In the Public Interest

George Bush at the Republican National Convention had an easy act to follow. Preceding him was the recast-again Dan Quayle, whose volcanically delivered fibs and fantasies, prompted a usually sympathetic observer, Tom Shales, of the Washington Post, to write: “His eyes were popping like a wolf’s in an old Tex Avery cartoon. A person watching…

Imagine for a moment a hypothetical, joint project by the National Parent-Teacher Organization, the League of Women Voters and the National Urban League to provide seventh graders through high school senior’s a twelve minute free daily television program on American democracy in action. Imagine further that those schools accepting such a program must require all…

It is not often that a letter arrives which is so self-contained and precise a consumer complaint. Rather than try to edit this correspondence, I want to share it with readers as written: July 27, 1992 Dear Mr. Nader, I am enclosing a copy of a letter I sent to Hanes. In your continuing efforts…

By comparison with many other nations, our country over the years has adopted stronger health and safety standards in the environment, marketplace, and workplace. Many of these standards have been under attack by the mindless deregulators of the Reagan/Bush Administrations. Now, a new assault looms on the horizon in the guise of “free trade” to…

With so many safety regulatory agencies twiddling their’ thumbs while preventable human casualties continue, a number of Senators, including Connecticut’s Chris Dodd and Joseph Lieberman, are backing a bill which starts making it harder for injured Americans to use historic rights in court against the manufacturers of dangerous products that harmed them. Part of the…

Now it’s Clinton’s turn to soar upward in the moonshine polls. Much arching of the eyebrows has been directed toward Bush’s earlier statement that he “will do whatever it takes to get elected.” Clinton is a little different. He will say whatever needs to be said to get elected. A few weeks ago in a…

“Something terrible happened to depositors during the past year: interest rates on savings accounts fell through the floor. Even certificates of deposit dropped to depressingly low rates.” These words were written in Consumer Action News, based in San Francisco, about a month before the Bank of America dropped its passbook savings rate to 2.75% in…

Cong. Byron Dorgan (Dem., North Dakota) must wonder about the upside down society these days. While Congress is grunting and groaning to pass a $2.2, billion bill to stimulate economic activities in 50 inner cities or arguing over a $300 million bill to raise the underfunded but very successful Head Start program for pre-kindergarten children,…

Dan Quayle, the Vice-President with a low, 26% favorable rating in national polls, has found, he thinks, a formula for being politically reborn. Sprung from his Washington zoo of ridicule, satire and chuckle, he has hit the road attacking the fictional heroine of the “Murphy Brown” television show for bearing a child out of wedlock,…

For those of you who think of championship football when you hear the name Penn State, a large soft drink company wants you to add Pepsi-Cola. Yes, soon, people may think of Penn State-Pepsi­Cola University. A few days ago, Penn State President, Joab Thomas, announced a $14 million, ten year agreement with Pepsi that takes…