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Who's Your Daddy? Paternity Battle Between [identical twin] Brothers
ABC news ^ | May 21, 2007 | Mary Kathryn Burke

Posted on 05/21/2007 10:18:14 AM PDT by grundle

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To: grundle
"With identical twins, even if you sequenced their whole genome you wouldn't find difference…they're clones," said Dr. Bob Gaensslen, a forensic scientist at Orchid Cellmark labs in Texas. "There are a few things in science that are cut and dried and this is one of them."

This guy will have to eat his words; in fact he should do it right now. Identical twins have identical DNA at birth, but it doesn't necessarily stay that way. From a 2005 article:

"A study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that minute chemical changes occur to DNA as people age, and these alterations might enable scientists to distinguish between the genetic material of identical twins.

Christoph Plass, a professor at Ohio State University and a specialist in cancer genetics who participated in the international study, said yesterday that it could take years for researchers to develop a standardized way of detecting such differences. Courts would then have to accept the method as a forensic tool. But he predicted that one day forensic scientists will definitely be able to distinguish between the DNA of identical twins."

41 posted on 05/21/2007 10:47:05 AM PDT by wideminded
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To: CatoRenasci
Use the extra money (which the court would start collecting right away) for a college fund for the little girl.

I ususally respect your opinions, but with parents like these, do you really think that college is in the child's future?

If I were judge, the first in time would win the right to pay child support. The alternative would be to do fertility tests, with the guy with the highest count winning.

42 posted on 05/21/2007 10:47:24 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: SunnyUsa

honerable?


43 posted on 05/21/2007 10:48:45 AM PDT by verum ago (The Iranian Space Agency: set phasers to jihad!)
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To: CatoRenasci
Another option is that neither should pay, and the slut take full responsibility for creating a situation in which paternity is unknowable.
44 posted on 05/21/2007 10:52:38 AM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney (...and another "Constitution-bot"))
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To: eastsider
Perhaps it’s just the pictures, but the way their hair falls, they look more like mirror twins than identical.

Identical twins are defined as twins conceived of a single egg that splits. "Mirroring" is not a separate category of twin, but a characteric. It's much more likely in identical twins.

45 posted on 05/21/2007 10:54:11 AM PDT by Eroteme
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To: grundle

Crap like this is why normal marriage is best for the kids, the couple, and for society. Kids NEED to know who is their father. Men need to know who their children are, because the bonding between a father and his NATURAL child is very strong.


46 posted on 05/21/2007 10:58:09 AM PDT by Leftism is Mentally Deranged
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To: grundle
"If they can't prove it's me then they should throw it out of court." And as for the child support, he said, "The state should eat it."

It makes perfect sense to this selfish moron that complete strangers who have zip, zero, nada chance of being the father should pay instead of the guy who's a 99% DNA match with a 50% chance of being the sperm donor. Somehow I don't think he'd see it the same way if they were arguing ownership of a winning powerball ticket instead of a baby.

47 posted on 05/21/2007 11:00:07 AM PDT by Eroteme
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To: grundle

I think the guy is stuck. For a named man in a paternity case, the burden of proof is the man’s to prove he is not the father.


48 posted on 05/21/2007 11:01:56 AM PDT by dangerdoc (dangerdoc (not actually dangerous any more))
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To: grundle
Look, she had a bunch of girlfriends to the rodeo and they got drunk and she went banging on Raymon's door trying to have sex,"

Reminds me of a song. By "The Offspring" ironically.

Now I'll relate, this little bit
That happens more than I'd like to admit
Late at night, she knocks on my door
She's drunk again and, looking to score
Now I know, I should say no, but
That's kind of hard when she's ready to go
I may be dumb, but I'm not a dweeb
I'm just a sucker with no self esteem

49 posted on 05/21/2007 11:03:25 AM PDT by SoothingDave
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

As well as her for the pig/slut/skank gene/award.

Lucky child.


50 posted on 05/21/2007 11:03:30 AM PDT by Let's Roll (As usual, following a shooting spree, libs want to take guns away from those who DIDN'T do it.)
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To: verum ago
lol..honorable....I diNd't ketch it

but Raymon? he's bitter because twin Richard has a normal name lol

51 posted on 05/21/2007 11:07:05 AM PDT by SunnyUsa (No man really becomes a fool until he stops asking questions.)
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To: wideminded

They will still be too similar to determine paternity.


52 posted on 05/21/2007 11:16:42 AM PDT by MrEdd (L. Ron Gore creator of "Fry-n-tology" the global warming religion.)
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To: grundle

Sluts are sluts.


53 posted on 05/21/2007 11:19:03 AM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: Professional Engineer

You might think this would be a genealogical nightmare, but since the two brothers have identical ancestries it wouldn’t be much more than an inconvenience.


54 posted on 05/21/2007 11:33:41 AM PDT by Sergei Andropov (Deus serva Americam)
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To: Leftism is Mentally Deranged

I don’t know if it is true, but I’ve read that the stats on false paternity are staggering. The article I am thinking of claimed that DNA testing has shown that many men who are assuming they are the father to their spouse’s children are wrong and have absolutely no idea.

These things may go unknown until a medical reason may force a genetic test, or a nasty divorce/custody battle is looming.

I’m not sure I agree about the idea of bonding with a “natural” child as opposed to a genetically unrelated one. Think of the Twigg/Mays familys. Neither had any clue the child they were rearing and loved was not their own.

I understand the need to know if the children are your own, but without genetic testing, how can a man be absolutely certain?

Not having adopted children, I couldn’t say, but it’d be interesting to note if there are any observed differences in the bonding between parents and their natural and adopted children. Anecdotally, I’d say that for the most part there isn’t, but how could you even measure this?

Anyway, for this story, the mom is a dope, the two men are stupid for sleeping with her not accepting that they may never know the truth and thus both have a financial obligation and the poor child is probably out of luck in the parental department, no matter what the truth is.


55 posted on 05/21/2007 11:46:42 AM PDT by YankeeGirl
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To: Eroteme

Tx for the info. IOW, the “identical” refers to the numerically identical egg.

What I’m unclear about is the qualifier that mirroring is much more likely in identical twins. If mirroring results from splitting, it seems to me that all mirror twins would necessarily be identical, no?


56 posted on 05/21/2007 11:49:15 AM PDT by eastsider
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To: grundle

Hopefully, these guys will think a bit more carefully before hopping in the sack with the next girl.


57 posted on 05/21/2007 11:58:31 AM PDT by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: MrEdd
They will still be too similar to determine paternity.

If the genetic or epigenetic differences between aging twins affect germline cells, they can be passed on to children. Someone will have to find out the statistics of how often paternity can be determined by experiment.

58 posted on 05/21/2007 12:17:08 PM PDT by wideminded
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To: Beelzebubba
Another option is that neither should pay, and the slut take full responsibility for creating a situation in which paternity is unknowable.

That let's everyone off the hook and leaves the kid to suffer. Too cold for me.

59 posted on 05/21/2007 12:48:50 PM PDT by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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To: PAR35
I ususally respect your opinions, but with parents like these, do you really think that college is in the child's future?

If I were judge, the first in time would win the right to pay child support. The alternative would be to do fertility tests, with the guy with the highest count winning.

Thanks, I think.

Two points:

1. We can always hope the girl makes something of herself, and it would be a good thing if the jerks who'd put her in the position she starts from had to help her out.

2. I wouldn't spend a dime more on figuring it out...especially not public money.

Let the jerks start paying in full now - if they come to an accommodation between them or find some way to prove one or the other is the father, great, but until then, pay.

60 posted on 05/21/2007 12:52:20 PM PDT by CatoRenasci (Ceterum Censeo Arabiam Esse Delendam -- Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit)
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