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I just think if the case is botched there are many factors that go into it. We shouldn't get confused between the Aruba system and the US system. When people post about BHT exercising her freedom of speech they are referring to a right we have in the US under our Constitution. Aruba's system is governed by the Dutch Constitution and its interpretation of freedom of speech.

The Dutch take their freedom of Speech seriously, quoting the Prime Minister"He said the Netherlands is a country in which people can freely express their opinion. "That is not just a rule. That is a cornerstone of our Constitutional State and our democracy," the Christian Democrat CDA leader said."

http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?subchannel_id=19&story_id=13500&name=Dutch+mourn+free-speech+martyr

I don't know in the long run if anything would be different if the family had acted differently, but I do think no good comes from offending the Dutch system. They have, for better or worse, less open-ness in their court system. I think the authorities are offended by the family's constant media coverage.

I think criticizing favoritism and incompetence leads to changes for the better, certainly not saying anything will not change it and will let the next victim suffer the same. I don't understand how you cannot see that.

The media doesn't care about the outcome of the case, they just care about ratings and making it as senstational as possible. I think they have duped the family into thinking it is helping.

Yes the media is chasing dollars, but they are also bringing problems to light. Look what happened with the panties on head prison scandal in the USA or Monica Lewinski, sometimes they are right sometimes they are wrond..they report, we decide..it seems to me you want to decide for all of us...something libs want to do...

rs

"The Dutch take their freedom of Speech seriously, quoting the Prime Minister"He said the Netherlands is a country in which people can freely express their opinion. "This is not just a rule. That is a cornerstone of our Constitutional State and our democracy," the Christian Democrat CDA leader said."

"Dutch lawmakers have in their quest for tolerance given the courts tools to silence certain expressions of free speech. This by the way is hardly a Dutch phenomenon, in Canada you have to be careful with what you say these days as under the guise of tolerance and a respectful and unified society a number of unwitting citizens and TV-personalities have found themselves in deep trouble after exercising the right to open their mouths."

The above is from the blog "Peaktalk," written by Pieter Dorsman, a Dutchman who studied law in the Netherlands but moved to Canada in 1999. The Dutch have all kinds of p.c. hate crimes laws which take precedence over their "constitutional" right to freedom of expression. In comparison to our freedom of speech in the US Bill of Rights, what passes for the Dutch freedom despite what the Prime Minister says is laughable!

True, criticizing favoritism and incompetence leads to changes for the better, ....and hopefully it will help people in the future. But I think it has become a hindrance in this particular case. Eventually the family may decide the best they can get out of the situation is to reform the Aruban/Dutch system, but initially they were hoping to recover Natalee.