My Interaction With the World

As little as it means to the brutally snuffed out lives of children Nathalie Mahy and Stacey Lemmens, their murderer Abdallah Ait-Oud has been charged with their kidnap and murder [also the rape of Nathalie].

What penalty can possibly suffice for their deaths?

Labour MSP Duncan McNeill wants drug users to sign a 'social contract' saying they won't have a family whilst coming off drugs, a breach off contract leading to their benefits being stopped.

Is he mad?

Worse still Labour are going to consider the proposal!

Are they insane?

Don't politicians ever think through all the possible consequences of their proposals?

What if it leads to drug users not registering for methadone treatment? How does that cure the drug problem?
What would drug addicts do if for whatever reason their benefits were withdrawn and they need a fix?
What makes the government think that when 'high' druggies think rationally or care about anything else except themselves?
How does it solve those drug families where there are already children? Are they going to propose removing them until their problem is solved?
Where does it stop? Will they next be extending said policy to alcoholics where I'd suspect more children and people are damaged than ever are as a result of drug abuse.

Labour have lost the ability to think things through. They are looking for soundbite solutions to very serious, complex issues in order to gain back popularity in the country and votes.

I say it is madness. What do you say?

Today I came across this website that seeks to list the weird, extravagant items that people actually put up for sale on Ebay! http://www.goofyauctions.com/

So if you're bored or like me a nosey parker then check it out.

The page 2 sections contains a whole load of humorous pics and jokes.

Enjoy!

Hi... it's 22:50 and I'm just about to look for a good film to watch before going to sleep but before doing so I thought I'd share with you this goldmine URL:

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/

If you like reading then you'll surely find something to interest you here

Thanks
Matt

I spent some time today trying to piece together some information about the rape and murder of two young girls [step-sisters]in Belgium. Their names:

Nathalie Mahy [10]
Stacy Lemmens [7]

They went missing between 1am-3am on the Saturday 10th June at a street party with police attention being focused on a 39 year old paroled sex-offender that was seen in the same cafe the family was in.
Apparently this paroled man had been sentenced for 15 sex crimes, including one on an adult but still on parole [?]. Following the girls dissapearing he also has went missing. His girlfriend works as a waitress in a bar close to where the girls were last seen.
The mother and her boyfriend came under criticism for drinking heavily in the bar whilst the girls were outside on the street at such a late time.
Police called off an extensive search for them on Monday the 10th of June after no trace of them was found.
On Tuesday 13th the man - Abdellah Ait Oud - turned himself into authorities after seeing himself on TV.
On Thursday 15th June the police charged Oud with kidnapping the two girls.
On Wednesday June 28th at around 11am [0900 GMT] the body of Stacy was found by police under a sewer cap with Nathalies body being found later on at 3pm. Their bodies were around 600 metres from the cafe.
On Thursday 29th media reports were that the autoposy revealed they were sexually assualted and strangled. Later reports were that only Nathalie was raped.
On Saturday 1st July Nathalie Mahy was buried in a private ceremony.
On Monday 3rd July Stacy Lemmens will be buried.
DNA tests will reveal whether or not Oud, who remains in police custody was the rapist/murderer.

Why did I do this?

Because I want to know more about these girls than simply their names. Because I want to bring attention once more to the negligent parole system that has apparently once more allowed a perpetrator the freedom to rape and stangle to death two young children. Because I want to feel the tiniest bit of pain that those girls endured.

Pages one, six and seven of the Sunday Mail carry the story about Frontline Scotland reporter Sam Poling receiving threatening texts from George Johnstone who not only served three years in jail for causing the death of a woman through careless driving in 1997 but was also controversially cleared of the murder of prostitute Jaqueline Gallacher one year earlier:

and has been interviewed twice about the death of another prostitute Emma Caldwell.

Further it was revealed that he still has in his possession a police video showing Jaqueline Gallacher's body lying in a lay-by, something he got hold off in preparing his defence.

I'm disturbed by this story for several reasons:

1. What sort of nightmare must Sam Poling be going through whilst the cloud of suspicion hangs over George Johnstone?
2. Is the man guilty or innocent of the murder of these prostitutes and how in the world is that going to be established, if indeed it is still a live matter in relation to his involvement?
3. What utter pain the parent[s] of Jaqueline Gallacher must be going through knowing Mr Johnstone still has that tape. Imagine knowing that the possible murderer of your daughter/son had in their possession a police video of their body. The thoughts of what such a person would be doing with such would be horrific and, since it is of no value or use to Mr Johnstone why does he retain the video despite a Procurator Fiscal request for it to be returned? Is this the action of an innocent man?
4. When is prostitution going to be recognised as the individual choice of adults or is that view mistaken? Would such recognition make the profession safer or will it always be the case that those who live that life must accept the risks attached to it?
5. Why do we forget the victims of crimes so quickly? I remember the case of Jaqueline Gallacher on tv/news when it occurred but it needs a national newspaper to remind me of its horror!!
6. What personal stories lie behind these women going into prostitution?
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Update:

In relation to #3 I have emailed the paper with the following request:

"I would like the Sunday Mail to pose this question [possibly through it's letter page] to Mr George Johnstone:

If the tape of Jacqueline Gallacher's murdered body is of no legal use to you then why do you insist on retaining this material? Surely the decent and right thing for you to do would be to return this video to the appropriate authorities and to destroy any copies made of it? Would this action not be some very slight consolation to the still grieving family of Miss Gallacher"

Although aware of the ease by which the tape could be copied I still think it would be a minute token gesture.

Comments, criticisms appreciated.

Sometimes when I get up in the morning I just have a bad gut feeling about the way the day is going to go. This morning was such a day but by 1200 it looked like it would be mistaken. At 1205 the buzzer went to the excited voice of my oldest boys friends informing me that he 'had hurt his arm'. Having already broken both arms in falls at different times of his short life I suspected that this meant it was another break. I went in and told my wife who went downstairs to see what was happening [she's a care assistant so better at these things than I am] and I went to the window [10 flights up] to shout down to my son as to whether he thought it was broken. He replied 'Yes'. When my wife got to him a couple of second later she immediately said to phone an ambulance. It was another break. The ambulance duly arrived and off he's gone for what will at least be a cast if not an operation to put a pin in.

Now I sit by the phone whilst watching my youngest to await news on the severity of the break and what's going to be done. It's one of those moments you want to swap bodies with your son so that you feel any pain but alas such is not possible.

The thing is he is so brave about it, not a tear in his eye, no screaming and very factual with the ambulancemen about what happened and how he is feeling etc.

I have great expectations for both my son that they will do far better in life than I. If his bravery is anything to go by he certainly will.

The released video footage of the unprovoked assault and murder of Daniel Pollen brought home to me the stark reality of murder in a very powerful way.

I tried to put myself in the mind of the murderer Michael Lynch but failed to come up with anything that would even begin to explain his actions.

What kind of world are we now living in where such a senseless murder can take place, where a young life can be snuffed out with such blatant disregard?

I read that his remorse, low IQ and other personal problems were taken into account in the sentencing and ask myself when any of those and even those altogether can be considered legitimate mitigation for the act. Again, I come up blank.

Most despairingly I look around me for something that will be an eradication of this kind of mindset.. where is it to be found? In religion, with its myths, its hypocrisies and it's own violent nature [whether past or present]? In politics, with it's double standards, self-centered and power-hungry nature? Or in philosophy, with as many proponents of one form as the other?

What a sad prospect the current situation in the UK presents for us all, and perhaps most seriously for the growing generation.

I have a small collection of magazines that include, Bizarre, Maxim, Men's Health and Computer Pro. These tend to take up a lot of space and my wife regularly points out that I should bin them after I'm finished reading them. The problem is that most of them contain at least a few pieces of information that I want to retain, and being too lazy to just cut that out I keep the whole magazine! However, today I put them all into piles with the thought in mind to work through them and keep anything of interest and also make a note of any subjects raised that I might want to do some internet follow-up research.

Now that in itself is a brilliant idea but even better I thought I'd share in my blog a list of the subjects that I've retained or took a note off AND even put a picture along each subject where I can!! So here is the result of a couple of Bizarre magazines for your interest, entertainment and/or amusement

Mucormycosis - Mongolian contortionists
Body modification Tarantulas Ya Ba Drug and
Sadhus

What an interesting, weird and bizarre place the world can be

I'm as familiar as most people with the phrase, 'crime doesn't pay' but sometimes I think this is just an old worn out cliche that doesn't reflect reality.

Take the front page news of the Daily Mail:

"Godfather Girl's £10 million fortune".

The story reveals how the daughter of crime lord Arthur Thompson has taken control of his fortune.

Given that a vast majority of this fortune is the result of his criminal activities how can it be said that it doesn't pay?

Sure, it's high risk and probably more lose out than win in the long term but can't the same be said for the local bookies, or casino etc etc?

It amazes me that for many crime does pay and there seems little is done about it by the government of the day or the law.

Gripe over.