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Reveals the inadequacies of the privatization policy of the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Great Britain's experience with the nationalization of enterprise; Resistance to Conrail's privatization; Need for public support.

This article discusses calls for the U.S. to adopt a proportional-representation (PR) system-type of government, as of July 1992. In a single transferrable vote system, voters cast their ballots for candidates in order of reference, one through five or six or however many seats have to be occupied. Candidates who top a certain threshold of first-choice votes are declared elected right away. PR has a history in the U.S. It was proposed by the Progressives early in this century, as a way to fend off boss-ism. A PR system is not needed in order to have multiple parties, but small and often extremist parties are certainly tempted by PR to try their luck.

Reports on the partnership between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and President Ronald Reagan to address the problem of catastrophic-illness insurance. Expansion of Medicare coverage to catastrophic illness; Commitment of Reagan to socialized medicine and privatize government functions.

Comments on the efforts of the U.S. State Department to give the Soviet Union a piece of American territory called the Wrangel Island. Observation that the U.S. has never ceded its claim to Wrangel or four smaller islands nearby that were also seized; Argument by the State Department that the U.S. never formally claimed those islands; Lack of evidence that the Russians ever laid legal claim to the island.

The article discusses the mission of the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG), a U.S. funded Army aviator program, to prevent the Japanese forces from cutting the vital Burma Road. In early 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the formation of AVG with three of its squadrons were intended to keep the Japanese army air force at bay until sufficient numbers of Chinese pilots could be trained to handle the task themselves. The military services where the manpower were taken are discussed.

Highlights the efforts of Republican Speaker Thomas Brackett Reed to abolish the silent filibuster tactic in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1889. Comparison between the parliamentary practice in the House and Senate as of March 2005; Background of the political conditions in the House during Reed's leadership; Overview of the silent filibuster tactic.