• "When we're through with them, what are we going to do-take on the Soviet Union or Red China?" But Cosentino plunged ahead with his unprecedented case. No American manufacturer had.ever before been criminally charged with marketing an allegedly unsafe product, and Ford pulled out all the stops to defeat him. Star defense lawyer James Neal and an estimated one million dollar war chest were pitted against Cosentino and his paltry $20,000 prosecution budget. Author Lee Strobel, legal affairs editor of the Chicago Tribune, does a good job of conveying the drama of the tJ,neven struggle which ensued (ultima~ely resulti,ng in Ford's acquittal). While his sympadiies are 1 -clearly with the prosecution, he presents the details of the trial in a crisp, reportorial style that allows his readers to draw their . own cnnclusions, based on the evidence. Ironically, readers ~re placed in a better position than the jury, since Strobel draws on some especially damning Ford documents which the company sqccessfully fought to keep out of evidence. These documents, which reveal that Ford had long been aware of the Pinto's defects and the means for correcting them, are included in an appendix which, even read alone, should provide you with sufficient incentive to keep out of Ford showrooms for the rest of your life. - JF John ~wns a Pinto.' Carcinogen Information Program 1 Center for the Biology of Natural Systems . Washington University, Box 1126 St. Louis, MO 63130 314/889-5346 or 889-5367 While information on carcinogens accumulates by the day, much of it is either contradictory or simply incomprehensible. The Carcinogen Information Program ( CIP) • ;;;_s set up to pr vide reliable, understandable information about the occurrence, • ·health impact and regulation of carcioa- ,~ -They'd like to hear your questions about carcinogens in food, water, air, your workplace and consumer products. You can receive the CIP Bulletin at cost,by sen in a on self-ad stampe enve ope to CIP. The May Bulletin (#11), for example, was on formaldehyde (CH22O), one of the most commonly used chemicals in industry (e.g., insulation, particle board, soap, toothpaste, permanent press clothing). Adverse health effects in people as a result of exposure to formaldehyde include difficulty breathing, rashes, headaches, vomiting and severe nosebleeds. A good resource for those co!lcerned with occupational and consumFr health and safety. _:_MR ' • "Home Brew,"inEast West Joutn'al, May 1980, $1.50 from: 17 Station Street . Brookline, MA 02146 617/232-1000 Additive-free·beer (59 additives are legally allowed;.unlisted !).made at home is a lot like home~baked bread:.__more nourishing and, with a little luck, better tasting than what's available on the market. Rebecca Greenwood's article guides you· through the foam with some basic, practical stepS' about equipment.and technique. In- .timidated? Don't get bogged down with too •much information, she says. Pick a.recipe and start! Not only tasty and nourishing, but "in 1978 it became legal (and tax free) for anyone over eighteen to brew 100 gallons of beer per'year for consumption in his or her own home." . There's iots of books available on the subject. Greenwood suggests you pick any ~ one·th~t looks good to you. Her favorite is Fred Eckhardt's A Treatise on Lager Beers ($1.95 from brewers' supply stores). ~he also recommends ZYMURGY: The Journaf of the American Homebrewers Association ($1.50/issue, Box 287, Boulder, CO · 80306).·A Portland supplier I talked to,.·_ Steinhart (526 SE Grand, Portland, OR 97214, 503/232-8793), thoughtZYMURGY "wasn't much of a contribution," and instead suggested you check out Home Ferm.enter' s Digest ($616 issues, 2761 Teagarden St., San Leandro, CA 94577, 415/ 357-1137). Most of the equipment you need is available at your local hardware store, a wine and beer brewers supply store, or - through mail ord~r. Two mail order businesses that carry both equipment and supplies are: The Country Store, Rt. 2, Box 168, Vashon, WA 98070, 201/463-9426; . and Brick Store Brewer's Supplies, The Common, Strafford, VT 05072, 802/7656941. For you locals who want to know wheth~r you're brewing i!,fight, there's a • panel of. eminently qualified taste-testers on duty every summer afternoon in northwest Portland. Call the Rainhouse for directions. - MR July 1980 RAIN Page 17 "The Stylish Life," New Age, June 1980,' $1.50 from: • 32 Station St. Brookline Village, MA 02146 617/734-3155 If you aren't "into" Bio-Energetics, Neuro.-Linguistic Programming, TM, Arica, etc., s·urely you know someone who • is. In facr, a generation of "therapy_samplers" have now tried the whole gamut of ' psychic possibilities. Several books and .articles have been written on the pros and cons of the new therapies but few have attempted to tackle the question Sam Keen presents us with: What do these therapeutic movements have in common ~nd why have they so powerfully seduced the "lifestyle consumers"? Our worship -ofstyle, whether of automobiles, clothing or personalities, has promoted us from the age of rugged individualism to a time of mass narcissism. "The. marketplace . . . gives shape to our psyches, and buying has become our substitute .£01;- adventure." The common denominator of the new therapies is their starting premise of total individual responsibility: The promethean exaggeration of the potency of the individual destroys the fragile balance between freedom and destiny. If I belie:ve my whole.world is self-caused, I lose any distinction between what I have the power to control and what I must accept, and then the only world I can control • is one made up of my thoughts and fantasies . ... All the minor merchants of salvat.ion seem to hypnotize and imprint people with a style of t,alk, dress and self-presentation, and to leave social and political values unquestioned. They change only-the persona, not the self. ' • Ironically., Keen points out, whether John Birchers or Hare Krishnas, "the more a group preaches the total responsibility of the individual, the more it practices conformity." In the absence of an accepted and convincing definition of self, he concludes, we need to remember the heroic virtues and simple dig1'ities which help "keep alive our rebellion against the dehumanizing forces of history. ,,.In particular these include reason ("a bullshit detectorwe need to sort out the propaganda from probable truth"), commitment ("Without decision there is no potency; without limits there is no freedom."), and imagination ("the practice of ubiquity . .. it is a close relative of humor."). Recommended reading for gurus and anarchists. -MR ,,..
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