In the Public Interest

POLITICAL ANALYSTS were having difficulty reading any trends or Meaning into the results of the 1982 congressional elections. Vague­ness of commentary was the order of the day. Bill Moyers saw the election as reflecting the pragmatism of the voters. George Will called the voters’ reaction a continent-wide shrug. The Democrats did make sizable gains in…

MORE THAN ONE General Motors executive is having difficulty these days thinking about GM diesels without also wondering about Diane Halferty and her Seattle-based group “Consumers Against General Motors” (CAGM). The giant auto company has taken out newspaper ads in 16 Northwest cities and sent four of its officials to negotiate with Halferty’s group, which…

The unemployment level, it is widely agreed, is a major issue in the imminent midterm congressional elections. Yet recent press reports conclude that unemployed workers are expected to stay away from the polls in record numbers. What difference do elections make to their plight, many of those interviewed asked. Political analysts tell us that the…

In his race for the U. S. Senate seat from heavily Democratic Connecticut, Congressman Toby Moffett is losing his political nerve to his political ambition. Ironically, however, what should be an easy win for Moffett in an election year trending markedly against Reagan and Republicans is, instead, a close race against Republican Sen. Lowell Weicker.…

For almost the entire first half of the 19th century, a Bostonian by the name of John Chapman took it upon himself to plant apple seeds in wilderness areas, especially in Ohio and Indiana. He became widely known as Johnny Appleseed. Tens of thousands of trees made up his environmental legacy. But Appleseed’s lasting example…

It started with William Agee, chairman of the Bendix corporation, and a large pile of Bendix cash. Rather than invest in new or better products for consumers, Agee decided to take over the aerospace company, Martin Marietta. Martin Marietta objected to its being acquired, in part because company officials did not believe Bendix knew anything…

Highway tragedies following police hot pursuits are in the news again around New York City. On Sept. 10, six teen-agers in a pickup truck were warned by a Bethel, Conn., policeman that they had too many passengers in their vehicle. The youths zoomed ahead with the two of­ficers chasing them at high speeds until the…

One would think that anyone who invented a way to “post-tension” concrete so as to reduce the cost of such building, bridge or highway construction and make these structures last longer without maintenance would have businesses beating a path to the proverbial doorway. Not so, in case of Fred Lang, former Du Pont engineer and…

No less than the Wall Street Journal called it a “radical tactic.” Manville corporation, a financially strong building materials giant, is seeking to escape liability in thousands of asbestos disease cases by filing under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law. It did so voluntarily, saying that “nothing is wrong with our business (which) will…

Once again, Vice President George Bush is led by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to perpetrate a cruel hoax on the American people. He announces to a crowd of reporters how the administration is saving the public and businesses billions of dollars by scrapping or weakening health and safety standards. Pliant…