AS you can probably guess,
the Natalee Holloway disappearance
in Aruba has played big to
a New York audience now that
the prime suspect, Joran Vander
Sloot is now living in New
York City.

But in a stunning development
a couple of weeks ago, a
much-hyped episode of a 48 Hours
interview with the Aruba Chief
of Police who went on air to
say that suspicions are running
high that poor Natalee was
knee deep in drugs and alchohol
on the fatal night in question,
was blocked out by local TV
stations in Albany, NY ---
and perhaps other parts of the
nation --- and was replaced with
an unscheduled showing of a
military-themed Tom Cruise
movie "Top Gun".

Ya see, up here in the North
Country, we know all about
the local TV stations subverting
prime time showings. During
the Clinton/Bush/Ross Perot
election campaigns, for each
and every time Ross Perot
went on the air with his famous
"info-mercial" style campaign
stumps, all of a sudden the
plug was pulled and OOPS!!
the TV station had
"...technical difficulties..."
which would last for the entire
duration of Ross Perot's airtime.

Funny how this never happened
leading up to Ross Perot's air
time, and it never happened thereafter.
But New York TV stations had
the living gall to play us all
for fools.

So when this weird event with the
Aruban Police interview was blocked
out after such famed notables
as "Entertainment Tonight" had
made an early evening report
hyping up and promoting the
big 48 Hours episode, it was
rather reminiscent of the old
Ross Perot election days and
a lot of us here made that
broadcast-tampering connection.

Having quick access to my computer,
and even going into the network's
website of CBS.com to verify
that I was not indulging too far
into my pain medication, the
answer was a resounding YUP!
48 Hours was scheduled and NOT
the Tom Cruise movie!!

It gets even more weird if
you consider that just a couple
of weeks prior to that, Chris
Cuomo, son of our famed Governor
Mario Cuomo, had been lead in
the ratings when he interviewed
Joran Vander Sloot on ABC's
Prime Time. This was NOT blocked
out by local afilliates.

Perhaps it has something to
do with the fact that his
brother Andrew Cuomo is running
for New York State Attorney
General to replace comatose
Eliot Spitzer who is chasing
the Governor's race. Who knows?

But let this one be entered
into the history books that
CBS TV afilliates in upstate New
York, for reasons we can only wonder
about, felt the need to tamper with
a "free press" which is supposed to
NOT be controlled by
the state, and as big as life
itself, had the living audacity
to block out the 48 Hours
interview with the Aruban Chief
of Police.

I just thought all of my
Veteran counterparts should
know.

Buh-bye.