The Satanic Book

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

George Santayana had one of those "stating the obvious" moments when he engraved this famous sentence for posterity.
The problem with the obvious is that it's so on your face, that we miss it completely.

Let me refresh your memory. A few decades ago, Salman Rushdie, a rather unknown British-Indian writer, wrote a book that incensed the Islamic world. It wasn't a great book, but that's not why so many Muslims were angered by it; the book, suggestively called the Satanic Verses, offended the exacerbated sensibility of the Muslims, or so it was claimed.

To make a long story short, there was such a fury over Salman's book, that a Fatwa (sort of a summary death sentence decreed by an Islamic religious authority) was declared on him.

From that moment on, wherever he was, his life was in danger.
Since Salman Rushdy was a British citizen, and in view of the Freedom of Expression right, a value that the then British government held in the highest regard (or maybe for some other more prosaic reason), Her Majesty's Governmeny offered unconditional protection to Salmon Rushdy, exposing itself to the anger of the fundamentalists. However, the British Gov. did not bow down to the pressure, and rightly so.

Many years passed, we have the negative of that picture.
A foreign author is being demonised by some British fundamentalists, and no government is lifting a finger to uphold the once so dear Freedom of Expression...   Why?...

In Portugal, just a few days ago, one respected and well-known Poet/Politician, Manuel Alegre - who had been arrested by the Political Police in his youth, during the old regime, and later forced into exile - came out to speak in defence of Portuguese Nobel Prize Winner, Jose Saramago, whom, on his recent book "Cain", calls the Bible a "book of mischief" and God a "son-of-a-bitch"; fair enough - there was of course some controversy (he should try that with Islam), but nothing comparable to that hot Summer of 2007... and do you think Manuel Alegre or anyone else defended Gonçalo Amaral and his right of free expression? Obviously not. Why not?!

Could it be that these two governments have made a pact to perpetuate a convinient lie?
A lie to hide something that is more dangerous for them than an angry mob shouting "Death to the West", on every street, from Honslow to Islamabad? Maybe one day we'll find out.

Speaking of which, more fluff back in the news. Now we are hearing from the underworld of crime - not so much the Merseyside Sopranos, more of a Desperate Housewives of Liverpool - gangstas...

Right. It would be great to see the rat-pack direct their attentions to Morrocco again, or even better, to Algeria - maybe they will get on someone's nerves down there as well, step on a few toes, insult Islam, and a Fatwa is cast on them... inchAlá! ;D

Not OK In My Book, Mate

Gerry McCann suggested that "Portuguese people are not looking for Madeleine" because of Gonçalo Amaral's book and documentary.

Here's my reply in an open letter to the McCann.

I don't need to be told what to think. I was lucky to get to read the book, but that, Mr. McCann, did not influence me at all, because I had already made up my mind just by following the case and using common sense. I am ashamed of my country for having twice betrayed Mr. Amaral and the search for the truth. I don't need a book to see that you and your wife seem to be unquestionable and are more concerned with yourselves than with Madeleine.

What I need is to see YOUR evidence that there was an abduction. All your efforts to prove that there was an abduction are more than vague... they are contradictory and not credible - not grounded on any evidence whatsoever.

As for the evidence that Madeleine is dead - it may be insufficient to prosecute you, but it is certainly there - under "Eddie and Keela mark spots where body was" - on the case files, which are public - and that you cannot deny.

How would I feel, if I was a father of a missing child, some misinformed people always ask.

I and anyone I know, would fully cooperate with the Police Investigation and answer all their questions and do the reconstruction so vital for finding out what happened. What I would not do, is hire some rent-a-cops and harass people who happen to think differently.

I would definitely ask the re-opening of the official investigation.

I think all those police books you've been reading while you were in Praia da Luz, messed up your head.

But it's still not too late to do the right thing.

Re-open the Investigation.

The Media that Bit the McCann

It is sadly interesting to see how too much speculation has led people to such misinformation...
To suggest that the McCanns have suffered any type of "aggression" by the Portuguese media or the general public, is a clear evidence that the tabloids have done their job "right"; and to find people that actually believe such bull, it's not only pitiful, but revolting....

The McCanns have been having nothing but public displays of sympathy from the Portuguese people since their ordeal started. The Portuguese press does NOT have a campaign against the couple, unlike the british media - bordering defamation - against the Police, and previously against C.Ronaldo, in what seems to be the "silly season's Portuguese bashing open season"...

The Portuguese press merely reflected the change of course in the investigations, puting aside the victimization of the parents, whom, like it or not, are partly responsible for what happened. For the UK tabloids, it's just more easy to find escaping-goats that are foreign - provided they’re not Iranian, as we had the chance to see recently, and you don't want to aggravate this people...

Claims that the UK Police would have opened and closed the case in a snap, are just hilarious and refuted by blunders like Jean C. de Menezes and many, many other cases that fortunately Portugal does not have to deal with.
By the way, the British Police is involved in the McCann investigations as well... but once again, it's more easy to blame foreigners...
Who has ever heard of a "public investigation"? I don't se how all the fuss can help the little girl...

Lastly, if this had happened in the UK to Portuguese "McCannos", you can bet your cuppa of tea they would not have any special attention from the police, the media or anyone else, nor the chance to be ungrateful and say people were turning on them - because the media would not focus on some foreign-speaking couple staying in a country were crimes like this happen quite frequently.
Some Brtis are even of the opinion that people in Britan would instead start screaming about how much the investigation is costing the state, how neglectful this couple was and how arrogant they were, bla, bla, bla...
Let's leave it alone, leave it with the police, and wait for the outcome of the investigation, before we start assigning blame or shame.