Good Quality Wristbands' favourite, Dr Martin Roberts, offers another thoughtful piece.
WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE!
......Cue Clarence Mitchell.
Their spokesman said they were "determined to stop Amaral repeating his rubbish." (Daily Star 11.2.10).
Speaking on air to Jon Gaunt (9.1.2008) the Grand Panjandrum said this:
"Even if you send a cheque or anything in an envelope to 'Kate and Gerry in Rothley it'll get there. People from around the world are doing that and we're very, very grateful for every penny and we will maintain the use of that money, fully, for the finding of Madeleine, to bring her back home where she belongs."
How's that for rubbish? Matched, if not surpassed, by his remarks quoted in the Daily Mail (12.2.10):
'The tragedy of this case, which once again has been highlighted by this, is what little was done to find Madeleine.
'Kate and Gerry will have to do it themselves as they have been doing. They are the only ones looking for her.'
Instinctively one is tempted to rail against these remarks. Anyone who walks upright and eats with a knife and fork will have realised by now that the only persons the McCanns are looking out for are themselves (Kate McCann, for example, speaks of 'a missing child' not 'her missing daughter'). But take a step back from the broth, and include among the ingredients the considerations of the McCanns' Portuguese Lawyer, Isabel Duarte who, according to Vanessa Allen of the Daily Mail, said that they (the PJ) had not investigated any tip-offs since the case was officially shelved, in July 2008, when the McCanns were cleared as official suspects in the investigation (12.2.10).
Well, the McCanns, as we know, were not 'cleared', and if a case is rendered dormant by a judicial authority, then it can only be re-awakened by that same authority. It's not for the Police in Portugal, now otherwise engaged, suddenly to take it upon themselves to embark on 'awaydays' all over Europe in relation to a 'pending' issue. Ms Duarte's indignation, it should be noted, stems from a period in time commencing one year and more after Madeleine's disappearance. This issue itself has the capacity to divert us, as do so many that crop up, but rather than dwell on it just yet, we might do to better link it together with the seemingly unexpected concession on the part of Gerry McCann that the case could be re-opened.....more scroll down for Wake up and smell the coffee.
And let me take this opportunity to try and explain why there are never enough hours in a day for me.
Much is down to my penchant for illustrating blog posts. From the very beginning I have always searched out a photo or two or a cartoon, anything really that is relevant and brightens up the post a biteen, or more recently, in the case of the gallery, something that might just give me some inspiration an idea of which road to go down.
A typical result being the graphics below. An image search for "wake up and smell the coffee" produced, among hundreds of other things, the clipboard that I have inserted over the balloons, which by the way is an album cover of the same name.
Such a shame that the balloons were red, but then I suppose I would have been asking far too much for them to be the same colours that the McCanns employ when they are searching for Maddie.
It was while I was typing in my search, that Google suggested, as it does, "Wake up and smell the carcass" giving me one of those "Yer wot" moments, but as you can see, resulted in this below.
But it was the word, keyword if you like, "carcass" that sent me off on something I'm no stranger to, that insatiable consumer of time, the tangent.
Christopher Hitchings, atheist and Neocon, a rare combination you must agree, subsequently a man I can only half admire, Christopher Hitchins in his own inimitable outspoken way, did, upon hearing about the death of the Reverent Jerry Falwell, voice his opinion on the fat slug, an opinion that offended the sensibilities of the American Nation.
With the hypocrisy and faux moral outrage that can only be found in a Nation that is never happier than when it is dropping bombs on people by the million, I did I must admit, find it quite amusing when Hitchens described Falwell's "fat carcass" being discovered purifying on the floor of his own (Falwell's) office.
The inevitable outcome of remembering this event was to go in search of the, dependant on your view point, the offending clip. Unfortunately, after a search worthy of the Grail, and more time spent than I would care to admit to, I cannot offer the original clip, but only the one below where from the four minute thirty mark, it gets a mention.
A mention wrapped up in the previous mentioned faux outrage, and unsurprisingly accompanied by a lot of right wing noise in the form of Republican shill, the less than endearing, Shaun, Gobshite Hannity.
A more civilised discourse between Hitchens and Anderson Cooper on the subject of Falwell's demise, can be found in the last clip.
So by way of explanation dear readers and commentators, is that my failure to respond to your comments is only, and only is, for want of time.
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