Shots in the Dark

Donald Rumsfeld is lying about Iraq.

Inside Higher Ed reports…

The changes include extending the length of the first probationary contract from three years to four years, increasing the number of external letters submitted in support of a tenure bid from five to eight, and keeping confidential from tenure candidates a list of external scholars who will evaluate their application (though a minimum of three of these scholars will be drawn from the candidate’s list of suggestions).

Apparently one of the reasons these changes passed despite earlier opposition from the faculty: Almost everyone who can get tenure at Brown….has.

Therefore, the Wall Street Journal must be reporting that it is already obsolete.

The new iPad is expected by Apple watchers to debut in the next couple of months….

Still—obsolete or not, it’s an amazing device. Besides, I don’t really need FaceTime. Have you ever held that iPhone camera up to yourself and seen what you look like from that angle?

Not good…..

The NY Times and the LA Times decide that it’s time to review the much-maligned musical. And they malign it some more.

Here’s the LA Times:

Nothing cures the curiosity about “Spider-Man” quite like seeing it. …

Incoherence isn’t much fun to sit through. The two friends who attended Friday night’s performance with me, a fashion executive and a filmmaker, both regular New York theatergoers, were muttering to each other before the first act was done. My fashion industry friend, who bought the tickets, spent the second act savoring a martini at the bar at Sardi’s. The filmmaker stuck it out with me, hoping against hope that Taymor’s vision would somehow pull itself together. The poor guy left Foxwoods feeling as though he had been lured inside someone’s psychotic hallucination.

And here’s the NYT:

The sheer ineptitude of this show, inspired by the Spider-Man comic books, loses its shock value early. After 15 or 20 minutes, the central question you keep asking yourself is likely to change from “How can $65 million look so cheap?” to “How long before I’m out of here?”

I myself plunked down a hundred bucks and change to see Spiderman, and will have my own thoughts to say on the matter in a long, ambitious post exploring popular culture, Ibsen, the state of cultural criticism, hipsters, and the writer Fran Lebowtiz.

I will find the time to write that post soon. Until then, I may continue quoting Spiderman reviews. They are pretty entertaining.

Ever thought that Malcom Gladwell’s books were a bit, you know, formulaic?

(Here’s something you think. It’s wrong! No, wait, it’s right. Kind of.)

Check out the Malcolm Gladwell Book Generator. It thinks so too.

The former Alaska governor spoke at an event honoring Ronald Reagan on what would have been his 100th birthday.

“Reagan saw the dangers in L.B.J.’s Great Society,” Ms. Palin said. “He refused to sit down and be silent as our liberties were eroded by an out-of-control centralized government that overtaxed and overreached in utter disregard of constitutional limits.”

It is, of course, hilarious to think that Sarah Palin, who likely hasn’t read a book in years—not even the one she allegedly wrote—knows anything about history. Does anyone believe that she’s ever even uttered the phrase “Great Society” before?

And as Will Bunch demonstrates in today’s Washington Post, Palin’s understanding of Reagan is significantly off-base.

Bunch addresses what he calls five “myths” of Ronal Reagan. They are:

1) Reagan was a tax-cutter.

Ultimately, Reagan signed measures that increased federal taxes every year of his two-term presidency except the first and the last. These included a higher gasoline levy, a 1986 tax reform deal that included the largest corporate tax increase in American history, and a substantial raise in payroll taxes in 1983 as part of a deal to keep Social Security solvent. While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan’s tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in.

2) Reagan was one of our most popular presidents.

Reagan’s average approval rating during the eight years that he was in office was nothing spectacular - 52.8 percent, according to Gallup. That places the 40th president not just behind Kennedy, Clinton and Dwight Eisenhower, but also Lyndon Johnson and George H.W. Bush, neither of whom are talked up as candidates for Mount Rushmore.

3) Reagan was a hawk.

Though Reagan expanded the U.S. military and launched new weapons programs, his real contributions to the end of the Cold War were his willingness to negotiate arms reductions with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his encouragement of Gorbachev as a domestic reformer.

4) Reagan shrank the federal government.

Federal spending grew by an average of 2.5 percent a year, adjusted for inflation, while Reagan was president. The national debt exploded, increasing from about $700 billion to nearly $3 trillion…The number of federal employees grew from 2.8 million to 3 million under Reagan…

5) Reagan was a conservative culture warrior.

Reagan’s contributions to the culture wars of the 1980s were largely rhetorical and symbolic….

And yet, Palin has Reagan “[refusing] to sit down and be silent as our liberties were eroded by an out-of-control centralized government.”

In other news, Palin also criticized President Obama’s handling of the protests in Egypt, referencing Hillary Clinton’s unfortunate 2008 campaign ad in which a ringing telephone goes unanswered at the White House.

“[Egypt] is a difficult situation,” Ms. Palin told the Christian Broadcasting Network. “This is that 3 a.m. White House phone call, and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House, it seems that that call went right to the answering machine.”

“Many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House?” What is she talking about? Or is she merely doing her pathetic best to work a punch line into her answer?

Some readers of this blog have suggested that I pay Palin too much attention. I disagree; I think she’s adangerous person, both in terms of the impact she might have on our government’s attempt to address serious national challenges and because she incites violence.

She also said this at the Reagan event:

“There isn’t one replacement for Reagan, but there are millions who believe in the great ideas that he espoused. There’s a whole army of patriotic Davids out there, across this great country, ready to stand up and to speak out in defense of liberty.”

A whole army of patriotic Davids out there…ready to stand up and speak out in defense of liberty. (Because, David, you know, spoke out.)

After Arizona, Palin has learned nothing.

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to take a helicopter across Manhattan, which is just a wonderful way to see and appreciate the city.

Some photos, below.

First the Jets got their fans all excited, then crushed their dreams like twigs underfoot.

Now the Mets are being sued by Bernie Madoff-trustee Irving Picard, who alleges that Mets owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz should have known that Madoff was a scam.

A person familiar with the matter said Mr. Picard is now seeking more than $300 million that he says represents profits that all the Sterling-related entities and people associated with the team withdrew from Mr. Madoff’s firm.

On top of that, the trustee is also seeking to recover some of their principal investment with Mr. Madoff, alleging they knew or should have known the business was fraudulent, this person said.

I feel slightly sorry for Mets fans. But not that sorry. As I’ve often said to my friends who fall into that unfortunate category, sometimes, happiness is a choice. You can choose to be a Yankees fan, and know that you’ll have a competitive team year after year and a generally positive life. Or you can choose to be a Mets fan. And doom yourself to a lifetime of unhappiness.

It’s that simple, really.

The president’s daughter has endorsed gay marriage.

Of course she has—she went to the gay Ivy…

You may remember that yours truly wrote of Drew Faust’s walkathon initiative, “… walking around Cambridge in January is, you know, dumb?”

(Eloquent, I know.)

So now the plan is to walk around Cambridge…in February.

The President’s Office has dispatched an email alert that makes one chuckle.

Dear Members of the Harvard Community:

Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in the new Harvard on the Move program and especially to those who braved last Wednesday’s storm to attend the launch event… We write now to let you know that because of the early and unexpectedly heavy arrival of snow to the region this morning, we are postponing the walk scheduled for noon today (February 1). Weather permitting, the first community run will take place Sunday, February 6, at 10 a.m., and the next walk will take place on Tuesday, February 8, at noon.

The early and unexpectedly heavy arrival of snow to the region?

But fear not: There’s a Facebook page to keep you abreast of the walking.

Imagine the bright-eyed, lips-puckered students who will show up for a brisk mid-winter walk that the president of Harvard will be walking with them?