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The Democrats in Washington—beset by indecision, incohesiveness and incredible amounts of corporate campaign finance slush funds arrayed against them—have a more immediate problem. It is Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, the portly speaker of the House. “Tip” can be as amiable as Ronald Reagan. The difference between the two politicians starts there. While Reagan specializes in…

You and all other Americans own that great national resource known as federal lands. Through the foresight of our country’s forefathers, these lands, mostly in the West and equal in size to about 150 Connecticuts, are held in trust for present and future generations to preserve and enjoy. A group of land grabbers, led by…

Father Joseph Karasiewicz, pastor of the beautiful Immaculate Conception Church in eastern Detroit, is wondering how this could happen in America. An entire neighborhood of 3,500 people—houses, small businesses, schools, a hospital and 16 churches—is under siege. General Motors is demanding that the city of Detroit buy the 365-acre area (with federal funds, of course),…

Well, motorists, get ready for higher auto insurance rates, higher casualty rates on the highway and more pollution, especially from trucks and diesel engines–all compliments of the Reagan administration. Notwithstanding the technical ease with which the auto company engineers could have produced cleaner, more life-saving and less damage-prone cars, the Reaganites have moved to dismantle…

Sen. Jake Garn, the new chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, recently confronted the siren call of political hypocrisy on a piece of legislation. He succumbed to the temptation. Throughout his six years in the Senate, the Utah Republican has always railed against regulation of business. But when a federal law prohibiting retail merchants from…

Mrs. Essie Briggs of Columbia, S.C., is not likely to be pleased with what Ronald Reagan is doing to textile workers. She put in 53 years at a cotton mill where she breathed the dense cotton dust that gave her the lung disease called byssinosis. By the mid-’60s, she recalls, “I’d go in there and…

Most consumers believe that the large ‘economy-size” package in the supermarket gives them a lower price per unit than the smaller size of the same brand. A new study in Rhode Island shows that too often the reality is just the reverse. In short, there is a widespread prevalence of a “quantity surcharge.” Students and…

On March 22, 1981, the cost of mailing a first-class letter will go to 18 cents from the current 15 cents. But the stamp will be a non-denominational “B” postage stamp. This indicates that the postal service’s board of governors is not satisfied. It wants at least 20 cents to be the price you pay…

Cruel deeds camouflaged by velvet words are gushing from Ronald Reagan and his associates in great numbers these days. If you voted for Mr. Reagan, you may wish to ponder the following checklist of Reaganite actions and words since Jan. 20, 1981. Transferred the remaining pricing power over oil produced in the U.S. to the…

In spite of the fact that 145 fatalities occur each day on the nation’s highways, and thousands more are injured, the future of the federal auto-safety program is in doubt. The new secretary of transportation, Drew Lewis, is adding to the uncertainty over this lifesaving program with a remarkable zigzag verbal per­formance over the last…