Here is a simultaneous review, or series of comments, on two films.

One is SALT. Don't see it. Don't support the view that Presidents are important. Presidents should not be important. The Constitution and the Republic should be important. Presidents just work to "uphold the Constitution." It's all well and good to have movie stars and heroes, but that should not extend to politics, at least not in a genuine re-public. Even thinking of a President as a leader, and therefore as someone on whose life we depend, diminishes the value of our Republic. We are a nation of laws, not of men.

The other film is THE SOCIAL NETWORK. See it.
It shows what's wrong with the USA, and maybe much of modern culture. It also shows what's wrong with the current pecking order of power in academia. President Lawrence Summer was a disgrace in the film. I dare suppose that his being portrayed for what he was, a cohort in power-mongering and bullying, prompted him to resign his position in the Obama Government and rush back to being President of Harvard, for one more try. Did he not want to change his act there? Summer knows that his name will be forever tainted, for decades and even centuries, if his reputation remains where it was cast in the film. What is he doing at Harvard now? If such is true, if the film has changed the behavior of a public figure, then the film MUST be seen. It is not just about history, but is changing history. More awaits us. There may be a few more changes in history arising from that film. The story is not over, for example, with the Winklevoss twins. And the story is not over, for that matter, with Facebook.

I, for one, have so far refused to participate in Facebook. My group practices, maybe, but me, no.
Why? Because I believe it limits personal freedom.
Will people agree? Let us see over time.

Dein Pal,
nach Meine Palin
und andere Leute
aus Neuzeeland
Peter Fend