In the Public Interest

Impasse! Congress has overwhelmingly passed the “Fairness in Broadcasting Act of 1987.” The Act, which codifies the longstanding Fairness Doctrine, has been vetoed by President Reagan. The Fairness Doctrine requires television and radio stations to cover controversial issues of public importance and to cover those issues fairly by airing conflicting views. It has given citizen…

When you listened to Ronald Reagan’s campaign speeches in 1980, did you ever think he would argue again and again that veterans dying of cancer could not sue the government and its military contractors who misled them about radiation dangers when they were soldiers brought to observe atomic bomb tests? Did you ever believe that…

I met him on a plane out of Sacramento heading south–an elderly gentleman with eyes that signalled intelligence. He held out his hand in greeting and approval. “I’m a bit of a poet,” he said, and before I could buckle my seat belt, he began a recitation of smooth cadence: “Oh what a gut ache…

Around the dinner table in the New Eng­land town where I grew up, our parents would observe at just the proper time in our political discussions that loving our country meant working hard to make it more lovable. The flag. they would add, could take care of itself. This advice did not keep their children…

The one professional sports record that I admired the most was alsothe one that I never believed would be broken. Starting when he replacedWally Pipp at first base for the Yankees in 1925, Lou Gehrig played 2,130consecutive games. Until he was felled, by what is now colloquially calledLou Gehrig’s disease in medical circles, the slugging…

“Consumers have become fed up with the poor quality of air transportation,” and there is “no doubt that the criticism of the industry is well deserved.” Who said that? American Airlines did, in a petition filed with the Department of Transportation asking for rules to give airline passengers better information about various segments of air…

It is described by its producers as “A Catalog that Pictures a World of Your Dreams.” The promotion continues: “Imagine a world where people come together across lines of class, race, and gender. Health food, affordable housing and economic justice exists for everyone; work is more than a job; childcare is close by; and cooperation…

In the midst of a widely publicized corporate crime wave and tens of thousands of casualities from hazardous products from asbestos to pesticides, what do you think Ronald Reagan and all too many members of Congress are doing? Toughening the laws and enforcement budgets? No. They are pushing to weaken these laws. Item: The defendants’…

The Amazon — an area the size of the United States in South America — is under another assault by business and government developers. Time and again, the dense Amazonian jungle or rain forest has beaten back its intruders over the past three centuries. The steamy heat and disease-carrying insects and venomous creatures aided its…

You’ve probably seen it on the television news more than once — this bargeload of garbage looking for a place up and down the east and gulf coast to dump 3,100 tons of fly-infested waste products. Six states and three foreign countries rejected the owner’s entreaties, before the barge was allowed to return home to…