Hamas continues to institute more draconian and totalitarian impositions on Palestinians living in Gaza, including heavy monitoring and filtering of internet and telephone communications.
Mainstream media is not reporting about this.
This episode of the Colbert Report is hilarious. Reporting on the news that fruit overtook cookies as the #1 snack for kids over 6, they note:
It’s an outrage that cookies are no longer the number one snack for children under six. Fruit is un-American.
In contrast to my blog entry criticizing the negotiations Israel carried out with Hezbollah to release the bodies of two slain Israeli soldiers in exchange for releasing several terrorists, here are some alternative perspectives from friends I respect:
From an Israeli jurist who asked to remain anonymous:
The problem you raise has no one answer.
Israel did the same transaction before.
Every soldier who goes to take part in war activities has to know that the Israeli government will do the utmost efforts to save him from prison or bring his body back to Israel. For a soldier it is a big relief to have this information.
One can say as you argue that the enemy will not hesitate to kill prisoners of war and yet get in exchange live terrorists. to this terrible dilemma I have no answer.
please remember that Jews in the Golla paid money to release Jews from prison, There is a lot of writing how much to pay in order to release. there were Jews in prison who refused to be liberated saying you are members of poor community or that if the Jewish people will release them this will cause in the future more blackmail.
From Jake Hayman, a British social entrepreneur and OneVoice London executive member:
I understand that it may not be politically the wisest thing to do in the short term, but I think it is noble beyond belief, to an extent that makes Israel actually come out looking stronger.
Hizbullah can ask how Israel can possibly defend itself when even the bodies of the dead mean so much to it, but they will also be lost as to how they can hope to defeat a place so magnaminous. Its about operating a higher moral standard that makes you ostensibly more vulnerable but shows a unity and strength that no one else can even come close to.
I’m not sure i can really articulate it, but I’d like to think I’d do the same and think it may be the best thing in the long run although it obviously sets a scary precedent in the short run and if they can’t live up to the standards they set now it causes a problem, but they set these standards a long time ago and have stuck by them since.
A third, more jaded view:
Nobody can stand to condemn this. It would be political suicide. Widows cannot get remarried under Jewish law if their fallen husbands’ bodies are not recuperated. No one will dare deny them this, even for sound strategic reasons.
Today we received some samples of interesting products from Turkey: fruits stuffed with nuts. I thought they were great possible additions to our healthy snacks family – minimally processed, all natural, flavorful, just sun dried. But it was funny (and sad) that in informal focus groups, most consumers were turned off by the look of the dried figs and encrusted walnuts. Ok, dried figs and walnuts may well look like coarse mummy brains as some of my team members were saying.
But it seems like some people are getting too used to over-processed artificially created surfaces that are smooth, brightly bleached and homogenous. It is interesting that, while there is a huge backlash against these overly-processed products, some consumers have almost gotten hypnotized into expecting factory-bland looks, without recognizing the health implications. It is almost as if we are being conditioned to expect the factory look, rather than the natural.
I was struck at this Fancy Food Show at how many companies are starting to tie their new products to commitments to give donations to social causes.
You’d think that is great and to be encouraged, but I was quite turned off, because it was so clear that to a lot of these companies it was not a true mission with sincerity of purpose, but a shallow gimmick.
The concept of "we donate X% of our profits to Y Cause" is being manipulated to the detriment of efforts that are sincere and real. I wish some third party organization fostering transparency in socially responsible business behavior would audit/inspect claims in this field.
I asked a few of them which organizations they donated to, or how much they had donated, and most said, "well, we are not profitable yet, so we haven’t donated anything." [And some had been in business for a few years already]
Isn’t it unethical to claim you are donating something when you are not? Ok, you are not profitable yet? And you can’t find it logical to donate something? Then you are not entitled to make the claim that you are donating!
Epicurious, the blog that is an institution among foodies (published by Conde Nast, which also guides Gourmet and Bon Appetit Magazines), ranked KIND as one of the best products they tasted at the 54th Annual Fancy Food Show in NYC. It was the only product in the snack bar category that got such mention. Here is what they said about KIND PLUS, our new line:
Still made with natural ingredients you can actually see and pronounce, these tasty KIND nutrition bars are now enhanced with antioxidants, calcium, protein, and omega-3s. We couldn’t get enough of the tropical Mango Macadamia with calcium and the Cranberry & Almond with antioxidants.
The article below points to local opposition to water bottling facilities, but does not even highlight one of the biggest reasons why bottled water is causing such backlash: it’s plastic bottles overwhelming negative environmental impact…
The Israeli Government has just announced its agreement to procure the "release" Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two Israeli soldiers abducted by Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, in exchange for releasing several Lebanese prisoners including Samir Kuntar, the man who in 1979 murdered 3 Israelis in their home, including a 4-year old, and who caused the hiding mother to suffocate her 2-year-old daughter as she tried to quiet her crying.
What is the problem?
I feel horrible for the families that lost Ehud and Eldad. But besides the perverse and ominous incentives this deal creates, it is also going to turn Hezbollah’s Nasrallah from a formidable hero into a mythic legend in the eyes of many in the Arab world.
The timing is particularly regrettable because for the first time in 20+ years, Nasrallah had lost a little of his luster when he showed his color and attacked fellow Lebanese civilians. This will restore his stature and more.
Unless there is a secret grand bargain in the making that, with Lebanese/Shaba farms, Syrian, and Palestinian negotiations will settle the Israeli-Arab conflict and distance Israel’s neighbors from Iran, today is as tragic a day for civil society as it is a cause for celebration for those who espouse violence as a tool for political leverage.
Below is the text of the Israeli government’s outline for the agreement on releasing the abducted soldiers in Lebanon:
This article from the Christian Science Monitor summarizes pretty well the political developments that have for now kept the current Israeli parliamentary coalition afloat.
Instead of recriminations and fights for personal political advancement, for once these considerations were borne in mind:
…it’s not as if we don’t have a few other things to keep us busy… …Israel’s shaky truce with Hamas, which is just six days old and already being tested by militants who fired rockets into Israel Tuesday; possible negotiations with Hezbollah over Israel’s captured soldiers; indirect talks with Syria; and nuclear tensions with Iran.
…not to mention the little detail about Olmert’s commitment to achieve a framework agreement with Abbas within 2008.
If you really want to understand the implications of our lifestyle, you should take a look at this scary presentation about the impact that plastic bags are having on the environment, and how this will come back and haunt us.
