True Crime Update-Aruba,Jackson,Gricar;Quotables-Dean;Comments-All Kinds

DATE- 6/14/05

Today

Daily Update:
Michael Jackson verdict-one rant then moving on.
Major earthquake in Chile.

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Here's a true crime update and yon readers must check in.

For presented is a theory about what is REALLY going on in that Keystone Kop investigation in Aruba.

Also, some surprising info on missing Pennsylvania DA Ray Gricar.

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It's quotable/notables.

Some liberals, including one I once voted for, are in the spotlight. Especially Howard Dean the Invincible.

A Ronald Reagan quotes restores sanity.

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Lots of comments.

Some on the "Hell's Kitchen" series, some by winners, some of book reviews.

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Another OJ Jury

One juror on the Michael Jackson jury summed it up:
(I’m not making this up, a juror SAID this)

“How could a parent subject their kid to this?”

So it’s the MOTHER’s fault that Michael Jackson is a child molester and allowed to go on unfettered because of people like you?

So Ms. Smart Juror, here’s my question to you: You found him not guilty on 14 counts. So just WHAT exactly did the horrible mother subject her kid to if Jackson didn’t do it?

That jury knew Jackson was guilty.

They hated the kid’s mother.

Who was not such a sweet person we understand. But the
KIDS’ MOTHER WAS NOT ON TRIAL!!!

The United States of America now allows celebrated persons to molest kids as is their right. Jackson picks children of mothers exactly like the victims’ mother. And FOR JUST THIS REASON! Because, hey, no one will believe her, the family’s dysfunctional, hey, the little Spic kid deserved what he got. This is Michael Jackson after all.

Finally, remember, Jackson’s not going to go off like OJ and look for the real molester on a golf course. Michael Jackson’s going to embark on his “victory tour”, he’s going to release more records, he’s going to do endless interviews on his innocence and how that faux jury proved him an angel.

We’ll all have to wallow in it. We’ll all get collectively sick.

The first kid Jackson molested had the right idea. Take the money and run. Because he would have had to face the same humiliation as the current victim.

It’s California justice at its best.

Major Earthquake Hits Chile

Magnitude 7.9
Date-Time Monday, June 13, 2005 at 22:44:33 (UTC)
= Coordinated Universal Time
Monday, June 13, 2005 at 6:44:33 PM
= local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 19.903°S, 69.128°W
Depth 110.8 km (68.9 miles)
Region TARAPACA, CHILE

From USGS:

Tomorrow

Here's some Miscellany that defied classification.

Such as Al Gore's assertion that glaciers are disapparing off the very earth due to global warming.

Also a computer hint and some wisdom via a retiree's idle thoughts.

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It's harder to get fired the first day on the job than one might think.

It's a TV review of a new reality show called "Fire Me Please". The premise of which is to be the first to get fired closest to 3 pm the first day on the job.

Kind of a "Candid Camera", kind of "The Apprentice".

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Yon Grandmother Blogger asks reader indulgence for the shameless but impossibly cute pics of our new kitten.

Yes her name is Lucille and yes, We LOVE Lucy.



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TV Events of Note

7 WMDT: Tuesday, June 14 8:55 PM
Sports event, Basketball, Playoff sports

Finals, Game 3: San Antonio Spurs at Detroit Pistons
From the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich.

AND

48 Hours Mystery (Repeat)

6 WBOC: Tuesday, June 14 10:00 PM
Talk, Newsmagazine

Dark Side of the Mesa
When his wife and daughter disappear, a man's nightmare begins.

above is a repeat

 


What the Hell Is Going on in Aruba?
For The Wise I cannot offer much more or even add to the confusion caused by such as revolving door suspects, suspects who confess who did not confess, searching for Natalee’s body but wait, no we’re not.

I saw a post on a true crime board, first one with this header:
ARUBA: Natalee Abducted by Aliens
Then a post right below it with this header:
ARUBA: Natalee NOT Abducted by Aliens

Yes, the whole thing is that crazy.

Below are some pics and links that I had posted earlier this week. But for those who may have missed, well I have nothing much better.

EXCEPT for, ahem, a little speculation.

Rick Leventhal reported on Fox News that Natalee’s family is very frustrated by the pace of this “investigation”.

So we know it isn’t just the general public who is confused.

This past Saturday there was a report that a suspect confessed; that said suspect was leading the way to Natalee’s body until finally it was widely reported that Natalee’s body had been found.

After some thought I’ve concluded that there’s massive bribery going on with this case in Aruba.

Understand I could be wrong, yea I’m probably wrong. But I can make a case.

First, the three suspects, “the Aruba Three” pictured below, were quickly identified by Natalee’s family and friends just as soon as she went missing. Of course under questioning the friends would mention the boys so many saw Natalee drive off with.

The three boys were picked up soon after that but almost as soon were released!

 


I think someone slipped Aruban authorities some bucks the first time they were picked up.

After releasing the boys, the authorities immediately picked up two security guards, based on the testimony of the very people who were so far as anyone knew, the last to see Natalee alive. Aruban authorities, eager to find somebody to pin Natalee’s disappearance on and just as eager to keep the bucks slipped to them by Joran’s family, hyped the “arrest” of the security guards for the would-be American tourist at how wonderfully they are doing their jobs.

It’s probably the United States, via the FBI, that’s making these Keystone cops walk a straight and narrow. Right after the security guards were picked up there was talk of a security shirt found with a bite mark and blood on it. I suspect the FBI demanded that the United States get all crime samples as well as the Netherlands. Oh my. How were the bribed authorities going to come up with some of Natalee’s blood to put on that security guard Tshirt?

Natalee’s family I believe is putting pressure on our FBI. Our FBI informs Aruba to stop playing games and bring in the CORRECT person responsible for Natalee’s death.

The Aruba Three are again brought in as a result. This after the fellas had nine days to clean their car and align their stories.

Since these guys are likely guilty, one of them finally “confessed”.

Some more money comes pouring in from Joran’s and his friends’ parents.

Oops. Whoever’s been getting the money had to deny the report of a “confession”. Meanwhile the two security guards are still being held.

Because there’s money to be made and the security guards make the perfect scapegoat.

There’s a tug of war going here. These banana republic places have police departments filled with cops whose main source of income is bribes. Yes, it’s a stereotype but I’m asserting that big money is changing hands to protect sons of influential Aruban citizens.

Meanwhile, the United States is NOT buying this Aruban game. The Aruban government is caught between the rock of losing American tourism and the hard place of having to turn down money from Aruban citizens who can a)afford it and b)know how the Aruban system of justice works.

The above scenario is the only one that makes sense to me given all the distortions coming from that island.

The latest is that there was blood found in the trunk of the vehicle used by the Aruba Three when they took off with Natalee. Samples of this blood are being sent to the FBI and the Netherlands. The FBI has probably figured out what’s going on which is why they are demanding to examine the blood samples.

Sure, the American FBI has no jurisdiction in this case. But one threat to put the island of Aruba on our list of terrorist hideouts for American tourists to avoid is enough to make them cooperate.

Because for sure there’s something very fishy going on down in Aruba. Those investigators probably think of it as business as usual and resent American intervention. The way they see it, SOMEONE will go to jail for Natalee’s murder so why do Americans care?

Except to let these boys go leaves them free to murder ANOTHER American citizen on some future date.

Silly Americans.

Here's a virtual tour of the lobby of the Holiday Inn.

Photos of the Holiday Inn entrance and lobby:

 


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Remember Ray Gricar?

If you don’t, below is a link to a post about him.

Blog Post on Ray Gricar

He’s a DA in Pennsylvania who up and went missing one day. His car, cell phone and computer laptap were found abandoned at a local antiques mall.


Speculation is that Gricar could become another Jonathan Luna, the Baltimore DA who suddenly disappeared but turned up dead in a small PA pond. Check the true crime compilation on the sidebar. There’s an extensive post on Luna as well as some interesting comments.

This past week there’s been a report of a sighting of Gricar!

Now when persons go missing there’s often a lot of such “sightings” by a confused public wanting to help. But this sighting has an air of believability. For one thing, Gricar’s fiancé was on Greta this past week. She was almost in tears and did not deny that the sighting of Gricar with an unidentified older woman in a restaurant right below the Candadian border was real.

 


It was the way this sighting was reported. A father and daughter allegedly saw Gricar at a restaurant. He looked so familiar that they went home and checked earlier reports and pictures about him before they phoned their info into the police.

This wasn’t some quick view by a passing pedestrian is what I’m saying here. The man and his daughter regarded the man they thought to be Gricar for quite a while. Even then they went home and checked into it, positively identifying Gricar as being the man at the restaurant.

Is it possible our PA district attorney is now living in Canada with an older lady who is keeping him in the style for which he’d like to become accustomed?

From Phillyburbs.com

A man and his daughter reported seeing Centre County prosecutor Ray F. Gricar with an older woman at a restaurant on May 27 in Southfield, Mich., a Detroit suburb, Bellefonte Police Officer Darrel Zaccagni said Wednesday.

Gricar, 59, has been missing since April 15, after taking a drive from his home in Bellefonte. His car was found the next day near an antique store he frequented in Lewisburg, about 45 miles from Bellefonte.

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Commercial Break
Appropriate to the subject, one must admit.

 

Read Sample Prize Winning Story for Mystery and Mirth
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I Voted for This Guy Once.

"This war in Iraq, in my opinion, is worse than anything Nixon did."

- George McGovern

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THE MOUTH THAT ROARED

"Well, Republicans, I guess, can (stand in line at the polls waiting to vote) because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives. But for ordinary working people, who have to work eight hours a day, they have kids, they got to get home to those kids. The idea of making them stand for eight hours to cast their ballot for democracy is wrong."

- DNC Chairman "Howling" Howard Dean

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A Voice from the Past

Ronald Reagan, who said, "I disagree completely when government says that because of the number of head injuries from accidents with motorcycles that (a person) should be forced to wear a helmet. I happen to think he's stupid if he rides a motorcycle without a helmet, but that's one of our sacred rights - to be stupid."

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Winning Comments
From the recent winner of the trivia contest for those who remember the hoola hoop:

Hi Pat:
What a pleasant and much appreciated surprise.......thank you so much.I so enjoy your daily blogs and now I am anxious to read your book. My family will be delighted to see that my ability to immediately re-call "blasts from my past" can truly be relevant and not just "useless information"!!!!!! I'm usually not the lucky one in the family.....so winning this is such a treat.

Keep up the great work you do. And again, thank you so much.
Barb
M.E.G.'s Grandma

Barb won a signed copy of my book "Mystery and Mirth".
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Comment on Book Review
Here's a comment regarding a book review posted to this Blog quite a while ago but one I put up on Blogcritics recently. The book review was for "Righteous Victims-A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict-1881-1999"-by Benny Morris

The bolded text is a quote from my review. Unbolded is the comment.

I think it's an insult.

Not that the Israelis were perfect. Obviously they were wary of the Arabs in their midst and there was probably an occasion or two when the natives were \"encouraged\" to move along. It\'s more than speculation that Israel was behind the slaughter of many Palestinians in Beirut refugee camps.
...
The Arabs never cared all that much about the little strip of sand now the Israel state. The entire issue was an excuse; an excuse to misbehave and act like, well, children.

Congratulations on overcoming cognitive dissonance in your effort to reaffirm a previously held view.

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Comments on "Hell's Kitchen" Review

Review of Week 1 HERE

Comments: Two minutes of Googling would have revealed that Gordon Ramsey indeed has his bonafides in order.

What I couldn\'t hack was he had the restaurant open two hours after these poor victims arrived. When was the prep done? Who had time to take care of their mise? You don\'t do a risotto from scratch in a real restaurant -- you take a big batch most of the way there, then just finish it for service.

But, Granada, a British company, put this together.

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Comments: Oddly enough, the Gordon Ramsay that you saw on Hell\'s Kitchen is exactly like that in real life. He is (a) a former Glagow Rangers soccer player, (b) a perfectionist, (c) the guy whose reputation gets trashed if the food doesn\'t match the standards of a three star restaurant. Somewhere out there are a couple of documentaries on him done by British Television The Boiling Point and Beyond The Boiling Point but in North America he\'s probably best known for the series Ramsay\'s Kitchen Nightmares where you see him improve a restaurant\'s kitchen. Oh and as for having an idea of how to run a restaurant, he runs four of his own and has three others with partners. All have at least one Michelin star and his name restaurant \"Gordon Ramsay\" has three, which is as high as you can get in the most important restauant guide in the world.

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You bring up some good points, Pat. The show would be much more interesting if there was some focus on the food and its prep. Otherwise, it\'s pratfalls and beratement central.

I keep going back to Iron Chef -- a show that clearly sets the bar for food and competition and reality television.

Anyway, I bailed out after the first week of Hell\'s Kitchen

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