Daniel Lubetzky

This is an article that showed unusual insight and courage, in writing and in life.

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Worthy of real concern is the relationship between Venezuela’s dictator-in-development Hugo Chavez, Iran’s Ahmadinejad and the Hezbollah terrorist network, which has been reported to be basing itself in Venezuela to target anti-US operations.

After Senator Clinton gave an extraordinary speech at the DNC, hitting
every chord in endorsing Senator Obama for President, I flipped
channels between the different news stations to listen to reactions to
what to me qualified as mastery.

CNN & MSNBC seemed in agreement this was an epochal, historic speech.
But it was striking to hear the interpretations that the FOX team was
ascribing to her speech. Bill Kristol led by claiming it was an almost
shockingly minimalist endorsement that reflected her lack of trust in
Obama. Everyone followed like a chorus of propaganda you’d expect to
hear from Saddam Hussein’s military attache, or from Soviet or Chinese
officials disconnected from independent thought. Did we listen to the
same speech?

I wondered if I had lost the nuance. So today I listened to the entire
speech again. It was even better than I imagined. It was warm, it was
selfless, it was sincere and passionate in its strong endorsement of
Obama.

As an independent, I am often struck at how partisan extremists lose
sight of reality and see things the way they want to. This was a prime
example.

Sent from my iPhone – pardon typos
.

I hope every American family tonight got a chance to listen to Michelle Obama’s speech and to see the girls playfully send regards to their Dad.
Her speech should shatter any sown doubts about her patriotism, & her commitment to what is great about America & the American dream.  More important, seeing the family interact with such natural warmth should highlight their commonality with all Americans and hopefully uproot vestiges of race-based suspicion.

To the many well-intentioned Iran scholars who wistfully point out that Ahmedinajad’s rants can be discounted because true power lies in Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ‘Supreme Religious Leader,’ his recent defense of Ahmadinejad, including of his nuclear policy and confrontational style, should cause pause.

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Results of an Opinion Poll: Hamas and the Truce, the Government, Security Campaigns, The Peace Process and Elections
Publication Date: 18 August 2008
Dr. Nader Said

Field work: 6-8 August 2008
Sample Size: 1200 Young Palestinians (16-25 years) in the West Bank & Gaza
Margin of error: + 3
Introduction:

This poll took place during the final days of fighting between the Executive Force of the Hamas-led government and the Helles family in Gaza. The violence followed a number of explosions that took place in various locations in Gaza City, leading to the killing of 6 Palestinians, most of them from Hamas’ military wing. The subsequent fighting led to the killing of 11 Palestinians, among them were two Hamas fighters and eight members of the Helles family. AWRAD’s field work had to be postponed during the early period of heavy fighting, as the movement in Gaza was highly restricted by Hamas. Some areas selected to be included in the poll were out of reach and dangerous. The reality on the ground in Gaza led to shifts in public opinion towards Hamas and Fateh at the same time, confirming the fact that both factions are losing in Gaza, most especially Hamas. 
Moreover, months of discussions and negotiations have produced no visible progress on key issues of the conflict such as Jerusalem, refugees and borders.  Furthermore, no signs of hope have followed the announcement of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s resignation.

Highlights:

This poll shows the following significant findings and trends:
·            President Abbas enjoys a 63% approval rate, 18 points higher than Haniya.
·            The popularity of Haniya and Hamas in both the West Bank and Gaza declined immediately after the Helles neighborhood fighting.
·            The positive evaluation of Haniya’s government decreased from 55% to 46%.
·            The positive evaluation of the Fayyad government increased from 46% to 55%.
·            Intent of voting for Fateh increased from 47% to 53%; intent of voting for Hamas decreased from 37% to 29%.
·            35% believe that Fateh is more capable in leading the Palestinian society; 17% believe that Hamas is more capable.
·            Abbas, Fayyad, Marwan Al Barghouti or Mustafa Barghouthi could defeat Haniya in a presidential election.
·            93% of Gazans say that economic conditions in the Strip have worsened or have not improved.
·            57% of Gazans feel that the security situation has deteriorated or stayed the same.
·            59% of West Bank respondents believe that the security agencies are fighting crime more effectively now than before.
·            65% say that they are witnessing less car theft now than before.
·            74% support carrying out a legislative election now.
·            92% experience no improvement in the quality of their lives after the Annapolis Meeting.
·            64% believe that the current negotiations will not lead to a Palestinian state.
·            Still, 63% support the continuation of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.
·            61% believe that Hamas should continue to commit to the truce.
·            52% support that Hamas prevents rockets attacks, while 42% are opposed.
With support from the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)
more information, please contact Team Leader – Dr. Nader Said, or visit our website: www.awrad.org.
AWRAD – Arab World for Research & Development
Ramallah – Gaza, Palestine

Totally unrelated to silly Republican attacks against Obama for being too popular and too hip, the Obama campaign (to which, though an independent, I’ve contributed the maximum allowed) some times seems to not quite get the need for a bit more gravitas.  I just got an email (the umpteenth one in the last week) asking me to send $30 and be the first to get an Obama-Biden T-shirt.  The subject of the email:

First Edition Obama-Biden T-shirt

Really?  Is that the message the campaign should be disseminating?

Now, if some putz out there wants to hawk political campaign t-shirts as epochal collectors items, that’s fine.  But the official campaign team?

Show your support for the Obama-Biden ticket today. Make a donation of $30 or more and you will receive a first edition Obama-Biden T-shirt.

This follows a neat idea to have Obama supporters be the first to get an email advising who Obama had selected as his VP – and in Biden he made a great choice with gravitas.  That was a smart choice.  And it is great that the campaign can be "with it" and appeal to the young and use all necessary tech tools. 

But let’s hope the Obama team doesn’t get too enamored with itself and it’s appeal to the new generation.  It also has to appeal to the older generations.

The only thing better than lyrics from Coldplay’s songs are their actual songs.  Chris Martin’s vocals melt and reassemble the soul at once.  Here are the lyrics from FIX YOU – but if you haven’t heard the song, you should.

When You Try your best but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can’t sleep
Stuck in reverse.

When the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can’t replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try you’ll never know
“Just what your worth”

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream, down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I..

Tears stream, down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I..

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

COLDPLAY

FIX YOU

Convicted Of Charisma
By Michael Kinsley
Washington Post, 8/23/2008
Kinsley explains the Republican strategy for presidential elections. He says they don’t waste much time and energy probing the Democratic opponent’s weaknesses. Instead, they go after his biggest strength. So, in 2004 they attacked Kerry’s war service and in 1988 went after Dukakis’ populist appeal. Now the Republicans are attacking Obama’s charisma, as if popularity itself were a disqualifying factor. It comes close to being an attack on democracy itself.
Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Time magazine.
Link to full text in primary source.

72 hours that will change the world
By Nahid Hatr
Al Arab Al Yom (Jordan), 8/18/2008
Hatr comments on Raghida Durgham, a well-known writer for Al-Hayat, who expressed anxiety because of the "American retreat and confusion facing the Russian bullying in the Caucasian region." "What is important here is that Durgham is close to the pivots of the Arab-American alliance. Thus, her attitude shows that the circles of this pivot are extremely worried that Washington might be too weak to confront Moscow’s return to the international playground as a major player," he writes. "Washington’s allies must be feeling extremely edgy at the escalating international developments, which are leading to the emergence of a new multi-polar world order." How will the Americans respond? Will they accept the new balance of power and the new world order based on many players? "Or will the Americans follow Durgham’s advice and use their forces in Iraq in a new aggression on Iran as part of an effort, which we believe is doomed to fail, to regain global hegemony?"
Link to full text in primary source.

For those denying that America is being enveloped by an obesity epidemic whose repercussions we cannot begin to fathom, as if data about how 1 in 3 children born this year will be diabetic and 32% of children are overweight, new data shows that adult obesity rates increased in 37 US States across the US over the past year.  "The rate of adult obesity now exceeds 25% in 28 states" compared to a national average of 15% back in 1980.  1980 is when obesity started growing at such steep pace, and it is no coincidence that 1980 is also the year when high fructose corn syrup was introduced.

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