Miscellaneous Commentary

[Jayelles]

Could this be made a sticky please?

There are lots of little bits and bobs of discussion which don't quite fit into an existing thread but which if they were a thread on their own, would end up having only a handful of posts. Maybe we could put them all into this thread?

[Jayelles]

I'd like to start by making a prediction - namely that one of the McCann case's legacies will be a change to regulations concerning the reporting of stories like this.

In the Fred & Rose West case, everyone was selling their stories to the media and that brought about a change in the law - to prevent people from profiting from a criminal investigation.

If the McCann case had happened in the UK, we wouldn't be hearing anything about it in the media because it would be completely censored by our pro-judice laws. However, the media is having an absolute field day because the invesitagation is taking place in Portugal.

I think that there will be more changes made as a result of this case. Now whether it would pertain to the

"SCANDALOUS HEADLINE"

followed by

"purely speculative little nothing story"....

or whether our pro judice laws get extended to cover other countries, I don't know but something is going to have to change because the reporting in this case has been nothing less than rotten and it stinks to high heaven.

One example of such reporting is (massive headline) "Gerry isn't Maddie's father" ... folllowed by the story (in small text ) - "...is the latest disgraceful slur to come out of Portugal".

If this were goods of any other sort, it would be covered by the Trades Description Act - misleading the customer.

I may write to my MP!

[Jayelles]

Radio 4's "Law in Action" focused on the Portuguese Justice system today - particularly with reference to the McCann case.

Thinking people will find it interesting so I thought I'd post it on this thread

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...on/default.stm

Click on the 'Audio - latest programme' button.

It explains all about arguidos, trials, appeals etc. Interestingly 1% of the Postuguese population currently have arguido status due to the fact that it offers more protection.

It also explains what the McCanns can and cannot do just now in more detail than I've seen so far.

[Eagle1]

I think we know more than we really want to know about the McCanns, ad nauseum.

They seem to be successfully preventing our hearing anything at all about Maddie. Gerry's blog seems so sickening narcissistic I can't even stomach reading any of it past the first paragraph or two. Who really cares their relatives came to visit, and on and on like that.

Seems like a deliberate diversion tactic.

[Eagle1]

The most loving parents can react with passionate anger when their kids have just done something that scared them half to death. So can Christians, for the same reason, because this is an innocent child depending on adults they should have been able to trust.

We may fall in love with, in this case, Maddie's eyes and everything about her, resent the parents' possibly-unintentional (?) insulting of the public as if we are the wrong-doers, and trying to draw attention to themselves instead of the child they, not we, were so responsible for. We're just genuinely concerned and would like to help, the child.

"Judge not" means we can't evem absolve anyone, any more than we can condemn them. Christians are well-used to attacks, as the McCanns would be too if they'd been, as Kate's mom said they weren't, more devout.

We can be rightfully irritated at the parents' evident concern for themselves more than for the child, so different from most parents of missing children.

As people much more qualified than I have pointed out, they are not being "managed" well by their counsel, and everything they have been saying has drawn bad reactions, so far. Already I'm noticing a difference, since they obviously have been told about the bad reactions.

Hopefully now the people trying to solve the case can get on with it without their distractions, and people like me, worried only about the child who, if she's alive, is living the real nightmare, too young to know how, no help anywhere she might turn, will feel a little better, more hopeful.

The good news, see Odette's Updates! Maddie has been sighted in a coastal town, her hair cut short like a boy's, battered and bruised, and the woman tried to hide her but the distinctive eye was witnessed, and which direction the taxi was headed in, which the woman trying to hide the child refused to share.

[andU]

Originally Posted by Eagle1

The most loving parents can react with passionate anger when their kids have just done something that scared them half to death. So can Christians, for the same reason, because this is an innocent child depending on adults they should have been able to trust.

We may fall in love with, in this case, Maddie's eyes and everything about her, resent the parents' possibly-unintentional (?) insulting of the public as if we are the wrong-doers, and trying to draw attention to themselves instead of the child they, not we, were so responsible for. We're just genuinely concerned and would like to help, the child.

"Judge not" means we can't evem absolve anyone, any more than we can condemn them. Christians are well-used to attacks, as the McCanns would be too if they'd been, as Kate's mom said they weren't, more devout.

We can be rightfully irritated at the parents' evident concern for themselves more than for the child, so different from most parents of missing children.

As people much more qualified than I have pointed out, they are not being "managed" well by their counsel, and everything they have been saying has drawn bad reactions, so far. Already I'm noticing a difference, since they obviously have been told about the bad reactions.

Hopefully now the people trying to solve the case can get on with it without their distractions, and people like me, worried only about the child who, if she's alive, is living the real nightmare, too young to know how, no help anywhere she might turn, will feel a little better, more hopeful.

The good news, see Odette's Updates! Maddie has been sighted in a coastal town, her hair cut short like a boy's, battered and bruised, and the woman tried to hide her but the distinctive eye was witnessed, and which direction the taxi was headed in, which the woman trying to hide the child refused to share.

I've read most of the updates but I didn't see anything about the child being battered and bruised. I did read about the taxi ride and the woman not permitting her taxi to be shared. But again, nothing about bruised and battered. Which link did you find that in, Eagle?