Persona Non Gratis? What Took so Friggin Long?

ARUBA AUTHORITIES
Speak No Evil
Hear No Evil
See No Evil

If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, please contact the FBI tip line at 1-877-enoughisenough

NO!
Enough is NOT Enough.
We parents tend to reward our children for all accomplishments from the day they are born. Clapping hands and a big hug for those first tiny steps, a special treat for that gold star on a report card. As the accomplishments get bigger and better so do the treats.

Natalee Holloway. Birmingham, Alabama honor student, smart, well-educated, well-rounded, kind, friendly, trusting. Free from fear of others. What was there to fear? Everyone liked and loved this charming, friendly girl.

So time to reward the latest accomplishments. National Honor Society, membership in American Field Services, cheerleader, graduating with honors and off to further her education. On her way to becoming a physician, no question of accomplishment.

School trip for graduating seniors to the beautiful island of Aruba. Excitement, planning, shopping, text messages and e-mails back and forth with friends. The brochure promised:

Adventures You've Never Experienced Before Await You in Aruba!

Bonbini! means welcome, and here, you truly are.
You're welcome to dream. Of endless sun and scenery. Of breathtaking blues and crystal clear ocean and whit, sandy beaches. You're welcome to plan the ideal family vacation or wedding or honeymoon or meeting or simple escape to a colorful world away from home. You're welcome to explore. To make everything that's ours yours. To find the perfect something, or nothing, to do. Welcome to Aruba. This is our home. And we want to share our piece of paradise with you.

One can only imagine the intimate moments and conversations shared between Beth and Natalee during this special time. "When you come back, there's even more to come. A new chapter beginning. College, dorms, sororities, new friends, and study study study." Beth may have said. "All working toward another fabulous graduation day. Wonder what we will plan the next time?"

So while Aruba shared it's paradise with this sweet lovely young woman, whatthefuck was really going on there?

FACTS:

• Joran met Natalee at a blackjack table in the casino.
  
• They went next to a popular island night-spot Carlos and Charlies where the y were joined by two (friendly-looking) young men, Satish and Deepak Kalpoe. JVdS drank a jello-shot out of Natalee's belly button.
• Approximately between 1:30 and 2:00 am she leaves the club with Joran, Satish, and Deepak.
• Friends see her being physically assisted and ask her to get out of the car. She refuses and is never seen again.
  
• Joran Van der Sloot is the son of a prominent Aruba attorney who was in training to take the bench as a judge.
• Natalee disappeared on May 30, 2005. A notice was not even posted until June 4.
• JVdS had a well-known reputation for late nights, exploits with young tourist females, use of drugs and alcohol.
• The story of what happened following "Joran's" self admitted sexual encounter on the beach with Natalee has changed on numerous occasions.
• The original story was the the dropped her off at the Holiday Inn. Joran claimed to have left his shoes at the beach a few feet from the liason. Strange, what really happened to the shoes?
• The Joran changed the story to say Deepak picked him up at the beach, where he left Natalee, because she was unwilling to go. Deepak declares this did not happen.
  
• After an entire week to be counselled by the elder van Der Sloot, the boys were arrested a week later.
• After his release Joran called the arresting officers 'Putas' and criticised the Kalpoe's for 'not getting chicks'.
• The boys have been arrested and released on a number of occasions.
• Natalee's family, especially her pittbull mom has done everything from day one to uncover the truth and keep the case from being forgotten.
  
• Whether the Aruban's have been stupid or covering up is not known but the investigation was murky from the start. In the first few days Natalee's father was asked if she suffered from seizures. Since nothing was ever said about her convulsing until Joran was caught on tape three years later . . . what did that question mean?
• Three years later JVdS was caught on hidden tape admitting his involvement in Natalee's death and throwing her body into the ocean, never to be found. He continues to remain smug, rotten, nasty, contemptuous, and FREE.
  

So Mr. 'My daddy is a Judge', Mr. 'Natalee was a bitch and a common whore', Mr. Sad form of existence, the joke is on you. This was no common piece, expendable at your pleasure and will. You had no idea but have come to find out (Joran's own words), " No idea the magnitude, no idea that 'you know' the fucking mother would never shut up and go away, no idea this would become global.

BETH HOLLOWAY TWITTY WON'T GO AWAY

NO ONE IS GOING TO FORGET.

REWARD JORAN FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHMENT.

ALL EYES ARE ON YOU ARUBA - LET'S GET IT DONE.

When a Man Loves a Woman

A classic song, one I play over and over. It ranks way up there among my all time favorites. Percy Sledge immortalized it, but it's the divine Miss M, the one and only Bette Midler herself, who belts it out with such emotion that it never fails to grab my heart.

"When a man loves a woman, can't keep his mind on nothin' else . . . He'd give up all his comfort, sleep out in the rain, if that's the way she said it should be."

It isn't stated explicitly, but the song seems to promise that love will last, that it will remain steadfast through tough times and passion, even when the spark of youth is gone. The song is great, but the song is at best a lovely promise and a fairy tale. Love takes work and faith and honesty and compromise. And sometimes - evidenced by more than 50% of marriages winding up in divorce - it doesn't last.

So what does happen when a man no longer loves a woman in this millennium? The increasingly violent answers to that question are providing a seemingly endless series of criminal cases.

The benign, normal answer would be to separate from that woman, get up and leave. The split and the way it happens is a choice. Does he start a fight in order to have an excuse to take off? Does he leave a message on a cell phone? Or leave a yellow sticky on the fridge to announce it's over? Does he confess he has fallen in love with someone else or admit he doesn't want the responsibility or pressure of an ongoing relationship? Does he hide those things of value that he might lose or have to split? Does he step up to the plate and deal with his decision?

Or does he just leave? There's always that old story that begins, He just went out to get a pack of cigarettes and never came home."

Any of these messy, sad, painful endings are at least still on the radar of humanity. The woman has the chance to get over it, get past it, find a new life, or even to dwell and mourn forever. But more and more , it seems lately, the choice is anything but. Instead, the man defiles, abuses, and finally kills the woman. And more and more he even chooses to have the life he created that waits to be born in her womb is taken without so much as an after-thought.

When did it become acceptable to end a relationship or a marriage, by disposing of a woman like an old mattress waiting for the for the trash collector to haul it away and out of his sight? When did taking someone's life because they are unwanted or inconvenient become a choice?

Even if it isn't instant true love or a lengthy marriage or a sweethearts since high school situation, love and passion do - at some point - go hand in hand. Perhaps women are more likely to confuse the two, perhaps not. Does the love have to be life-long? Can a quick tryst on a secluded beach qualify, at least for the moment? Honestly, no, but that does not make it any less wicked and despicable to end a brief encounter with the ultimate display of contempt.

The public remains glued to the news, internet, televison, true crime books, and death row interviews, learning the sick details of men, as a matter of convenience, taking the place of God or whatever higher power, into their own hands. Nicole, Lana, Laci, Natalee, Julie, Stacy, Maria, and so many more have had their lives taken by the men they once loved and trusted. Men who had fathered their children or men they had just met. Relying on an internal compass doesn't seem to work any better in long marriages than it does in one night stands.

Far too often, a man decides to twist and distort the situation to produce the exact ending he wants - the quick exit to a mistake he has made and will not be held accountable for.

GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD, TESTOSTERONE IS NO EXCUSE!

Women are not disposable, they do not have sell-by date and then discard stamped on their foreheads, they are not inconveniences. If you want out, GET-THE-HELL-OUT with out resorting to depravity! Pay the alimony and child support, deal with the anger like, well, like a MAN. Not a cowardly batterer.

The key word LOVE is lost to these men and replaced with selfish, self-serving, self important . . . SELF SELF SELF. So when it comes to an OJ or a Scott or a Drew or a Joran or on and on and on, it raises the question: when a man loves a woman does he really love anyone other than himself?

What goes wrong? Too many men need a new roadmap, a new song that addresses what happens when a man doesn't love a woman. When he loves the sex, the convenience and whatever is on his agenda. Sting almost got it right, but instead of "if you love somebody, set them free", change it to " if you loved somebody, set them free".

"You can't control an independent heart
Can't tear the one you love apart
Forever conditioned to believe that we can't live
We can't live here and be happy with less
So many riches, so many souls
Everything we see we want to possess.

If you love somebody, set them free . . ."