Pages

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Loosely Related (or more so?)

by R. Todd Johnson

Sometimes, I get a funny, out-of-body experience, feeling when I read the newspaper. 

(Yes, my daughters will attest that I'm one of those who still considers a Sunday afternoon on the couch with newsprint covering my fingers to be close to Dan Nava's recent experience of getting his first at-bat in the Majors in the starting line-up for the Boston Red Sox, at 27 years old, and knocking a grand slam home run on his first pitch -- perfection.) 

So there I was, today, doing the thing I wanted to do most on Father's Day, having slept in and had a sweet breakfast with the family, when suddenly, I started yelling at the newspaper. (Look, we don't have a broadcast signal TV, so the newspaper is as close to real-time media as we get in our house, absent the internet.)

Skimming past the articles on the new reality TV show "The Real Housewives of D.C." and the political points scored by politicians for piling on Tony Hayward for yet another PR gaffe for his spending some father-son time on Father's Day at a yacht race, I moved straight to my favorite The Week In Review.  

And there, I sat baffled.
cartoon20100615.jpg


I thought page 2's LaughLines had it right, with David Horsey's cartoon (above), and then I read about how the "great mineral find of 2010" in Afghanistan is likely to become a curse for that country, just a short page flip away from how our continued appetite and demand for the latest and greatest remains a problem, as exhibited by cellphone half lives

And that's when I lost it!

Don't we get it? Sure, Tony Hayward is an easy target, but collectively, where's the self-examination of our search for the enemy -- we've found the enemy and it's us!

Why don't I daily see how the choices I make keep adding to the total mess, not just in the Gulf of Mexico, but all over the world.



Today, as of this writing, the counter above notes 77,913,039 barrels of oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.  As of right now, that's approximately three day's worth of America's oil addiction.

Sheesh!

*Todd is a partner at the law firm of Jones Day, where he founded their Silicon Valley Office and runs their Renewable Energy and Sustainability Practice. The views expressed in this column are solely Todd’s personal views, not the views of Jones Day or its clients, and the information provided as to his affiliation with Jones Day is solely for purposes of identification and may not and should not be construed to imply endorsement or even support by Jones Day of the views expressed herein.

© R. Todd Johnson, 2010. The thoughts, ideas and words expressed in this column are the property of R. Todd Johnson and may not be otherwise used or reprinted without express permission from Todd.

No comments:

Post a Comment