DRUG CARTEL (SHOOT at MAN) Tell Him Not to RUN FOR MAYOR

EMILIANO ZAPATA, Mexico (AP) — Before the sun climbed above the hills around this central Mexican town, Saul Garcia and his family awoke to the sound of bullets piercing the front gate. A masked motorcyclist had opened fire on their brick home, leaving behind a poster signed by the La Familia drug cartel, warning the mayoral candidate to withdraw from the race or the gang would kill him, his wife and three children.

Garcia, a candidate for the local Social Democratic Party, didn't pull out. A state police officer now follows Garcia 24 hours a day while he courts voters on the steep and narrow streets of Emiliano Zapata, a suburb of Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos.

As Mexicans head to the ballot box Sunday, drug cartels are registering their votes with scare tactics and cold, hard cash to make sure whoever is elected doesn't interfere with their lucrative operations. The focus is usually on local politics, where officials and their police departments can cause problems, or smooth the way, for gangs moving drugs or shaking down businesses. It's also easier to influence a local race than an extensive, well-financed national election in the glare of media coverage.

U.S DRONE ATTACKS ( Collateral Damage) DEBATE over HUMAN Life

The recent U.S. drone strike that killed al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Pakistan was by any measure a step forward in the war on terrorism.
The attack also fueled the debate over the morality and effectiveness of remote-control warfare.
Pakistan registered its disapproval; and the ACLU renewed its argument that drone attacks create more enemies than they kill. What's missing from those arguments is a viable alternative.
Strikes from combat aircraft? No. Just last week, a NATO air attack in Afghanistan killed 18 civilians at a wedding. Drones are more precise. Commando operations? Vastly more difficult, more dangerous and less likely to succeed. Doing nothing? Not an option, given al-Qaida's continuing plots to attack the U.S.

That leaves drones, which have been a remarkably effective way to hunt down terrorist leaders and keep others cowering.
»Civilian casualties. Strikes aimed at terrorists but also kill non-combatants are enormously damaging to the United States. They turn local populations against the U.S. and pressure governments to stop cooperating with U.S. forces.
Accurate counts of civilian casualties are virtually impossible to get, but the U.S. appears to be making progress toward reducing what's euphemistically called collateral damage. The New America Foundation estimates that civilian deaths have fallen from half of all drone deaths in 2008 to fewer than 10 percent last year, a total of somewhere between 16 and 36 people.

MURDER SUSPECT (Gary Giordano) WANTS 3.5 million INSURANCE Money

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Maryland man who was suspected in the presumed death of his traveling companion in Aruba is suing to collect on a travel insurance policy issued in the woman's name.

Gary Giordano says in a lawsuit that AMEX Assurance Company is required to pay him $3.5 million under the terms of a policy purchased before last summer's trip. He says in the suit that his companion, Robyn Gardner, is presumed dead following her Aug. 2 disappearance and that the insurance company "has a duty to pay the full death benefit" to him.

Gary states "shes dead I want my money"!

Giordano was held for months in an Aruban jail on suspicion of being involved in Gardner's disappearance, and the insurance policy's existence caught the attention of investigators and prosecutors. But an Aruban judge ordered him released in November, saying prosecutors didn't have enough evidence to continue holding him.

A break from the crime " The CULT " She Sells Sanctuary

TRAUMA Surgeon (WANTED for Murder) ON the Run BUFFALO N.Y

(CBS/AP) BUFFALO, N.Y. - A trauma surgeon and former military weapons expert continued early Thursday to elude authorities who began searching for him shortly after the fatal shooting of a receptionist at the Buffalo hospital where they worked. Police warned that Dr. Timothy Jorden may be armed and should be considered dangerous.

Trauma surgeon kills himself after killing girlfriend

Jorden, who has been licensed to practice medicine in New York for a decade, has served as a role model for black youth in Buffalo, people who know him told the Buffalo News. Betty Jean Grant, chairwoman of the Erie County Legislature, told the newspaper she watched Jorden grow up and

Former Girlfriend

never knew him to get into any trouble. "It's tragic that a doctor who saved countless lives might be accused of taking someone else's life," she said. "It puts a dark cloud over the mission of a hospital

UNITED STATES (WARNS of Retaliation) Zetas LEADER Arrested -TRAVEL ALERT

American travelers to Mexico should beware of possible violent retaliation for this week's arrest of alleged Zetas drug cartel associates and family members inside the U.S., the U.S. State Department has warned.
Though the warning does not specify which "Transnational Criminal Organization" might engage in "anti-American" violence, on Tuesday federal authorities arrested seven alleged associates of the powerful Zetas drug cartel in New Mexico and Oklahoma for allegedly laundering millions in drug profits through breeding and racing quarterhorses in the U.S. Those arrested included Jose Trevino Morales, the brother of Zetas leaders Miguel Angel and Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, who were also indicted but remain at large in Mexico.

According to the indictment, the Zetas cartel steered drug money to Jose Trevino Morales and his wife to purchase, train and race quarterhorses. Horses owned by the Zetas' alleged front companies competed at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico and won lucrative races, including the $1 million All American Futurity in 2010. Some of the horses, like Morning Cartel and Coronita Cartel, had the word "cartel" in their names.
The travel warning issued Tuesday, the day of the arrests and the unsealing of the indictment, urges U.S. citizens in Mexico to be on guard. "Given the history and resources of this violent TCO, the U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to maintain a low profile and a heightened sense of awareness."

ATTORNEY (Anne Bremner ) REFUSES to let the REBECCA ZAHAU CASE go COLD

CORONADO — The attorney for the family of Rebecca Zahau has submitted a detailed request to the state Attorney General’s Office asking for an independent investigation into her hanging death at her boyfriend’s Coronado mansion last summer.

Rebecca Zahau — AP

Seattle-based attorney Anne Bremner said the Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office have turned down similar requests she submitted, paving the way for the official request to the attorney general.

Zahau’s family continues to suspect foul play in her death.

Zahau, 32, was found hanging nude and bound at her wrists and ankles at the historic Spreckels mansion on July 13. The vacation home was owned by boyfriend Jonah Shacknai, CEO of Arizona-based Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp.

Sheriff’s investigators ruled the death a suicide, saying she was apparently distraught over the grave injuries suffered by Shacknai’s 6-year-old son, Max, who had fallen over a second-story railing while she was babysitting. He died days after Zahau.