In the Public Interest

The problem with President Reagan’s Commission on the salaries of top government officials is that the millionaires are not. as well represented as the multimillionaires on the nine-member panel. As might be expected, these moguls — mostly corporate lawyers and corporate executives (Aetna, Metropolitan Life, Loews Corp., Morrison Knudsen Corp.) recommended 50 percent increases in…

What incompetent physicians do to their women patients in this country amounts to a nationwide mayhem and carnage, regularly observed by their competent colleagues, who know of this chronic malpractice, yet remain silent. For over a generation, physicians have conducted unnecessary hysterectomies which now total in the millions. Despite numerous authoritative studies condemning the abuse…

Since 1985 the Japanese Yen has become stronger as against the U.S. dollar which has become weaker. It takes less than half the Yen now to buy a dollar than it did a little over three years ago. What this means for our country is that America is becoming cheaper to buy for the Japanese…

Lowell Weicker, the Senator from Connecticut, the maverick Republican, will soon be a former Senator. Attorney General Joseph Lieberman narrowly defeated him on November 8th, in part with a television ad likening Weicker to a snoozing bear to illustrate a number of absences from Senate floor votes. When it comes to defending the U.S. Constitution,…

In the outpouring of materials about national and global environmental crises, the concise booklet reports of the Washington-D.C. group known as Worldwatch stand out. Founded by the agricultural economist, Lester Brown, Worldwatch’s most recent Paper *86 covers the tragedy of “Environmental Refugees: A Yardstick of Habitability.” What is an environmental refugee? The 10,000 former residents…

The Presidential election is over and once again the issues of corporate power and abuses were overwhelmingly ignored in a dispiriting bipartisanship. This political taboo is, of course, the ultimate tribute to corporate power as well as a rejection of Jefferson’s belief that representative government should be a counter to the “monied interests.” But in…

In the week before the Presidential elections, Ronald Reagan made these three decisions: (1) Reagan pocket-vetoed the Whistleblowers Protection Act which provided safeguards for federal employees who speak out against corruption, waste or other wrongdoing in their agencies and departments. Existing law is too weak and many courageous civil servants, who have blown the whistle,…

No presidential candidate has blown more opportunities to score points with the voters against an incumbent (Reagan-Bush) government than has Michael Dukakis. In both debates, Dukakis seemed unwilling or unable to use the common language of common observation of today’s Washington. Let’s demonstrate with a few salvos based on what the newspapers have been reporting…

The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, said: “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.” In those days, there was little else to rely on. So over the centuries, until the era of synthetic drugs commenced in the 19th century, a folklore of food medicine developed all over the world. Until recently, organized medicine…

The National School Lunch Program feeds about 27 million children. For the many poor among them, this is the only purportedly balanced meal they will have all day. But just how balanced are these meals which are supposed to provide one third of the Recommended Dietary Allowances for calories and essential nutrients. Public Voice, a…