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POPSInsurance Company Must Pay $10 Million For Revoking Policy Of Teen With HIV 
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld a lower court's verdict against Fortis Insurance, now known as Assurant. The trial jury had awarded the former college student, Jerome Mitchell, $15 million in punitive damages; the Supreme Court reduced that amount by $5 million. Mitchell learned that he had HIV when, while heading to college, he donated blood. Fortis then rescinded his coverage, citing what turned out to be an erroneous note from a nurse in his medical records that indicated that he might have been diagnosed prior to his obtaining his insurance policy. Before the cancellation of the policy, an underwriter working for Fortis wrote to a committee considering whether or not to rescind his policy: "Technically, we do not have the results of the HIV tests. This is the only entry in the medical records regarding HIV status. Is it sufficient?" The underwriter's concerns were ignored and the rescission went forward. In the ruling, Chief Justice Jean Hoefer Toal wrote: "We find ampl
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POPSA Case Study in UN Hypocrisy only after the council president expanded the examination to include both sides. In contrast to the original mandate, Goldstone speaks only of "alleged" violations. In other words, he is trying to conduct a genuine inquiry despite having been appointed to a farcical one. It's a tricky feat. When the inquiry last week invited not only Palestinians to speak, but Israeli victims as well, Goldstone introduced something new to the UN. He deserves particular credit for inviting Noam Shalit, father of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held incommunicado by Hamas since 2006, and denied access to the Red Cross. Yet whatever balance Goldstone may bring, the inherent problem with his mission is that it plays into the collective strategy of the council's repressive regimes, which is to cover up abuses in places such as Iran, China, Pakistan, Russia, Egypt and Zimbabwe -- all ignored this year -- and instead shine a permanent spotlight on Israel.
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POPSSigners: Cheney, Rice (not Rumsfeld) Approved Torture This is why Cheney went public while Bush remains a recluse--i.e. Cheney has to protect his anti-constitutional ass from prosecution! Note that Powell was left out of the loop, and surprisingly, even Rumsfeld (at least in documentation). This was a Cheney-Neocon operation as much as the rogue Office of Special Plans was! He may have even covered for Bush in doing this. The rest of the CIA was "just following orders". Some people are saying "well, it did not kill them". But it did produce false confessions (just to avoid pain) as usual, and massive psychological damage. If you lose your sanity it mentally kills you. Remember too, that Powell's Chief of Staff, Wilkerson, said hardly anyone at Gitmo (very small percentage) could be called combatants or terrorists from the massive dragnet the paid bounties to Afghans for fingering people (for whatever motives, largely money).
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POPSSouth Africa Lesbians Are Being Subjected To "Corrective Rape" & Severe Violence By Men "What we're seeing is a spike in the numbers of women coming to us having been raped and who have been told throughout the attack that being a lesbian was to blame for what was happening to them," Vanessa Ludwig, the chief executive at Triangle, told the paper. Support groups claim an increasingly macho political environment led to inaction over attacks. A statement released by South Africa's national prosecuting authority said: "While hate crimes – especially of a sexual nature – are rife, it is not something that the South African government has prioritised as a specific project." Human rights and equality campaigners are hoping that the public outrage and disgust at Miss Simelane's death and the July trial of the three men accused of her rape and murder will help put an end to the spiralling violence.
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POPSThe Left Turns on Obama as the Right Breaks Out the Popcorn Third were the inflated lectures on historic foreign policy to be made by the clumsy political novice who trashed his own country and his predecessor in the most ungracious manner overseas to a censured Saudi-run press organ . Fourth was the campaign rhetoric of Bush shredding the Constitution—FISA, Guantanamo, Patriot Act, Iraq, renditions, etc.— followed by “all that for now stays the same”. Fifth, Gibbs as press secretary is a Scott McClellan nightmare that won’t go away . Blaming Fox News for Obama’s calamities is McClellan to the core and doesn’t work. Six, Biden is being Biden. Already, he’s ridiculed the chief justice, trashed the former VP, bragged on himself ad nauseam in Bidenesque weird ways, and it’s only been two weeks. At home, Obama is becoming laughable and laying the groundwork for the greatest conservative populist reaction since the Reagan Revolution.
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POPSAnother Terrorist Kangaroo Trial With alot at Stake So the government caught bin Laden's driver, we are told to believe, but yet they lost bin Laden? Right! It's all a lie and another show trial for a fictitious account to justify a fake war for regime changes. It is not only Mr Hamdan's future that will be determined by the trial. There is great concern among members of the Bush administration that they too could find themselves before foreign or international courts for the role they played in facilitating and encouraging the torture of detainees. The infamous "torture memos" circulated by Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Charles Addington, and two former administration figures, Douglas Feith and Alberto Gonzales, covertly approved the abuse of prisoners by the CIA. These men were publicly warned recently by Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Colin Powell when Mr Powell was Secretary of State, to "never travel outside the US
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POPSGun Control It is about time they get this RIGHT! Lets just think for a minute what our forefathers had just went though when they wrote the constitution. Do you really think they were worried about people protecting themselves from attach in their homes? Or making sure people were armed to protect themselves from an out of control government? My personal stands is the latter. And of course with that, the former is a given. Do yourself a favor and me too. Sign-up for this free service and receive a FREE DVD. Then watch it with an open mind. http://www.frontsight.com/gun-training-reports.asp
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POPSMusharraf imposes emergency rule Is this bloke an American puppet or the most dangerous man in the world. He is bent on retaining power and a willing dictator by the way he is acting. Shit. I just described Dick'n'George.
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POPSThings Are Happening In The Bush Group This is very interesting. First, one of Bush's chief advisers and right-hand man is suddenly leaving the white house just one year before the end of the administration. Now, the government attorney, who is a friend of Karl Rove and was given that job after Gonzales fired the attorney who was doing a fine job according to all reports is quitting that post. I get the feeling that their are rats that have decided to leave a sinking ship. Me gets the feeling that the shit is gonna be hitting the fan long and hard in the administration over the next 6-12 months. Get ready!
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POPSDetails of Saddam's Execution I find it interesting that Al-Maliki didn't attend the exection. He's on record as being against the death penalty, but it's also smart politically. By not attending personally, he avoids the appearance that he's a Shiite politician gloating over the death of the Sunnis' hero.
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POPSFrance issues Rwanda warrants – BBC News It seems strange that an arrest warrant is being issued twelve years after the fact. Personally, I think the whole damn world (except Canada) is responsible for Rwandan genocide, by virtue of the fact that no one (but Canada) responded, and many countries, including France and England, continued supplying arms to militants after the genocide began.
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