Why the Real Snow White Was Murdered in Brussels

Many fairytales are based on real persons and events. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm made it their mission to preserve Germanic folktales.

One of the most popular tales is for sureSnow White. But few people now that the story is based on a cause célèbre that took place in royal circles. It involves star-crossed lovers, child labor and death by poison.

The tantalizing tale starts with the beautiful Margaret, daughter ofCount Philipp IV of Waldeck-Wildungen and Margareta of Eastern Friesland. Margareta was Philipp’s sixth child. Her mother died when she was four. Her father remarried. His second wife Catherine of Hatzfeld was a strict stepmother. She died childless a few years before Margaret herself passed away.

Margaret grew up in Freidrichstein Castle near the German town of Waldeck. Life for many was far from a fairytale exisance.

For one, the area was known for its mining activities. The Waldeck family ownedgold, silver, copper, lead and iron mines. In the local copper mines, much of the work was done by small children. The brutal working conditions and malnutrition stunned their growth. They were referred to as “dwarfs”.

Furthermore, Margaret’s hometown was the hunting ground of a grisly murderer. A local man suspected some children of stealing from him, decided to take matters in his own hands by giving the little suspects poisoned apples.

By the time Margaret turned 16, her relationship with her stepmother had turned so bad, that her father decided to send her abroad. She went to live at the court of Brussels under the protection of Mary of Hungary. Needless to say, her father also sent her there to marry well.

The young beauty got the eye of two prominent suitors: the Spanish Crown Prince Philipp and the Dutch Count of Egmont. Both suitors showered her with gifts and attention. Margaret and Philipp became lovers and he contemplated marrying her. That created a major problem for Philipp’s father; Margaret was not eligible enough. Marriages at that time were alliances between families, not love matches. Margaret could not offer the future King of Spain Philipp II any interesting political ties or benefits.

Soon after, Margaret’s health started slowly to deteriorate as she mentioned in letters to her father. She also wrote her last will and testament in shaky handwriting resulting from tremors due to poisoning. When she passed away at the tender age of 21, rumor circulated that she had been poisoned by or someone who hated her or by the Spanish court to prevent Philipp from marrying her.

Her life might have been short, but her legend will live on for many more centuries to come!

(Image courtesy of the Royal Library in Bad Arolsen, Reference: Genealogica iconica seu picturata comitum in Waldeck, antehac in archivo asservata ca. 1580)

Throwing The Book At Bookworms – Texas Style

Poor Jory Enck! He borrowed a GED study guide in 2010. He got it at the Central Texas community of Copperas Cove located about 70 miles northwest of Austin.

In September 2013, a new law came into effect that defines the failure to return library books as thef, which is a felony. The new law makes sense; non-returning of library books drains recourses. In Texas alone, the libraries loose an estimated $18 million in “lost” books (around 1 million items). Since many communities have to deal with shrinking budgets and rising costs, they are looking for ways to have their library items returned in time.

The Texas procedure is as follows. Any library item that is not returned within 20 days carries a fine of $200. If this fine is not paid in time, a warrant will be issued by the municipal court for theft.

That’s what happened to Mr. Enck. The police went to his address due to a reported disturbance. Once they arrived, they arrested based on a previous warrant for theft of the study guide. He was promptly arrested for theft since he failed to return his overdue library book.

Mr. Enck was released on a $200 bond, and returned the book in question to library. He also turned to the media to state that he wouldn't set foot in a library again: He also said: "I think I will probably just purchase a book from Amazon."

Mr. Eck forgot to mention that he had not been able to return the guide earlier since he had to serve a three-year prison sentence for robbery.

Texas is not the only state cracking down on people like Mr. Enck. Iowa jails this kind of offenders for one week. A man from Newton (Iowa) served jail time of more than a week for not returning six CDs and eleven library books with a total worth of a whopping $770. Vermont and Maine are also cracking down people that don’t return their library items.

The Enck incident is for now an oddity. However, it could happen far more frequently in the (near) future, especially since after such an arrest, long overdue library items are suddenly returned.

So what do you think? Are libraries (and the government) correct to crack down on people like Jory Enck to preserve their assets?

Starbucks Costly Breach of Contract

Starbucks was recently ordered to pay Kraft Foods a whopping $2.76 billion. An arbitrator ruled that Starbucks had to pay for damages as well as interest and legal fees. Based on the rules of binding arbitration, Starbucks cannot appeal.

The story is as follows. Kraft began selling bags of Starbucks coffee in grocery stores at the beginning of September 1998. Starbucks prematurely ended the contract in March 2011 and gave the business to privately held Acosta Inc.

Starbucks then accused Kraft of multiple material breaches of contract, including mismanagement of the Starbuck brand. Kraft vehemently denied any such a breach, stating that if Starbucks wanted out of the deal, it needs to pay Kraft fair value for the business, estimated at $500 million a year in revenue. Obviously, the arbiter agreed with Kraft.

Gerd Pleuhs, general counsel for Mondelez (formally Kraft), said in a statement: "We're pleased that the arbitrator validated our position that Starbucks breached our successful and long-standing contractual relationship without proper compensation."

The original agrrement was supposed to expire in March 2014, and renew automatically for successive 10-year terms unless it is terminated sooner per the agreement.

The two companies have been fighting since Starbucks Corp. fired Kraft as its distributor of packaged coffee to grocery chains.

Mondelez, whose brands include Cadbury, Oreo and Tang, said that it plans to use the money left after expenses and taxes to buy back stock.

"We strongly disagree with the arbitrator's conclusion," Starbucks said in a statement. Starbucks is however able to meet this financial commitment without any problems.

Oh What A Web We Weave, When We As KLM Want To Deceive

The Dutch government decided to terminate its investigation into airline KLM’s involvement in its bribery of politicians if the tropical island of Bonaire. The Dutch Public Office was pressured to close its investigation prematurely. The so-called Zambezi-investigation came therefore to a screeching halt.

Zambezi kicked off in 2009 in order to investigate governmental corruption. The Dutch authorities investigated possible brines to reigning Christian-democratic Ramonsito Booi and his crony Burney El Hage. The official investigation was never officially finalized due to “time pressure”.

Mr. Booi arranged way back in 2001 for KLM to enjoy low kerosene tariffs. In return.7, the Dutch air carrier would subsidize Bonaire’s airport renovation; taking advantage of the problems KLM had with the island of Curaçao for accommodating g KLM’s intercontinental flights. KLM was looking for a way to fly directly from Amsterdam to Peru and Ecuador.

Witnesses stated that KLM had to pay the Bonaire Airport part of its gallon (3.7 liter) kerosene markup via supplier US Coastal. Ramonsito Booi would be one of the beneficiaries.KLM Director Mr. Peter Hartman, a personal friend of Mr. Booi stated that Hartman entertained Booi cum suis big time. He also allowed Mr. Booi to fly business class free of charge.

The Ministry of Justice (Mr. Mario Angela) concluded that Mr. Booi traveled a lot; he boarded airplanes a whopping 237 times between August 2008 and October 201. This accumulates to 6 flights per month during a three-year period!

The investigation was never completed thanks to the interference of Judge Frans Veenhof, who decided that the investigation had to be terminated. .

The Public Prosecutor therefore saw fit to dismiss the case *gasp*!

Two more cases could be investigated. These involve real estate transactions and mortgage fraud, which would force ,
Mr. Booi and Mr. El Hage need to appear in front of a judge in Bonaire to explain /justify their actions.

KLM declined to answer any questions. It stated via email “KLM does not affiliate itself at all in the content or any of the relating questions.”

Mr. Booi denies that he ever received any bribes.

How Teenage Murderer Ethan Couch Avoided Prison – Thanks To The “Affluenza” Defense

Texas teen Ethan Couch drove drunk and mauled down four people. Couch is only 16 year old and therefore not allowed to buy or consume any alcohol. Instead of facing an appropriate 20-year prison sentence, Texas District Court Judge Jean Boyd ruled the teen will only serve 10 years probation.

Ethan Couch was speeding a truck heavily under the influence (three times over the legal limit). He killed four people, including a mother and daughter and a youth pastor. Being a rich kid, his parents got their junior the best defense lawyers money can buy. His defense team argued that the murdering punk is not to blame, but *gasp* his parents.

You see, it’s all his parents’ fault! According to hired psychologist G. Dick Miller, Couch is a product of "affluenza", Yeah, that’s right, it seems that “growing up without any consequences for bad behavior, and living under the misconception that having money” gives rich kids like Ethan the feeling that they are above the law and that their affluent patents can fix any problem.

Texas District Court Judge Jean Boyd obviously agrees with the affluenza defense, which created a media storm.

As Ivy Reyes of Springfield quite correctly pointed out “I think he should be doing time just like anybody else would if they were from a lower class. They would be doing time. I don't think it's fair to say, “Oh, he had money. Let's give him a break and probation. What about the families who are suffering?”

The victims' families are (of course) devastated by Judge Jean Boyd’s inexplicable decision. Let’s not forget, thanks to delinquent Ethan Couch, one man lost his wife and daughter, which takes him (courtesy of Judge Jean Boyd) back to the beginning of his grieving process.

Boyd ordered that Couch could not have contact with his parents while receiving long-term treatment at an alcohol rehab center in cushy Newport Beach, CA which would cost his parents half a million dollars.

It makes one wonder – Does Ethan Couch even feel remorse? Or is he too busy getting drunk (again)?

Unilever US Pays Environmental Penaltyfor Indusrial Pollution

Dutch/UK conglomerate Unilever has agreed to pay a fine of 1 million USD (or 732,000 Euro) for violating environmental regulations in the US.

The fine relates to an incident that took place at the end of 2008 at one of its factories in the US town of Clinton, CT. Waste water was at that time processed incorrectly.

Uniliver, the US Attorney’s office (USAO) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hammered out the deal.

Unilever did notify authorities about the violation, but failed to do so within the mandatory two hours once it became aware of the violation.

Apart from the fine, Unilever decided to transfer a whopping 3.5 million USD to the State of Connecticut at its own accord. This notation is made to the Connecticut Statewide Supplemental Environmental Program. The donation will be used for environmental research and education, as well as a number of sustainability projects.

The factory where the accident occurred was located in Connecticut. That factory (employing 200 staff members) was closed in 2012. It used to manufacture Vaseline Petroleum Jelly. Pond’s and Dove face cream, Axe, Dove and Suave hair styling products, Dove lotion/shampoo/conditioner, as well as several other hair and skin care products.

UK Law Office Osborne Clarke Opens an Office in Amsterdam – Heralding a New Era of Increased Competition

The mid-sized UK law office Osborne Clarke is planning to open an office in Amsterdam. The Dutch office will open its doors in 2014. The reason is clear: Osborne Clarke wants to expand its European presence. The office will focus on the enterprise market with several dozens of lawyers.

Osborne Clarke is not the first foreign law office to enter the Dutch market. At the beginning of 2013, US law Jones Day opened an office in Amsterdam. But also US law firm Greenberg Traurig is looking for foothold in the Netherlands – according to the grapevine, it wants to take over boutique law firm Spigt Litigators.

These recent developments are rocking the Dutch law market and signify the end of a long era of stability. The last shift occurred during the turn of the century when a group of UK law firms, including Allen/Overy and Linklaters, opened offices in the Netherlands. It started a new trend: Dutch multinationals turned more and more to those UK offices for legal advice instead of hiring the services of their local Dutch counterparts.

With 600 lawyers on its payroll, recent market entrant Osborne Clarke is substantially smaller than Allen and Overy or Linklaters. Osborne Clarke focuses its law services on clients in specific sectors. As part of its strategy, it already opened offices in Brussels and Paris. Opening an office in Amsterdam is a logical step in its continental European strategy to cater to its international clients.

Quite likely, more UK and US law firms will follow suit and establish a foothold in the Netherlands. Dutch law firm have to handle the increased competition and find ways to stay competitive. The need to show why hiring them would serve Dutch multinationals better compared to those new foreign kids on the block  must be a priority.

(Image courtesy of Osborne Clarke)

What Soccer Players and Prostitutes Have in Common in The Netherlands

The Dutch window prostitution enterprise Freya Exploitation Ltd. has petitioned the Dutch Tax Authority to allow prostitutes to save tax-free for their “pension” - similar as Dutch soccer players are allowed to do.

According Ms. Wil Post, lawyer and board member at Freya: “Soccer players and prostituted both conduct hard physical work. They can only exercise their profession during a limited number of years”.

Dutch soccer players can save up to Euro 5,000 per month tax free if they make a lot of money. 

According to Ms. Post, this perk would also benefit prostitutes since they have to move on at one point in their career.

Lawyer Post argued  “The current exit programs are expensive. It would be better if they could save before they come to that point in their lives.” 

Ms. Post had a meeting with the Tax Authorities to discuss his proposal.

Freya is the brainchild of Ms. Caja van Tolie, a prostitute from Amsterdam goes by “Sabrina” as her professional name. She wants to rent out “window space” directly to the women (without any intermediate)  for a reasonable price. This would ensure a safe and clean environment.

Freya wants to set up a “bread fund” for prostitutes. The women have to contribute a monthly amount, which enables them to receive money from the fund in case of inability to work.

Will the Tax Authority grant Dutch prostitutes the same tax break as professional soccer players enjoy? Stay tuned!