Estelle, Maddie, Antoine and the others

Georges Moréas Police Etcetera 18/01/09

The information in the press about a new lead in the investigation into the disappearance of little Estelle Mouzin, even before the facts are verified, interests a great many people. Some have reacted violently on the sites of the journalists who have related the information. Thus in Libération, we can read: "That article risks being Estelle's death sentence - Well done the telly and the newspapers! Whether this girl is Estelle or not you are signing her death warrant in publishing that photo - What a lack of professionalism! It's shameful."

Or again in Le Monde: "If she is still alive, this information is scandelous...I'm stunned by the irresponsibility of AFP for producing the news item about it."

(* Le Figaro)

As for Estelle's father, he was astonished that journalists were aware before the investigative measures were implemented. Adding, however: "This confirms the ongoing investigation and the ideas held by the new Versailles PJ director, during the annual conference of the Estelle Association on January 10th in Guermantes." In fact, commissioner Philippe Bugeaud, at that time, referred to the thousands of statements still in the process of being checked and also "millions and millions of telephone checks" (In the days that followed the child's disappearance, all communication exchanges in the area were looked at - Something never done before).

Remember, Estelle was abducted on January 9th 2003 (Read here) on her way home from school in Guermantes, in Seine-et-Marne. I don't think an investigation has ever put so many resources into operation. Alas, without success until now.

On May 3rd 2007, in the south of Portugal, it was a little English girl aged 4 years, Madeleine McCann, called Maddie, who disappeared from her bedroom while her parents were at a restaurant. In the months that followed, the investigators assembled a stack of suspicions against the parents, in a tense atmosphere between Great Britain and Portugal. So much so that the police officer heading the investigation finally slammed the door. (Read here) The parents were let off the hook and the case archived. Now, it is private detectives who are continuing the investigation and a reward of 2.5 million pounds is offered to, "anyone who gives information that contributes to finding Madeleine alive and returning her safely to Rothley in the Leicestershire area."

On September 11th 2008, little Antoine, aged 6 and a half years, disappeared from the family home in Issoire, in Puy-de-Dôme, while his mother and her partner were at a restaurant a few hundred metres away. Both have a previous record and the investigators are focusing their investigation on them. (Read here) Sébastien, the mother's partner, is in prison on a criminal charge and the mother, Alexandrine, aged 23, is the object of permanent surveillance. At time of writing, she is on extended remand for driving without a licence. She denies this. Following this arrest, Le Figaro outdid itself with an article whose very title makes my hair stand on end: "Antoine's disappearance: the noose tightens around the mother."

This young mother is, undoubtedly, a drop-out, which doesn't make this child-killing or an outlet for the press.

She may be guilty, but if there is the least proof against her, she will spend a long time in prison.

Thousands of people disappear every year, men, women, children. Most of them are found, but for one or two children, there is no news. You can imagine the parents' anguish.

Three missing children:

- Estelle: five years later, the investigators are still active.

- Maddie: private investigators and money, lots of money.

- Antoine...

(* )Le Figaro 17/01/09)

The Parisien reveals that investigators have discovered the photograph of a teenager resembling the young girl, who disappeared in Guermantes in 2003, on an Estonian pornography site. Police officers are going to Estonia.

If Estelle Mouzin, that little ten year-old girl who disappeared six years ago from her village of Guermantes, is still alive, is she being held in Estonia? French police officers are to go to that Baltic state very soon, reveals the Parisien. Alerted by an internet user, investigators discovered on a pornographic site, hosted in the United States, but created in Estonia, the photograph of a naked teeenager who resembles Estelle in a way that is troubling. "The internet user who contacted us saw this face and immediately made the connection with the young Estelle Mouzin," someone close to the case revealed to the daily newspaper.

The first work on the photo from the site surprised the police officers. On a computer, they superimposed images of Estelle on the photo of the teenager and observed that the facial proportions seemed to correspond to those of the young schoolgirl, who disappeared on January 9th 2003 on the way between her school and her home. The Central Directorate of the PJ, (DCPJ) placed the paedophile site under surveillance. Sophie Combes, the investigating judge in charge of the case, sent two international rogatory letters. The police are going to interrogate the site's creators to try to find out more about the identities of the teenagers presented.

Cipriano case - Joana is dead

17/01/09

Joana is dead (*)

"There is only one truth in that statement, Joana is dead, the rest is no more than a tissue of lies."

Four years ago, a child was killed at the hands of her mother and her uncle. her crime was to surprise them having sex. She was called Joana and, in addition to the fact of being negelcted by her mother, she was the victim of sexual abuse.

Yesterday, from the Odemira prison, her mother, legally declared responsible for her death, signed a statement in which she confirmed such death, attributing sole responsibility to her brother.

There is only one truth in that statement: Joana is dead. The rest is no more than a tissue of lies from someone who was declared a psychopath and who, from the first moment, lied to the police.

Unlike other murdered children, those responsible have been brought to justice and sentenced for the heinous crime.

For Joana's mother, it is not enough to ask for forgiveness, she must stop lying and tell the truth. That will be the moment of true redemption and Joana's soul will rest in peace.

Joana suffered in life and at the moment of her violent death. It has not been possible to avoid such sacrifices, but we have contributed to justice being done.

It is because of this case and others that we are proud to have been police officers, to be able to look at the sky and say: by the grace of God...I was a police officer.

Gonçalo Amaral

(*) Opinion piece by Gonçalo Amaral, published in the Portuguese daily, Correio da Manha

Note: Léonor Cipriano has had several versions about the disappearance and death of her daughter since September 2004. More recently, she said she did not know what had happened to her daughter Joana. Further, she has even stated that she believed that Joana was still alive.

These statements were made in the Faro courtroom, before judges, the jury and the public at the trial of the five PJ inspectors.

This is only an umpteenth version...Now, a few versions later, Joana's mother reveals that Joana was killed by her uncle, João Cipriano.

SOS Madeleine McCann

The Cipriano case: Joana was battered to death by her uncle.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

17/01/09

The new witness statement has been written by Marcos Aragão.

Yesterday, the lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia revealed to the press, outside the trial of the five PJ inspectors, a document signed by Léonor Cipriano, in which Joana's mother accuses her brother, João Cipriano, of being the sole perpetrator of the little girl's murder.

In this eight page document, written by hand by the lawyer, Léonor Cipriano explains that her brother convinced her to sell Joana, but that "the people didn't have the money promised (an amount Léonor has not revealed) and João did not hand over the girl.

(To read the complete document click here for the photos or the PDF).

This umpteenth version is, according to Marcos Aragão, "the true story," Léonor's witness statement recounting exactly what allegedly happened to her daughter Joana, who disappeared in September 2004.

"When Joana left the house, the intention was to hand her over to the people and simulate a kidnapping," the lawyer states, explaining that her uncle, João Cipriano, had taken along the little girl's clothes in a large bag.

According to Marcos Aragão, Joana allegedly heard the whole discussion between João and the buyers, threatening her uncle, "that she was going to tell everything," after which, "he allegedly started battering her, finishing up killing her."

According to this new witness statement, written by Marcos Aragão, Léonor was not present at the time of Joana's death but João Cipriano allegedly confessed his crime to her: when he came home, he tried to hide the murder, but, at Léonor's insistence, who allegedly detected traces of blood on her brother's trousers, João ended up admitting having killed Joana and having hidden the body in a place close to the house before burying it the next day.

Umpteenth version targets Gonçalo Amaral, the former coordinator.

It was outside the trial of the five PJ inspectors that Marcos Aragão Correia - the same lawyer who stated that he had a vision that Maddie's body was in the deep waters of the Arade Dam - chose to present the document to the press, stressing that Léonor, "decided to leave this out and say that she knew nothing," because of, "her brother's threats," but that the confession of her participation in Joana's murder was allegedly made, "under torture," when she was interviewed by the PJ inspectors.

The new version of the events surrounding Joana's death will, meanwhile, be used by Léonor's lawyer to point the finger at former inspector, Gonçalo Amaral, officer for the disappearance and death of Joana in 2004 and of Madeleine McCann in 2007.

In the document which the lawyer wrote and Léonor signed, the former inspector is accused of knowing the truth: "If Mr Amaral knows it, then why did he ask people to beat me up? Why?"

In statements to the Portuguese press, the former coordinator of the PJ's DIC in Portimao, contented himself with saying that Léonor Cipriano was already considered to be a psychopath (see the video by the psychologist Paulo Sargento) and that she was lying, stressing that Joana's mother, as well as her brother João were tried and convicted for Joana's murder, all "the rest was lies being put about."

Gonçalo Amaral's lawyer, António Cabrita, goes further and after having considered that the document presented by Marcos Aragão had no relevance to the ongoing trial against the five inspectors, stated that he did not believe it was Léonor's work, but rather the work of someone else: "an obvious manipulation of the prisoner for other purposes," notably the sullying of Gonçalo Amaral's image.

Review of Léonor's conviction must await the end of Amaral's trial.

The request for review of Léonor and João Cipriano's convictions will await the final result of the trial of the five PJ inspectors, accused of having committed acts of torture during an interrogation, the day after Léonor's confession in the presence of her lawyer at the time.

In November 2005, the two siblings were sentenced, respectively, to 20 years and four months in prison and 19 years and two months. In May 2008, the Supreme Court of Justice reduced the sentences to 16 years and eight months in prison.

Antoine Brugerolle: mother caught out lying to the investigators.

Alexandrine Brugerolle with her son, Antoine.

Le Figaro 14/01/09

The noose tightens around the mother.

Alexandrine Brugerolle, who maintains that she cannot drive and could therefore not have transported her child who disappeared on September 11th 2008, lied to the investigators on this point.

The incident, however trivial, has strengthened the investigators and magistrates in their belief that the mother of little Antoine, reported missing since September 11th, is not telling them the whole truth. On January 8th, Alexandrine Brugerolle de Frayssinette was stopped at the wheel of a white Peugeot 106 on the A75 autoroute, driving in the Issoire-Clermont direction (Puy-de-Dôme). But, since the beginning of the investigation into her son's disappearance on September 11th last, the young woman has insisted that she doesn't know how to drive. "On several occasions, she has even used that argument to attempt to brush aside our suspicions in maintaining that, without a car, she couldn't have transported her child out of the town of Issoire," a source close to the investigation reveals.

Driving in a car registered in a departement of the Côte d'Azur, along with a man who was in an inebriated state in the passenger seat, Alexandrine Brugerolle was stopped for questioning at around 8.30pm by officers from the transport police who were amazed to see her vehicle zig-zagging on the autoroute. In spite of the evidence, the young woman told the officers she that she held a driving licence which she claimed to have left at home. Hearing nothing since then, the gendarmes have summoned her for immediate questioning about her false statements. Since the start of the investigation, the gendarmes have been astonished by the silence and other inconsistencies that riddle the account given by Alexandrine Brugerolle. A witness states having seen her driving a white Peugeot in the days preceding her child's disappearance? She rejects this as impossible since she doesn't know how to drive.

"Profile of the ideal guilty parties."

The investigators discovered in her bank statements that she bought large capacity bin bags twenty-four hours before reporting the unusual absence of her son? She simply explained to them that she had mistaken the size and took them back to the shop without delay - without the supermarket having apparently kept any trace of that exchange. Annoyed at having these details quoted in the press, Alexandrine Brugerolle has recently spoken out several times, considering that the investigation was focused exclusively on her. "Since the start, the prosecutor has been seeking to destroy my reputation because he has got it into his head that my partner and I, because of our criminal record and our alternative lifestyle, have the profile of the ideal guilty parties," she explained at the beginning of October.

Freeport: video proves payment of bribes to a minister.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/01/09

The journalist Felicia Cabrita makes this revelation in the daily newspaper, "Sol," available tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

After having revealed that a Portuguese minister was amongst those suspected of corruption in the investigation into the Freeport case, obliging the office of the Attorney General of the Republic to intervene with a press release denying that information, the journalist Felicia Cabrita returns to the subject, confirming the existence of a video which proves the payment of bribes to a member of the former socialist government.

According to the journalist, a video recording of a conversation between an English administrator from Freeport's holding company and Charles Smith, one of the associates of the consulting company Smith & Pedro, alludes to payments of bribes to a Portuguese minister of António Guterres' government.

In statements to SMM, a British police source indicates that the report of the ongoing investigation in the United Kingdom contains a list of suspects - 15 as he and the daily newspaper Sol indicate - where the name of the current prime minister, José Socrates, figures.

The video containing the recorded conversation between Freeport's administrator and Charles Smith, confirms the payment of bribes to several Portuguese politicians, naming a minister in the socialist government of Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister, who is not, himself, implicated.

The investigation still ongoing in the UK could result, if justice follows its normal course, in a prosecution for crimes of corruption and tax evasion in the approval for the construction of the Freeport commercial complex in Alcochete, at the southern edge of Lisbon.

Lire aussi :

Dossiers Freeport et Maddie dans l’agenda des autorités portugaises et britanniques

Photos: top left; covers from SOL. Below, Gordon Brown and José Soctrates before their private meeting about the Madeleine McCann case.

SOS Madeleine McCann - The Cipriano case: Léonor changes her story once again and accuses the uncle of having killed Joana.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/01/09

Léonor Cipriano, mother of Joana, the little girl aged seven, who disappeared in the south of Portugal in December 2004, has once again changed her version of the facts, this time about the death of her daughter.

Tried and sentenced for Joana's murder, Léonor Cipriano is involved now in the trial of five Portuguese PJ inspectors accused by the Public Minister of having committed acts of torture against her.

Yesterday, as her lawyer, Marcos Aragão Correia, had elsewhere "predicted", on the occasion of his book launch, Léonor Cipriano accused Joana's uncle of having killed the child after having tried to sell her.

According to Léonor, in a document signed yesterday in prison, João Manuel Domingos Cipriano allegedly killed Joana after having failed to deliver the child to her purchasers.

Today, at around 4pm (3pm in Portugal) Marcos Aragão Correia, Léonor's lawyer, accompanied by Joana's step-father, António Leandro David Da Silva, will read a press release, at the entrance to the Faro court where the trial of the PJ inspectors is taking place. After the press release, the document, a total of eight pages, will be handed to the Public Minister.

A case revived for the advantage of the Madeleine McCann case.

After lying around for several years in the drawers of the Public Ministry, during which time, different prosecutors have never succeeded in establishing with certainty if Léonor Cipriano was really assaulted and by whom, it took the Madeleine McCann case and in addition, a "divorce" between the police and the magistrates, for five PJ inspectors to be accused of acts of torture...amongst them the head of the investigation into Maddie's disappearance.

Surpisingly, Gonçalo Amaral only became an arguido in this trial after having considered Maddie's parents as suspects in the disappearance of their daughter, which any police officer would have done, given the various elements of the investigation.

Even if all the specialists are in agreement in considering that the Joana Cipriano case has no relation to the disappearance and death of Madeleine McCann, the British media (and some Portuguese) have been encouraged to "revive" this story in order to implicate the head of the investigation for the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral.

Now, four years after the murder and the disappearance of Joana's body, Marcos Aragão Correia, the lawyer who has worked with Metodo 3's Spanish detectives hired by Kate and Gerry McCann, has also become Léonor Cipriano's lawyer and continues to want to link the two cases, seeing the work of Gonçalo Amaral in both.

"Regardless of everything about the Cipriano case - where he doesn't give a damn - if Marcos Aragão Correia succeeds in tarnishing Amaral's image, he would at the same time restore the McCanns' image," a PJ specialist in communication states, stressing that, "this was the objective plotted with the Spanish."

See also :

Marcos Aragão Correia : à une "vision" de l’affaire Cipriano
Jugement de Gonçalo Amaral le 24 octobre
Mère de Joana condamné une nouvelle fois
"Nous l’avons battu (Léonor), car personne n’aime les assassins d’enfants"
Médecin dénonce que les photos ne correspondent pas aux lésions
Affaire Cipriano : Extrait d'entrevue avec le psychologue et professeur universitaire Paulo Sargento

SOS Madeleine McCann: another, "substantial donation," to the Madeleine fund.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

14/01/08

McCann vs "The Evening Standard."

The British newspaper, "The Evening Standard," has just swelled the already long list of media in the UK who have been obliged to offer their apologies to Madeleine McCann's parents.

The announcement of this about-face by, "The Evening Standard," was made on the same day as Maddie's father told the Portuguese media that he wished to, "move forward and not back,"and that he had no intention of taking legal action against the media.

To the Portuguese journalists Gerry McCann stated that he wished to, "make totally clear that what happened in the past, was finished," claiming, according to him, to focus, "on what could be done to continue the search."

"That's our priority and that has always been. However, these things (possible legal actions) are simply not important at this time," Gerry Mccann stated.

In spite of Madeleine McCann's father's statements, that the couple were not concerned with possible legal action against the media, the British newspaper was obliged to make, "a substantial donation," to the fund created after Maddie's disappearance, and to, "publish announcements in foreign editions of another newspaper in our group, the Daily Mail, requesting information which might lead to finding Madeleine."

In its online edition, the newspaper, "The Evening Standard," writes that during the last months of 2007, "like a large part of the media," it published various articles which, "could be understood as suggesting that Kate and Gerry McCann might be involved in Madeleine's disappearance."

"We regret this fact and we wish to clarify, to avoid any doubt, that we totally accept that there is no proof to suggest that Kate and Gerry were involved in their daughter's disappearance," writes the newspaper.

An editorial source at the daily, contacted by SMM, confirmed that this announcement is the result of an agreement between the publication and lawyers for the couple in order to avoid a protracted action in the courts where, "given the McCanns' enormous political and legal support, there would be very little chance of success." The same source further states that this announcement, "has changed nothing of the view various journalists have about the case and the possible responsibility of the couple," but that in future, "it will be impossible to publish a single line that might implicate the couple."

In its online edition, the Evening Standard further writes that there, "is no evidence that Madeleine has come to any harm," thus ignoring all the evidence, and honest logic of this kind of case, that indicates that the little British girl will be dead.

Ex-KGB at the head of the Evening Standard.

In the next few days, the millionaire and former KGB agent, Alexandre Lebedev, could become the new owner of the Evening Standard, which could see a hypothetical change in the editorial policy of the newspaper. At least, this is what many journalists are expecting, unhappy with the direction followed by the newspaper and worried about its financial situation.

If the sale is confirmed, the former spy will be the first Russian to become majority owner of a major British newspaper: according to the terms of the sale agreement, Lebedev will hold 76% of the newspaper, the remaining 24% remaining the property of the Daily Mirror & General Trust, the current owner.

This is not the first time a major English daily has become the property of foreigners. An Australian bought The Times, The Sun and the News of The World, and a Canadian had, at one time, been the owner of The Telegraph.

Duarte Levy

Updated - SOS Madeleine McCann: Gerry McCann has returned to Portugal

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Maddie's father has returned to Portugal.

Gerry McCann arrived in Portugal today where he met the lawyer Rogério Alves. Maddie's father also had talks with various people linked to the Portuguese government, notably thanks to the intervention of the British diplomatic authorities in Lisbon who accompanied him.

He assured journalists that it is the first of, "many visits," to set up new operations in the search for his daughter, but he refused to explain what operations and why he had not considered it appropriate to cooperate with the PJ in the past.

Gerry and Kate McCann left Portugal in September 2007 after being constituted arguidos by the Portuguese authorities, since when the couple have always refused to return to Portugal and to cooperate with the PJ, notably in the reconstruction of the events of the night of May 3rd 2007.

According to a Home Office source in London, Madeleine McCann's father, before undertaking his journey to Portugal, obtained every guarantee that he would not be bothered by the Portuguese authorities.

The investigation into the disappearance and death of his daughter Madeleine has been placed on hold awaiting better evidence on the decision of the Public Minister, who has refused since then to reopen it, this in spite of requests introduced in that direction, bringing new elements.

Gerry McCann has allegedly discovered the desire to work with the Portuguese authorities.

On arrival at Faro airport for a two day visit without the company of his wife Kate, Maddie's father today expressed his intention to cooperate with the Portuguese authorities in the search for his daughter who disappeared in May 2007, considering that there was still, "a good chance that Maddie could be found alive and well."

Without explaining why the couple did not, themselves, request the reopening of the investigation while there was time, Gerry McCann wanted to stress his, "willingness to work with the authorities, as much as possible."

According to Maddie's father, he discussed with his lawyer, Rogério Alves, the best way to collaborate with the Portuguese authorities with, "the objective of seeing what could still be done in the search for Maddie," because, he states, the British police and the police of many other countries continue to receive information from different sources, "about what happened to Madeleine," as well as reports of, "possible sightings."

In an interview, Gerry McCann stated that, for the moment at least, he had no intention of taking legal action against the Portuguese State or any other body, including the media, stressing wanting to, "move forward and not back."

SOS Madeleine McCann

13/01/08

Restore the Constitutional Republic

As the United States Senate officially recognises Barack Obama as President-elect...

....as of today at 1.37pm EST, and Cheney, apparently, did not even ask if there were objections, I post these two videos for Dr Doug Schell, a US citizen of integrity.

Four school choirs sing, "The Battle Hymn of The Republic," and the Cactus Cuties sing , "The Star Spangled Banner."





Don't give up, Captain! It's only the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end!

SOS Madeleine McCann: Gonçalo Amaral goes back into politics and wants to become mayor of Olhão.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

8/01/08

The former coordinator of the PJ, Gonçalo Amaral, is the name chosen by the Social Democrat Party (PSD) to head the party's list for the forthcoming urban district elections in the town of Olhão, in the south of Portugal.

Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the Department of Criminal Investigation (DIC) for the Portimao PJ, was head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance.

According to a PSD official for the Algarve region, the former PJ investigator is open to leading the opposition party in the 2009 municipal elections in spite of his lack of political experience.

Born in the north of the country in the Viseu region, Gonçalo Amaral currently lives in Portimao, but, according to the same PSD official, he has family in Olhão, the town where he will be candidate for the post of mayor, held since 1993 by the socialist Francisco Leal.

The chances of Gonçalo Amaral becoming mayor of Olhão are, however, slim, because the town has always been a socialist stronghold: after the Carnation Revolution in 1974, and since the first mayoral elections in 1976, the socialists have been the most popular political group in Olhão elections.

8/01/08

SOS Madeleine McCann

SOS Madeleine McCann: The child has been rescued in Egypt, but the Portuguese PJ are still not convinced.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Maddie found safe and well. (*)


This Tuesday, the world woke in astonishment: the little English girl who had disappeared in Praia da Luz, Lagos, on May 3rd 2007, has been rescued alive and apparently in good health by a special forces team of the Egyptian army, which has broken up an international human trafficking network.

Maddie was only one of 50 people - amongst children and older women - rescued by the authorities, in a property located in the Cairo area, where that organisation was keeping people in captivity who had been kidnapped all over Europe.

Aware of necessary apprehension, Sky News did a live broadcast on Maddie's liberation. Immediately afterward, the British Child Protection organisation placed a preventative welfare order before the United Kingdom's High Court to prevent the disclosure of images of the child by tabloids and television.

The McCann couple have taken themselves off to Cairo, the absence of tears on the part of the mother, Kate McCann, being very noticeable.

PJ sources told VISÃO that these results have not convinced the Portuguese police, who have meanwhile already invited the McCanns to come to Portugal to be interviewed. Nevertheless, ex-inspector Gonçalo Amaral has already announced that he is busy writing a new book: Maddie, the sequel.

Pope Benedict XVI has prayed for the McCann family, and José Socrates has sent a message of congratulations to his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, ending the telegram with an enthusiastic Cool, man!

(*) This article is published in the current, on sale, edition of the Portuguese magazine VISÃO, whose title means vision....It's not about a vision - in any case not in the style of the psychic lawyer Marcos Aragão Correia -, but rather about "news that we would love to bring," in 2009.

That is meanwhile the title of the special issue of the magazine, written by the journalist Filipe Luis and based on ideas from the editorial staff of the daily. It remains to be seen if the British media, some incited by the McCanns' spokesman, will start a campaign against the journalist and the magazine, as was the case with the Spanish blogger José Antonio Pérez, victim of pressure and censorship after the discovery of am imaginary interview with Madeleine McCann.

Duarte Levy (**)

(**) Happy New Year 2009

31/12/08

OPEN LETTER TO SENATORS: OBAMA MUST STEP DOWN ON JANUARY 8, 2009

When the Senate meets on January 8, 2009 to talk about the results of the Electoral College vote, Mr. Obama must step down, as he does NOT meet the criteria for being POTUS, via the Constitution and Court cases throughout the years that say only a natural born citizen can be POTUS. Even Mr. Obama agrees with this because his vote was one of the unanimous votes for Senate Resolution 511, which he co-authored. Read for yourself and you will agree.

SENATE RESOLUTION 511

Whereas the Constitution of the USA states the qualifications of the President, a person must be a ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ of the United States;

Whereas the term ‘‘natural born Citizen’’, as that term appears in Article II, Section 1,is not defined in the Constitution of the United States;

Whereas there is no evidence of the intention of the Framers or any Congress to limit the constitutional rights of children born to Americans serving in the military nor to prevent those children from serving as their country’s President;

Whereas such limitations would be inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ clause of the Constitution of the United States, as evidenced by the First Congress’s own statute defining the term ‘‘natural born Citizen’’;

Whereas the well-being of all citizens of the United States is preserved and enhanced by the men and women who are assigned to serve our country outside of our national borders;

Whereas previous presidential candidates were born outside of the United States of America and were understood to be eligible to be President; and Whereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved,

That John Sidney McCain, III, is a ‘‘natural born Citizen’’ under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States. "Born to American citizens.”

The Senate Resolution that was adopted unanimously, with Mr. Obama’s approval, declares that natural born means “born to American citizens.” The plural use of citizens implies that the mother and father are both American citizens.

This, therefore, disqualifies Mr. Obama. His father was NOT an American. He was born in Kenya, while it was under British rule. Mr. Obama states on his own website that he has dual citizenship.

FighttheSmears.com states:

“When Barack Obama Jr. was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Kenya was a British colony, still part of the United Kingdom’s dwindling empire. As a Kenyan native, Barack Obama Sr. was a British subject whose citizenship status was governed by The British Nationality Act of 1948. That same act governed the status of Obama Senior’s children.”

Additional Information about this issue can be found on our website. See below.

Dr. Douglas W. Schell

Chair, www.restoretheconstitutionalrepublic.org

Retired Professor of Business

336-983-7655

Barack Obama's eligibility for the office of POTUS: petition to uphold the Constitution

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/OurConstitution/

Wording of the petition:

"THIS IS A NON-PARTISAN PETITION

OATH OF OFFICE for Congressmen, Senators and the President of the United States as set forth in the US Constitution

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

Dear Congressional Representative:

I am writing to ask you to defend our country and uphold the Constitution as per your solemn oath of office. I believe we are facing a Constitutional crisis with the unanswered questions surrounding Barack Obama’s eligibility to be President in accordance to Article 2 of the Constitution.

Mr. Obama has refused, to date, to release any and all information that would prove his eligibility. Due to the many concerns surrounding this issue, you cannot allow this to pass without challenge. I am asking that you, as my representative, join in a Congressional or Senate investigation, formal or otherwise, and file a joint written objection with the Federal Registry which is required to be signed from a member from both houses to challenge Barack Obama’s certification as the next President of the United States. His candidacy should be rejected unless he provides unimpeachable proof that he is in fact eligible to take office. This MUST be done before the Congress reconvenes for the formal count on January 8, 2009.

You might be thinking that Mr. Obama's eligibility has already been confirmed. I assure you it has not. Regardless of whether it was real, altered or forged, that computer printout supplied by Mr. Obama is simply NOT the “Birth Certificate” that could be used to prove U.S. birth. The document that Mr. Obama has provided to the public is a ‘certification of live birth, typically available for children born overseas of at least one Hawaiian citizen. The vault (long Version) birth certificate, per Hawaiian Statute 883.176 allows the birth in another State or another country to be registered in Hawaii. Box 7C of the vault Certificate of Live Birth contains a question, whether the birth was in Hawaii or another State or Country. This is the document needed for verification.

This has been a huge controversy and has generated twenty plus lawsuits and the tally is only growing. Some of these cases have reached the Supreme Court. No case has been lost on the merits – any dismissals have been exclusively based on legal technicalities designed to avoid the evidence and even the discussion. Other lawsuits before the Supreme Court point out that natural born status preclude children born with dual citizenship like Obama from being president regardless of where born. This cannot be simply overlooked. This won’t go away, but will be a crisis that grows with every illegal signature. Due to these concerns, I have attached additional documentation concerning this matter and a video has been produced on these issues, which can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

It is imperative that our representatives ensure that our Constitution be upheld and abided by. This should not be an option to you, but a requirement of your office. If our own government officials will not uphold it and be allowed to turn their backs to it, then it should be expected that its ‘people’ will no longer be bound by it either.

If we begin to allow ourselves to select what suits us, when it suits us, we have then made the Constitution meaningless. It would no longer carry authority and there is no longer a unity among the states or its’ people. We should be ruled by Law, not by the whims of man, party loyalty, or how much money a person has.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have signed petitions demonstrating their outrage over this. Millions have viewed the web sites and joined the discussions. Despite a media blackout, polls now show a majority of Americans are aware of this ongoing controversy and want the matter faithfully resolved in keeping with the constitution. WE are expecting that our representatives will take action and stand up for our rights on this matter. It is your Constitutional right to make this objection. It takes one senator and one representative – each from any state; I am hoping that at least one of those persons is you. We hold you, and the position for which you have been elected, in the highest regard and have every hope that you will uphold the oath you took.


For our Constitutional Republic,

We sign this petition

=================================================
Article 2, Section I
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
=================================================

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/OurConstitution/

Links to lots of sites with information relevant to this petition can be found on the petition site.

The McCanns' Christmas video is "more like a Christmas campaign for toys."

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

Watch the new Maddie video

Gonçalo Amaral, former coordinator of the DIC - the PJ's Department of Criminal Investigation, head of the investigation into Madeleine McCann's disappearance, today accused the parents of the little British girl of "feeding the idea that the child is still alive."

"They should admit, once and for all, that the little one is dead," states Gonçalo Amaral in statements to the Portuguese daily newspaper, Correio da Manha. According to the former inspector, the video released by the McCanns, "is more like a Christmas campaign for toys and not the search for a child," deploring that "videos about the child's disappearance and those about the reason for that disappearance were not released, because that would help, and very much so, the investigation."

The call by the former inspector, requesting the disclosure of a series of videos and images as yet unknown to the public, is not likely to succeed, because still, in spite of several appeals in that direction, neither the McCanns nor the Portuguese Public Minister (MP) is showing the least willingness to to reopen the investigation.

Some videos and images from the Tapas 9's holiday have never been released, because the group has always claimed to the police that they didn't exist. For the Portuguese authorities' part, the MP still retains an important set of documents under the secrecy of justice, even if a source close to the Prosecutor's office admits that, "certain journalists have shown publicly that they have a copy of it," stressing for their attention, "that it is important that the use of these documents is done in such a way so as not to harm a possible reopening of the investigation."

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

22/12/08

Madeleine McCann's pyjamas.

(Click to enlarge images)

On at least one forum today, there is renewed discussion about the pyjamas Madeleine's parents said she was wearing on the evening she disappeared from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz. So, I thought I would briefly revisit the photos of those pyjamas, the sketch of the abductor, which Jane Tanner verified as a likeness and Jane Tanner's statements (or maybe just a couple of them!) about what she saw.

First of all, could the pyjamas pictured on the right, look like those in the image on the left when the child wearing them was being carried, not just in the way shown, but any way? Those pyjamas being held up by Kate and Gerry would surely not reach a child's ankles. They are baggy and look like they'd reach just over the knees, or at their longest, be mid-calf length when a child was standing up, but lying down or being carried, they'd probably slip up over the knees.

Now, let's look at some statements from Jane Tanner:

Times Online May 28th 2007

"I passed a man who was carrying blonde girl in pink pyjamas"

"The vital witness, a close friend of Kate and Gerry McCann, was on her way to join Madeleine’s parents for dinner at the tapas bar when she saw a man with a blonde girl wrapped in a blanket. She was wearing “distinguishable” pink pyjamas, the woman has told police."

"The woman saw the man close to the open window of the bedroom where Madeleine, then 3, had been sleeping with her two-year-old twin brother and sister, Sean and Amelie."

"The woman saw the man at 9.30pm as she arrived late for dinner with Mr and Mrs McCann and other friends at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, where they were staying. She did not realise the significance until Madeleine’s mother went to check on her children 30 minutes later, discovered her daughter was missing and came back in an hysterical state. Madeleine had been wearing pink and white pyjamas."

"The man is white, 35 to 40 years old, of medium build and 5ft 10in. He has short hair and was wearing a dark jacket, light beige trousers and dark shoes."

The Sun October 26th 2007

"A TINY figure wearing pyjamas lies still and quiet in a man’s arms – in an image thought to show the abduction of Madeleine McCann.

Parents Gerry and Kate hope the chilling picture – drawn from an eyewitness account and released last night – will bring them closer to the truth about their daughter.

Swarthy, aged around 35 with black hair curling round his collar, the slim, 5ft 6in suspect was spotted hurrying away from the McCanns’ holiday apartment by Kate and Gerry’s friend Jane Tanner."

"But she did get a good look at his hair and clothing – a maroon shirt, camel coloured trousers and black or brown shoes."

Times Online October 26th 2007

Amazingly, on the same day as the Sun's article, where the abductor's height was given as 5'6", the Times presents this description:

"The man is approximately 35 to 40 years old, of medium build and about 5ft 10in. He has dark collar-length hair and is wearing a dark jacket, light beige trousers and dark shoes. He was allegedly seen by Jane Tanner, one of the McCann family friends, at 9.15pm on May 3. About 45 minutes later Madeleine was reported missing from her bed in Praia da Luz."

It's now 9.15pm when Jane Tanner sees the man carrying a child.

The Mirror 17/11/07

"McCann witness speaks out."

"Jane Tanner, 38, said that as she passed a man carrying a child in their holiday resort: "Never in a million years did I think it could have been Madeleine.

"I just saw a person walk along the top of the road with what could have been a child in his arms."

But marketing executive Jane is now certain that she saw poor Madeleine being carried off in Praia da Luz, Portugal."

This reads, in part, like Jane Tanner's earliest description: "..with what could have been a child in his arms." So, she wasn't even sure initially that it was a child, but she definitely saw "what could have been a child," was wearing Madeleine's pyjamas?

"I'm talking now because I'm being called a liar and a fantasist. I know what I saw.

"I think it's important that people know what I saw because I believe Madeleine was abducted."

"At around 9.15 Jane was walking back to her apartment when she saw a man striding across the road in front of her. In his arms there appeared to be a child, barefooted, wearing pink pyjamas."

From Jane Tanner's interview with the Leicestershire police in april 2008:

"According to Jane Tanner, the man had long hair, quite dark and shiny. He was wearing dark clothes, "not big, but quite baggy."

"Dark colours, but then again it was, I think that it was quite dark, so dark, kind of a dark sort of jacket, but on the other hand, lighter trousers in a horrible colour, again this is, kind of a dark yellowish-brown, horrible, but not, not a good colour for trousers, but on the other hand, I wonder if it was the light that made them appear, made them appear more of a sort of mustard. It wasn't a mustard because it was too light, but it was just like one, as I said they weren't attractive. They weren't the kind of clothes I would expect of someone on holiday at Mark Warner. They were, I can't think of the material. I tried to describe it before, but as some sort of cottony material, but baggy," Tanner states."

During this statement in April 2008, Jane Tanner also seems not too sure about where Gerry McCann and Jez Wilkins were standing, but she is sure that she passed by quite close to them:

"I went back up the road and I can't remember exactly, I know this, I know, I think that Gerry thinks he was in a different place from where I think he was standing, but I was quite sure, as I walked back up the road, they were standing, one of them was on the road and the other was just on the edge of the pavement, but I thought that it was at the side of the road where I was walking, but I know that Gerry thinks they were on the other side. But I think they were closer, because as I passed, I nearly went to greet them in some way and I thought at that moment Oh "they're chatting chatting chatting" and I thought, you know, I didn't, I didn't know if they had seen me or not, but I actually went to greet them and I think if they had been so far away I don't know if I would somehow have almost gone to say hello to them," states Jane Tanner admitting that she and Gerry don't agree about where they found themselves."

However, neither Gerry nor Jez actually saw Jane Tanner, however closely she says she passed them.

Ms Tanner does not seem to be a very reliable witness, but the difference between the actual pyjamas shown by Kate and Gerry McCann and those drawn by the forensic artist to Jane Tanner's description, and verified by her as a good likeness, seems to be one of the most significant details of her witness statements. Surely this is a very basic and therefore key detail. Those pyjamas would probably not have been seen by someone with Jane Tanner's view of the person crossing the top of the road, because they would have ridden up over the knees. A very simple detail, based on the design of those pyjamas, but very significant in my opinion.

The McCanns have released a new video of Maddie

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

This Saturday, Kate and Gerry MCann started off the release of a new series of video images of their daughter Madeleine, recorded in the couple's house, in December 2006, five months before her disappearance in the south of Portugal.

The video shows Madeleine sitting on the steps of the stairs of the Rothley house, flanked by the twins Sean and Amélie, whom she is encouraging to copy her actions.
The couple do not appear in the video, but it includes an appeal from them calling for Madeleine to be returned to them: "Christmas is a time for children. Please help bring our daughter back." The video ends with the message "This will be our second Christmas without our daughter. Please help us make sure we don't have a third."

The release of this new video, which the McCanns had promised for Christmas, started off tonight in Australia. Clarence Mitchell, former director of the Media Monitoring Unit and spokesperson for the family, stated that the couple "do not wish to say anything further. They feel that the video will speak for itself."

The video can be seen on the SOS Madeleine McCann web site, as well as on various news channels on TV and on their web sites. It seems rather odd that the McCanns are only now releasing this video, which is the first time the public will have heard Madeleine speaking. It also gives a much better impression of the real child who disappeared from her family's holiday apartment than any photos the McCanns chose to release as posters of their child.

So, what does the video say to Madeleine, whom her parents are telling us is still out there? Does it say, this Christmas, we are thinking of you and hope you are safe and well? No, it says, Kate and Gerry McCann are having a hard time, please help us.

This is the poster the McCanns are asking people to download and take with them if they are going abroad this Christmas.

The central image looks like it was taken quite some time before the Praia da Luz holiday and it doesn't appear to show a child with blonde hair. Rather, it shows a child with mid-brown hair. I really don't see the point of producing another poster with very old images of Madeleine, who would now be aged five years and seven months and look quite different from any of those photos, simply from the natural process of growth and development, never mind the efforts of any abductor to alter her appearance.

I guess I am being very cynical here, but that poster would surely not help to find a child who could be around two years older than shown in the central image. What is the real intention here, I ask myself. And the answer I come up with is related directly to the rather prominent Paypal button on the McCanns' Christmas page of their web site.

http://www.findmadeleine.com/2008/

Updated - The McCann case: analysis of telephone calls reveals a lead that wasn't investigated.

http://sosmaddie.dhblogs.be/

16/12/08

Justine McGuiness and the Vascão river.

Justine McGuiness, spokesperson for the McCanns who accompanied them in fleeing to England immediately after they were made arguidos, left various documents in the apartment that served as the couple's headquarters, including photographs, establishing a possible connection between Madeleine's disappearance and the banks of the river Vascão, near the Spanish border. Today, 19 months after Madeleine's disappearance, the trail left by Justine McGuiness resurfaces.

It is September 9th 2007, the day that Kate and Gerry take flight to England, four months after Madeleine McCann's disappearance that the PJ get their hands on a series of documents left in the Vista Mar villa, until then occupied by the couple, where photographs and even a sketch are found, indicating the detailed location of a place on the border between Alentejo and the Algarve, 20 km from Almodovar, crossed by the Vascão river. The PJ inspectors went into the house immediately after the McCanns left for the airport, thus taking advantage of the fact that the journalists were accompanying the couple.

The documents left there by the McCanns' spokesperson, Justine McGuiness, were found under a sofa. In addition to the identification of a clearly defined geographic area, were numerous inscriptions which the PJ have never succeeded in interpreting. According to sources close to the investigation, nothing was done in this direction and the PJ employees who allegedly regarded the documents as being the work of an esoteric group, did not even take the trouble to visit the place indicated, considering the lead as being of no value to the case.

The McCanns' spokesperson, who was with them throughout the time when they were constituted arguidos under Portuguese law, ended up being dismissed on her arrival in England, this in spite of the fact that she might prove to be one of the most embarrassing witnesses for the couple and the English authorities. The fact is that Justine McGuiness has never been questioned by the PJ and thus it is that the exact significance of the documents and photographs has never been explained.

In statements recorded recently in London, sources close to the former Liberal Party candidate and specialist in public relations, confirmed that Justine McGuiness was even allegedly the target of various pressures, notably in the legal field, meaning, for her, that she should keep quiet about everything she saw and heard during the time she worked for Kate and Gerry McCann.

What is certain is that the former spokesperson and her employers, the McCanns, were already at odds, particularly with Kate, on the day they left Portugal together and their "divorce" on arrival in England did not surprise anyone. Justine had always directed very harsh criticism towards Madeleine's mother, sometimes in the presence of journalists. And the poor relations between the two women were not limited to financial matters, on which Justine always demanded settlement for her work and for numerous extra hours spent with the couple, but also in meetings and dinners with journalists and representatives of the British authorities.

Today, all this might have been forgotten if it were not for the results of an investigation into records of the McCanns' telephone calls and of all the people who were in contact with them, an investigation led by journalists, in collaboration with former operatives of the information services.

Swansea again.

In the course of the enquiry into calls received and made by mobile phones belonging to the McCanns. during the time they spent in Portugal, the investigators were to find a report by inspector Paulo Dias of the PJ where he confirms that on May 2nd 2007, Kate received a call from Swansea (UK) at around 11.21am that she would later justify to the PJ as being a mistake. A sufficiently important "mistake" for Madeleine's mother to keep the log of that call on her mobile phone, in spite of having deleted the details of other communications.

Yet more interesting, the investigators - some of them British - used to dealing with cases labeled sensitive, were to find the recording of a telephone call made after lunch on the same day, between a mobile phone in Praia da Luz and the same Swansea number which had contacted Kate McCann. The mobile from which the call was made belonged neither to either of the McCanns nor to the group of friends who accompanied them and to date the PJ, in spite of various requests to the English authorities, have never managed to identify the owner of that mobile nor obtained anything from the English, whoever they asked, about those calls.

Now, in correlating the results obtained from mobile phone operators in Portugal and Spain with reports from the PJ, especially the excellent work of Paulo Dias, investigators and journalists have found a new element worthy of interest: the mobile used in Praia da Luz to call the Swansea number which had contacted Kate on May 2nd, was used to make and receive calls in the area indicated in the documents and photographs that the McCanns' spokesperson left under the sofa, on the day of the flight to England.

According to the now known records, the mobile was used near the Vascão river on various occasions, notably between May 12th and 15th 2007, but also in June and July of the same year, telephone calls always made to England or Praia da Luz, except one, made to the British Embassy in Lisbon.

Did Obama or Rahm Emanuel discuss the Senate seat with Blagojevich?

I guess the world knows by now that Governor Blagojevich of Illinois is under investigation for allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

From the Chicago Tribune, December 13th:

"Obama said Thursday he had never spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy and was "confident that no representatives" of his had engaged in any dealmaking over the seat with the governor or his team. He also pledged Thursday that in the "next few days" he would explain what contacts his staff may have had with the governor's office about the Senate vacancy.

Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday."

However,

"One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps."

Chicago Tribune 13/12/08

So, there are apparently tapes from wiretaps confirming that Emanuel discussed the Senate seat with Blagojevich. What of Obama? Well, I have come across two cached web pages today, which are said to have disappeared, but which someone took a screenshot of and which I reproduce here. One is an article from the KHQA (Tri-States news web site.) about a planned meeting between Obama and Blagojevich to discuss the issue. This is dated November 5th 2008. The third paragraph reads, "He's meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich in Chicago this afternoon to discuss it."

The next screenshot is an article which states that the proposed meeting took place.

I have had to make the second screenshot extra-large so that it can be read! It is dated November 8th and states that, "Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the US Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled. Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it."

So, did he or didn't he? Did Barack Obama, in spite of denials, meet with Governor Rod Blagojevich to discuss the Senate seat? And why have these pages been 'disappeared' from the KHQA web site and even the cached pages have now gone?

There could be some very interesting developments here.