Daniel Lubetzky

Anyone who didn’t listen to Obama’s speech on "race" and "religion" in Philadelphia today (March 18 2007) MUST do so.  You can see it here.  It proves the depth of this candidate, and the hope he can bring to America and the world.

This guy is such an exceptional human being, such an elegant "mentsch", such a sincerely noble politician, truly dedicated to uniting us for a common cause.

Skeptics should listen to his speech before raising their eyebrows.

You can learn a lot about Obama in what he says as much as in what he does not say.  He doesn’t pander.  He is earnest.  He is gutsy.  He is truthful.  He is real. Bravo to the man!

Peter Samuelson is one of those rare living angels who rove the earth, who never forget to treat every human being with respect, who always try to help make others better beings and better off, and daily, constantly innovating to fight suffering.  He inspired a lot of great quotes worthy of sharing.

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Many signs point to Hezbollah’s increasing presence in the Palestinian territories, a sharp departure to Arafat’s model of Palestinian nationalism being the realm of Palestinian groups only.  This is among the most serious (and least addressed) developments over the last few years.

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My friend Andy Komaroff shared this beautiful poem tonight at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding:

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

But make allowance for their doubting too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,

If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much,

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

–Rudyard Kipling

Most of the world’s attention is zoned in on the US elections or on the Middle East.

But very worthy of concern is the increasingly destabilizing behavior of Hugo Chavez from Venezuela.

He praised FARC commander Raul Reyes as a "good revolutionary" hero.  The FARC is the terrorist guerrilla group that has killed thousands of ordinary Colombian citizens.  Every Venezuelan and Colombian I’ve spoken to over the last couple months has been warning that Chavez is aiming to start a war against Colombia, partly to prop him up after the electoral defeat when he tried to amend the constitution in order to stay in power.

Clive Crook’s column in the Financial Times today (3/3/08), "Clinton Gets it Sincerely Wrong," is sadly on target.  Senator Clinton does not have a particularly charming or personable personality, but that was not her greatest undoing.  Her greatest undoing was trying to become something else.  Margaret Thatcher was comfortable in her own skin as a tough cookie, and people liked that about her – and voted for her.  Senator Clinton instead has been switching personalities based on what the pollsters say.

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Cosmologist Martin Rees does not think that modern civilization will make it past this century.  Scientific and technological progress carry
with them the seeds of human destruction, whether through the harm we
cause to the environment, or straight out nuclear or biological
destruction.

So ironically, one of the core limitations to connecting with intelligent life elsewhere in the planet is our own unbridled ‘intelligence.’

You can make your own predictions about this at www.msnbc.com/modules/drake/default.asp  
Sent from my iPhone – pardon typos

I am printing this as a I got it, without editorialization:

World’s First Cross-Denominational Statement from Muslims to Jews in Modern Times

Religious scholars and Muslim leaders from around the world are to issue a statement to the world’s Jewish Community at the Centre for the Study of Muslim – Jewish Relations in Cambridge on Monday 25 February.

This demonstrates a genuine desire within the Muslim community to reach out to Jews. The letter describes itself as ‘a call for positive and constructive action that aims to improve Muslim — Jewish relations’.

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Robert Redford plays a Professor at a Stanford-like California liberal arts university with an urgent message for his students about the imperative of not leaving governance and public service to the despots, the bureaucrats and the political animals.  Even if, no, particularly if, things look bad, service is that much more needed, and giving it your best is what is important.

The title of the movie comes from an analogy from the World War I to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Germans in the first world war used to admire the British soldiers on the front as courageous and determined but they considered their generals mediocre.  One German General said something along the lines of, "Never have I seen so many lions commanded by such lambs." Redford’s character feels the same is true of the idealistic young men who volunteered to serve their country in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Too bad the movie has several moments that feel contrived, either because of an overly didactic script or because of the editing.  But the movie is worth watching because of several compelling observations, even if some are forced in.

The core message of not turning to apathy just because things are bad is very much applicable to the world we live in today.  It is such an easy cop-out to complain and be cynical.  It takes more work to do something about it.

The rumors in the Jewish community about Barak Hussein Obama’s "Muslim" connection are embarassing, dumb, and wrong.  Every day I get email forwards with silly allegations and fear-mongering.  Very sad, not just because it is based on lies and ignorance, but also because it reflects deep prejudice and fear from a religion that has been unfairly tarnished by a minority of extremists who seek to hijack it.

But what nobody in the media has pointed out when they mention how much he has overcome and what testament to progress in America it is that someone whose last name rhymes with "Osama" Bin-Laden and whose middle name is the same as that of the late "Butcher of Baghad", Saddam Hussein, is that Barak has an Israeli first name.

Indeed, "Barak", which means "thunder" in Hebrew, is a common first name as well as a common last name.

So if people are going to make up stories, they might as well balance them out and talk about how he is the product of an Arab-Israeli love affair.