Daniel Lubetzky

A great argument against protectionism is contained in the last
paragraph of this insightful article by Michael Cox and Richard Aim
from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: ‘You Are What You Spend’, New
York Times, Feb 10 2008, p.14.

The article also establishes that consumption levels are a much better
measure of relative economic wellbeing and poverty than income
comparisons.

And it points out that global trade benefits all consumers by making
goods cheaper and more accessible, particularly impacting those with
lower income levels.

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Clif Bars is one company in the healthy snacking arena that KIND inhabits that I find a very worthy and also admirable player in the space.  Here they came up with a very creative and positive contribution against environmental waste.  Not sure how far this can get us but it is definitely a step in the right direction, smart marketing, innovative, and beneficial…

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Some time this century, more people than not will share a multi-
cultural or multi-national identity.

Either they or one or both of their parents or grandparents will have
been born in a different country from where they reside, and will
share cultural, national, ethnic and/or religious affinities with more
than one group.

This fact alone will increase respect and understanding for the other,
and will call for new ways to organize and govern in order to embrace
the shared challenges that human civilization will face.

Sent from my iPhone – pardon typos
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The show RED EYE which airs really late night on FOX News is actually wickedly funny and sometimes incisively so. 

Try to watch the clip from their Feb 26 discussion about the Hamas Bunny.

It is the right’s version of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report, among my all-time favorites, only surpassed by the Seinfeld Series.

I often worry about how the recent technological changes will affect society. I particularly am concerned about the impacts of constant-feedback-technology (blackberry, cell, email, voicemail, sms, i.m, – you need input, input, input – like the robot in the movie Short Circuit).  Will attention-span-disorder (like I have) become a regular feature of society? Will today’s kids be able to think strategically and long-term?

Some worry about how technology and the advent of the internet will decrease literacy.  People will stop reading books and newspapers.  But the article below provides a really interesting different angle on how tech evolution will just create different opportunities.

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A very interesting article from Reuel Marc Gerecht on Iraq, Afghanistan, Al Qaeda and what I call "pseudo-Islamic terrorists" (militant extremist assassins who usurp and tarnish a noble religion to advance their absolutist aims) appears in the Washington Post.  He is either extraordinarily well informed, and providing some real hope, or just engaging in wishful thinking.  Either way it is definitely worth a read here or by clicking below.

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Here is a note I got today from one of our team members in Gaza:

I know well that you understand the sensitivity of the day to day situation in Gaza, we absolutely experiences the conflict between the moderate people who live unacceptable and unbelievable life and the extremists who enjoy the role they play in governing the others, I’m not the only one who analyze current Gaza as it is now, in short we live in a miserable condition, there is nothing reach the minimum standards starting from the rule of law and not ending by the milk and the medicines for the children.

For one second don’t ever think that we gave up or we hesitate in acting for the goodness of our people and for OV message, we are doing our best to remain in contact with the necessarily people in Gaza and we enlarging our circle day by day, our action may not covered by media or documented by photos but personally and on behalf of [my team] I confirm that we are happy by every step that we take forward toward our goal.

My friend Carmella had commented I looked like an angry assassin at the beginning of this CNN interview.  Now that I saw it, I couldn’t agree more!

I hate fake smiles when you are waiting, but now I understand why politicians give those long phony grins.  Anything is better than that scary seriousness!

I wrote earlier about how the American primaries have been a wonderful showcase of democracy at work. 

Everywhere I have been traveling lately, from Tel Aviv to Ramallah, from Mexico City to Sydney, Australia, people are fascinating with the US elections. 

The only scary thing that will bring us back is if the Obama-Clinton competition is not resolved in an orderly fashion by the people.  If Florida/Michigan delegates become an issue, or if the super-delegates end up crowning the nominee at odds with the vote of the people, it will bring us back to the Bush-Gore elections debacle and make American democracy look like a banana republic.

In this context it is good news that it seems like Senator Obama is establishing a firm lead and Senator Clinton is demonstrating remarkable elegance in accepting the will of the people.

Below is a funny article about a man that set out to discover where all the ingredients in a twinkie came from…and the greater issue about all the artificial ingredients in our food…

I never cease to be amazed how our mass culture has created a permissiveness to eat and manufacture products whose ingredients you can’t see or pronounce.

That is, by the way, why KIND has a commitment to "ingredients you can see and pronounce."(R)

Click below to go to the article…

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