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A grotesque spectacle is emerging in the U.S. Senate. It is in the form of chain-smoking Wendell H. Ford, the senator from Kentucky and the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co. In his position as chairman of the Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, Ford is supposed to be a leading defender of consumer rights.…

It has been called the war between the bulldozer and the plow. The plow is losing. Every year, about 1 million acres of prime farmland and 2 million acres of lesser quality agricultural land are being converted to such non-farm uses as urban development, shopping centers and highways. The Tellico Dam in Tennessee, criticized as…

At Princeton University in the 1950s, Professor John Kemeny was known for his precision and persuasiveness–at least in teaching his course on Aristotelian and symbolic logic. It is unfortunate that he did not apply these talents in adequate measure to himself and the rest of the President’s Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island.…

Lee A. Iacocca, the top executive of Chrysler Corp., came to Congress a few days ago to proclaim his belief in the risks of free enterprise while asking for the security of the federal government’s credit to bail out his overextended, mismanaged company. He originally had wanted more than $1 billion in cash from Uncle…

American Telegraph and Telephone Co. (AT&T), a regulated public utility, must be the envy of other giant corporations. Every quarter, AT&T reports record profits of 18 percent or more. In 1978, the telephone monopoly reported net profits of $5.3 billion–up 19 percent from the prior year and an all-time corporate record in American history. This…

Starting in the early 1980s, tens of thousands of Americans may be killed or seriously injured in auto crashes every year if a congressman’s and a corporation’s callous moves are not exposed and stopped. The congressman is John Dingell–a mean-tempered legislator long indentured to the Big Three auto companies–who has been attacking the proven airbag…

In the midst of a deepening inflation and a worsening recession, the anguish of millions of blacks and Hispanics continues unabated. It is not just that the macro-economic problems of the country are commanding most of the government’s unimaginative attention. Worse, these problems are being dealt with at the expense of these impoverished minorities. Instead…

In the past few weeks, the Winsted (Conn.) Evening Citizen has run three full-page notices inviting the people of this small town (pop. 10,000) to come forward “with some ideas that will help Winsted.” The Citizen’s publisher, Joe Bradley, wants “to get the people of this area thinking positively again.” He was referring to a…

THE CONTROVERSY over the validity and fairness of multiple-choice standardized tests finally has become full-blown. After several years of growing criticism of the test­ing industry, headed by the giant Educational Testing Service of Princeton, N.J., a breakthrough occurred for the critics in July when New York Gov. Hugh Carey signed into law the Truth-In-Testing legislation.…

AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND — In contrast to its larger French and German neighbors, this small, neat country is becoming increasingly worried about nuclear power. A majority of the general public and parliament resists the prospect of Holland going nuclear. While Premier Dries van Agt, under heavy pressure from France’s President Giscard d’Estaing, seems to be lean­ing…