Blog

Pitfalls We Should Avoid in the Race to Save Energy

July 16, 1977
Posted in

The price of insulation for energy conservation is moving up and this is only the beginning. With demand in­creasing, the handful of corporations who produce fiberglass insulation are about to reap large windfalls as they weep about their inability to expand supply accordingly. Three companies dominate the fiberglass industry. They are Owens-Corning Fiberglass, Johns-Manville, and…

Politics Delayed Car Safety

July 13, 1977
Posted in

It is understandable why some long-time supporters of automatic safety systems in passenger automobiles heaved a sigh of relief when Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams announced his decision to require such higher safety standards starting with some 1982 model cars. The battle over passive safety systems, exemplified by the air bag, has been dragging on…

Pro-Nuclear Forces Creep Ahead in Administration

July 2, 1977
Posted in

At a recent Cabinet meeting, President Carter declared that he wanted his administration to speak with one voice on stopping work at the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Project in Tennessee. With mounting op­position in Congress by a well-oiled, pro-Clinch River lobby, Carter em­phasized his strong desire to win this struggle. Why did Carter have to…

An Unhealthy Alliance Perhaps?

June 25, 1977
Posted in

The Washington taxi driver dropped off his rider and quit early. He couldn’t take the air pollution in this city where vehicle density per square mile is the highest in the United States. Mid-June in Washington brought the air pollu­tion index to a high of 130 which is described as “very unhealthy” by the region’s…

More Business $$$ for Election Campaigns

June 18, 1977
Posted in

An ill wind is sweeping through Con­gress these days. It is a mood of confu­sion, frustration, indifference, timidity and the usual ‘ presence of political venality. This is a Congress out of control, even from itself. It is bound by no substan­tive leadership or program, despite a solid Democratic majority. Its fitful slogans and zigs…

Sports Fans, It’s Your Turn to Act Like Consumers

June 11, 1977
Posted in

“GREED,” screams the lurid headline on the cover of this month’s Sport magazine, “Look What It’s Done To Our Games.” “It’s consumer fraud,” exclaims an obviously upset sportswriter in recounting a spate of what he considered to be tricky maneuvers in the industry of professional sports. Is it time for the millions of sports fans…

Getting Things Done Quietly in Appalachia

June 4, 1977
Posted in

Tens. — Barbara Walters is not to be corning to interview J. W. Bradley, Neil McBride or John Williams in this Appalachian hill town anytime soon. Nor is any national political candidate about to lead a train of TV cameras to show the proper concern for the wave after wave of strip mined mountains and.…

Is a New Day Dawning for the United Auto Workers?

May 28, 1977
Posted in

General Motors has lost its best unpaid lobbyist. ‘He is Leonard Woodcock who retired this month as head of the United Auto Workers (UAW). For several years Woodcock was there whenever GM and the other Michigan auto compa­nies needed him. He defended their enormous price increases, fought incessantly before Con­gress against necessary air pollution standards,…

Lawsuits Spawn Safer Conditions in Home, Industry

May 21, 1977
Posted in

Among the thousands of lawyers who have heard Professor Thomas F. Lambert Jr. speak, there are few who do not vividly remember his factual and oratorical eloquence in defense of the legal rights of consumers and workers injured be­cause of hazardous products and equipment. Lambert, an editor of trial lawyers publications at 20 Garden St.,…

Congressional Pay Resentment Won’t Go Away

May 16, 1977
Posted in

Like a brooding cloud over Capitol Hill, the Congressional pay increase issue just won’t blow away. The spectacle of Senators and Representatives raising their already generous salaries and bene­fits another $12,000 (to $57,500) by not voting earlier this year is fraught with images of over­reaching and hypocrisy. In its quantitative clarity, the pay increase, together…