In the Public Interest

Marlo Mahne from Florida has sent some U.S. Senators materials they would rather not see. Her letter to Senator Jay Rockefeller in mid-June was occasioned by the current Senate debate on S. 687 — a bill to federally regulate state juries and state judges in cases involving human harm from defective products. Ms. Mahne correctly…

During the days when the fledgling cable industry wanted to look good before Congress, it took to Brian Lamb’s great idea that we know as C-SPAN. For Americans who want their Congressional debates and hearings unvarnished and unedited, C-SPAN became almost a daily diet. People like Phil Donahue take C-SPAN as a daily tonic; they…

This is a celebration of the life of one engineer, a friend, Fred Lang, who lost his struggle against cancer last week in Florida. Engineers rarely receive much attention. By temperament, they are withdrawn; by profession they are often hidden behind their corporate or government employers. But Fred Lang was different. He was up front,…

The growing grip of corporate lawyer, Lloyd Cutler, volunteering as the in-White House counsel to President Clinton, continues to scar both the public interest and the proper separation of Clinton from commerce. Although he is still the active founding partner of the Washington law firm bearing his name (Wilmer, Cutler and Pickering) and is still…

Look how far your health insurance policy payments have gone. First they paid, according to seventeen state Insurance Commissioners, for the “Harry and Louise” television ads that tore into President Clinton’s health care proposals before Congress. These state regulators issued a press statement on March 16, 1994 that “urged insurance companies to pay for political…

Suppose a friend owes you $20 and sends you a check for that amount in the mail. You take the check and deposit it in your bank and it bounces due to your friend’s innocent overdraft. Some banks will charge YOU as much as $20 for being the innocent victim. Regardless of whether the check…

Tobacco industry executives are reeling from a series of embarrassing appearances before Congress regarding the health effects of smoking and because of disclosures in the media about the nicotine content of cigarettes. Now comes the consumer and corporate accountability organization, INFACT, and its Tobacco Industry Campaign. One of INFACT’s main goals is to compel the…

New Yorkers have known for some time that they pay about the highest electricity prices in the country. Big Apple residents can now know one of the reasons why: Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), the monopoly electric company servicing the area, is the most profitable utility in the nation. This conclusion is based on a study…

As compared with portrayals of virtue, depictions of vice are more likely to stimulate attentiveness on the part of radio and television audiences. But Howard Stern and Rush Limbaugh have taken this craven pit to new depths. Howard Stern, in case you’ve never heard him, is the multimillionaire radio “shock jock” with long flowing hair,…

What is happening to Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia? Talk to him about his demands that wrongfully injured victims of medical malpractice and product defects be further restricted from having their full day in court and the normally shy, self-deprecating politician behaves like his great grandfather, the arrogant oil billionaire who crushed…