Posted on 06/19/2005 10:14:36 PM PDT by stlnative
In the Netherlands (the law of which Aruba follows), the maximum sentence for murder is 20 years. Yes, in rare occassions, a life sentence (not mandatory) may be given, but the circumstances must be extraordinary (multiple murders; prior convictions, etc.).
Some research on the Dutch punishment system shows that a typical murder sentence is about 15 years, shortened by about 1/4 for good behavior. Attempted murder gets you about 3 yrs.
Update..Mustache is staying at FOX..and re CNN..Nancy Grace's new show on CMNN headline news is pulling double Zahn's ratings..there's a thread here somewhere's..I'll try to find it and ping you..
Wouldn't take much to flatten Greta ... gawd she's tiny.
;-D
Napolitano/Fox said yesterday that the defendant appears before a judge who asks all the questions of the defendant and two attorneys and makes the decision on punishment. No jury.
Thank you. I thought the blogger's comment about Geraldo "slaving at a reported $2 million a year" was hysterical.
I guess I missed her, just changed channels and Ron (the jerk) Reagan is on. I see he landed on his feet. Not just doing dog shows anymore.
Rita usually didn't show her weight from the way they filmed her on Fox behind the desk.
I was having fond memories of our panty-thread!
What ever happened to Ashlee Banfield? Do you all remember her on MSNBC after 9-11? She did a heck of a job and then was let go I think.
Wow, ken, I'm not ready to be that pessimistic yet. You may be right, but I hope you're not. Besides the obvious sadness if Natalee is dead, everyone is saying there will never be a prosecution without a body.
Well, I think it is reflected in the psychological behavior of the Dutch government.
IMHO the govt. officials/big wigs on the island and those still in the Netherlands who have influence on Aruba have been "on the take" with money from the Columbian drug cartels (and probably other accompanying illegal trafficking and criminal activity). Aruba being central to their movement of money, drugs, etc. in the criminal world. However, the govt. have also cleverly made the island "tourist friendly" as a cover-up. They have convinced the general population that the largest/only opportunity for economy is tourism. The general population is dependant on those tourist dollars....while the big wigs get rich and richer on the payoffs received from the cartels. Their foreign bank accounts grow, they live lavishly, and because the island people rely on that tourism, they have worked to give Aruba the seeming appearance of all that is "good." Thus, they have kept the natives "slaves" to tourism, not privy to other opportunities, and, in essence, subservant to the Dutch upperclass control. Keeping people "in their place"....just like the Slave Trade they started hundreds of years ago - same philosophy.
This case could just be the crack that lets the world see into the seething relationship between the rich officials and crime (as it is proving to be true). That is why they are in such a panic. It is not because they might loose tourist dollars, it is because all their covert relationships are at risk of being exposed.
Just my opinion.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050617/ENTERTAINMENT05/506170335/1005/ENTERTAINMENT
Geraldo, Fox News sign new contract
By Gail Shister
Knight Ridder Newspapers
At 61, Geraldo Rivera says he's growing up.
"Maybe I'm immature, and it took me longer than it takes most people. The gravity of family is very strong. I want to be a more settled person."
With his fifth wife, Erica, 30, expecting their first baby in August, Rivera decided this week to re-up with Fox News Channel for four years.
As correspondent-at-large, a new title, Rivera will keep his 10 p.m. weekend show, "At Large." He says he got a promotion, offering no details.
Rivera quit CNBC to join Fox News as a war correspondent soon after Sept. 11, 2001. Now he says he's looking for less hazardous duty. (This from a guy who takes a helicopter to work.)
"I'm very respectful of this stage in my life," says Rivera, on his way to Cape Cod, to skipper his 70-foot ketch, Voyager, in a race to Bermuda.
(snip)
Democratic Party boss Howard Dean "calls Fox the mouthpiece of the Republican Party," Rivera says. "If he had the guts to say that to my face, I'd smack him. Our shop is a place where ideas flourish."
Fox News heavyweights Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity "are easy targets. Why discount me? My image is more ambiguous. I was Bill Clinton's No. 1 supporter, and I'm proud of it. I adore his lovely wife," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.
*gag*
He has no talent whatsoever. Still the media keeps him employed solely to try and tarnish the memory of his father.
You've nailed it.
It will be interesting to see where this goes, but either way, people on this thread will be going nuts in the end. No way any of these guys gets more than 20 yrs.
Well, as this case has been developing, this is how it appears to me. Natalee's disappearance opened the "Pandora's box."
They may never be charged with anything...that is, unless the Texas cowboys find something.
He disgusts me!!
Michael is more Ronald Reagan's son than his flesh & blood.
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