If I only had a brain: Yip Harburg,J. Edgar Hoover,and the failures of FBI intelligence work

E. Y. Harburg, the lyricist behind The Wizard of Oz, remains one of the most important songwriters blacklisted during the Cold War. His removal from Hollywood features in the 1950s denied moviegoers a distinct American voice whose lyrics mixed humor and entertainment to champion liberal causes. From 1944–1972, Director J. Edgar Hoover and the Bureau’s major field offices investigated Harburg. His declassified FBI file shows institutionalized incompetence in the way the Bureau went about writing reports, evaluating evidence, making conclusions, and conducting counter-intelligence work. Harburg’s story illuminates the battle between the left and right to shape popular culture during the Cold War. Hoover and Harburg held opposing views on politics, religion, economics, and race. Yet both men shared a fervent faith in popular culture’s capacity to transform America. Together they vied to remake the nation according to their own distinct visions – Hoover’s fear of declension stood in contrast to Harburg’s hope for radical progress.     

Observed seat belt use in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

We conducted an observational survey of seat belt use to determine the use rate of drivers and front-right passengers of vehicles in Kumasi, Ghana. Unobtrusive observations of seat belt use were made at 41 locations composed of signalized intersections and roundabouts where vehicles come to a halt or slow down considerably. The overall driver seat belt use rate was 17.6% compared to 4.9% for front-right passengers. Driver belt use was 33.2% for private cars, 9.0% for taxis, 8.3% for minibus (trotro), 13.1% for large buses and 9.7% for trucks. Overall seat belt use was higher for female drivers than for male drivers (44.8% versus 16.4%, p?相似文献   

Policy Consulting and Public Policy

The changing nature of governance in Australia over the last two decades has given rise to a broad range of new strategies to review the development and delivery of government policies and programs. Key factors affecting the relationship between citizens and the state have been the deregulation and liberalisation of the Australian economy, with its focus on the market for the delivery of services, once the exclusive domain of public sector organisations. The increased use of consultants over this period is an example of governments going to the market for professional services. Effective policy development and review by consultants requires that they be well versed both in the substantive issues surrounding the policy field as well as in the process required to properly frame and evaluate these issues.     

Putting the Economy First: or Does Postmodernization Really Matter?

In recent years, there has been a strong tendency for the politicians of Western nations to make issues of economic policy making their first priority. Emerging evidence from the economics discipline, which shows a close association between subjective well-being and other macroeconomic variables such as unemployment and inflation, suggests that this priority ordering of politicians may well be one which is functional from an electoral viewpoint. However, recent research by Ronald Inglehart on the development of 'postmaterialist' values challenges the continuing electoral relevance of an economics-first approach to policy making by suggesting that, in advanced societies, mass publics are exercised more by quality of life concerns than by issues of economic affluence. Here we use Eurobarometer data for 12 EU nations to explore the nature of the linkage between economic policy outcomes and levels of popular satisfaction in both economically advanced and less advanced societies. Our findings suggest that affluence is not the only economic determinant of subjective well-being in these countries and that, contrary to Inglehart's thesis, the growth of the economy impacts on subjective well-being in rich and poor nations alike.     

Public Willingness to Downsize Prisons: Implications From Oregon

Abstract

After decades of the steady growth of inmate populations, the mass imprisonment movement has stalled and serious attempts are being undertaken to downsize prisons. At issue, however, is whether the American public will endorse this policy agenda. This issue is explored with data from a 2010 survey of 1,569 Oregon adults. On a broad level, the respondents favored a preventative-rehabilitative approach to crime control and endorsed a range of reentry services for inmates. Most significant, the sample supported specific policies, including community sanctions and several forms of early release, to reduce prison populations. Notably, however, they did not embrace downsizing for the purpose of lowering spending—a finding that should be explored in other states. These results indicate that, at least in Oregon, the public is willing to consider efforts to downsize prisons. Capitalizing on this public support remains the challenge to be addressed.     

Mean Streets Revisited: Assessing the Generality of Rival Criminological Theories

The vast majority of tests of major criminological theories have been conducted on youths in school settings. Following Hagan and McCarthy’s (1997) admonition to engage in “street criminology,” the current study surveyed 254 juveniles drawn mainly from impoverished neighborhoods in Uruguay, who were either confined or in an alternative justice program. Due to limited literacy skills, all youths were interviewed regarding theoretical measures and their delinquent involvement. The results revealed that self-control was unrelated to delinquency in this sample. By contrast, social learning factors and stressful life events were found to increase delinquent participation. The results suggest that the effects of the field’s core theories are general, accounting for as much or more variation in the sample of street youths as among youths attending conventional U.S. schools. The policy implications of the findings are explored.     

Spreading the Wealth

The new American president promoted the value of “spreading the wealth around” as an election theme, providing low-income families with tax breaks, rebates, and credits. The practice of using federal income taxes to re-distribute wealth, which sometimes reflects the noblest of goals, frequently generates significant unintended harm. Prominent among those unplanned casualties is a reduction in charitable giving: American voluntary wealth transfers (e.g., charitable contributions) are in danger of being crowded out by mandatory transfers (e.g., federal taxes) used to redistribute wealth. This paper considers the social and economic costs of raising taxes that crowd out charity.