Hannah Poling is a nine year old girl with mild to moderate symptoms of autism, which developed three months after she received vaccinations. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that her family will receive a settlement from the vaccine compensation fund. Autism activists are encouraged, but the DHHS officials insist they are not admitting a link between autism and vaccines and maintain that for most, vaccines are safe. Rather, they say, the series of vaccines Hannah received exacerbated an underlying mitochondrial condition, causing the symptoms of autism.
posted on Mar 7, 2008 - View this thread

Hummer Ad strikes all the wrong notes. Tofu-eater feels insecure upon seeing an unrepentant meat-muncher, goes buys a Hummer to 'Restore the balance' (previous tagline: 'Restore your manhood'.) Somehow the ad agency forgot that you're supposed to get the message of "Feeling Down on Yourself? Buy Our Product, Show it Off, You'll Feel Better!" across subtly, not explicitly.
posted on Aug 15, 2006 - View this thread

The SEC has proposed new rules [pdf] to drastically increase requirements on executive compensation disclosure. You can read a summary of the proposal in the SEC's press release, as well as statements from Chairman Cox and Commissioner Atkin. [more inside]
posted on Feb 16, 2006 - View this thread

£45 GBP lost to "compo" in Liverpool - Insurance fraud rife in UK A man who tried to sue a local council after he soiled his trousers tops a list of spurious public liability claims which cost UK local government and insurance companies an estimated £250m each year, reports the UK Guardian. Publishers of said report, Zurich Municipal are tackling the growing issue of fraudulent insurance claims. They found that "Only 16% of adults questioned said that they would contact the police if they knew someone had submitted a fraudulent claim against a council." Knowsley [Liverpool] Metropolitan Council "saw its claims from slips and trips soar ... to £5m annually." - for a borough of 111,000 adults that's an impressive £45 GBP per person per year. Among other factors, Zurich blames the "claims farmers" decried here by our Citizens Advice Bureau but also intriguingly says they are "continuing our campaign to combat school arson through initiatives such as our school theatre programme, ACT...."
posted on Jan 4, 2006 - View this thread

"The Bush administration intervened to argue that their claims should be dismissed" I seriously can't believe it. This is Brechtian. Something has to be missing. This can't be my government.
posted on Feb 16, 2005 - View this thread

Celebrities take large payments from charities. The LA Times (reg reqd) is reporting that celebrities have received enormous payments for making appearances at celebrity benefits, including David Schwimmer, Cher, Gerald Ford, and others. To me, it's a shocking new low, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised.
posted on Dec 15, 2003 - View this thread

Help Jack Welch buy a newspaper Papers filed in the divorce of former General Electric chief Jack Welch contend that GE agreed to provide the executive enormous perks for life: access to corporate aircraft, use of a Manhattan apartment, Knicks floor-level seats, satellite TV at his four homes...plus costs... from wine and food to laundry, toiletries and newspapers, certain dining bills at the restaurant Jean Georges. Good for him: but hasn't executive compensation reached a bizarre detachment from actual performance? (sorry, AFL-CIO link)?Unless of course you're a woman (Businessweek.com link, conservative-safe)
posted on Sep 6, 2002 - View this thread

It's no surprise that the Sept 11 Compensation Fund will cover gay partners of victims. [nytimes link] It's easy to be generous: Of the 2,800-plus who died, the Fund has found only "22 known gay surviving partners." Never mind that the Windows on the World waiters alone should have made that number four times higher, based on the "one in ten" formula for estimating the size of a gay population, one would expect almost 300 gay victims on Sept 11. Of course, not all the gay victims would necessarily be uncloseted or have a life partner, but still -- only 22? No wonder the fund is so generous to cut checks for this tiny minority. But does this unintended survey suggest NYC may not be as queer as everyone thinks? In any case, why were so few of gays employed at the WTC?
posted on May 30, 2002 - View this thread

Has one of terrorism's former poster children, Qaddafi, finally turned over a new leaf? At last some genuinely good news from the Middle East. Libya's offer to pay $2,7-billion in compensation to the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland seems to indicate so. Although the Libyans are almost certainly motivated by their desire to end sanctions against them as a 'state sponsor of terrorism,' this is a hopefully a declaration of 'mea culpa' from the 'colonel' and maybe a sign of better things to come from others in the region that still think that there is something to be gained from blowing up so-called 'infidels' in civilian aircraft.
posted on May 29, 2002 - View this thread

Victims' families of Sept. 11 attack to get average of $1.5 million. Will this include the families of those who are still listed as missing instead of dead? Is the compensation structure fair? Should the families have to give up most of their rights to sue (and who would they be able to sue)?
posted on Dec 21, 2001 - View this thread