Tuesday, January 6, 2009
'Tis a Small Town, But There Are Those Who Love It--Woodstock, NY 1/6/09
To quote a t-shirt of twenty years ago: "the concert wasn't here. It was in White Lake, 30 miles away!" I took these while I was doing the laundry.
Let the Dems' Corruption Begin
Jim Crum just forwarded a link to about a Human Events article concerning Speaker Pelosi's rules changes in the House. The article reads:
>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.
>Pelosi’s rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”
>In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today to Pelosi...
Human Events posts the letter here.
>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.
>Pelosi’s rule changes -- which may be voted on today -- will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”
>In reaction, the House Republican leadership is sending a letter today to Pelosi...
Human Events posts the letter here.
Monday, January 5, 2009
The Coming Civil War in America
America has evolved into two broad cultures. This was observed in the 1950s by sociologists like C. Wright Mills and David Riesman. In recent years the gap between the two cultures has intensified. The two cultures might be called traditional and other-directed. I included in traditional the intermediate type that Riesman discusses, inner-directed, in part because it is difficult to distinguish between other-directed people with goals or achievement orientation that David McClelland discusses in his book, written in the 1960s, the Achieving Society, and people for whom inner-direction and achievement orientation predominate. It may be impossible to distinguish the types with sufficient specificity. Also, the discussion has been muddled by the eschatological or teleological character of much twentieth century social science. Marx reinvented messianism for the other-directed mass, and social scientists have been prone to inject a degree of Marxist mysticism into almost all of their work. That is, they assume that other-direction involves evolution or "progress" beyond inner direction or tradition or that the propagandistic term "progressive" is more than vacuous of meaning.
The reassertion of religious values in America, particularly in the states that were christened "red" in the millennial election, is evidence of a serious breach in the values of the two Americas. This was not new in 2000, because by the 1950s Riesman had already noted that urban, higher income Americans had devolved from the inner direction or goal orient of the nineteenth century into a group-concerned "other direction" that in many ways was similar to the tribal traditionalism of primitive cultures but in other ways was different. It was different because it was dependent upon mass media and culture to define its values. However, both Riesman and Mills fixated on urban mass culture and did not explore the differences between rural Americans and the urban ones whom they emphasized.
It took Americans about two generations, between 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected and 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected to reject the New Deal policies that were associated with the mass media and other-directed trends. However, this rejection was far from consistent. In the "blue states" most people disliked Reagan, and disliked the Republican ascendancy between 1980 and 2006. The balance was almost equal, with the margin of difference depending on the ebb and flow of the economy and incumbents' corruption.
The differences between the two cultures, the inner and other directed intensified because the other-directed resented their displacement. The other-directed never resolved the key social problems that their experts claimed qualified to resolve. Issues concerning poverty, the economy, international relations, urban planning, even warfare (as represented by the tragi-comic Robert McNamara) were hardly resolved by the other-directed or "liberal" media-based elites. Indeed, the more they tried, the worse the problems seemed to become. It is even arguable that the Great Depression, the bugaboo of the other-directed "liberal" culture, was in fact a product of that culture's inability to grasp fundamental monetary issues and its groupthink-based emphasis on governmental solutions and high taxes (during the FDR administration and later) that blocked normal economic recovery.
In short, the other-directed culture has been short-sighted, narrow minded and arrogant. At the same time, many Americans have rejected this other-directed culture in favor of a rediscovery of traditional and religious values. This rediscovery is resented by the other-directed, who sense that it represents a rejection of the fundamental structure of their culture. They should not be surprised, however, because their culture has not proven to produce results. Nor should they be surprised that many Americans continue to have faith.
C. Wright Mills, a left-wing sociologist, identified the role of media in the inculcation of mass psychology in what is now called the blue states back in 1956 in his book The Power Elite. Mills identifies mass communication as the source of elite power. Therefore, the evolution of evangelical television broadcasts, cable television, the Internet, and other alternative communication methods would seem to have presented the other-directed power elite with a threat to its control. These technological changes had the unpredictable effect of enhancing traditional values and culture in the red states and among those who are still inner-directed or traditional in value orientation and so able to think for themselves.
Mills writes of a modern mass media, which is now a thing of the past. Media is no longer centrally controlled, and it is becoming less so. The newspapers and broadcast television stations of the 1950s are now being replaced by Internet bloggers, cable and Internet-based television stations that are not centrally controlled and so facilitate a sharing or equalization of culture. Thus, the modern tendency toward other-direction is thwarted by the sheer number of choices of information outlets. This in turn facilitates reliance on traditional values rather than the babel of alternative information sources as a basis. Information overload permits tradition to reassert itself, and the Godly values of traditional America have benefited.
There is a reversal of the trend that Mills described in 1956:
"there is a movement from widely scattered little powers to concentrated powers and the attempt at monopoly control from the powerful centers, which, being partially hidden, are centers of manipulation as well as authority. The small shop serving the neighborhood is replaced by the anonymity of the national corporation; mas advertisement replaces the personal influence of opinion between merchant and customer. The political leader hooks up his speech to a national network...in the mass society of media markets, competition if any goes on between the manipulators with their mass media on the one hand, and the people receiving their propaganda on the other. Under such conditions, it is not surprising that there should arise a conception of public opinion as a mere reaction--we cannot say 'response' to the content of mass media. In this view, the public is merely the collectivity of individuals each rather passively exposed to the mass media and rather helplessly opened up to the suggestions and manipulations that flow from these media. The fact of manipulation from centralized points of control constitutes, as it were, an expropriation of the old multitude of little opinion producers and consumers operating in a free and balanced market."
Riesman emphasizes that other-directedness, which he considers to be characteristic of the modern world, is predominantly associated with urban professionals.
Neither Mills nor Riesman (nor anyone else of the 1950s) could have anticipated the evolution of telecommunication methods that dissolve central dominance of the power elite, i.e., the marketers of other-directedness and "liberal" ideology. This has led to the unthinkable: a reassertion of individualism and traditional belief in the heartland of America.
This is not to say that the urban, other-directed culture has disappeared. Rather, that it no longer predominates to the degree it once did, even with the aid of left-dominated universities and an education system that sees its role as the inculcation of ideology in the form of "social justice learning" and political correctness. Not only are many Americans beginning to question the value of public education and to engage in home schooling, but also are questioning the cultural hegemony of universities and supposed experts: cancer experts who cannot cure cancer; economics experts who bungle the economy; psychological experts who cannot cure mental illness or who define it and redefine it in absurd ways; and sociological experts who claim to cure poverty but whose cures precede massive drug addiction, intensification of segregated northern cities and entrenched poverty.
The reaction of the "liberal" other-directed culture has been to intensify its ideological and cultural commitment to "liberal" solutions and other-directedness. The hostitility toward George W. Bush and Sarah Palin exemplify the intensification of anger and hostility toward those who look to tradition, to inner direction and specifically American values. This hostility is likely to increase as information sources continue to fragment. America is becoming a multi-cultural nation, and the cultures are at loggerheads. The conflict will become more overt.
The reassertion of religious values in America, particularly in the states that were christened "red" in the millennial election, is evidence of a serious breach in the values of the two Americas. This was not new in 2000, because by the 1950s Riesman had already noted that urban, higher income Americans had devolved from the inner direction or goal orient of the nineteenth century into a group-concerned "other direction" that in many ways was similar to the tribal traditionalism of primitive cultures but in other ways was different. It was different because it was dependent upon mass media and culture to define its values. However, both Riesman and Mills fixated on urban mass culture and did not explore the differences between rural Americans and the urban ones whom they emphasized.
It took Americans about two generations, between 1932 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected and 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected to reject the New Deal policies that were associated with the mass media and other-directed trends. However, this rejection was far from consistent. In the "blue states" most people disliked Reagan, and disliked the Republican ascendancy between 1980 and 2006. The balance was almost equal, with the margin of difference depending on the ebb and flow of the economy and incumbents' corruption.
The differences between the two cultures, the inner and other directed intensified because the other-directed resented their displacement. The other-directed never resolved the key social problems that their experts claimed qualified to resolve. Issues concerning poverty, the economy, international relations, urban planning, even warfare (as represented by the tragi-comic Robert McNamara) were hardly resolved by the other-directed or "liberal" media-based elites. Indeed, the more they tried, the worse the problems seemed to become. It is even arguable that the Great Depression, the bugaboo of the other-directed "liberal" culture, was in fact a product of that culture's inability to grasp fundamental monetary issues and its groupthink-based emphasis on governmental solutions and high taxes (during the FDR administration and later) that blocked normal economic recovery.
In short, the other-directed culture has been short-sighted, narrow minded and arrogant. At the same time, many Americans have rejected this other-directed culture in favor of a rediscovery of traditional and religious values. This rediscovery is resented by the other-directed, who sense that it represents a rejection of the fundamental structure of their culture. They should not be surprised, however, because their culture has not proven to produce results. Nor should they be surprised that many Americans continue to have faith.
C. Wright Mills, a left-wing sociologist, identified the role of media in the inculcation of mass psychology in what is now called the blue states back in 1956 in his book The Power Elite. Mills identifies mass communication as the source of elite power. Therefore, the evolution of evangelical television broadcasts, cable television, the Internet, and other alternative communication methods would seem to have presented the other-directed power elite with a threat to its control. These technological changes had the unpredictable effect of enhancing traditional values and culture in the red states and among those who are still inner-directed or traditional in value orientation and so able to think for themselves.
Mills writes of a modern mass media, which is now a thing of the past. Media is no longer centrally controlled, and it is becoming less so. The newspapers and broadcast television stations of the 1950s are now being replaced by Internet bloggers, cable and Internet-based television stations that are not centrally controlled and so facilitate a sharing or equalization of culture. Thus, the modern tendency toward other-direction is thwarted by the sheer number of choices of information outlets. This in turn facilitates reliance on traditional values rather than the babel of alternative information sources as a basis. Information overload permits tradition to reassert itself, and the Godly values of traditional America have benefited.
There is a reversal of the trend that Mills described in 1956:
"there is a movement from widely scattered little powers to concentrated powers and the attempt at monopoly control from the powerful centers, which, being partially hidden, are centers of manipulation as well as authority. The small shop serving the neighborhood is replaced by the anonymity of the national corporation; mas advertisement replaces the personal influence of opinion between merchant and customer. The political leader hooks up his speech to a national network...in the mass society of media markets, competition if any goes on between the manipulators with their mass media on the one hand, and the people receiving their propaganda on the other. Under such conditions, it is not surprising that there should arise a conception of public opinion as a mere reaction--we cannot say 'response' to the content of mass media. In this view, the public is merely the collectivity of individuals each rather passively exposed to the mass media and rather helplessly opened up to the suggestions and manipulations that flow from these media. The fact of manipulation from centralized points of control constitutes, as it were, an expropriation of the old multitude of little opinion producers and consumers operating in a free and balanced market."
Riesman emphasizes that other-directedness, which he considers to be characteristic of the modern world, is predominantly associated with urban professionals.
Neither Mills nor Riesman (nor anyone else of the 1950s) could have anticipated the evolution of telecommunication methods that dissolve central dominance of the power elite, i.e., the marketers of other-directedness and "liberal" ideology. This has led to the unthinkable: a reassertion of individualism and traditional belief in the heartland of America.
This is not to say that the urban, other-directed culture has disappeared. Rather, that it no longer predominates to the degree it once did, even with the aid of left-dominated universities and an education system that sees its role as the inculcation of ideology in the form of "social justice learning" and political correctness. Not only are many Americans beginning to question the value of public education and to engage in home schooling, but also are questioning the cultural hegemony of universities and supposed experts: cancer experts who cannot cure cancer; economics experts who bungle the economy; psychological experts who cannot cure mental illness or who define it and redefine it in absurd ways; and sociological experts who claim to cure poverty but whose cures precede massive drug addiction, intensification of segregated northern cities and entrenched poverty.
The reaction of the "liberal" other-directed culture has been to intensify its ideological and cultural commitment to "liberal" solutions and other-directedness. The hostitility toward George W. Bush and Sarah Palin exemplify the intensification of anger and hostility toward those who look to tradition, to inner direction and specifically American values. This hostility is likely to increase as information sources continue to fragment. America is becoming a multi-cultural nation, and the cultures are at loggerheads. The conflict will become more overt.
John Maynard Keynes on Inflation
"Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalist System was to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens. By this method they not only confiscate, but they confiscate arbitrarily; and while the process impoverishes many, it actually enriches some. The sight of this arbitrary rearrangement of riches strikes not only at security but at confidence in the equity of the existing distribution of wealth. Those to whom the system brings windfalls, beyond their deserts and even beyond their expectations or desires, become 'profiteers,' who are the object of the hatred of the bourgeoisie, whom the inflation has impoverished, not less than of the proletariat. As the inflation proceeds and the real value of the currency fluctuates wildly from month to month, all permanent relations between debtors and creditors, which form the ultimate foundation of capitalism become so utterly disordered as to be almost meaningless; and the process of wealth-getting degenerates into a gamble and a lottery.
"Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
--John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1919, 235-6.
"Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose."
--John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1919, 235-6.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Is the Global Warming Theory Falsifiable?
One of the marks of science is falsifiability. If a theory cannot be proven false, it is not scientific. It is incumbent upon the advocates of the theory that the earth is warming to define how their theory can be proven false. If it cannot, it is not a scientific theory. I watched the Al Gore video and do not recall him mentioning how his theory could be proven false.
Bob Robbins just forwarded this from the Astute Blogger. The Astute Blogger quotes a number of articles suggesting that this winter is colder than usual in several places, including Wales, India, Sri Lanka and Alaska.
Global warming theorists might reply that the fact that there are swings in temperature is indeed evidence of global warming. If that is so but the swings in temperature fail to reject the null hypothesis of greater variability (this would involve an F test)then the theory of global warming is rejected. Otherwise, I am having trouble understanding how cooler temperatures in various countries can be consistent with "global" warming.
>FUNERAL directors in Swansea have revealed they are holding more services than usual following a rise in deaths.
They say there has been an increase in the death rate and Assembly-based health experts confirmed the freezing temperatures could be responsible.
... Latest provisional figures for winter 2007/08 reveal there were around 1,500 excess deaths in Wales — a seven per cent rise on the previous winter.
>At least 31 people have died in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh as severe cold weather continues in the region.
>A severe cold wave is hitting the Nuwara Eliya district, thus affecting tea and other plantations in the low lying areas.
>Rapid growth spurt leaves amount of ice at levels seen 29 years ago.
Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.
Bob Robbins just forwarded this from the Astute Blogger. The Astute Blogger quotes a number of articles suggesting that this winter is colder than usual in several places, including Wales, India, Sri Lanka and Alaska.
Global warming theorists might reply that the fact that there are swings in temperature is indeed evidence of global warming. If that is so but the swings in temperature fail to reject the null hypothesis of greater variability (this would involve an F test)then the theory of global warming is rejected. Otherwise, I am having trouble understanding how cooler temperatures in various countries can be consistent with "global" warming.
>FUNERAL directors in Swansea have revealed they are holding more services than usual following a rise in deaths.
They say there has been an increase in the death rate and Assembly-based health experts confirmed the freezing temperatures could be responsible.
... Latest provisional figures for winter 2007/08 reveal there were around 1,500 excess deaths in Wales — a seven per cent rise on the previous winter.
>At least 31 people have died in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh as severe cold weather continues in the region.
>A severe cold wave is hitting the Nuwara Eliya district, thus affecting tea and other plantations in the low lying areas.
>Rapid growth spurt leaves amount of ice at levels seen 29 years ago.
Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close.
David's Proposal Re Obama Certificate
I just received the following e-mail:
Per your efforts to examine Obama's qualifications, may I encourage you to seek "verification" of Obama's "certificates", particularly focusing on what you KNOW is on those certificates. The privacy issue is only over what primary vital information you do NOT know.
[§338-14.3] Verification in lieu of a certified copy. provides for verification of what you think you DO know.
e.g., Based on school records citing "Barry Soetoro", adopted by "Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo"
Also known as Lolo Sutoro Mangundikardjo
Since they will only verify exact wording, it may take multiple tries, but eventually you can verify multiple items.
David L. H---n
See:
http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/vital_records.html
"Letters of Verification
Letters of verification may be issued in lieu of certified copies (HRS §338-14.3). This document verifies the existence of a birth/death/marriage/divorce certificate on file with the Department of Health and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event. (For example, that a certain named individual was born on a certain date at a certain place.) The verification process will not, however, disclose information about the vital event contained within the certificate that is unknown to and not provided by the applicant in the request.
Letters of verification are requested in similar fashion and using the same request forms as for certified copies.
The fee for a letter of verification is $5 per letter."
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol06_ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0014_0003.htm
" [§338-14.3] Verification in lieu of a certified copy. (a) Subject to the requirements of section 338-18, the department of health, upon request, shall furnish to any applicant, in lieu of the issuance of a certified copy, a verification of the existence of a certificate and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event that pertains to the certificate.
(b) A verification shall be considered for all purposes certification that the vital event did occur and that the facts of the event are as stated by the applicant.
(c) Verification may be made in written, electronic, or other form approved by the director of health.
(d) The fee for a verification in lieu of a certified copy shall be one half of the fee established in section 338-14.5 for the first certified copy of a certificate issued.
(e) Fees received for verifications in lieu of certified copies shall be remitted, and one half of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the vital statistics improvement special fund in section 338-14.6 and the remainder of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the state general fund. [L 2001, c 246, §1]"
In HRS 338-0018 see especially:
" (g) The department shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any such record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is: . . .
(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or
(5) An individual employed, endorsed, or sponsored by a governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record in preparation of reports or publications by the agency or organization for research or educational purposes. [L 1949, c 327, §22; RL 1955, §57-21; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §19; am L 1967, c 30, §2; HRS §338-18; am L 1977, c 118, §1; am L 1991, c 190, §1; am L 1997, c 305, §5; am L 2001, c 246, §2]"
--
About Vital Records | Marriage License | Marriage Performers | Reciprocal Beneficiary Relationships
How to Apply for Certified Copies of Vital Records
All applications requesting certified copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates must generally be made in writing (application forms may be downloaded from this site - see below). Requests may also be placed for birth and marriage certificates on a limited basis through the Internet (www.ehawaiigov.org/ohsm). Telephone, FAX, or e-mail requests are not accepted.
Fees for certified copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates are identical:
$10.00 for the first copy of each certificate, and
$4.00 for each additional copy of the same certificate ordered at the same time.
There is an additional fee for requests made through the Internet as follows:
$1.50 for a request of one (the first) copy of each certificate, if the requested certificate is found, or for the cost of conducting the search, if the requested certificate is not found, and
$0.25 for each additional copy of the same certificate ordered at the same time.
Fees may be paid by cash (except for applications made by postal mail), money order, certified check, or cashier’s check - make money order and checks payable to the State Department of Health.
PERSONAL CHECKS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Fees must be paid by a charge to a credit card for requests made through the Internet.
All fees for certified copies are payable in advance and nonrefundable. If no record is found after a search is conducted, the fees are retained to cover the cost of the search.
Once an order has been received and processed, a $10.00 fee will be charged for any request to make changes to the order.
Apply In Person
Walk-in service is available:
Days - Monday through Friday (excluding holidays)
Hours - 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Location - Room 103 (1st floor) of the Health Department building, 1250 Punchbowl Street (corner of Beretania and Punchbowl Streets)
When applying in person, the applicant must show a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a State ID, driver's license, etc.
Certified copies are usually not issued on the day the application is made. Same-Day service may be provided upon presentation of written documentation establishing the need for urgency. Certified copies will normally be available for pick-up about 10 working days after the request is approved. The pick-up time may be extended for records that are very old, because the search to locate the record may take longer, or in the process of being filed, because the official record is still being created.
Application forms are available in the building’s lobby area and should be filled in prior to coming to the counter in Room 103.
Apply by Mail
Send mail-in applications to the following address:
State Department of Health
Office of Health Status Monitoring
Issuance/Vital Statistics Section
P.O. Box 3378
Honolulu, HI 96801
When applying by mail, the applicant must include a photocopy of his/her government-issued photo ID, such as a State ID, driver's license, etc.
PERSONAL CHECKS WILL BE REJECTED AND RETURNED WITH THE APPLICATION TO THE APPLICANT.
Certified copies will normally be sent out within 5-8 weeks after receipt and approval of the application. The return time may be extended for records that are very old, because the search to locate the record may take longer, or in the process of being filed, because the official record is still being created.
What Information You Should Be Prepared to Provide
An applicant/requestor must provide the information needed to 1) establish his/her direct and tangible interest in the record and 2) locate the desired record. This will normally include:
Applicant's name, address, and telephone number(s);
Applicant's relationship to the person named on the certificate;
Reason why you are requesting the certificate;
Full name(s) as listed on the certificate;
The certificate’s file number (if known);
Month, day, and year of the event; and
City or town and the island where the event occurred.
For birth certificates, also provide the full name of the father and the full maiden name of the mother.
If you are applying for a certificate on behalf of someone else, you must provide an original letter signed by that person authorizing the release of their certificate to you.
Letters of Verification
Letters of verification may be issued in lieu of certified copies (HRS §338-14.3). This document verifies the existence of a birth/death/marriage/divorce certificate on file with the Department of Health and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event. (For example, that a certain named individual was born on a certain date at a certain place.) The verification process will not, however, disclose information about the vital event contained within the certificate that is unknown to and not provided by the applicant in the request.
Letters of verification are requested in similar fashion and using the same request forms as for certified copies.
The fee for a letter of verification is $5 per letter.
Application Forms
Application forms are available in a “fillable” Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF). The Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 (or later) is required for using the fillable forms feature.
The Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 is free to download and install on your computer by clicking on the button:
Download Request For Certified Copy of Birth Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Death Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Marriage Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Divorce Record
Further Information and Assistance
If you require further information about applying for certified copies of vital records or want to check on the status of an accepted request for certified copies of vital records, call (808) 586-4539 or (808) 586-4542 during regular business hours.
Per your efforts to examine Obama's qualifications, may I encourage you to seek "verification" of Obama's "certificates", particularly focusing on what you KNOW is on those certificates. The privacy issue is only over what primary vital information you do NOT know.
[§338-14.3] Verification in lieu of a certified copy. provides for verification of what you think you DO know.
e.g., Based on school records citing "Barry Soetoro", adopted by "Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo"
Also known as Lolo Sutoro Mangundikardjo
Since they will only verify exact wording, it may take multiple tries, but eventually you can verify multiple items.
David L. H---n
See:
http://hawaii.gov/health/vital-records/vital-records/vital_records.html
"Letters of Verification
Letters of verification may be issued in lieu of certified copies (HRS §338-14.3). This document verifies the existence of a birth/death/marriage/divorce certificate on file with the Department of Health and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event. (For example, that a certain named individual was born on a certain date at a certain place.) The verification process will not, however, disclose information about the vital event contained within the certificate that is unknown to and not provided by the applicant in the request.
Letters of verification are requested in similar fashion and using the same request forms as for certified copies.
The fee for a letter of verification is $5 per letter."
http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/hrscurrent/vol06_ch0321-0344/HRS0338/HRS_0338-0014_0003.htm
" [§338-14.3] Verification in lieu of a certified copy. (a) Subject to the requirements of section 338-18, the department of health, upon request, shall furnish to any applicant, in lieu of the issuance of a certified copy, a verification of the existence of a certificate and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event that pertains to the certificate.
(b) A verification shall be considered for all purposes certification that the vital event did occur and that the facts of the event are as stated by the applicant.
(c) Verification may be made in written, electronic, or other form approved by the director of health.
(d) The fee for a verification in lieu of a certified copy shall be one half of the fee established in section 338-14.5 for the first certified copy of a certificate issued.
(e) Fees received for verifications in lieu of certified copies shall be remitted, and one half of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the vital statistics improvement special fund in section 338-14.6 and the remainder of the fee shall be deposited to the credit of the state general fund. [L 2001, c 246, §1]"
In HRS 338-0018 see especially:
" (g) The department shall not issue a verification in lieu of a certified copy of any such record, or any part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant requesting a verification is: . . .
(4) A private or government attorney who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record which was acquired during the course of or for purposes of legal proceedings; or
(5) An individual employed, endorsed, or sponsored by a governmental, private, social, or educational agency or organization who seeks to confirm information about a vital event relating to any such record in preparation of reports or publications by the agency or organization for research or educational purposes. [L 1949, c 327, §22; RL 1955, §57-21; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §19; am L 1967, c 30, §2; HRS §338-18; am L 1977, c 118, §1; am L 1991, c 190, §1; am L 1997, c 305, §5; am L 2001, c 246, §2]"
--
About Vital Records | Marriage License | Marriage Performers | Reciprocal Beneficiary Relationships
How to Apply for Certified Copies of Vital Records
All applications requesting certified copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates must generally be made in writing (application forms may be downloaded from this site - see below). Requests may also be placed for birth and marriage certificates on a limited basis through the Internet (www.ehawaiigov.org/ohsm). Telephone, FAX, or e-mail requests are not accepted.
Fees for certified copies of birth, death, marriage, and divorce certificates are identical:
$10.00 for the first copy of each certificate, and
$4.00 for each additional copy of the same certificate ordered at the same time.
There is an additional fee for requests made through the Internet as follows:
$1.50 for a request of one (the first) copy of each certificate, if the requested certificate is found, or for the cost of conducting the search, if the requested certificate is not found, and
$0.25 for each additional copy of the same certificate ordered at the same time.
Fees may be paid by cash (except for applications made by postal mail), money order, certified check, or cashier’s check - make money order and checks payable to the State Department of Health.
PERSONAL CHECKS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
Fees must be paid by a charge to a credit card for requests made through the Internet.
All fees for certified copies are payable in advance and nonrefundable. If no record is found after a search is conducted, the fees are retained to cover the cost of the search.
Once an order has been received and processed, a $10.00 fee will be charged for any request to make changes to the order.
Apply In Person
Walk-in service is available:
Days - Monday through Friday (excluding holidays)
Hours - 7:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Location - Room 103 (1st floor) of the Health Department building, 1250 Punchbowl Street (corner of Beretania and Punchbowl Streets)
When applying in person, the applicant must show a valid government-issued photo ID, such as a State ID, driver's license, etc.
Certified copies are usually not issued on the day the application is made. Same-Day service may be provided upon presentation of written documentation establishing the need for urgency. Certified copies will normally be available for pick-up about 10 working days after the request is approved. The pick-up time may be extended for records that are very old, because the search to locate the record may take longer, or in the process of being filed, because the official record is still being created.
Application forms are available in the building’s lobby area and should be filled in prior to coming to the counter in Room 103.
Apply by Mail
Send mail-in applications to the following address:
State Department of Health
Office of Health Status Monitoring
Issuance/Vital Statistics Section
P.O. Box 3378
Honolulu, HI 96801
When applying by mail, the applicant must include a photocopy of his/her government-issued photo ID, such as a State ID, driver's license, etc.
PERSONAL CHECKS WILL BE REJECTED AND RETURNED WITH THE APPLICATION TO THE APPLICANT.
Certified copies will normally be sent out within 5-8 weeks after receipt and approval of the application. The return time may be extended for records that are very old, because the search to locate the record may take longer, or in the process of being filed, because the official record is still being created.
What Information You Should Be Prepared to Provide
An applicant/requestor must provide the information needed to 1) establish his/her direct and tangible interest in the record and 2) locate the desired record. This will normally include:
Applicant's name, address, and telephone number(s);
Applicant's relationship to the person named on the certificate;
Reason why you are requesting the certificate;
Full name(s) as listed on the certificate;
The certificate’s file number (if known);
Month, day, and year of the event; and
City or town and the island where the event occurred.
For birth certificates, also provide the full name of the father and the full maiden name of the mother.
If you are applying for a certificate on behalf of someone else, you must provide an original letter signed by that person authorizing the release of their certificate to you.
Letters of Verification
Letters of verification may be issued in lieu of certified copies (HRS §338-14.3). This document verifies the existence of a birth/death/marriage/divorce certificate on file with the Department of Health and any other information that the applicant provides to be verified relating to the vital event. (For example, that a certain named individual was born on a certain date at a certain place.) The verification process will not, however, disclose information about the vital event contained within the certificate that is unknown to and not provided by the applicant in the request.
Letters of verification are requested in similar fashion and using the same request forms as for certified copies.
The fee for a letter of verification is $5 per letter.
Application Forms
Application forms are available in a “fillable” Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF). The Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 (or later) is required for using the fillable forms feature.
The Adobe Acrobat Reader 7 is free to download and install on your computer by clicking on the button:
Download Request For Certified Copy of Birth Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Death Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Marriage Record
Download Request For Certified Copy of Divorce Record
Further Information and Assistance
If you require further information about applying for certified copies of vital records or want to check on the status of an accepted request for certified copies of vital records, call (808) 586-4539 or (808) 586-4542 during regular business hours.
Democrats versus Republicans on Israel
Dan Friedman just sent me a link to the Rasmussen website. The polling firm finds that of Americans:
>Forty-four percent (44%) say Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, but 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems there, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.
>Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults, however, believe the Palestinians are to blame for the current situation in Gaza, while 13% point the finger at the Israelis. Nearly one-third (32%) aren't sure.
>Men are far more sympathetic to the Israelis than women. Fifty-six percent (56%) of men support Israel's military action, compared to 34% of women. Whites narrowly give the edge to military action, but African-Americans by three-to-one say diplomacy was the better way to go.
>Sixty-seven percent (67%) of those who say they are following news out of Gaza Very Closely support Israel's military action, while 30% favor diplomacy.
>Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel's decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.
>While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same. For 21% of Republicans, Israel is somewhere in between, and 28% of Democrats agree.
The Jews are fools to stay within the Democratic Party.
>Forty-four percent (44%) say Israel should have taken military action against the Palestinians, but 41% say it should have tried to find a diplomatic solution to the problems there, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.
>Fifty-five percent (55%) of adults, however, believe the Palestinians are to blame for the current situation in Gaza, while 13% point the finger at the Israelis. Nearly one-third (32%) aren't sure.
>Men are far more sympathetic to the Israelis than women. Fifty-six percent (56%) of men support Israel's military action, compared to 34% of women. Whites narrowly give the edge to military action, but African-Americans by three-to-one say diplomacy was the better way to go.
>Sixty-seven percent (67%) of those who say they are following news out of Gaza Very Closely support Israel's military action, while 30% favor diplomacy.
>Sixty-two percent (62%) of Republicans back Israel's decision to take military action against the Palestinians, but only half as many Democrats (31%) agree. A majority of Democrats (55%) say Israel should have tried to find a diplomatic solution first, a view shared by just 27% of Republicans.
>While 75% of Republicans say Israel is an ally of the United States, just 55% of Democrats agree. Seven percent (7%) of Democrats say Israel is an enemy of America, but only one percent (1%) of Republicans say the same. For 21% of Republicans, Israel is somewhere in between, and 28% of Democrats agree.
The Jews are fools to stay within the Democratic Party.
Senator Schumer Demands Roads to Nowhere
Lucianne.com excerpts Jay Ambrose's Washington Times article (h/t Larwyn) about the pork-and-corruption aspects of President-elect Obama's infrastructure construction plan:
"Criticisms begin with the thought it will be the mother of all pork feasts, a politician's picnic, an extravaganza of waste, and then come other trepidations - that the program won't kick in soon enough to serve pressing needs, that it won't provide economic sustenance over the long haul, that it will entail the kind of excess that got us into trouble in the first place and that for every benefit bestowed, an equal or greater benefit will be erased from the private economy."
As well, Ambrose notes that public spending crowds out public spending. Nevertheless, not to be outdone, New York's Senator Schumer offers the burlesque proposal of an additional stimulus package.
Note that no one on the national stage, including the banking community, has identified what the crisis is, how big it is or whether there really is a crisis. The current unemployment rate of 6.7% (to be updated in five days) was considered near full employment back in the 1980s when I pounded the pavement looking for benefits director jobs.
How many skilled builders are available for hire right now, and how many will be available in six months when the trillion dollar monetary expansion starts to take hold?
Japan has squandered billions on roads to nowhere, and perhaps Mr. Schumer and his corrupt friends in the Senate aim to follow suit. On December 24, 2007, Leo Lewis of the London Times wrote:
"Japan’s most spectacular building projects, including possibly the world’s most expensive road, resulted from deception and falsified data, the former president of the state highways agency has told The Times.
"Kuniichiro Takahashi’s admission comes as the hugely indebted Government has rediscovered its addiction to public works and has earmarked nearly 70 trillion yen (£311 billion) in its budget for road and rail building projects over the next decade.
"Ridiculing these new “roads to nowhere”, Mr Takahashi said they were almost certainly unnecessary in a country whose population is ageing, shrinking and buying fewer cars every year. However, major road and rail construction continues to be the favourite tool of pork-barrel politics in Japan."
A true New Yorker, Senator Schumer views 70 trillion yen as a target to be surpassed, much like President Kennedy viewed Sputnik. Schumer's economic stimulus plan: No country will waste more money in public works than America. New York will waste more than Chicago. Washington will waste more than New York. Our economy needs it. Yeah.
"Criticisms begin with the thought it will be the mother of all pork feasts, a politician's picnic, an extravaganza of waste, and then come other trepidations - that the program won't kick in soon enough to serve pressing needs, that it won't provide economic sustenance over the long haul, that it will entail the kind of excess that got us into trouble in the first place and that for every benefit bestowed, an equal or greater benefit will be erased from the private economy."
As well, Ambrose notes that public spending crowds out public spending. Nevertheless, not to be outdone, New York's Senator Schumer offers the burlesque proposal of an additional stimulus package.
Note that no one on the national stage, including the banking community, has identified what the crisis is, how big it is or whether there really is a crisis. The current unemployment rate of 6.7% (to be updated in five days) was considered near full employment back in the 1980s when I pounded the pavement looking for benefits director jobs.
How many skilled builders are available for hire right now, and how many will be available in six months when the trillion dollar monetary expansion starts to take hold?
Japan has squandered billions on roads to nowhere, and perhaps Mr. Schumer and his corrupt friends in the Senate aim to follow suit. On December 24, 2007, Leo Lewis of the London Times wrote:
"Japan’s most spectacular building projects, including possibly the world’s most expensive road, resulted from deception and falsified data, the former president of the state highways agency has told The Times.
"Kuniichiro Takahashi’s admission comes as the hugely indebted Government has rediscovered its addiction to public works and has earmarked nearly 70 trillion yen (£311 billion) in its budget for road and rail building projects over the next decade.
"Ridiculing these new “roads to nowhere”, Mr Takahashi said they were almost certainly unnecessary in a country whose population is ageing, shrinking and buying fewer cars every year. However, major road and rail construction continues to be the favourite tool of pork-barrel politics in Japan."
A true New Yorker, Senator Schumer views 70 trillion yen as a target to be surpassed, much like President Kennedy viewed Sputnik. Schumer's economic stimulus plan: No country will waste more money in public works than America. New York will waste more than Chicago. Washington will waste more than New York. Our economy needs it. Yeah.
Doug Ross's Comics
Legendary blogger Doug Ross has drawn some excellent comics about the incoming administration and Charlie Rangel (h/t Larwyn). Check them out here.
Chicago Tribune Writer Calls Chicrats, Obama Administration "Freak Show"
Bob Robbins (also h/t Larwyn) just forwarded a link to Citizen Wells who discusses John Kass's blog. Kass writes for the Chicago Tribune. A Chicagoan named Sue asked whether Blago gives him "material" on Obama and Papa Kass replies:
"As our esteemed governor has famously said, this thing is 'bleeping golden.' But the Illinois political freak show is not a gift to me. I offer it nobly and without charge, as a gift to America. Because, finally, despite all the willful cheerleading of national media types who prattled cherubically about the new Camelot, Americans are finally realizing that Chicago politics is no fairy tale...
"So when the freak show comes to Washington next week and political hack Roland 'I'm a tool of the people' Burris is denied entry to the Senate, and the national political class shrieks in fake outrage and Blagojevich surrounds himself with African-American ministers and he sings 'Let my people go!' remember who could have stopped all this: Obama, Madigan, Daley and the Illinois Democrats."
Well, yeah. Of course, CNN didn't want to know about this back in August.
"As our esteemed governor has famously said, this thing is 'bleeping golden.' But the Illinois political freak show is not a gift to me. I offer it nobly and without charge, as a gift to America. Because, finally, despite all the willful cheerleading of national media types who prattled cherubically about the new Camelot, Americans are finally realizing that Chicago politics is no fairy tale...
"So when the freak show comes to Washington next week and political hack Roland 'I'm a tool of the people' Burris is denied entry to the Senate, and the national political class shrieks in fake outrage and Blagojevich surrounds himself with African-American ministers and he sings 'Let my people go!' remember who could have stopped all this: Obama, Madigan, Daley and the Illinois Democrats."
Well, yeah. Of course, CNN didn't want to know about this back in August.
Securitization of Voting Rights
An idea crossed my mind and I need to think about it. Let's say each state issued a citizenship share to every citizen who resided there for ten years. The share would be stock in the state. Upon moving from the state, the share could be sold or retained. Residents might also have the right to sell, although there are certain moral hazards, such as unemployment sales and also the likelihood that low-income citizens would tend to sell. On the other hand, voters who do not feel equipped to vote or interested in voting could delegate or sell their voting rights to others who feel better qualified. Individuals or corporations could purchase citizenship shares, so that economic interests could accumulate a large number of shares. It doesn't seem likely that firms would acquire large numbers of shares in order to extract rents because the market value of shares would likely reflect a bidding process whereby firms eager for economic rents bid against each other and also citizens might bid for shares for their own reasons. As a firm acquired a significant number of shares, the price would start to climb. A profit maximizing firm would need to consider potential losses from share speculation as well as gains from cornering the vote share market. Since competitive interests might also aim to acquire shares, the acquisition of a large number of shares would make the firm participate in the state's economic outcomes. This would encourage the accumulators of shares to think strategically about the state's economy, something that hasn't been done in New York in many generations. Although the result might be asymmetric benefits to some accumulators of shares, the net effect of concentration of voter power would be enhanced econommic rationality because the owners of large numbers of shares would have large sums at stake and so would be motivated to think rationally about the economy. Although there would be inequities and some firms or unions, such as utilities or the hospital workes union, might gain extra power, with a large investment of capital at stake the investors would be unlikely to harm the state economically.
There could be restrictions on share ownership, for instance that no shareholder could hold more than .5% of the outstanding shares.
Thus, tax and revenue policy for the state would be set by a profit maximizing shareholder body that aims to minimize the sum of the taxes each individual pays (or the most powerful individuals pay) plus the revenue per share received. Each shareholder would have a financial incentive to maximize share values. Therefore, voters would pay directly when special interests extract rents. They do so now through tax payments, but blocks of voters might be better motivated than presently to aim to maximize share values by investing in fighting against lobbies. In other words, the share value would offer an additional incentive to taxpayers to resist high taxes.
When a citizen moves they can still vote their shares. Former residents can vote against policies. It does not seem fair that individuals forced out of New York by extortionate tax and regulatory policies lose the power to vote against those policies even if they would like to move back. Moreover, non-residents who wish to move to the state but are inhibited by incompetently managed state government could have a voice in state management. Traditional state government silences those whom special interests have driven from the state via high taxes.
It is difficult to visualize what the share value would look like. The economic value would be increased by state budget surplus and also the value to special interests of being able to gain a vote. A lower bound is the state's budget surplus divided by the market rate of interest. Since surpluses do not currently exist, the shares would reflect the potential for a future surplus and also the value of voting rights to various special interests such as utilities, banks, insurance companies, unions and environmental lobbies.
State government shares would provide a logical means by which to evaluate state governance, much as stock prices provide a logical means by which to evaluate corporate management.
There are potential ethical problems, such as whether residents ought to be allowed to sell their right to vote. Given that about half the electorate does not vote anyway, I'm not sure how troubling that is.
There could be restrictions on share ownership, for instance that no shareholder could hold more than .5% of the outstanding shares.
Thus, tax and revenue policy for the state would be set by a profit maximizing shareholder body that aims to minimize the sum of the taxes each individual pays (or the most powerful individuals pay) plus the revenue per share received. Each shareholder would have a financial incentive to maximize share values. Therefore, voters would pay directly when special interests extract rents. They do so now through tax payments, but blocks of voters might be better motivated than presently to aim to maximize share values by investing in fighting against lobbies. In other words, the share value would offer an additional incentive to taxpayers to resist high taxes.
When a citizen moves they can still vote their shares. Former residents can vote against policies. It does not seem fair that individuals forced out of New York by extortionate tax and regulatory policies lose the power to vote against those policies even if they would like to move back. Moreover, non-residents who wish to move to the state but are inhibited by incompetently managed state government could have a voice in state management. Traditional state government silences those whom special interests have driven from the state via high taxes.
It is difficult to visualize what the share value would look like. The economic value would be increased by state budget surplus and also the value to special interests of being able to gain a vote. A lower bound is the state's budget surplus divided by the market rate of interest. Since surpluses do not currently exist, the shares would reflect the potential for a future surplus and also the value of voting rights to various special interests such as utilities, banks, insurance companies, unions and environmental lobbies.
State government shares would provide a logical means by which to evaluate state governance, much as stock prices provide a logical means by which to evaluate corporate management.
There are potential ethical problems, such as whether residents ought to be allowed to sell their right to vote. Given that about half the electorate does not vote anyway, I'm not sure how troubling that is.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Universities Cause Reversion to Emphasis on Ascribed Status
American society has become increasingly stratified and the reason is increasing regulation, universities' domination of the labor market and the Federal Reserve Bank. Max von Weber argued that the Protestant ethic engendered capitalism. Talcott Parsons argued that social norms that are fundamental to economic development include universalistic versus particularistic; specificity versus diffuseness of role relations; achieved versus ascribed status; and collectivity versus self orientation.
The idea of universalistic versus particularistic social norms is that in order for a society to develop, laws must apply universally. Resources must be allocated on the basis of universal criteria that reflect objective achievement such as competence rather than by social class, race or other ascribed characteristics. Relations should not be based on general considerations such as family connections, but rather on specific achievements.
America has increasingly become a society where status counts more than achievement. We can see this in the recent proposal to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the US Senate. To see how far we have fallen from America's past achievement orientation, let us compare a Senator from the early 1820s, Andrew Jackson, with the proposed appointee from New York, Caroline Kennedy.
Andrew Jackson, assisted by Davy Crockett who was under Jackson's command, defeated the Red Stick Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. In the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, according to Wikipedia:
"on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a victory over 7,500 British. The British had more than 2,000 casualties to Jackson's 13 killed and 58 wounded or missing."
In 1817 Jackson led a campaign against the Seminole and Creek Indians. Having been ordered to prevent runaway slaves from going to Florida, Jackson invaded Florida, resulting in calls for his censure. Using the invasion as a pretext, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated the Adams-Onis treaty with Spain, whereby Spain ceded Florida to the US. Jackson served as the first US governor of Florida in 1821.
In 1822 the State of Tennessee elected Jackson to the US Senate. He ran for president in 1824, and although he won the most votes he did not win a majority, and John Quincy Adams was selected by special vote of Congress. Of course, Jackson was elected to the presidency in 1828, and in his second term abolished the then-central bank, the Second Bank of the United States.
Now, let's compare Caroline Kennedy's resume to Jackson's. Caroline Kennedy's grandfather was a wealthy bootlegger who managed to get himself appointed to several government sinecures, to include the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ambassador to Britain. Her father was president. Kennedy attended Harvard and Columbia. She is a mother and wife. She has coauthored and edited several books. She has no other important achievements.
Americans are increasingly insensitive to the lack of emphasis on achievement in their culture. The reason is that universities have intruded into the allocation of labor. Universities masquerade as a form of selection-by-achievement, but they are nothing of the sort. The reason people get into a selective college is a test score that is independent of achievement and/or family connections or other status criteria. Few if any college students can boast of important achievements, and the few who do achieve important things in college like Bill Gates or Michael Dell, do so in spite of the college curriculum, not because of it.
The emphasis on attending a selective college would not in itself render American society ascription as opposed to achievement-based without a second factor: the increasing dominance of Wall Street over American business life. In the nineteenth century Wall Street was a neutral actor that served to finance American business in light of small-scale banks and scarce credit (scarce because of the gold standard). However, that changed in 1913 when the Federal Reserve bank was established and given the power to expand and contract the money supply. In 1933 the gold standard was abolished, and in 1971 its final remnant was cleared away. Since 1971 Wall Street has expanded dramatically because of the massive support it has received from the Fed.
The beneficiaries of the massive expansion of credit have of course been Wall Street executives. They have benefited at the expense of the public and of other businesses, which have not had equal access to credit and to resources that they would have in the absence of the Fed's credit monopoly. This is because of the income tax, the inheritance tax and the inflation tax.
Given the allocation of the public's wealth into Wall Street's hands, the question needs to be asked: who gets to be the recipient of the Fed's beneficence? The answer, of course, is that selection is made on the basis of family background and academic credentials.
Thus, universities serve as the selection device by which a privileged aristocracy, handed wealth by the Fed, gains entry. Universities are the post-World War II form of primogeniture.
Achievement no longer matters for much in American culture. Rather, you get into a good school and then hope you get a job on Wall Street. You try your hand at the markets, and if you're lucky you become a billionaire. This trend of allocation of wealth on the basis of status rather than achievement has brought us Caroline Kennedy. What is new about Kennedy is the arrogance of our politicians. They are willing to put forward a candidate who lacks any competence whatsoever, and whose only claim to the post is aristocratic family background.
America is reverting to the 17th century before our eyes.
The idea of universalistic versus particularistic social norms is that in order for a society to develop, laws must apply universally. Resources must be allocated on the basis of universal criteria that reflect objective achievement such as competence rather than by social class, race or other ascribed characteristics. Relations should not be based on general considerations such as family connections, but rather on specific achievements.
America has increasingly become a society where status counts more than achievement. We can see this in the recent proposal to appoint Caroline Kennedy to the US Senate. To see how far we have fallen from America's past achievement orientation, let us compare a Senator from the early 1820s, Andrew Jackson, with the proposed appointee from New York, Caroline Kennedy.
Andrew Jackson, assisted by Davy Crockett who was under Jackson's command, defeated the Red Stick Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. In the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, according to Wikipedia:
"on January 8, 1815, Jackson's 5,000 soldiers won a victory over 7,500 British. The British had more than 2,000 casualties to Jackson's 13 killed and 58 wounded or missing."
In 1817 Jackson led a campaign against the Seminole and Creek Indians. Having been ordered to prevent runaway slaves from going to Florida, Jackson invaded Florida, resulting in calls for his censure. Using the invasion as a pretext, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated the Adams-Onis treaty with Spain, whereby Spain ceded Florida to the US. Jackson served as the first US governor of Florida in 1821.
In 1822 the State of Tennessee elected Jackson to the US Senate. He ran for president in 1824, and although he won the most votes he did not win a majority, and John Quincy Adams was selected by special vote of Congress. Of course, Jackson was elected to the presidency in 1828, and in his second term abolished the then-central bank, the Second Bank of the United States.
Now, let's compare Caroline Kennedy's resume to Jackson's. Caroline Kennedy's grandfather was a wealthy bootlegger who managed to get himself appointed to several government sinecures, to include the first chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Ambassador to Britain. Her father was president. Kennedy attended Harvard and Columbia. She is a mother and wife. She has coauthored and edited several books. She has no other important achievements.
Americans are increasingly insensitive to the lack of emphasis on achievement in their culture. The reason is that universities have intruded into the allocation of labor. Universities masquerade as a form of selection-by-achievement, but they are nothing of the sort. The reason people get into a selective college is a test score that is independent of achievement and/or family connections or other status criteria. Few if any college students can boast of important achievements, and the few who do achieve important things in college like Bill Gates or Michael Dell, do so in spite of the college curriculum, not because of it.
The emphasis on attending a selective college would not in itself render American society ascription as opposed to achievement-based without a second factor: the increasing dominance of Wall Street over American business life. In the nineteenth century Wall Street was a neutral actor that served to finance American business in light of small-scale banks and scarce credit (scarce because of the gold standard). However, that changed in 1913 when the Federal Reserve bank was established and given the power to expand and contract the money supply. In 1933 the gold standard was abolished, and in 1971 its final remnant was cleared away. Since 1971 Wall Street has expanded dramatically because of the massive support it has received from the Fed.
The beneficiaries of the massive expansion of credit have of course been Wall Street executives. They have benefited at the expense of the public and of other businesses, which have not had equal access to credit and to resources that they would have in the absence of the Fed's credit monopoly. This is because of the income tax, the inheritance tax and the inflation tax.
Given the allocation of the public's wealth into Wall Street's hands, the question needs to be asked: who gets to be the recipient of the Fed's beneficence? The answer, of course, is that selection is made on the basis of family background and academic credentials.
Thus, universities serve as the selection device by which a privileged aristocracy, handed wealth by the Fed, gains entry. Universities are the post-World War II form of primogeniture.
Achievement no longer matters for much in American culture. Rather, you get into a good school and then hope you get a job on Wall Street. You try your hand at the markets, and if you're lucky you become a billionaire. This trend of allocation of wealth on the basis of status rather than achievement has brought us Caroline Kennedy. What is new about Kennedy is the arrogance of our politicians. They are willing to put forward a candidate who lacks any competence whatsoever, and whose only claim to the post is aristocratic family background.
America is reverting to the 17th century before our eyes.
Letter to Governor Paterson: Kennedy Appointment Turns My Stomach
PO Box 130
West Shokan, NY 12494
January 3, 2009
The Honorable David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Paterson:
I oppose the appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the Senate. Ms. Kennedy lacks meaningful political or business experience. Indeed, she lacks meaningful work experience of any kind. While experiences gained in motherhood can be transferable to work, a series of responsible but more limited posts leading to the Senate would be an appropriate career path.
Rather than basing your interest in Ms. Kennedy on her experiences, achievements or characteristics, you are basing it on her family name and background. Sociologists would call your fixation on her background ascription- as opposed to achievement-based. Ascription of status is characteristic of feudalism and aristocratic societies, not of growing or successful ones.
Retrogression to medieval aristocratic privilege has increasingly become characteristic of our society in general, and of New York State in particular. That is, the nation and the state have become increasingly fixated on privilege and status at the expense of achievement. This, in turn, is related to excessive power of Wall Street and big business reinforced by government whereby business success is no longer based on innovation but on political power and access to government, particularly to Federal Reserve Bank credit. Your appointment of Ms. Kennedy is symptomatic of New York's culture of privilege. It turns my stomach.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
West Shokan, NY 12494
January 3, 2009
The Honorable David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
Dear Governor Paterson:
I oppose the appointment of Caroline Kennedy to the Senate. Ms. Kennedy lacks meaningful political or business experience. Indeed, she lacks meaningful work experience of any kind. While experiences gained in motherhood can be transferable to work, a series of responsible but more limited posts leading to the Senate would be an appropriate career path.
Rather than basing your interest in Ms. Kennedy on her experiences, achievements or characteristics, you are basing it on her family name and background. Sociologists would call your fixation on her background ascription- as opposed to achievement-based. Ascription of status is characteristic of feudalism and aristocratic societies, not of growing or successful ones.
Retrogression to medieval aristocratic privilege has increasingly become characteristic of our society in general, and of New York State in particular. That is, the nation and the state have become increasingly fixated on privilege and status at the expense of achievement. This, in turn, is related to excessive power of Wall Street and big business reinforced by government whereby business success is no longer based on innovation but on political power and access to government, particularly to Federal Reserve Bank credit. Your appointment of Ms. Kennedy is symptomatic of New York's culture of privilege. It turns my stomach.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Langbert, Ph.D.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Car of the Future
There comes a time when the gears of the universe click into place and the automotive future revs into high gear. A few days ago the Foundation for Economic Education offered to donate a book I am using for my senior seminar to my students, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlett. Around the same time, the Republican Liberty Caucus of New York chair, Carl Svensson, set up a meeting in New Paltz with Robin Yess. It is no small coincidence that Yess ran for Assembly in the 101st district in New York, which is where I happen to live. Today, Ms. Yess forwarded the following video link from the website of (can you believe it?) the Foundation for Economic Education! On top of which I was just thinking of doing a blog about the automotive bailout. Plus, I just bought a car.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Progressivism, Morality and Power
What is called "liberalism" in American popular parlance is better termed "social democracy", although even that term fails to fairly characterize it. I nevertheless use the term "liberalism". Liberalism is in part a moral system. Liberals believe that state action can improve moral outcomes. For example, liberals believe that it is more moral to have less income inequality than more, and therefore that it is moral for the state to force wealthier people to give their wealth to less wealthy people.
There are a number of interesting corollaries to liberal morality. For example, there is a shamanistic belief in the power of the state to bestow morality. If an individual with less wealth were to simply take the wealthier person's assets, then that would be termed theft. But the liberal believes that morality is conferred upon the theft if the state takes it.
Part of the liberal's claim is that democracy bestows morality. A group of people decides that a given income distribution is fair, and then morality is bestowed on the theft by the fact that the group made the decision. Hence, liberalism is a system of fetishization of some construct, be it the state, democracy or power itself, by which the liberal believes that morality or right is conferred.
In the eighteenth century Hume showed that there is no intellectual basis for ethics, but rather right and wrong are emotions hence cannot be proven. However, the intellectual content of the emotion, right and wrong, can be conferred by a wide range of constructs. Aristotle believed that virtue derived from a socially inculcated set of habits and that a virtuous individual has integrated virtue into their decision making capacity, their right reason or ortho logos. Descartes, an Enlightment rationalist writing in the Christian tradition, believed that God verifies the authenticity of perception and that as a result logical (and moral) choice is possible. Locke argued that labor confers ownership and therefore it is morally right for a free individual to lay claim to property and estate. None of these beliefs suggests the need to curtail or control human nature. Control is not normally considered part of ethics.
In contrast, John Dewey, the proto-typical liberal, father of progressive education and arguably founder of modern liberalism says this in the introduction of his book "Human Nature and Conduct":
"Morality is largely concerned with controlling human nature. When we are attempting to control anything we are acutely aware of what resists us. So moralists were led, perhaps, to think of human nature as evil because of its reluctance to yield to control, its rebelliousness under the yoke."
It is true that the inculcation of habits involves a degree of control, but none of the great philosophers, particularly Aristotle, saw good habits as in themselves representative of morality. Rather, morality involves freedom and choice between good and evil.
Dewey, however, claims that the Sunday School teacher's mission represents all morality, that all morality involves control. More likely, Dewey fetishizes control and power, and therefore defines morality as control. How far Dewey would go with that definition was and is uncertain. In the real world, Dewey never did protest Stalin's crimes.
Thus, Dewey defines morality as control. This is characteristic of liberalism, which idealizes control or power used in conjunction with democratic processes or for social democratic ends. Is liberalism's goal democracy, equality or power for the liberal? In fact, the liberal regime has yielded less equality and less democracy than existed in the nineteenth century. What has changed is the allocation of power.
There are a number of interesting corollaries to liberal morality. For example, there is a shamanistic belief in the power of the state to bestow morality. If an individual with less wealth were to simply take the wealthier person's assets, then that would be termed theft. But the liberal believes that morality is conferred upon the theft if the state takes it.
Part of the liberal's claim is that democracy bestows morality. A group of people decides that a given income distribution is fair, and then morality is bestowed on the theft by the fact that the group made the decision. Hence, liberalism is a system of fetishization of some construct, be it the state, democracy or power itself, by which the liberal believes that morality or right is conferred.
In the eighteenth century Hume showed that there is no intellectual basis for ethics, but rather right and wrong are emotions hence cannot be proven. However, the intellectual content of the emotion, right and wrong, can be conferred by a wide range of constructs. Aristotle believed that virtue derived from a socially inculcated set of habits and that a virtuous individual has integrated virtue into their decision making capacity, their right reason or ortho logos. Descartes, an Enlightment rationalist writing in the Christian tradition, believed that God verifies the authenticity of perception and that as a result logical (and moral) choice is possible. Locke argued that labor confers ownership and therefore it is morally right for a free individual to lay claim to property and estate. None of these beliefs suggests the need to curtail or control human nature. Control is not normally considered part of ethics.
In contrast, John Dewey, the proto-typical liberal, father of progressive education and arguably founder of modern liberalism says this in the introduction of his book "Human Nature and Conduct":
"Morality is largely concerned with controlling human nature. When we are attempting to control anything we are acutely aware of what resists us. So moralists were led, perhaps, to think of human nature as evil because of its reluctance to yield to control, its rebelliousness under the yoke."
It is true that the inculcation of habits involves a degree of control, but none of the great philosophers, particularly Aristotle, saw good habits as in themselves representative of morality. Rather, morality involves freedom and choice between good and evil.
Dewey, however, claims that the Sunday School teacher's mission represents all morality, that all morality involves control. More likely, Dewey fetishizes control and power, and therefore defines morality as control. How far Dewey would go with that definition was and is uncertain. In the real world, Dewey never did protest Stalin's crimes.
Thus, Dewey defines morality as control. This is characteristic of liberalism, which idealizes control or power used in conjunction with democratic processes or for social democratic ends. Is liberalism's goal democracy, equality or power for the liberal? In fact, the liberal regime has yielded less equality and less democracy than existed in the nineteenth century. What has changed is the allocation of power.
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