In the Public Interest

“James J. Kilpatrick is a human being after all,” the young woman said joyously, as she waved the day’s Washington Post at her friend. What could the crusty columnist have written, I wondered, to provoke such a rare observation? An hour later, I got to my copy of the Post and saw why. Here was…

J. Robert Hunter must appear to be omnipresent to members of the insurance industry. They see him at their trade meetings, on radio and television, in their trade press, at state insurance commission panels and congressional hearings. Everywhere he is their hairshirt, a casualty actuary turned full-time consumer advocate for millions of auto, home, fire…

For months now, the Republican Reaganites have hurled anti-regulatory slogans against real problems of health and safety in the country. They demanded “regulatory relief”-a euphemism for scraping law and order from the backs of corporate polluters and hazar­dous-product manufacturers. In recent weeks, however, their wrecking-crew policies-directed toward destroying the auto safety, food and drug, and…

YAKIMA INDIAN NATION, TOPPENISH, WASH.–Here at the nearly completed Yakima Nation Cultural Center the Native Americans have a favorite saying: “Y: can begin to understand a human being only after you have walked a mile in his moccasins.” For Russell Jim, the tribal councilman, even the environmentalists do not appreciate the tribe’s growing concern over…

There used to be a stereotype in Washington that Republicans did not smile. They looked like George Will. By contrast, Hubert Humphrey, the “Happy Warrior,” used to revel in hilarity and crackle with jokes about his adversaries and about himself. John F. Kennedy was always ready with some witticism or jocular comment. But not Republicans.…

Pick one issue that you think members of Congress would not dare to side with the business lobby against consumers. Chances are that you would choose siding with used-car salesmen against used-car buyers. Well, last November, 216 representatives signed on a bill to veto the used-car disclosure rule which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued…

Big Business and the Reagan administration are seething with mutual antagonism over a major conflict that has yet to break into broad public view. Tension is growing over American corporations’ selling technology to Soviet bloc countries–actions that powerful Reaganites and New Right leaders believe to be damaging to U.S. security interests. Last year a high…

Rarely have I seen Canadians so hopping angry as they are about “acid rain.” “It’s killing our lakes, poisoning our drinking water, damaging our soil and most of the bloody stuff comes from stateside,” said an elderly cab driver. He avowed that his own respiratory problem gets him really upset when he hears company polluters…

Only a few days after the bankers pulled the plug on Laker Airways, Freddie Laker, in his irrepressible manner, was talking about starting a new, low-priced airline. “We want to fly as many planes as possible, employ as many staff as possible, and give passengers a jolly good deal,” he declared. Time will tell whether…

Ronald Reagan’s 1983 budget package is out and once again we learn how much he cares for the truly greedy. The corporate rich and the wealthy classes can still feed at the public trough because Reagan’s corporate welfare handouts are still thriving. Life is quite different for 73-year-old Lois Gatewood, a diabetic from Woodbridge, Va.…