UNPATRIOTIC AMERICAN JOURNALIST JAY BOOKMAN

Georgia Bullying Aruba? Oh Give me a Break...Jay.

Please Move Out of the U.S. and Go Shack up with the Deepak Family if you love Aruba, their laws and authorities so much.

"Duhhhh"
Is this guy a dork, or what???

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The weather in Aruba this time of year is supposed to be marvelous — sunny, with highs in the mid-80’s, just perfect for walking the island’s milk-white beaches or dipping into its crystal clear tropical seas. And the weather in Atlanta this time of year? Ehhh, not so good. Better than Detroit, yes, but not nearly so fine as Aruba.

Alas, any dreams I might have harbored about a wintertime vacation in Aruba were dashed last week when Gov. Sonny Perdue called upon all Georgia citizens to launch a boycott against that lovely Caribbean Island.

According to a statement released by Perdue’s office, “this boycott is necessary because Aruban authorities have failed to conduct a serious investigation of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway. I encourage my fellow Georgians to stand with the Holloway family and the people of Alabama who have been touched by this deeply saddening case,” Perdue said, echoing a boycott call initiated by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley.

Now, the disappearance of Natalee, who was celebrating her graduation from a suburban Birmingham high school, is a true tragedy. As the father of two teenage daughters, I cannot imagine the emotional impact it has had on her parents.

But as Perdue’s boycott announcement demonstrates, Natalee’s disappearance six months ago after a night of hard drinking at an Aruban bar has been blown all out of proportion, inflated from a personal tragedy into a full-blown international incident by ratings-hungry cable news outlets. Media figures such as Dr. Phil, Greta van Susteren, Bill O’Reilly and others have latched onto the case like leeches to a warm body, and Natalee’s parents have used the attention to launch what amounts to a vendetta against the island they blame for their daughter’s disappearance.

Not surprisingly, the case has also drawn politicians eager to bask in the reflected media glow.

Riley, for example, argues that the failure of Aruban authorities to solve Natalee’s disappearance justifies a nationwide boycott of the island, which is almost entirely dependent on tourism. Given what’s at stake for the island, which has very little crime (That doesn't account for unreported or 'ignored' crimes!), it’s hard to believe Riley’s claim that local officials haven’t paid enough attention to the case. A delegation from Aruba even traveled to Washington last week to meet with an Alabama congressman about the investigation.

In a sense, though, Riley’s call for a boycott is a gutsy move, given that there are still 34 unsolved cases of missing children in his own state of Alabama, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Clearly, using Riley’s logic, a boycott of Alabama is very much in order. Friends and I had been talking about going back to the Talladega 500 this year — we spent a great weekend parked in the infield for the 2003 race — but maybe we’ll have to reconsider unless Riley can tell us what happened to Heaven La Shae Ross, a cute little 11-year-old from Northport, Ala., who disappeared two years ago on her way to her bus stop.

Here in Georgia, according to center statistics, 68 children have gone missing over the years and are still unaccounted for. So much for that golf trip we were planning down to Jekyll Island.

Aruba residents and authorities sound sick and tired of being made the scapegoats in this tragedy, and I can’t say I blame them. Local authorities are even suggesting that the high-pressure tactics of Natalee’s parents bear some of the blame for the investigation’s failure. Beth Twitty, Natalee’s mother, denies that possibility, but I’m not sure I buy her denial.

“I’m … on a secret mission,” she tells a reporter for Vanity Fair magazine in its December issue. “I’m putting together another strike against Aruba . . . Those people down there, they’ll never know what hit them. They should never have messed with me.”

The most sane perspective on the case comes from John Merryweather, a former government official in Aruba. “Why blame the whole island, a whole country, for something that is out of our control?” he told Vanity Fair. “She attacks our justice system? What about yours? JonBenet. Was that ever solved? Michael Jackson—he gets off. O.J. That’s American justice, and the woman is criticizing us?” (Oh yes, the classic 'pass the blame', ignore the point and bring up other situations that have absolutely no relevance to the Holloway case...none of those missing children were out of the country, like Natalee!)

I don’t know how to answer that. Using Riley’s logic, maybe it’s time to boycott our whole darn country. (Go ahead Jay...move out of this wonderful country of ours if you don't like it...then you'll see what it's really like in other countries and then wish to God that you never left the U.S.)