In the Public Interest

Once in a while during my routine scanning of numerous trade magazines each month, there is a gem glowing from the morass of pages. Such a clearly candid article appeared in the Feb. 18, 1991 issue of Computer World by Dennis E. Noonan. He said what probably has been percolating in the mind of many…

There are those times when large farces meet great performances. One of those unique events occurred a few days ago at Sothebys, the New York City auction house. A 1910 Honus Wagner baseball card in multicolor, mint condition was auctioned for a record $451,000. For those of you who collected baseball cards years ago, put…

Once in a while a government official delivers a speech which says something and helps ever so slightly to give value to all those travels on the taxpayer’s tab. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh journeyed to New Orleans recently to address an environmental law enforcement conference of prosecutors. Taking off on the theme of the Blue…

“Safety Should be Our First Priority. The Auto Industry Has Dragged Its Feet Long Enough.” “In the early Eighties, the American car industry made a mockery of ‘Made in America.- “We believe a car engineered for safety is a car engineered for quality.” Who wrote the above words Consumer Advocates? Government Safety Regulators? None other…

There is a troubling triangle taking repeated shape in American Presidential politics that should give thinking people pause. From the murky miasma of many neglected domestic problems and tragedies in our country there emerges the Commander in Chief. He throws the spotlight on a foreign demon from the White House’s mass media pulpit. Day after…

Lo, the poor taxpayers. They think their tax money is often being wasted or stolen. But they can study the uses of their tax monies by the federal government for a year and they would not exhaust the myriad, complex ways in which their tax dollars are not only wasted and stolen but turned directly…

When cancer took the life of Jean Camper Cahn last month at age 55, none of he network TV evening news programs took note. For she was neither a well‑known actress, athlete or politician. She was only one of the most tireless fighters for social justice, one of the most effective democratic institution‑builders and one…

James K. Kirkpatrick, a stiff-lipped Republican columnist and television commentator, inadvertently illustrated just how far the Republicans have gone in sinking this country in red ink. He pronounced the new Bush budget as a “pretty good budget”. He never mentioned that the deficit built into this budget will be about $300 billion this year, not…

Resource conversation pressures are coming right down to the American household. California, in its fifth straight year of drought, is deciding on 13 water‑saving proposals via its Water Resources Control Board. In addition to higher water bills, one proposal would limit water use to 300 gallons per household per day. How much is 300 gallons…

A government that does not learn from its mistakes is sure to make the people pay more for them. The Bush Administration is doing just that because Bush, and Reagan before him, refused to continue the energy conservation policies of their predecessors, Ford and Carter. As a result, the auto companies began to go into…