JR-
Please tell us where you got those amazing rose-colored glasses!
Your inquiries about items that AMA failed to communicate got in reply excuses as to why they do not want to communicate information that members should have. Doesn't that tend to answer the topical question you started this thread with?
It may be just me, but it seems pretty lame that the insurance policy is withheld from members to keep it safe from casual browsing by lawyers. If a lawyer is even remotely considering suit against an AMA insured, you can be damned sure he WILL get a copy of it. I have to think that you know that, with your background in the insurance business. The excuse we get as to why Doug Holland doesn't communicate is that he can't type. Sandy Frank doesn't communicate coherently because he can't construct a simple English sentence. Lots of excuses, few answers.
My attitude toward having to pry information out of AMA was well stated by Bob, and I think the vast majority of members are of a similar mindset. Honestly, of the 170,000 or so members, I know of none other than yourself that is willing to making a second career out of digging for information that should have been made freely available in a perfunctory manner. Unless one keeps up with discussions that occur in forums like this one, and I think you will agree most do not, it would be impossible to even know what questions to ask. Even for the few of us that do, should we be expected to call Ms Hager to inquire if there are addenda to the published minutes that might be pertinent to issues we are interested in?
Consider the modelers that will be impacted by the Safety Code change that prohibits autonomous flight. Except for one or two that might have happened onto some discussion that took place here, how would they have a clue that the insurance they rely on is voided when they continue to pursue their particular interests? They won't learn about it until they get the Safety Code card with their membership card, AFTER they have paid AMA dues for 2004. Should they have:
-known that Dave Brown woke up screaming over terrorists launching model airplanes loaded with weapons of mass destruction? This apparently happened before last June (2002), as both he and the MA Editor wrote about it with sufficient lead time to have it in the Aug 2002 issue.
-known that the "minor' wording change to the Safety Code proposed by Brown's #2 gofer at the Jul 2003 EC meeting and approved unanimously excluded their activity from insurance coverage? Not one of the EC members dared utter a word to the effect that the emperor's new clothes looked funny, yet it seems their action is too embarrassing to disclose to the membership.
What questions should these AMA members have asked so they would have known they've been screwed before they send in their dues for 2004 renewal?
You can categorize it as 'changes in a hurry due to current events' if you please, though I don't know why you would given that Brown has been stirring this particular dog pile for over a year.
I see it as deliberate information hiding.
I really need some of those rose-colored glasses.

Abel