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Back in the late ’60s when students were demonstrating or sitting-in on many a college campus, embattled school administrators would urge students to work for needed changes in society through conventional political and legal channels. Why be so disruptive, they would plead, when students could use their democratic rights as citizens through traditional branches of…
President Ford, who believes consumer energy prices are not high enough, is pushing Congress to deregulate the price of interstate natural gas. Although this move, backed by the giant oil companies, would cost consumers about $10 billion a year (a $64 annual increase in the average residential user’s gas bill), Ford thinks it would encourage…
The FBI is bracing itself for an expected surge of requests by citizens for copies of their FBI files. Under new amendments to the Freedom of Information Act passed last fall and effective this month, it will be easier, though not easy, for people to start prying loose some of the personal files kept on…
A coal miner’s hazard is emerging as a significant and commercially feasible source of clean energy. It is the methane gas in underground coalbeds which is historically associated with coal-mining explosions Virtually equivalent to natural gas, methane can be used, like natural gas, for home heating and fueling gas appliances. UNTIL RECENTLY, the methane in…
Close by the Los Angeles International Airport rises the giant Marriott Motel —a symbol of electricity waste with its decorative and bulbous outdoor lights punctuating each room throughout the night. Looking around that sprawling city, a visiting Martian could surmise that one of Los Angeles’ purposes is to waste energy any way it can —…
The following is an open, letter to members of Congress: DEAR MEMBER: With report after report of declining economic conditions, massive economic waste and concentrated corporate power, many people are asking what Congress is going to do for the consumer. Back in 1784, Adam Smith wrote: “Consumption is the purpose of all production, and the…
The Dallas school trustees voted 7-1 the other day to bar sugar-rich or zero-nutrition foods and drinks from school vending machines. The move could spark similar decisions across the country, which is why the $5 billion vending machine industry is watching closely. Trustee Nancy Judy was the persuasive mover behind the board’s decision to provide…
It was done so quietly a few days ago in Richmond, Va. But it may spread to: ether states if citizens are not alert. House bill 13-19 was dropped into the state legislative hopper by delegate L. Ray Ashworth at the request of the Virginia Electric & Power Co. The bill would permit Vepco to…
Consumers who spend hundreds of hours a year earning money to pay for their food purchases will not spend 10 hours a year learning about what foods to buy and what foods to avoid. Yet consumers are complaining strenuously about rising food prices, inadequate nutrition, suspicious fillers and additives and agribusiness deals such as the…
In the category of things that have been taken for granted for too long, try the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO). For years millions of Americans have ordered or used the numerous pamphlets, reports, hearings and other government documents, led by the all-time government bestseller — “Infant Care.” But now, hard times have befallen both…