As the Weird Turns, Decision 2008
I had to check at the end of the day, today, to see if I was actually watching a reality show instead of the evening news, when I heard that the unmarried 17-year old daughter of McCain's VP choice, Sarah Palin, is pregnant. Could it be, that I am having an out-of-this-world experience and have landed in The Twilight Zone? Or is this a real breaking news story on the national scene? This report sounds like a scene from the movie Juno. Did I actually hear the story correctly? I know my comments may sound harsh, but are you kidding me? Could this year's political campaigns get any weirder than this?
I will just let this weird breaking news report fester.
I am not going to discuss that weirdness any longer, but what I am going to touch on, is the apparent feud last week viewers of MSNBC happen to witness as Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman were covering the Democratic National Convention, or I should say jockeying for air-time during the Democratic National Convention. It made such an impact, that the Wall Street Journal devoted an article to it. The incident according to the WSJ, happened on Tuesday night of the convention when Chris Matthews shouted to the producers that he would wrap up in a second when they were trying to cut to commercial. Chris then argued with his co-anchor Keith Olberman according to the article, about talking out of turn. Olberman then made a flapping-lips hand gesture at Matthews, who then went off. This incident followed an earlier one between MSNBC's anchors Joe Scarborough and David Shuster. Okay wait a minute. This bickering back-and-forth is happening between seasoned major network news anchors, and on live TV? The weird gets weirder.
But it's no wonder. Political commentary suffered a huge loss when Tim Russert died earlier in the summer. Tim was one of my favorite, probably was most people's, political news anchors. He was fair, objective and brought professionalism to his show Meet the Press as well as to the political guests no matter what side of the aisle they were from. The sudden death of Tim and the bickering between the rising political stars at NBC only tells me that the network just doesn't know how to fill the incredible void left by Tim. I am still trying to fill the void in my mind from his death, which is still so unbelievable. His death added to what I consider the volumes of weirdness we have witnessed so far in this year's political season. The whole campaigning in the primaries between Obama and Clinton, their mudslinging, the emergence of John McCain as the Republican nominee, and so forth and so on. Weird or not, MSNBC still has some issues to resolve, and I hope they do before the election in November. Or maybe not. Because in the end, even with all of the bickering between the anchors at MSNBC, the cable news network was rated the number one network last week with the 18-34 age group, the most coveted age group to advertisers. The WSJ goes on to report that the Nielsen ratings for MSNBC were up by 88% after the first night the anchors reported from Denver, beating their competitors, Fox News and CNN.
Weird or not, beating your competitors in the ratings war is what it's all about, isn't it?
Freedom Writers Change the World
I happen to catch recently the movie Freedom Writers a movie starring Hillary Swank that hit theaters in January 2007. Based on a true story and book The Freedom Writers Diary the movie is about an eager 23-year old teacher, Erwin Gruwell, whose first job is an urban high school in Long Beach, Calif. There she encounters a group of students who have been long considered not teachable. These students' experiences are from life, not the classroom. Most of the students lives depicted in the film are hardcore, ones that dealt with drugs, violent crimes, serving time and death. As she desperately tries to teach the students in her class, she comes up with an innovative way to reach them by giving them a journal to write down basically their lives in. The students allow Ms. Gruwell to read the journals, therefore, giving her an opening into their lives of suffering. Gruwell then uses the WWII Holocaust in which compares and contrasts the students' lives with those of the Jewish that were persecuted in Nazi death camps. The students are assigned the book The Diary of Anne Frank, and after they read it, their lives begin to change for the better forever. And for the most part Gruwell's life also changes for the better. The story is one of overcoming the odds and affecting change. The lessons learned by studying the Holocaust enable the students to always strive to do the right thing no matter what. The story is inspiring for everyone and especially to those of us who may have forgotten what it means to do the right thing in order to change the world.
The story doesn't end with the movie or with the graduation of Gruwell's first class, in fact, she has set up a foundation, The Freedom Writers Foundation, in order to train teachers to use innovative ways to reach students.
I'll end by saying that change almost always precipitates some form of controversy, and in the movie Gruwell experiences her fair share of it. In the end, it is perseverance and determination to affect change that almost always wins out. This movie is inspirational and a must see.
Freedom Writers Foundation Web site.
Is Peter Gabriel the Answer to the Music Industry's Nemisis, Digital Downloading?
My Personal Love of Coffee
Now It's Sony BMG, Now It's Not?
Alternative Energy: What is Our Plan?
You know when I was in high school in the early '80's our Political Science class studied the "issues" of the future. The environment and energy were two of those issues. It was not savvy at the time to have any concern whatsoever about these issues, but what we studied back then has come back to haunt us today. Now almost seemingly overnight all of that has changed, the need for alternative energy sources is a bona fide need. What was it that sparked the change in attitude? Gas prices. The price of oil has made most of us stand up and take a look at what the real problem is, our dependence on foreign oil. Some of us have cut back in driving. It is common on weekends to see deserted highways. It is not as important to get out and drive as it once was. And it's a domino effect, high gas prices have spawned higher food prices. We have for the most part curbed our driving habits , and because we have one can point to a dip in gas prices, just a little. My opinion, though, is that high gas prices are here to stay.
The question then becomes, what is our plan for the future as it relates to our dependence on foreign oil and the search for alternative energy sources?
Boone Pickens. A Texas oilman who by his own account is worth $4 billion. If you haven't seen his commercials for wind energy, then maybe you need to. Pickens recently told the Economist that the United States imports 70% of oil spending $700 billion a year. He goes on to say that this is an addiction, a crisis and a trap. And that we must pursue alternative energy sources as we once fiercely shot for going to the moon.
The Pickens Plan calls for 20% of our power to come from wind energy by 2030, something that the Department of Energy stated that could be done back in May. In the Economist article, Pickens wants Americans to reach that goal by building wind farms throughout the windy corridor that runs up the country from Texas to the Dakotas. Pickens to the Senate that his company Mesa Power has already invested $2 billion to build a wind farm in Pampa, Texas a small town in the panhandle. He also will pay for the transmission lines to carry the power to Dallas because he cannot wait for the state to build the infrastructure. Although what the Pickens Plan calls for will be expensive, Pickens, according to the article, believes that it will free up natural gas that is being used for electricity to be used in automobiles. Americans would switch to natural gas vehicles and we would not have to import so much oil. Texas already leads the country in wind energy.
Pickens also states that our dependence on foreign oil also is a national security crisis, what happens he asks if oil is suddenly cut off? I wonder the same thing. What would we do? Would we be able to sustain our quality of life if there is no oil?
The Economist did refer to Pickens' Plan as quirky. I am not too sure I would agree. The plan seems doable. Boone Pickens has spent his life giving to charitable causes. I can think of no other cause worthy than our sustainability. Pickens as he states is a Republican, an oilman and seems to be a savvy businessman, who can't wait on the Government to do something about the energy crisis. He has taken matters into his own hands. I would argue not your traditional stereotypical environmentalist. Rare or not, Pickens is putting his money where he says he is, he is making an effort to do something about our current addiction on foreign oil. Read more about the Pickens Plan here.