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Walter D. Miller, 70, was pumping gas into his vehicle on July 17th,when he collapsed and never revived. His hometown, Winsted, Connecticut, lost more than the owner of the 40-year-old Miller Air Conditioning and Heating business. The community lost a many-splendored public citizen — a pillar of local democracy and service. There were times when…

Most corporations measure their worth by their bottom line—profits. For some companies, like Working Assets Long Distance and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, profits, however, don’t begin to measure their valueto the public and communities. Working Assets, for example, donates one percent of its long-distance phone revenue to progressive non-profit organizations working for peace, human…

Senior citizens long have been targets of cruel scams perpetrated by credit merchants, fast-talking telemarketers, fraudulent charities and other sleazy operators who scheme to separate retirees from their meager pensions and savings. But these devious “backdoor” merchants may not be the seniors worst nightmare. That title might be better attached to the “respectable” white collar…

In our nation there is an accelerating obsession with public opinion polls, standardized tests, employee evaluation systems and a multitude of numerical measurements of every aspect of human existence. Television and newspaper coverage of national elections has become little more than a blizzard of polling data. Education policy is influenced heavily by tests which purport…

The 180 million Americans with health insurance got a victory last month when the U. S. Senate adopted a long-sought set of rights for patients. The legislation establishes federal standards for private health insurance, including that provided through Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), and allows patients to sue in federal and state courts to enforce their…

California often serves as the nation’s laboratory for new public policy initiatives. Some of the initiatives have been disasters. This is particularly true in the area of regulation where California has bounced from pro-consumer initiatives to “free-market” solutions favored by the state’s corporate powers. In 1996, California’s Republican Governor Pete Wilson led a successful bi-partisan…

The Fourth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution spells out the right of citizens to be “secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches…” by their government. When that amendment was ratified in 1791, no one imagined that it would be corporations, not governments, which would use their vast power to invade…

If there is truly an energy crisis, why have so many of the nation’s refineries been shut down in recent years? Since 1985, a total of 98 refineries have been taken off line. Fifty of these, with a crude capacity of 1,360,614 B/SD (barrels per stream day) were closed in the last decade. The closures…

Increasingly, America’s working families are questioning how well their interests and needs are being represented by the Democratic and Republican parties. And a lot of union members aren’t meekly accepting the apathy of the major parties. They are demanding action-and taking action on their own. One of the most creative and effective vehicles for change…

Senator Jim Jeffords’s party switch changed the Senate’s power structure dramatically, but what hasn’t changed in Washington is the increasing erosion of the public’s right to know and the diminishing ability of citizens to have an impact on Congressional actions. In the reform atmosphere prevailing in the aftermath of the Watergate scandals, Congress adopted a…