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Sir Isaac Newton watched the falling apple and his observation made scientific history. A young pilot lay in the hospital in 1917 recovering from a mid-air collision with another pilot training over Texas. He, too, thought about his fallen Jenny and how he managed to survive a downward spin from 500 feet with only two…

Washington, D.C.–With bluster and paranoia, the lobbyists at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce across from Lafayette Square are grinding out background memos alerting their members to the latest cataclysmic event in their Chamber Of Horrors. It’s Big Business Day, April 17, 1980–a national teach-in on the powers, abuses and needed reforms of the giant multinational…

It was a rare scene but it may be just the beginning. A group of small business firms convened a press conference at the Capitol recently to charge Big Business with using industry standards and certifications to block innovative and less-expensive products. Sponsored by Reps. James M. Shannon, D-Mass., and Robert T. Matsui, D-Calif., the…

These are political election times and candidates are looking for formulas that work with the voters and count with the money backs at the same time. There is a feeling among too many incumbents and challengers that public mood and private money have to be captured simultaneously to win at the polls. The Proxmire model…

Presidential campaign politics these days seem be more a matter of candidates running against one another than of running on the important issues facing the country. Press reports on the primary or caucus contests cover daily scenes such as: Is George Bush just a younger version of Ronald Reagan? Will Jimmy Carter emerge from the…

His presidential decisions are costing American consumers more money than the combined actions of all previous presidents back to George Washington. So it was understandable that when he came to deliver his speech to the Consumer Federation of America’s annual assembly in Washington, President Jimmy Carter, who earlier rejected traditional pomp and ceremony, brought along…

Once again General Motors has broken its public commitments and decided not to assume the’ leadership to save a million lives and tens of millions of injuries on the highways wouldwide in the next 30 years. Last week, GM president Pete Estes telephoned the Department of Transportation to say that GM would not install air…

EUGENE, ORE.–The buttons here read “Keep Oregon Oregon.” They need no further explanation to Oregonians. Many of the state’s residents do not want California-style sprawl and one-sided development. Former Gov. Tom McCall made national news a few years ago when he invited outsiders to visit Oregon but not to stay too long. Oregon deserves to…

It borders on the banal to observe that the aggregate voting record of Congress is becoming more remote from the aggregate views of the people. If a variety of Louis Harris, Peter Hart, and other pollsters are to be believed, the public disagrees with the plethora of congressional votes recently that favor Big Oil, less…

Inflation or no inflation, Congress remains the best “buy” in the country. The business lobbies that ply Capitol Hill with their campaign money and fringe benefits know that such lucre is receiving far more value than when Will Rogers uttered his pithy description of the national legislature nearly 50 years ago. Some political observers believe…