Crime Lord Captured

Thursday, the Crime Lord known as 'El Taliban' was displayed by U.S. Marines to the media.  This marks a major achievement for the gang-to-gang violence in Mexico.  Ivan Velasquez's arrest was key in stopping the Zetas cartel, which has plagued so much of Mexico in past years.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/27/3561103/mexico-nabs-alleged-crime-lord.html

$100,000 Bounty

       A Federal Minister in Pakistan released a bounty Saturday on the filmmaker who created the non-Islam film.  A $100,000 bounty was set on the head of the California filmmaker.  Pakistan backed away from the bounty, distancing itself as far as it could, not wanting to be involved.  This was highly disliked by the Minister's fellow political party members.

            Now, this is completely different from another recent Charlotte Observer article, which I last posted about.  Then again, it is different views.  http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/09/24/3553957/pakistan-disowns-bounty-on-anti.html

Mideast Protests Not About Film

The Mideast riots that have been going on for the past few weeks haven't been about the Anti-Muslim film that was released a few weeks ago.  The Charlotte Observer reports that what the protests are really about is the struggle for power after the Arab Spring Awakening.  It's just old-fashioned power politics.  It's what normally happens in the wake of a revolution.  The U.S. Ambassador was not killed because of the film, but because of a struggle for power.  Now, this could all be wrong, but it's very likely true.  Because think about it, there have been so many revolutions in the middle east recently.  For instance, there was the overthrowing of Muammar al-Gaddafi in Libya not long ago.  It seems to be just a power struggle.

The Military and Suicide

Today is National Suicide Prevention day.  There have been 154 active-duty soldier suicides this year, one a day.  The Huffington post states that, "The 154 suicides for active-duty troops in the first 155 days of the year far outdistance the U.S. forces killed in action in Afghanistan - about 50 percent more - according to Pentagon statistics obtained." (Huffington Post)  And the rate is on the rise.  Surgeon General Regina Benjamin says that, "These deaths are especially heartbreaking because we know they are preventable." (USA Today).  And now, the government has come up with a plan to save around 20,000 lives in the coming five years.