Addicted to Oil: Thomas L. Friedman Reporting
10 tonight
Discovery Channel
There have been times throughout the years when I've wanted to jump out my office's fifth story window while reading a Thomas Friedman column in the New York Times—and my windows don't even open. Remember when Friedman was cheerleading for this current quagmire in Iraq? Attaboy, Tommy! Way to pick a winner. Lemme plunge this finger into my nose and pull you out another. Or how about Friedman calling on the U.S. State Department to create an enemies list of 9/11 “excuse makers and hate mongers”? Oh, that was a doozy. But the dooziest was when he wondered, “Is Google God?” No, silly, the Beatles are. And yet, as many times as I've fantasized about using my head to pound nails into my desk while in the middle of a Friedman screed, I must report I've been right there with them on his current crusade: promoting eco-friendly solutions to our nation's current energy woes. Oh, and as a shout out to all the Weekly's Libertarian friends: that includes raising taxes on gasoline substantially to force Americans to free themselves from the pump. As Friedman argues, a lot of this country's most serious problems—problems we seem to be stuck with for generations—would fly right away if we got serious about conservation, new fuels, hybrids, electrics and so much more. Further, that is the direction our economy is headed toward, despite the oilies in the White House, so investors would be wise to position their money accordingly. If America does not do this, if we do not make energy independence our new moon mission, some other country surely will, as Friedman so ably reports. Where's your messiah now, buttlicks?
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.