JUST STOP!! THE McCANN CHARADE - REOPEN OR REVIEW?

The McCanns seem to be going to a lot of trouble in order to avoid the simple request of reopening their missing daughter's case.

After the embargo on yesterday's press conference and idyllic posed photos, today we've seen a concerted effort from the McCanns to have the case not reopened, but reviewed.  In stark contrast of the British media's failure to report the overturning of the ban on Goncalo Amaral's book, we have been literally bombarded with the McCann spin of review and the customary begging bowl being shoved in our faces.

Review or Reopen?

A review will not help Madeleine - this is simply a paper pushing exercise which is utterly pointless and the status quo will continue.  Madeleine will still be missing, the McCanns will continue to thrust that begging bowl for what they seem to think is their entitlement to other people's money.  No one will be actively investigating why Madeleine is missing, what happened to her and where she is.

Reopening the case will ignite the search for Madeleine by the proper people. Instead of the Team of Four supping tea in darkest Leicestershire and attempting to cover the planet, Madeleine will have a huge taskforce and endless resources on her side in the shape of the Portuguese and British authorities and other interconnected bodies.

Reopening the case is easy - the McCanns and their friends simply have to agree to attend the reconstruction requested by the police, the one which they initially failed to turn up for.  It would also be helpful if the mother would answer the questions she failed to answer in the first place.  All 48 of them and she needs to answer these questions today.

The father stood on the steps of a Lisbon court, when he was hit with an off the wall surprise question.  Will you be requesting that the case be reopened?...  He said yes. Another lie?

"...NO police force has proactively been doing anything to help us find Madeleine."

"There's no law enforcement that's been pro-actively doing anything for 18 months."

"No police force is actively doing anything for Madeleine and we think that's completely unacceptable,"

It beggars belief that the parents have such gall and can actually make the above comments with a straight face.  The fact that there is no police force actively or pro-actively searching is their own fault - they allowed the case to be shelved in the first place and have it within their power to have it reopened.

We all know that the reopening of the investigation is the best thing for Madeleine.  It's what she deserves and something which would receive the backing of everyone, except the guilty party of course.  Shame her parents don't seem to agree.

A McCann Ditty...

There was a sleepy village

By the name of Praia de Luz

Which came alive one May 4th

With hoards of global news.

They came from all around the world

To hear the strangest case

A missing child called Madeleine

With a sweet, angelic face

Soon we’d be bombarded

With bizarre to just not right!

With many tales of happenings

That cold and fateful night

How could it be so difficult

To get their stories straight

The truth should just flow freely

No twists or turns of fate

It seemed they were all lying

Inconsistencies galore

From broken, jemmied shutters

Open windows, unlocked doors

Much secrecy abounded

Intrigue, donated pounds

Her parents were made suspects

After noses from the hounds

Found whiffs of a dead body

In the car and in their flat

On the mother’s clothing 

And on poor Cuddlecat

Now almost 4 years later

With many ups and downs

Pacts and lies and counterspin

The child is still not found

The truth is always easy

It flows straight from the heart

And whomsoever knows the truth

We implore you to impart

Despite our grave suspicions

We share one hope and thought

For little Maddie to be found

And justice to be brought.

~oOo~

by

The Potting Shedder

October 2010

An Ode to Autumn

Tis known you're here, as icy blasts

Cast golden leaves upon the grass

Those blades they twist, they turn and quiver

Your breath makes all abend and shiver

Bobbled hats, scarf, mitts - all woollen

Donned to start some Autumn fooling

Falling leaves of golds and reds

Flake and float above our heads

Now raked away and into piles

And in the shape of golden smiles

Leafless trees and plants await

To heed the mark of Winter's fate

Autumn, a short time you are here

You take from nature all that's dear

Yet lying dormant is what's best

As Spring awaits, we all must rest


by
The Potting Shedder 2010
~oOo~

Missing Maddie really is no joke...

Day 10 - 13th May 2007

Absolutely not.  I've got no time for the opportunistic jokes and comments that raise their ugly heads in the events of tragic news, appearing in everyday life, in papers, forums and Facebook groups.  Frankie Boyle's joke may have been aimed at the father of Madeleine, however in my opinion, still in bad taste.

What I do find rather amusing is the lack-luster counterspin that we've experienced from the Team over the last week in response to the overturning of Goncalo Amaral's banned book.  I expected the counterspin to go into full throttle, but it's been amazingly quiet from both the Team and the British media.  What about the sudden appearance of a new eyewitness who thought they'd spotted Madeleine 3 years ago, travelling in the direction of Madagascar?  Or grainy CCTV footage from Bondai Beach?  Instead frail, old Mr Healy has been wheeled out to complain about a joke made by Mr Boyle at one of his recent shows.  A show which Mr Healy didn't attend but bizarrely felt the need to speak out about instead of leaving the customary comments to hired spokesperson Clarence Mitchell.

More wilting spin in the news involved the Google-like translation of the Find Madeleine website into German, in the apparent hope of jogging the memories of those German tourists who holidayed in Praia de Luz over 3 years ago.  Three years too late I'm afraid, unless Mr Edgar has just advised his employers that Germany also has those lawless villages with people living on the edges of society - as per his description of Portugal.  Oh to live in 'civilised' Leicestershire.

So what about the usual sighting that so often appears when news is on a downer? Or is this, in typical McCann style, being saved for a rainy day.  Perhaps for the customary Latch onto Christmas Appeal?  The appeal to keep searching for Madeleine which involves the wooden parents reading yet again from a script?  An appeal where there is no heartfelt message for the little girl who may be watching, or the mention of the huge reward available for information leading to her safe return?

The Christmas Appeal... perhaps Christians of today should be thankful that Mary and Joseph knew exactly what bounds were within the realms of responsible parenting. Despite the need to quench their thirst and fill their bellies with friends at the local Inn, they didn't (even though the Innkeeper was a kind, hospitable person).  Had they left baby Jesus away in his manger, all alone to fend for himself in an unlocked stable who knows what would have happened.  Instead of gold, frankincense and myrrh perhaps the 3 Wise Men would be delivering a different kind of gift, one similar to the ruling of the 3 Wise Judges.  One thing's for sure, the bible certainly wouldn't be as it is known today.

There is no time to lose in the case of a missing child, so instead of waiting for Christmas, an appeal should be made today.  To that one person out there who has kept that piece of information from the police, and has kept it close to their chest since May 2007 - it must be eating away at your insides, it's time to release your conscience and get the police case back on track and investigating just what happened to Madeleine.  No matter what the consequences.  You know it, we all know it... so do the right thing.

Or the parents and their chums could just agree to attending the reconstruction and answer the questions they refused to answer in the first place.  Enough to reopen the case.

Either way, there is only one deserved person in all of this and that is Madeleine.

    .    

A New McCann Appeal

Today we have news of a shiny new McCann appeal which yet again, looks like another back to front initiative from the Team...

Kate and Gerry McCann are launching their website in German this week in a bid to reach German tourists who were staying at the Ocean Club when Madeleine vanished.

Apart from British and Dutch holidaymakers, who've long been canvassed directly, there were also German tourists who may have left the resort without talking to police about potential evidence that's not been considered.

The McCanns have also given an interview to Bunte magazine in which they make new appeals for help in the search for their daughter who disappeared from the family's holiday apartment in May 2007.

The couple's lawyers are studying the recent 30-page judgement from Portugal in which former cop Goncalo Amaral won an appeal to republish his book the 'The Truth of the Lie' which the McCanns had managed to get banned.

They may appeal his appeal ahead of a full defamation claim they are still pursuing against Mr Amaral who claims that Madeleine died accidently in the apartment and her parents hid the "truth" by concocting an abduction theory.

A defamation trial in Lisbon is unlikely to be heard until next year.

Good luck!  I hope it brings many leads, although it beggars belief that the McCanns should choose the pomp and ceremony of hosting their site in German, in an attempt to target the few German holidaymakers that may have been there almost 4 years ago and who bizarrely may need reminding about this infamous case.  Surprisingly, they would rather target Germany than take the advice of their crack investigation team and aim for the obvious... the Portuguese people themselves.

Madeleine vanished from Portugal and the Team's lead investigator Dave Edgar believes that the child is being held very close to Praia de Luz, within 10 miles infact.  Just to make it glaringly clear - the following is a snipped interview with Mr Edgar from the Belfast Telegraph, he didn't tell me this personally!!.

"The Ulster detective leading the search for Madeleine McCann today reveals his most chilling theories yet.  Dave Edgar told us he is convinced little Maddie is imprisoned in a hellish lair - just like kidnapped sex slave Jaycee Lee Dugard.  He insisted the "back from the dead" reappearance of Jaycee confirmed his suspicion.  And despite fresh leads taking his probe to Australia and Barcelona, the east Belfast man insists the golden-haired younster is being held just 10 miles from where she was snatched in Praia de Luz two years ago.

But he warned that the sprawling wilderness where he believes Maddie is languishing is almost impossible to search completely.  Dave said he was convinced Maddie was entombed by an abductor in a cellar or dungeon. "Maddie is most likely being held captive, possibly in an underground cellar, just like Natascha or Elizabeth, and could emerge at any time," he told us.

He feels this is the lone prowler who has Maddie stashed in a cellar or dungeon in the lawless villages around Praia de Luz.  But Dave warned: "This rural, sprawling terrain makes it extremely difficult to search. You could quite easily keep a child there for years and no-one else would know.  The person who has Maddie is most likely a paedophile or a person so desperate for a family they were willing to kidnap for it.  I wouldn't like to speculate on what is happening to her."

Dave says the region where he feels Maddie is being held has attracted any strange characters, including convicted sex offenders.  "I don't want to generalise or make gross exaggerations, but there are people there living on the edges of society," Dave said."

This makes me wonder why the McCanns are now targetting Germany, when their lead man believes the answer lies where the whole sad version of events began, in Praia de Luz.  Even though some of his outlandish comments appear xenophobic, extreme and wrong, Edgar is being paid to detect and advise, and being paid from the fund.  Yet his advice is whoosh clunked into oblivion by his employers.  I wonder why.  

Anyway, yet again we can end with the immortal words of Dave Edgar...

"I don't know. We could still be sitting here in 10 years."

Here's hoping these words are just as worthless as all of his other horrendous fantasies.