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Colombian farmers risk death to reclaim lost land

Sibylla Brodzinsky
The Guardian
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 21:24 UTC
colombian farmer
© Jeremy Horner/Corbis
A Colombian rice farmer. Millions of hectares of land have been abandoned or stolen since 1991
The government wants to correct decades of 'land reform in reverse'. But powerful criminal, armed and business interests are ranged against the country's displaced peasants

The threats against Sifredy Culma's life come in many forms: suspicious men on motorcycles circling his neighbourhood; a flyer slipped under the door declaring him a "military target"; a menacing phone call warning that he will be killed if he tries to reclaim the plot of land he abandoned when rightwing paramilitary militiamen stormed into his town in Colombia.

The intimidation started in 2010, when Culma began collecting signatures from other farmers who had fled the village of Santafe and been forced to sell their land under threat from the paramilitaries. Culma is reclaiming that property as part of an ambitious government programme to return abandoned or stolen land to millions displaced by the country's half-century-old conflict.
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Chess

60% of Americans dissatisfied with both GOP and Democrats, think a third major party needed

Jeffrey M. Jones
Gallup Politics
Fri, 11 Oct 2013 00:00 UTC
Image

Twenty-six percent believe Democratic and Republican parties do adequate job

Amid the government shutdown, 60% of Americans say the Democratic and Republicans parties do such a poor job of representing the American people that a third major party is needed. That is the highest Gallup has measured in the 10-year history of this question. A new low of 26% believe the two major parties adequately represent Americans.
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Heart - Black

Tel Aviv Judge Nissim Yeshaya: 'Some girls enjoy getting raped'


News.com.au
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 11:49 UTC
Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
© Nicholas Kamm
Judges must know they are under scrutiny says Israel's Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.
A judge in Tel Aviv has stepped down after commenting aloud that “some girls enjoy rape” during an appeals committee hearing on the rape of a teenager.

Judge Nissim Yeshaya of the District Court announced he would step down from present duties after meeting with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Supreme Court President Asher Grunis, ynetnews.com reports.

"All judges need to know they are under scrutiny and must conduct themselves in a manner becoming those entrusted with safeguarding the law and deciding the fates of others," said Ms Livni.

"This isn't just about any single statement, it's about a perception women have fought against for years whereby victims are being blamed for the rape, " she added. "Such a statement, even if unintentional, could legitimise rape in the twisted minds of potential offenders. And judges too need to know that when a woman says 'no' she means 'no'."

The offence by four Palestinian youths from the Shuafat refugee camp, took place six years ago, against a 13-year-old girl, Army Radio reported.

The judicial review panel was assembled in the Tel Aviv District Court discussed the rape victim's appeal of a decision of the Defence Ministry not to recognise her rape as an act of terrorism, as she had requested.

The victim was not present at the hearing when the statement was made by Judge Yeshaya.
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Arrow Down

The great outdoors is largely avoided by British children

Michael Harper
RedOrbit
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 19:23 UTC
British Children
© Thinkstock

British children are largely missing out on the bounties of nature. This is the conclusion of a three-year study that set out to measure the effects of the great outdoors on today's modern children.

According to research results, only 21 percent of eight- to 12-year-olds living in the UK have a discernible connection with nature. It's possible that even if these children were going outside, they wouldn't see the same plant and animal life their ancestors did.

The study, published in Connecting with Nature, found 60 percent of species native to the UK are on the decline. The researchers believe children who get outdoors and take an interest in nature would not only reap the rewards of being outside but could also help protect these declining species.

"Nature is in trouble, and children's connection to nature is closely linked to this," said Dr. Mike Clarke, the chief executive of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the group that carried out the study.

"This report is groundbreaking stuff. Millions of people are increasingly worried that today's children have less contact with nature than ever before, but until now there has been no robust scientific attempt to measure and track connection to nature among children in the UK, which means the problem hasn't been given the attention it deserves," Dr. Clarke told The Guardian's Adam Vaughan.
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Cowboy Hat

Obamacare enrollees become urban legend

Patricia Borns and Daniel Chang
Miami Herald
Sun, 13 Oct 2013 00:00 UTC
obamacare
© KAREN BLEIER / AFP/Getty Images
Will the Floridians who have enrolled for Obamacare please stand up?

Nearly two weeks after the federal government launched the online Health Insurance Marketplace at HealthCare.gov, individuals who have successfully used the choked-up website to enroll for a subsidized health insurance plan have reached a status akin to urban legend: Everyone has heard of them, but very few people have actually met one.

The Miami Herald searched high and low for individuals who completed enrollment for a subsidized health plan through the marketplace, also called an exchange, launched by the federal government on Oct. 1 in 36 states, including Florida.

The Herald solicited readers for stories of enrollees online and in the newspaper, and received a fair number of responses reflecting various degrees of success with HealthCare.gov, which has been plagued by technical problems that federal officials attribute to an overwhelming number of people trying to access the website at once.
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Attention

Exempt from Obamacare? Good luck proving it!!

Kyle Cheney
Politico
Tue, 15 Oct 2013 08:14 UTC
Image
© Reuters
The penalty for 2014 is $95 or 1 percent of a person’s taxable income, whichever is higher
Think you're exempt from Obamacare's individual mandate? Good luck proving it.

The health law's least popular component - the requirement to obtain insurance or face a tax penalty - also features a lengthy list of exceptions for people facing certain hardships like foreclosure, domestic violence or homelessness. Members of certain religious sects or Native American tribes also are exempt.

But if the online system for getting into Obamacare coverage is rickety, the system for getting out of the mandate doesn't even exist yet. HHS says it will take another month at least for the administration to finalize the forms.

The Obama administration estimates that as many as 12 million people will seek exemptions through the federal enrollment system. But if they try now through HealthCare.gov, a customer service representative will tell them that applications aren't available.

To make it even more confusing, not everyone who is exempt from the mandate will have to prove it via the exchange. Millions of people will have straightforward income-related exemptions - for example, low-income people in states that aren't expanding Medicaid. Their exempt status will get wrapped into their annual tax filing.

But for those who want to start the exemption process online - or who incorrectly think they have to purchase health insurance or be fined despite their personal circumstances - the lack of a pathway has been another example that critics cite about how the White House bungled the rollout.

Comment: Even if you wanted to sign up for ObamaCare or find out if you are eligible for exemptions, it is impossible given that the HealthCare.gov site is non-functional.
Obamacare is either the product of mentally retarded criminals or a conspiracy to destroy the American healthcare system

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Dollar Gold

Mark Zuckerberg buys four houses near his Palo Alto home

Brandon Bailey
Mercury News
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 14:29 UTC
Mark Zuckerberg
© D. ROSS CAMERON
Facebook founder/CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks to an audience at the screening of Jose Antonio Vargas' documentary film, "Documented," Monday, Aug. 5, 2013 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Living the fantasy of every homeowner who's faced the prospect of a nuisance project next door, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has bought four homes adjacent to his own 5-bedroom crash pad in one of Palo Alto's toniest neighborhoods.

Zuckerberg paid top dollar -- more than $30 million in total -- for the four residential properties located next door and behind his own home. But he has no plans to build a Taj Mahal on the land, according to a person with knowledge of the transactions, who said Zuckerberg is leasing the existing homes back to the families that live there.
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Phoenix

Over 380 detained after anti-migrant riot in southern Moscow


RT.com
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 11:42 UTC
Image
© RIA Novosti / Iliya Pitalev
Moscow police detained some 380 people during the mass rioting in a southern district of the city. A mixed crowd of nationalists and locals attacked a warehouse run by natives of the Caucasus, blaming a migrant for the fatal stabbing of a local.

Authorities lifted the emergency plan codenamed "Volcano" after midnight, several hours after public order had been restored. The plan, put into effect in the afternoon, involved sending scores of riot police to the scene of the clashes, and placing police officers across the city on high alert.

By midnight the streets were practically deserted, except for police officers and a couple of bystanders discussing the day's events. Meanwhile the 380 detained during the unrest were being interrogated in a criminal case over hooliganism - thus far as witnesses, police said.

A crowd of people on Sunday broke into a vegetable warehouse in the southern district of Biryulyovo, hurling rocks, smashing up stalls and vending machines. While the police estimated the crowd at about 350 people, witnesses at the scene suggested the number of rioters could be as many as 1,000.
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Ambulance

Obamacare collateral damage: Thousands of doctors fired by United HealthCare

Jocelyn Maminta
WTNH TV
Thu, 10 Oct 2013 23:52 UTC

In the midst of major changes in health care, UnitedHealthCare has sent thousands of pink slips to Connecticut doctors.

Termination letters went to physicians caring for Medicare patients. Those letters were sent out to doctors caring for 'Medicare Advantage' patients. It's a plan, marketed to Seniors to provide additional services through UnitedHealthCare.

A mix of primary care and specialty doctors are affected by it. And it comes at a questionable time.

Open enrollment for Medicare starts next Tuesday, and it's still not clear at this time as to which doctors are still in the United network.

The Connecticut State Medical Society is fighting back. The biggest concern is patient access to healthcare.

"What the government is looking for is to manage better care by adding a patient centered medical home so that you have a doctor who is totally invested with taking care of every aspect of the patient and coordinating it. This is clearly not a patient centered decision," said Dr. Michael Saffir, President of CT State Medical Society.
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Heart - Black

Football argument prompted dad's fatal shooting of teenage son, sheriff says

Bill McCleery and Jill Disis
Indy Star
Mon, 14 Oct 2013 20:27 UTC
Image
© Morgan County Sheriff's Office
David Carrender was arrested on a preliminary murder charge.
An apparent fight over when to quit watching football turned deadly Sunday when a Morgan County man fatally shot his teenage son, authorities say.

David Carrender, 49, was arrested on a preliminary murder charge after his son, 19-year-old Wyatt Carrender, was shot to death in the family's Martinsville home.

Morgan County Sheriff Robert Downey said the Carrenders had been out watching football games at a restaurant or bar when they started fighting over whether to return home. The son wanted to go home. The father did not.

The argument continued after the pair returned home, Downey said. "It appears the father retrieved a handgun and shot his son, it appears, six times."
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