Friday at noon, I joined about 2,000 Dallasites at a luncheon hosted by the World Affairs Council to hear Tom Friedman discuss his new book, Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America.
Friedman's speech challenged me deeply. Everyone needs to read his book, especially both presidential candidates. Clearly, we are in the midst of a gigantic community problem as a nation. (Note: order his book by using the Amazon.com link to the right and below. Your order will help CDM!)
Friedman ridiculed the so-called "Green Revolution." He noted that there has never been a revolution during which no one got hurt. At this point, we may have a green party, but we have no revolution.
What is needed is strong federal leadership that would include establishing and sending a strong "price signal" so that innovators would get serious about investing in clean, sustainable, renewable, national energy.
Even if the entire global warming thing is a hoax (which he points out it is not), Friedman believes that acting as if it is a real threat will lead our nation in exactly the way it should go for the sake of security, world leadership, peace and freedom.
Last Sunday, Friedman appeared on NBC's Meet the Press. I hope you'll take the time to watch his conversation with Tom Brokow here. Friedman made many of the same points during his speech here in Dallas.
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Showing posts with label Meet the Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meet the Press. Show all posts
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Tim Russert
My Sunday mornings will never be the same again.
Tim Russert, NBC journalist and host of Meet the Press, died yesterday of an apparent heart attack while at work.
It is hard for me to describe what Russert meant to me. I've been heard to remark that Russert served a pastoral role in my life. That may sound strange, but he had the rare ability to digest large hunks of information and interpret what he had learned in a fair and insightful manner. He helped me make sense of the world.
I watched his Sunday morning program every time I could. When he appeared on other NBC programming, I turned up the volume instinctively.
Russert grew up, as I did, in a blue collar working family. His father, "Big Russ (about whom he wrote his best-selling book) labored for years as a sanitation worker in Buffalo, New York. No doubt, Russert inherited his breakneck work ethic from his dad.
Shortly after his death I heard James Carville, one of his best friends, describe Russert's approach to life as that of "childlike excitement." Whether it was the Wizards, the Nationals, the Bills, his son--Luke, his family, his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., or a visit from the Pope, this hard-nosed journalist engaged life with joy, exuberance and fairness.
Renowned theologian Karl Barth is reported to have said on more than one occasion that Christians should approach life with "a Bible in one hand and the morning newspaper in the other."
Russert, a devout Catholic, lived that code.
He helped me understand things.
As I say, Sunday mornings will never be the same for me.
Thanks for your help, Mr. Russert. You will be missed. The void will be enormous in the morning.
.
Tim Russert, NBC journalist and host of Meet the Press, died yesterday of an apparent heart attack while at work.
It is hard for me to describe what Russert meant to me. I've been heard to remark that Russert served a pastoral role in my life. That may sound strange, but he had the rare ability to digest large hunks of information and interpret what he had learned in a fair and insightful manner. He helped me make sense of the world.
I watched his Sunday morning program every time I could. When he appeared on other NBC programming, I turned up the volume instinctively.
Russert grew up, as I did, in a blue collar working family. His father, "Big Russ (about whom he wrote his best-selling book) labored for years as a sanitation worker in Buffalo, New York. No doubt, Russert inherited his breakneck work ethic from his dad.
Shortly after his death I heard James Carville, one of his best friends, describe Russert's approach to life as that of "childlike excitement." Whether it was the Wizards, the Nationals, the Bills, his son--Luke, his family, his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., or a visit from the Pope, this hard-nosed journalist engaged life with joy, exuberance and fairness.
Renowned theologian Karl Barth is reported to have said on more than one occasion that Christians should approach life with "a Bible in one hand and the morning newspaper in the other."
Russert, a devout Catholic, lived that code.
He helped me understand things.
As I say, Sunday mornings will never be the same for me.
Thanks for your help, Mr. Russert. You will be missed. The void will be enormous in the morning.
.
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