Daniel Lubetzky

"Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind."
– Henry James

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has sent a report to the FDA charging several food and beverage manufacturers with mislabeling their products. CSPI also recommends reforming package labeling format, especially the nutrition information and ingredient lists.

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If you can imagine it, you can create it.

If you can dream it, you can become it.

–William Arthur Ward

Afshin Ellian wrote an excellent piece in the Wall Street Journal.  He concludes it with:

The emergence of a democratic Iran is therefore not only a moral imperative but should be the foreign policy priority of every cold-hearted realist as well as multicultural engager. That’s why it is so incomprehensible that the Obama Administration still prefers dialogue with the apocalyptic ayatollahs over uncompromising support for the people crying out for freedom.

If the protesters shake off the yoke of theocracy and savagery, their success could herald the failure of political Islam way beyond Iran. At this turning point in history the West has no logical alternative but to unequivocally support the Green Revolution. The fate of this movement far outweighs the useless nuclear talks that will only buy the regime time and undeserved international legitimacy. The demonstrators in Iran on Dec. 7 rightfully exclaimed: "Obama, are you with them [the regime] or with us?" History will not judge him lightly if he chooses the wrong side.

For years I have wondered how so many diplomats (including many who are esteemed friends that I admire) delude themselves into believing they can actually get the Iranian regime to drop their quest for nuclear weapons.  Never mind that the regime has invested its entire reputation into asserting that the nuclear option is its G’d-given right.  And never mind that their entire geo-strategic existence relies on nuclear hegemony, not to mention the scary messianic imperatives they seem to want to accelerate with nuclear holocaust, as Ahmadinejad himself explicitly avowed.  If history teaches us anything is that we should take people in power at their word when they proclaim threatening visions in the public fora.

Several years ago, pundits dismissed "regime change" as naive and advocated nuclear containment with Iran instead.  I remember thinking they all had it upside down.  Nuclear containment is unlikely with the present regime.  Admittedly it may also be difficult with a future Iranian leadership.  But at least we won’t have apocalyptic messianics holding on to the red button.  Now that a viable grassroots opposition has risen in Iran demanding freedom and democracy, it will be devastating if they are not given all forms of global support, moral AND otherwise.

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The Nutrition Twins recommend KIND on Good Morning America’s Resolutions Solutions segment as a great way to curb cravings. KIND bars are a favorite “good snack” of the twins!

Nutritionist Althea Zanecosky of CBS News in Philadelphia had a segment discussing healthful eating trends for 2010 and closed the segment with an endorsement of KIND Bars as satiating nutritionally rich fruit and nut bars made with simple ingredients you can see and pronounce. 

The Nutrition Twins on FOX News recommended KIND Fruit & Nut Bars as a low-sodium heart-healthy solution to get back in shape in 2010. 

Amman (the capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) recently hosted a comedy festival organized by Arab-American comedians.

Beyond being a constructive exercise, it exposed the need to encourage more introspection and independent thinking in Arab education, which is not just valuable to comedy (self-deprecating humor, sarcastic humor) as the article points out, but would also strengthen democratic institutions and foster entrepreneurial values, innovation, and balance of power.

A study recently found that children on Medicaid are given antipsychotic drugs at a rate 4 times higher than those on private health insurance.

The implications for health and justice are deep. Antipsychotic drugs are severely overprescribed – and their long-term damage to society has not yet been registered.

The article posits this trend among the poor may be related to short- sighted measures to "efficiently" control problem children.

A more serious and systemic problem is the abuse by the pharmaceutical industry of government programs – and their undue influence over certain segments of the medical community.

These are scary developments that seem to get scarier with time. A serious and systemic response is necessary.

Bono just wrote an opinion piece advocating, among other things for 2010:

• A Festival of Abraham where artists celebrate Muslim, Jewish and Christian traditions (similarities to OneVoice’s OneMillionVoices campaign)
• The World Cup as tool for political change (similar sentiment to OneVoice’s Goal2018 Campaign)
• People Power, in line with the What Are You Willing to Do To End the Conflict campaign
• Non-violent revolution (in tune with why OneVoice was created)

So it seems OneVoice should invite Bono to join its Honorary Board, alongside music and change icons like Sir Paul McCartney.

Article pasted below…

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