What's being written !

Couple accused of selling teenager for packet of cocaine

Richard Luscombe in Miami
Monday August 22, 2005
The Guardian
FBI agents have thwarted an alleged plan by an Ohio couple to sell a 15-year-old girl in exchange for a packet of cocaine.
Police say Pamela Tilley and Gregory Lowery drove 70 miles from their home to hand the girl over to a drugs dealer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she was destined to become a child prostitute.
"This is the worst type of crime that can be perpetrated on a child, to turn the child into a sex slave," said US attorney Mary Beth Buchanan. "They were selling this child to an adult male in Pittsburgh in exchange for drugs."
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Published on Monday, August 22, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Republican Senator Says U.S. Needs Iraq Exit Strategy Now
The war has destabilized the Mideast and created a potential Vietnam, Nebraska's Chuck Hagel says. Other lawmakers express frustration.
by Josh Meyer

WASHINGTON - As President Bush prepared to hit the road this week to bolster public support for his policies in Iraq, a senior Republican senator said Sunday that the United States needed to craft an exit strategy because its continued presence had created a potential Vietnam.
U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-Ne) (R) said on Sunday the longer the United States stayed bogged down in Iraq, the more the conflict looked like another Vietnam War. A decorated Vietnam War veteran, Hagel also said the war in Iraq had further destabilized the Middle East and the White House needed to find an exit strategy for Iraq. (William Philpott/Reuters)
"We should start figuring out how we get out of there," Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said on ABC's "This Week." "I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur."
read the entire article here: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0822-08.htm
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Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuela's president
Pat Robertson, host of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club and founder of the Christian Coalition of America, called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
source: http://mediamatters.org/items/200508220006
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August 22, 2005
George W. Bush's Job Approval Ratings Drop

George W. Bush's overall job approval ratings have dropped from a month ago even as Americans who approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president are turning more optimistic about their personal financial situations according to the latest survey from the American Research Group. Among all Americans, 36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 58% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 33% approve and 62% disapprove.
Among Americans registered to vote, 38% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 56% disapprove, and 36% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 60% disapprove.
read it all here: http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/
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Published: Aug 21, 2005
Modified: Aug 21, 2005 6:20 AM
Copters recalled from boneyard
Wars eating away at Marines' fleet

At Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station, a retired Navy helicopter is towed off a C-5 transport plane. It is one of three copters stored roughly 10 years in the Arizona desert that were flown to Cherry Point to be rebuilt for the Marine Corps.
Photo by Larry Conley

By JAY PRICE, Staff Writer

CHERRY POINT MARINE CORPS AIR STATION -- Earlier this month, a pair of hulking transport planes touched down and disgorged the newest additions to the Marine Corps helicopter fleet: three MH-53E Sea Dragons that had been sitting in an aircraft "boneyard" in the Arizona desert for about a decade.
The civilian maintenance workers at Cherry Point's Naval Air Depot will clean, strip and transform the worn-out helicopters into the Marine version of the aircraft, the Super Stallion, a process that could take 20 months. This is the first time that retired choppers such as these have been resuscitated, and the challenges are unique: Not only have the helicopters been outside about 10 years, but the Super Stallion has evolved with continuous major upgrades.
Restoring the helicopters, which have been out of production since 1999, is an extraordinary step; but the Marines have little choice: They're running out of big choppers.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are taking a bite out of their deteriorating helicopter fleet, not just in aircraft lost -- six Super Stallions have been destroyed in crashes since 2001 -- but also in hours that the helicopters are flying.
"They're coasting on legacy fleets," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense consulting company in Fairfax, Va. "They planned to coast indefinitely ... and it would have worked just fine if it hadn't been for Afghanistan and Iraq."
The Super Stallion is the Corps' only heavy lift helicopter, and its workhorse. It moves large amounts of cargo and troops long distances and performs rescue missions. It can carry up to 55 Marines and can use slings to transport heavy equipment such as Humvees or even small armored vehicles.
The Marines' fleet of 150 is working hard.
The two wars have pushed helicopters into a bigger military role than at any time since the Vietnam era. In Iraq, choppers are vital not only for the usual reasons -- because they can quickly move troops, supplies and equipment between points without runways -- but also because roadside bombs have become the insurgents' deadliest weapon. In Afghanistan, roads are few, and broad swaths of rugged territory are impassable by ground vehicles.
read the entire article here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/2741511p-9179104c.html