EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An F-22A Raptor, the Air Force's top-of-the line fighter jet, crashed Wednesday in a remote area of the Mojave Desert, killing a test pilot for prime contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of David and our concerns, thoughts and prayers at this time are with his family," the statement said.


Contrast that last sentence with the opening sentence and then compare this article with the story on Jose Tabita.

I will admit the news value of this story is about the plane crash but I still disagree that it should be.

A women, posing as an immigration official, talked a Mexican couple into handing over their baby to her after informing them that they were under surveillance for possible deportation. The women, 43, is married to a 20 year old hot baseball prospect who started with the Yankees but is now with the Pirate organization.

The story was mainly about her husbands baseball career and few facts were mentioned about her. Her story was the lead in but the body of the article was about him.

It is a similar attitude that caused the reporter to write these articles after the same fashion as those about the missing men on the capsized boat. Only three men were routinely mentioned in those articles. One only because he survived and two others because their played in the NFL. The fourth was relegated to a possible mention in the last sentence in the articles.

There is another story floating about in the news. Some football player was drinking and driving and speeding when he struck and killed a man walking across the street. He may not be charged because the man might have been jay walking. The football player seemed to have had enough time to toot his horn but not to apply his brakes. His chosen career should not be a mitigating factor in determining if he was guilty of a crime or not but it sure seems to be.

Somehow, the emphasis placed on the events or the particular people in the stories seems more based on cash value rather than human worth. That just doesn't seem right to me.