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Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., ordinarily is a soft-spoken person as well as one of President Carter’s chief congressional supporters. But two weeks ago he demanded that the president fire Energy Secretary James R. Schlesinger “at once,” calling him “ineffective, insensitive and at times an embarrassment to the president and Congress.” Senate Democratic Whip Cranston joined…

The phone rang early Monday morning after the largest citizen demonstration in Washington since the anti-war and civil rights marches. It was the White House calling the May 6 Coalition which sponsored that day’s anti-nuclear overflow gathering by the U.S. Capitol. Would the coalition send some people to meet with President Carter before noon? What…

I’ve been reading through Jimmy Carter’s pre-presidential statements on energy recently. They offer quite a contrast to his present unabashed endorsement of the craven power of big business in the past months. Here are some samples then and now: June 26, 1975–“At this time this nation has no comprehensive national energy policy for the benefit…

It’s springtime on the college campus. A few springs ago students streaking naked across the quadrangle received front page and TV network news coverage. The popularity of a recent movie, “Animal House,” further reinforced the public’s image of college students returning, after the turbulence of the ’60s, to the traditional folds of prolonged adolescence, beer…

“But what can people do?” cried the hand-wringing veteran radio talk show host in frustration. He had just been through a fast-paced give and take with his very upset listeners about high prices, dangerous products and the abject refusal of politicians to stand tall. The answer to that question is quite decentralized. Each person has…

In San Jose, Calif., three VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) workers helped organize a food co-op in a lower-income neighborhood. They also are developing a store on wheels to reach elderly and handicapped people. In the Harvey, Ill., VISTA, Joe Horan helped a community group form a consumer committee which reached an agreement with…

THE ACCIDENT at the nuclear plant on Three Mile Island suddenly has aroused the attention of millions to the possibility of an atomic power holocaust. Gone are the days when mass media such as Time and Fortune can glibly promote the atomic industry’s deceptions and ignore its dangers and enormous costs. I spent nearly an…

PHILADELPHIA–Philadelphians have a new epithet when encountering fraudulent or defective merchandise: “Throw it in Denenberg’s Dump,” they exclaim. It is astonishing but true! A major television station, WCAU-TV, is letting Herb Denenberg, Pennsylvania’s former insurance commissioner and consumer advocate extraordinaire, tell it like it is, complete with brand name denunciations. Dressed in the white coveralls…

TOKYO— He has the bounce and humor of a 25-year-old. At 72, Soichiro Honda, the retired founder of the Honda motorcycle and automobile company, remains pulsating with ideas and activities. Founders of substantial businesses that grow by selling to consumers in­stead of buying other companies are rare in these times of sprawling conglomerates. So it…

With its economic and technical base crumbling, the atomic power industry hardly needs another challenge in the burgeoning public controversy over the electric atom. This time the furrow on the brow of industry executives comes from a movie–“The China Syndrome,” produced by Columbia Pictures. People viewing a preview of the story about a nuclear reactor…