ID boob changes man's sex

By Nomangasi Mbiza

A 33-year-old Philippi resident lost out on a job, has been unable to open a bank account and has even had to get a doctor to prove that he is a man after the department of home affairs issued him with female identity number.

"I went to a doctor in 2007 to get a note to prove that I am a man. I had the embarrassment of my life when I was checked by a female doctor," said Delisile Bululu, of Samora Machel.

Bululu first realised there was a problem with his ID in 2006, a year after receiving it, when he got his first job in Johannesburg and was told to open a bank account.

When he went to the department of home affairs and asked them to correct the error, he was told to get a doctor's certificate to prove he was a man.

"Everyone with a sound mind can see I am a man. I didn't understand why I had to be checked by a doctor," he said.

He claims he was was also assaulted by police in Johannesburg, who thought he had stolen the identity document.

Bululu then moved to Cape Town, where he landed another job.

"I still couldn't open a bank account so I had to ask my cousin to open one," he said.

"Last year, I lost the bank card while I was on holiday in the Eastern Cape and I couldn't get my money because my cousin was in Cape Town,' he said.

Bululu then went to the Cape Town offices of the department of home affairs, where he was again told to get a certificate from a doctor before his ID number could be corrected. He complied, but is still waiting on a new identity document.

He recently inquired at the Nyanga Department of Home Affairs and was told that his ID had not yet arrived.

"I have to wait, but how much longer will I have to suffer like this?" he asked.

Bululu said he even missed out on an opportunity to work in Angola. "They had to take someone else because of my lack of an ID," he said.

The supervisor of Civic Services at the Nyanga Home Affairs office, Boy Bonani, confirmed that Bululu had registered for a new identity document at the Cape Town department of home affairs and that his application had been processed.

Bululu's new ID book would be available shortly, he said.

Bonani said that since the female identity document number had already been registered in the South African Population data they first had to delete it.

"Only then could he be allocated another number," said Bonani.

He said it usually took time to do this but the department had installed a new system to speed up the process.

nomangesi.mbiza@inl.co.za

Man is found glued to toilet seat

A man had to be taken to hospital still attached to a steel toilet after super-glue was deliberately smeared on the seat.

Firefighters were unable to free the man and were forced to remove the entire toilet with the man attached.

The 35-year-old was in a public toilet cubicle in Brierley Hill in the West Midlands when he became stuck.

He was taken to hospital where doctors had to get into the ambulance before using chemicals to free him.

Toilet re-installed

An ambulance service spokesman said: "He appeared to be none the worse for his ordeal other than being understandably somewhat embarrassed."

It is thought the glue had been smeared on the toilet seat by a prankster.

An ambulance crew and a rapid response vehicle attended the scene just before midday but they were unable to free the man.

"With the help of a local authority and the fire and rescue service, the man was removed from the cubicle still attached to the stainless steel toilet," the spokesman said.

The toilet was later taken back to the public convenience and re-installed.

Cheetahs on plane: Animal gets loose in cargo hold

1 day ago

ATLANTA (AP) — A Delta baggage worker got a bit of a fright before Halloween when she opened a jetliner's cargo door and found a cheetah running loose amid the luggage. Two cheetahs were being flown in the cargo area of a Boeing 757 passenger flight from Portland, Ore., to Atlanta on Thursday when one escaped from its cage, Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Friday.

"They told us a large animal had gotten out of a container in the cargo hold and they were having to send someone to tranquilize it," said one passenger, Lee Sentell of Montgomery, Ala.

He said luggage was delayed, but baggage handlers promised to send his bags to him in Alabama.

The good news for passengers: The escaped cheetah didn't damage any of their luggage.

The airline summoned help from Zoo Atlanta, and experts rushed to a closed airport hangar and tranquilized the escaped animal and took both big cats to the zoo.

Both 1-year-old female cheetahs were on their way from the Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, Ore., to the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee, Memphis Zoo spokesman Drew Smith said in an e-mail. He said the two cheetahs will stay a few days at the zoo in Atlanta until the Memphis Zoo gets a team together to fetch them.

The cheetahs are on loan to the Memphis Zoo, but Smith said he wasn't sure how long they would stay there.

Maria Caterina Reitano, 99, a virgin and looking for love

The Daily Telegraph

October 23, 2008 12:36am

Headed for heaven ... Maria Caterina Reitano has had plenty of suitors in her 99 years, and says she's proud she's never made love with a man - but it's never too late.

HOLLYWOOD may have made a movie about a 40-year-old virgin, but one Sydney resident beats his title by nearly six decades.

Dumb and dumber? Man tricks intruders

Sun. Nov 2 - 5:15 AM

A Halifax resident outsmarted two men who kicked in the front door of his Chebucto Road apartment at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday and demanded cash.

The man told the intruders he did not have any money but offered to go to a bank machine to get some.

They agreed and waited in the apartment while he left and called police.

Halifax Regional Police said two men, 51 and 53, were arrested and will be charged with break and enter and robbery.

The victim and the suspects know each other, police said.

School Clams Up on 'Gay' Pledge Cards Given to Kindergartners

School Clams Up on 'Gay' Pledge Cards Given to Kindergartners

Saturday, November 01, 2008

By Michelle Maskaly


Protect Marriage California

This image shows one of the pledge cards signed by a kindergarten student.

This image above shows one of the pledge cards signed by a kindergarten student.


A California school system refuses to say what action, if any, it will take after it received complaints about a kindergarten teacher who encouraged her students to sign "pledge cards" in support of gays.

During a celebration of National Ally Week, Tara Miller, a teacher at the Faith Ringgold School of Arts and Science in Hayward, Calif., passed out cards produced by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network to her class of kindergartners.

The cards asked signers to be "an ally" and to pledge to "not use anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) language or slurs; intervene, when I feel I can, in situations where others are using anti-LGBT language or harassing other students and actively support safer schools efforts."

The school has acknowledged that the exercise was not appropriate for kindergartners.

Parent Adela Voelker, who declined to be interviewed in depth for this report, said she was furious when she found her child's signature on one of the cards. She said she contacted a non-profit legal defense organization specializing in parents' rights.

Meanwhile, a school board member, Jeff Cook, says some type of action should be taken.

"We have a general rule that all instruction should be age appropriate, and this clearly was not," said Cook, who has served on the school board for five years.

Val Joyner, a school district spokeswoman, told FOXNews.com in an e-mail that when deciding what to teach on this subject matter, educators "gather materials from community agencies and other education groups" and that "the materials have grade level indicators which help determine what is age-appropriate."

The district said the pledge cards were intended for middle school and high school students.

Asked last week if the district planned to take action against Miller, Joyner said she would have to look into the incident. On Thursday she told FOXNews.com that she did not have an answer for the question and that she would no longer be doing any media interviews.

Joyner said in an e-mail that Miller, the teacher, "planned to teach students how to become an ally and conflict-mediation through various activities." She added that the district doesn't advocate for a specific cause and/or lifestyle, and it has "no curriculum for gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles."

The district employs a "Professional Learning Specialist: Equity," who is in charge of gathering material and helping teachers decide what should be taught on the subject matter.

Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, the group representing Voelker, said parents at the Faith Ringgold School weren't notified of what was going to take place in the classroom.

He said that teaching students as young as pre-school about gay, lesbian and transgender issues is common in California, but that there are "all kinds of material the average parent could find highly objectionable or potentially harmful" to their children.

When asked if the school district did anything wrong, he said, "possibly," but he declined to go into detail or say whether Voelker would sue the district.

Dacus would not comment specifically on whether children who signed the pledge could be held responsible if the school determined that they were not honoring it. He said they are minors and there are certain degrees of limited liability, but from a psychological and emotional perspective, it's a whole different ballgame.

"[There is] tremendous peer pressure put on children to accept a pro-homosexual philosophy and attitude," Dacus said.

Meanwhile, opponents of gay marriage are up in arms over the incident, which occurred as California voters prepare to vote Tuesday on Proposition 8, which would overturn the state Supreme Court's ruling legalizing gay marriage.

"How do you teach a 5-year-old to sign a pledge card for lesbian, gay and transgender issues without explaining what transgender and bisexual is?" asked Sonja Eddings Brown, a spokeswoman for Protect Marriage California.

BBoy Little Demon Breaks Down

BBoy Little Demon Breaks Down

November 1st, 2008

Breakdancing may have started on the streets of America, but it is being perfected in Asia. We posted a small article with a video showing a 5 year-old breakdancing Chinese kid and a lot of people complained that his style was much more gymnastics than breakdancing.

Anjelo, aka BBoy Little Demon, is unbelievably talented and… down with the ACDC Crew.