would run up and hug her and touch her breasts," said the source.

About 16 kids are enrolled in Veda's Learning Center.

It's a private day-care facility licensed by the city.

Parents said they pay about $100 a week per child.

Bedessie, who has worked as a teacher's aide at Veda's for four years, claims not to have abused any other children, police sources said.

Bedessie is charged with rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

"The charges are very disturbing," said Queens DA Richard Brown. "The child, I'm afraid, will never recover from the emotional trauma inflicted upon him by an individual into whose care he was entrusted by his parents."

__________________

My question is what can a four year old do for you?She needs prayers and some real help. There are some sick people out there thats why my daughter stays by my foot other than when she's in school and she knows the rules. You have to talk to your kids about their privaye areas and let them know that no oneid suppose to violate their privacy.

__________________
Who JAH bless
No man curse!-ya heard

Penis reattached after maid cuts it off Mon May 8, 11:50 AM ET



Surgeons have reattached the penis of a Saudi man who paid the price for trying to have sex with his Filipina maid and she attacked him with a knife, a hospital source said on Monday.

"This is a sophisticated operation. You are dealing with an organ in a difficult area and you want to try to return to its efficiency," said a spokesman at Riyadh's Takhassusi Hospital.

Earlier this month newspapers reported that the maid removed her employer's manhood when he tried to molest her in the middle of the night as his wife was sleeping. The maid is now in police custody.

"It's one of the rare cases ... but they did it (the operation) last week and it went smoothly," the spokesman said. "The hospital has done this kind of operation before, but only after people had car accidents."

__________________

Millions of Cameroon girls suffer "breast ironing":


Worried that her daughters' budding breasts would expose them to the risk of sexual harassment and even rape, their mother Philomene Moungang started 'ironing' the girls' bosoms with a heated stone.

"I did it to my two girls when they were eight years old. I would take the grinding stone, heat it in the fire and press it hard on the breasts," Moungang said.

"They cried and said it was painful. But I explained that it was for their own good."

"Breast ironing" -- the use of hard or heated objects or other substances to try to stunt breast growth in girls -- is a traditional practice in West Africa, experts say.

A new survey has revealed it is shockingly widespread in Cameroon, where one in four teen-agers are subjected to the traumatic process by relatives, often hoping to lessen their sexual attractiveness.

"Breast ironing is an age-old practice in Cameroon, as well as in many other countries in West and Central Africa, including Chad, Togo, Benin, Guinea-Conakry, just to name a few," said Flavien Ndonko, an anthropologist and local representative of German development agency GTZ, which sponsored the survey.

"If society has been silent about it up to now it is because, like other harmful practices done to women such as female genital mutilation, it was thought to be good for the girl," said Ndonko.

"Even the victims themselves thought it was good for them."

However, the practice has many side effects, including severe pain and abscesses, infections, breast cancer, and even the complete disappearance of one or both breasts.

The survey of more than 5,000 girls and women aged between 10 and 82 from throughout Cameroon, published last month, estimated that 4 million women in the central African country have suffered the process.

"You ask me why I did it?" said Moungang. "When I was growing up as a little girl my mother did it to me just as all other women in the village did it to their girl children. So I thought it was just good for me to do to my own children."

The practice is now more common in urban areas than in villages, because mothers fear their children could be more exposed to sexual abuse in towns and try to suppress outward signs of sexuality, the survey said.

Its findings have prompted a nationwide campaign to educate mothers about its dangers and to try to eradicate it. A similar campaign some years ago helped drastically to reduce rates of female genital mutilation in Cameroon.

"A girl...has to be proud of her breasts because it is natural. It is a gift from God. Allow the breasts to grow naturally. Do not force them to disappear or appear," said a leaflet from the campaign.

Moungang said she stopped ironing her daughters' breasts after one girl developed blisters and abscesses.

"I took her to the hospital and the doctor scolded me and advised never to do it again because it could ruin my daughter," she said.

The practice is most common in the Christian and animist South of the country, rather than in the Muslim North and Far North provinces, where only 10 percent of women are affected.

"Massaging the breasts with hot objects is painful, very painful, and can completely destroy the breasts," said Bessem Ebanga, executive secretary of women's rights group RENATA, herself a former victim.

"Some girls could be traumatized throughout their lives and their sexual behavior could be disturbed forever."

For Ndonko, the campaign is a battle to respect the physical integrity of young girls -- with broader implications for human rights.

"If nothing was done today, tomorrow the very parents may even resolve to slice off the nose, the mouth or any other part of the girl which they think is making her attractive to men."

__________________

OMG this is just horrible.

__________________
If you've never stared off in the distance, then your life is a shame...

Reaction: 'If Israel is behaving like a psychotic bullying child, Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents'
Published: 22 July 2006

Andrew Burgin, SPOKESMAN FOR STOP THE WAR COALITION

We are obviously very opposed to the destruction of Lebanon. We think it's a crime against the people there and we are calling for an unconditional ceasefire. Blair and Margaret Beckett have been utterly shameful. Blair has just done the bidding of his political master, George Bush.

Alexei Sayle, WRITER

Anyone can see that what Israel is doing is unacceptable, violent, cruel, evil and wicked. If Israel is behaving in the manner of a psychotic bullying child, then Britain and the US are like its mad tattooed parents.

Michael Ancram, FORMER SHADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY

While I think Israel has the right to pursue Hizbollah terrorists and weapons, the campaign they are embarked upon is disproportionate. The onslaught must cease now. I would also like to see Hizbollah cease its terrorism. I believe they are doing it to destabilise the situation, and they have succeeded.

Clare Short, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This policy of our Government is so unbalanced and so disrespectful of international law, and the equal human rights of all people in the region, that it is inflaming the situation and inciting large numbers of angry young Arabs and Muslims to conclude there is no political route to justice.

Detta Regan, PEACE FOLLOW THE WOMEN CHARITY FOUNDER

What's going on is absolutely unbelievable. A lot of the people dying are children and civilians who have had nothing to do with this conflict. I'm totally disgusted with our Government. They could do something and should do something. We're supposed to be a humanitarian nation. I'm ashamed to be British.

Rowan Williams, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

The British and US governments may have to reckon with a rising level of public despair and dismayand I hope very much that they will bring their influence to bear in moving towards a ceasefire.The question is what can a state morally do without subverting its own cause in self-defence?

David Rowan, EDITOR OF JEWISH CHRONICLE

I could see Israel signing up to a ceasefire - if the international community guaranteed to disarm Hizbollah, to stop [its leader Sheikh Hassan] Nasrallah hiding his rockets in residential homes poised to fire at northern Israel, to block the Syrian and Iranian weapons shipments. But that's not going to happen.

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari, MUSLIM COUNCIL OF BRITAIN

By wilfully turning a blind eye to Israel's indiscriminate killing of women and children and the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, we have further tarnished how our country is viewed in the eyes of the Muslim world. There can be no doubt that Israel's actions constitute war crimes.

Mark Thomas, COMEDIAN AND ACTIVIST

It is absolutely shameful that our Government is standing by while collective punishment and war crimes are meted out on the people of Lebanon. Let us be clear: if America and Britain had not given Israel the green light to do this, then it would not be happening. It is beyond horrific.

Louise Ellman, LABOUR FRIENDS OF ISRAEL

The answer has to be a buffer zone that protects Lebanon andnorthern Israel and to disarm the [Hizbollah] militia. The Israelis have to find a way of stopping indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. Hizbollah have put munitions in densely populated areas and that is to be condemned.

Sir Menzies Campbell, LEADER, LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Neither Hizbollah nor Israel will be the first to lay down their arms. It is essential for the international community to put pressure on both to bring a simultaneous halt to their attacks. I have called twice in the House of Commons for this approach, yet the Prime Minister stubbornly refuses.

Michael Mansfield, QUEEN'S COUNSEL

In Margaret Beckett we have a Foreign Secretary who seems to be unwilling to recognise that Israel is committing war crimes, by using disproportionate force and targeting a civilian population. Our Government only talks about Hizbollah rockets. What must the Islamic world be thinking?

Andrew Burgin, SPOKESMAN FOR STOP THE WAR COALITION

We are obviously very opposed to the destruction of Lebanon. We think it's a crime against the people there and we are calling for an unconditional ceasefire. Blair and Margaret Beckett have been utterly shameful. Blair has just done the bidding of his political master, George Bush.

Alexei Sayle, WRITER
More here:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle1190596.ece

__________________
When I'm trusting and being myself... everything in my life reflects this by falling into place easily, often miraculously.

__________________

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.