Boarding School Bars 13 Year Old HIV+ Student Citing Threat to Students

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HIV-Positive Boy Talks of Being Denied Entry to Hershey School

by RON CLAIBORNE  •  Dec. 2, 2011

A 13-year-old boy who applied to a Hershey, Pa., boarding school told ABC News that it never crossed his mind he would be denied entry because he was HIV-positive.

"I thought I would get into the school, because of the type of student and person I am," he told ABC News in a written interview through his lawyer.

As a result of the school's decision, he added, "my life has turned into fear, anger, confusion and tears."

The school said today that its residential setting and the risk of sexual activity made the teen too much of a "threat."

The AIDS Law Project has filed suit on behalf of the boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, on Wednesday in Philadelphia District Court, alleging that the Milton Hershey School violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes HIV in its scope.

"This young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS," said Ronda Goldfein, the boy's lawyer.

"I don't see the direct threat," the boy told ABC News. "In my home we respect what my mother tells us to do. ... We come straight home from school, do homework, chores and do things as a family unit. Isn't that what Milton Hershey school is supposed to be about, but with a great educational environment? I guess not?!"

Connie McNamara, spokesperson for Milton Hershey, told ABCNews.com the school carefully evaluated the situation and the needs of its 1,850 students, which span from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

"We had to balance his rights and interests with our obligation to provide for the health and safety of other students," she said. "And this meets a direct threat."

McNamara knows well that coughing, hugging, and public restrooms won't cause someone to get HIV.

She said the school was most worried the boy would have sex -- if not now, at some point in his future years at the school, where students in groups of 10 to 12 live together in on-campus housing.

"Our kids are no different than teenagers anywhere else," she said. "Despite encouraging abstinence, we can not be 100 percent certain our kids are not engaging in sexual activity."

Even making sure the boy and students were educated on how HIV is transmitted wasn't enough for the school to grant the teen admission.

The idea that anyone could be denied entry based on a disability is astounding, said Arthur Caplan, director of the Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics.

"This notion that you can't put him in residential housing at a school because he is a vector of death is a throwback to 1987, when people were worried you couldn't mainstream children in any school," he said. "It sets back what we know to be true about the disease."

Caplan suggested the school use this as a teaching opportunity to educate students about HIV.

"I'd like to see the school hold a seminar," said Caplan. "And if the school isn't going to do the right thing, students need to confront the administration."

Even the school seemed a bit conflicted during the application process. McNamara provided ABC News with a court document the school planned to file before the lawsuit, asking a judge to weigh in and make sure they were within the bounds of the law.

"We looked at the law and our unique program and made the best decision we could," she said. "Our heart goes out to this young man."

The Milton Hershey School was founded in 1909 by the chocolate magnate whose name it bears. The school was originally intended to house white male orphans, but now has a diverse student body hailing from all over the United States. Students must come from low-income families in order to be considered for admission.

Caplan said the case reminds him of Ryan White, the teenager who became the face of the AIDS virus in the 1980s after being kicked out of school for fear it would spead through everyday contact.

"I think they'll lose the lawsuit," he said. " So they better get ready to figure out how they're going to accept him."

For his part, the 13-year-old prospective student told ABC News: "As far as me still wanting to go to Milton Hershey I still do but I am now afraid to. I want them to apologize to me for making like I'm going to be a reckless teenager and put someone else in jeopardy. They should give me more credit than that.

"I don't feel like me anymore and there is no outcome for that," he added. "But if it will help others like me to NOT be discriminated against, I guess I could try to get over it one day. I don't know when, but one day. I'm 13 right now and still got a whole lot of life to live." [emphasis added]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/hiv-positive-student-discusses-denial-admission-hershey-school/story?id=15074075#.Tto5H_LWySA

<><><>

HIV Student ‘Health and Safety’ Issue

by ALYSSA NEWCOMB

The Hershey, Pa., boarding school that denied an HIV-positive 13-year-old boy entry said today that the school’s residential setting and the risk of sexual activity made the teen too much of a “threat.”

The AIDS Law Project filed suit on behalf of the unidentified boy Wednesday in Philadelphia District Court, alleging that the Milton Hershey School violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes HIV in its scope.

“This young man is a motivated, intelligent kid who poses no health risk to other students, but is being denied an educational opportunity because of ignorance and fear about HIV and AIDS,” said Ronda Goldfein, the boy’s lawyer.

Connie McNamara, spokesperson for the Milton Hershey School, told ABCNews.com the school carefully evaluated the situation and the needs of its 1,850 students which span from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

“We had to balance his rights and interests with our obligation to provide for the health and safety of other students,” she said. “And this meets a direct threat.”

McNamara knows well that coughing, hugging, and public restrooms won’t cause someone to get HIV.

She said the school was most worried the boy would have sex – if not now, at some point in his future years at the school, where students in groups of 10-12 live together in on-campus housing.

“Our kids are no different than teenagers anywhere else,” she said. “Despite encouraging abstinence, we can not be 100 percent certain our kids are not engaging in sexual activity.”

Even making sure the boy and students were educated on how HIV is transmitted wasn’t enough for the school to grant the teen admission.

The idea that anyone could be denied entry based on a disability is astounding, said Arthur Caplan, the Director of the Pennsylvania Center For Bioethics.

“This notion that you can’t put him in residential housing at a school because he is a vector of death is a throwback to 1987 when people were worried you couldn’t mainstream children in any school,” he said. “It sets back what we know to be true about the disease.”

Caplan suggested the school use this as a teaching opportunity to educate students about HIV.

“I’d like to see the school hold a seminar,” said Caplan. “And if the school isn’t going to do the right thing, students need to confront the administration.”

Even the school seemed a bit conflicted during the application process. McNamara provided ABC News with a court document the school planned to file before the lawsuit, asking a judge to weigh in and make sure they were within the bounds of the law.

“We looked at the law and our unique program and made the best decision we could,” she said. “Our heart goes out to this young man.”

The Milton Hershey School was founded in 1909 by the chocolate magnate whose name it bears. The school was originally intended to house white male orphans but now has a diverse student body hailing from all over the United States. Students must come from low income families in order to be considered for admission.

Caplan said the case reminds him of Ryan White, the teenager who who became the face of the AIDs virus in the 1980s after being kicked out of school for fear it would spead through everyday contact.

“I think they’ll lose the lawsuit,” he said. “So they better get ready to figure out how they’re going to accept him.” [emphasis added]

http://gma.yahoo.com/school-hiv-student-health-safety-issue-171729638.html

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Kentucky Church Bans Interracial Couples

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Apparently the Freewill Baptist Church in Kentucky has nothing at all to do with free will as interracial couples are banned from exercising their free will to join the Freewill Church. What – are we back in the 1960’s?

Kentucky church votes to ban interracial couples

TOMAHAWK, Ky (Reuters) - A vote to bar interracial couples from a small church in eastern Kentucky has triggered hand-wringing and embarrassment.

Nine members of Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church backed their former pastor, with six opposed, in Sunday's vote to bar interracial couples from church membership and worship activities. Funerals were excluded.

The vote was taken after most of the 40 people who attended Sunday services had left the church in Pike County, near the border with West Virginia. Many members left to avoid the vote.

Most members of the church "didn't want anything to do with this," said longtime church official Dean Harville, whose daughter and her black fiance had drawn pastor Melvin Thompson's ire.

At services earlier this year, Stella Harville, 24, who is working on her master's degree in optical engineering, sang "I Surrender All" with her fiance, Ticha Chikuni, 29, a Zimbabwe native, according to her father. Chikuni, an employee at Georgetown College in Kentucky, played the piano.

"There didn't appear to be any problem," Dean Harville said on Wednesday. "None whatsoever."

But Harville said Thompson told him the couple would not be allowed to sing at the church again. Thompson resigned in August but would not drop the issue.

Thompson told a local radio outlet, "I do not believe in interracial marriages, and I do not believe this (ban) will give our church a black eye at all."

He could not be reached for comment.

The move has drawn scrutiny from the hierarchy of the Freewill Baptist Church, Harville said.

"This kind of thing brands all of us so easily," said Randy Johnson, president of the Pike County Ministerial Association. "That's not who we are. From all the churches I've talked to so far, it's really not anger so much as it is shock."

(Reporting by Lee Mueller, Editing by Andrew Stern)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/01/us-usa-church-race-idUSTRE7B003S20111201

12/5/11 Update:

Stacy Stepp, pastor of the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County, told The Associated Press that the vote by nine people last week was declared null and void after it was determined that new bylaws can't run contrary to local, state or national laws. He said the proposal was discriminatory, therefore it couldn't be adopted.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ky-church-overturns-ban-interracial-couples-15086323#.TtzKqPLWySA

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Occupy Democracy – Robert Reich

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http://youtu.be/ltxMtS1Frpk?hd=1

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Why “Occupy Wall Street” – Redux

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The Top 0.1% Of The Nation Earn Half Of All Capital Gains

by Robert Lenzner

Capital gains are the key ingredient of income disparity in the US – and the force behind the winner takes all mantra of our economic system. If you want even out earning power in the U.S, you have to raise the 15% capital gains tax.

Income and wealth disparities become even more absurd if we look at the top 0.1% of the nation's earners – rather than the more common 1%. The top 0.1% – about 315,000 individuals out of 315 million – are making about half of all capital gains on the sale of shares or property after 1 year; and these capital gains make up 60% of the income made by the Forbes 400.

It's crystal clear that the Bush tax reduction on capital gains and dividend income in 2003 was the cutting edge policy that has created the immense increase in net worth of corporate executives, Wall St. professionals and other entrepreneurs.

The reduction in the tax from 20% to 15% continued the step-by-step tradition of cutting this tax to create more wealth. It had first been reduced from 35% in 1978 at a time of stock market and economic stagnation to 28%. Again 1981, at the start of the Reagan era, it was reduced again to 20% – raised back to 28% in 1987, on the eve of the October 19 232% crash in the market. In 1997 Clinton agreed to reduce it back to 20%, which move was an inducement for the explosion of hedge funds and private equity firms – the most "rapidly rising cohort within the top 1 per cent."

Make no mistake; the battle that is to be fought over the coming attempt to reverse this reduction in capital gains will be bloody and intense. The facts are clear according to the Congressional Budget Office more than 80% of the increase in income inequality was the result of an increase in the share of household income from capital gains. In fact, you can go so far as to claim that "Capital Gains income is the most unevenly distributed – and volatile – source of household income," according to Laura D'Andrea Tyson, University of California business professor and former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.

No wonder the super wealthy plutocrats obtained the largest share of national income – 25% of the nation's wealth – greater than any other industrial nation in the period of 1979 to 2005. Make no mistake; after unemployment – this disparity between the 1% – 3 million – or the 0.1% – the 300,000 – and the other 312 million citizens of the U.S. has become the major theme of the Occupy Wall Street movement – and an important national debate.

I commend you to the late Justice Louis Brandeis warning to the nation that "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." We have to make up our minds to restore a higher, fairer capital gains tax to the wealthiest investor class – or ultimately face increased social unrest. [emphasis added]

http://news.yahoo.com/top-0-1-nation-earn-half-capital-gains-172647859.html

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Airline Demands On-Board Passengers Kick In for Fuel

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Airline passengers asked for extra cash for fuel

by DANICA KIRKA

LONDON (AP) — Airlines have already begun charging for food, drinks, seat assignments and baggage. Now one is demanding that passengers cough up extra cash on board for fuel.

Hundreds of passengers traveling from India to Britain were stranded for six hours in Vienna when their Comtel Air flight stopped for fuel on Tuesday. The charter service asked them to kick in more than 20,000 pounds ($31,000) to fund the rest of the flight to Birmingham, England.

http://youtu.be/tDxRQiZZ5XM

The situation may represent a new low in customer care in an era when flyers are seeing long lines, long waits and few perks.

Britain's Channel 4 news broadcast video showing a Comtel cabin crew member telling passengers: "We need some money to pay the fuel, to pay the airport, to pay everything we need. If you want to go to Birmingham, you have to pay."

Some passengers said they were sent off the plane to cash machines in Vienna to raise the money.

"We all got together, took our money out of purses — 130 pounds ($205)," said Reena Rindi, who was aboard with her daughter. "Children under two went free, my little one went free because she's under two. If we didn't have the money, they were making us go one by one outside, in Vienna, to get the cash out."

Amarjit Duggal told the BBC she was flying from the Indian city of Amritsar on Comtel after scattering her mother's ashes. Her father, sister and uncle were still in Amritsar and did not know when they would be able to return home.

The situation was highly unusual in Europe, where airlines are tightly regulated, said Sue Ockwell, a crisis management expert at Travel PR.

"It's a bit like, well, boarding a train and saying that you can't go on because they've cut the electricity off because they haven't paid the bill," Ockwell said. "You just really don't expect it. This is patently not going to do that airline any good at all."

The passengers did eventually reach Birmingham, but many expressed anger.

"It is absolutely disgusting," said Dalvinder Batra, who is from the West Midlands. "There are still people stuck out there."

Bhupinder Kandra, the airline's majority shareholder, told the Associated Press from Vienna that travel agents had taken the passengers' money before the planes left but had not passed it on to the airline.

"This is not my problem," he said. "The problem is with the agents."

But Kandra insisted Thursday the company was still solvent.

"We have not run out of money," he said. "We have enough."

Late Thursday, the Civil Aviation Authority stepped in to protect passengers after a company that sold flights on Comtel Air went out of business. Astonbury Ltd., trading as Skyjet, ceased trading. The authority will ensure that passengers get home in the coming days.

A similar Comtel situation was taking place back in Amritsar. Some 180 passengers on another Comtel flight were told they would not be taking off until they come up with 10,000 rupees (about $200) each, Kandra told the BBC on Thursday.

It was not clear when that plane was supposed to have taken off. The passengers in Amritsar were not stuck on the plane or at the airport, according to British diplomats in India. Most were booking flights on other airlines to get to Britain.

Ockwell dismissed Kandra's explanations, saying it sounded like a bad credit issue.

"One really does wonder," she said.

Airport officials in Birmingham said Thursday that Comtel's flights this weekend had been canceled, but Kandra insisted all would be operating as normal.

Kate Hanni, the executive director of FlyersRights.org, a nonprofit advocacy group for airline passengers, said she would be anxious to see how government handled the situation — and whether there would be punishment for the airline involved.

"I have never heard anything like that on a Greyhound — and there is no rest stop in the sky," she said, referring to a North American bus company. "The airlines are only competing on the lowest fares. They have reduced customer service to an afterthought.

"There's plenty of absurdity in airline land," she said.

Ravi Nessman in New Delhi contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/airline-passengers-asked-extra-cash-fuel-115831926.html

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Are You Genetically Compassionate?

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Strangers Spot People With Compassionate Genes in Seconds

by Jennifer Welsh

Strangers can "see" a persons trustworthy genes through their behaviors, suggests a new study finding that a single genetic change makes a person seem more compassionate and kind to others.

The gene in question is the "love hormone," or oxytocin, receptor. A single change in the receptor can result in higher or lower empathy, or how much you can emotionally relate to others. These changes can be detected by strangers from just 20 seconds of soundless video; these strangers could literally see the person's genes manifesting in their behavior.

Read the full article here:

http://news.yahoo.com/strangers-spot-people-compassionate-genes-seconds-005808046.html

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Republican-to-English Dictionary

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Received by email, author unknown.

~~~ Please post your suggested additions to the dictionary in a comment ~~~

<><><> 

Talking to a Republican can be frustrating. Often, it seems like they are speaking an entirely different language – and in many cases, they are For this reason, in the hopes of facilitating cross-party dialogue and mutual understanding, I have compiled what I believe to be the first comprehensive Republican-to-English dictionary, featuring words commonly used by Republicans, and their English translations, alphabetized for your convenience:

• America (United States of): A country located in the N. Western Hemisphere that is #1.
• Bible: A sacred text that provides incontestable answers when thumped.
• Birth Certificate: An official birth record required of all US Presidents, regardless of race, since 2008.
• Capitalism: A system of economic organization that has never been attempted.
• Christmas: A holiday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, now rarely celebrated due to persecution by atheists.
• Compromise: (uncommon) A form of political suicide.
• Coast (East): A very bad coast of the continental United States.
• Coast (West): Another really inexcusable coast.
• Communism: The belief that the government should never do anything.
• Condescending: Accurately informed.
• Constitution (U.S.): The hallowed founding document of the United States, the text of which must be interpreted strictly and amended immediately.
• Corporations: Large people who are overtaxed.
• Deficits: 1) Fiscal shortfalls incurred by Democrats that threaten to bankrupt the country. 2) Fiscal shortfalls incurred by Republicans that don't matter.
• Democrat: A political party.
• Election: A method of selecting representatives, the fraudulence of which may be determined by the outcome.
• Elitist: Qualified.
• Endangered Species: Animals that have it coming.
• Evolution: A theory of human origins that is out there.
• Extremist (Liberal): Espousing or adhering to political beliefs that are held by only a majority of Americans.
• Fact: Information that has been verifiably posted to a Red State comment board.
• Forest (National): Trees that have it coming.
• Gut: Region of the body from which decisions should be made.
• Homosexuality: A membership-only lifestyle organization that perpetuates itself through youth recruitment.
• Hitler: A man to whom it would be inappropriate to compare President Obama in spite of the many uncanny similarities.
• Jesus: Charismatic religious leader and son of God; born in Bethlehem in the year 0; beliefs include love, charity, enhanced interrogation, privatized healthcare, elimination of the estate tax, and the right to carry concealed semiautomatic weapons.
• League (Ivy): an association of eight Eastern universities and colleges, the lack of a fancy education from which qualifies a candidate for political office.
• Liberal: A person who should be rounded up and shot but not really.
• Marxism: A political and economic philosophy developed by Karl Marx and promulgated by Paul Krugman.
• Media (Mainstream): Where you won't hear things.
• Medicare: A fraudulent, socialistic boondoggle that is sacrosanct.
• Mexicans: Brown people who have it coming.
• Mountaintops: Ancient rock formations that have it coming.
• Muslims: Brown people who have it coming.
• News: Fox News
• Obamacare: A Federally-mandated policy to address the national oversupply of grandparents through euthanasia.
• Organic: Eaten by lesbians.
• Party (Tea): A grass-roots movement of patriotic Americans fighting for the principle of "No Taxation With Representation."
• Poll: A survey used to determine, to within a margin of error, what percentage of Americans are right.
• Poverty: The condition of having inadequate financial or material resources due to not trying hard enough.
• Propaganda: The politically motivated dissemination of biased information, opinion, or data through its publication in the New York Times.
• Punishment (Capital): The legally authorized killing by the State of someone who is definitely guilty.
• Racism: A form of discrimination that typically happens in reverse.
• Regulation: Rules issued by a government agency for no reason.
• Ronald Reagan: A fictional character based loosely on President Ronald Reagan.
• Scientist: A person who employs a rigorous system of observation, experiment, measurement, and verification to perpetuate his Godless left-wing agenda.
• Social Security: A redistributionist Ponzi scheme that is sacrosanct.
• Socialism: An economic system invented by FDR.
• Taxes: Levies imposed by the government that raise more revenue the lower they are.
• Torture: A method of interrogation that does not rise to the level of torture.
• Terrorist: A person to whom a person who threatens to destroy the U.S. economy unless his demands are met should not be compared.
• Unbiased: Giving equal weight to both sides of the looking glass.
• Wealthy (the): People who earned every penny.
• Up: A direction which, depending on circumstances, is down.
• Warming (Global): An anomalous, anthropogenic increase in the earth's atmospheric and oceanic temperatures that isn't happening.
• Welfare: A government program to distribute Cadillacs to unwed mothers.
• Yes: (no translation available)

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