Screwed up priorities

Newsweek did it's end-of-year issue differently this year. The staff interviewed 17 people who will make a difference, including Hillary Clinton (interesting discussion with Henry Kissinger), David Petraeus, Timothy Geithner, Tim Pawlenty (Minn. governor who is possible GOP candidate for prez. in 2012), Jeff Bezos (head of Amazon), and directors James Cameron and Peter Jackson interviewing each other. All of the interviews are listed here.

A couple ideas to highlight. Talk-show hosts Bill Maher (liberal) and Joe Scarborough (conservative) interview each other. Along the way, Maher said:

That's the problem with faith, Joe. What it does is kind of screw up your priorities. Your priorities shouldn't be about saving your own ass, which is the focus of Christianity. The focus should be, I'm a good person, and I do that just for the sake of being good.

There is also an insightful interview with Bill Clinton. How are we to evaluate issues? The world is so interdependent now it is not possible to divorce. Clinton's framework is this:

I may make a mistake, but I think I have the right filter. I'll ask myself on any profound issue: will this increase positive interdependence or reduce negative interdependence? If it will, I'm for it. If it won't I'm against it.