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I love Whole Foods and really wish that there were one closer to my home in Sound Beach–not that the hour drive each way stops me from going regularly. The selection of organic and natural foods is far beyond anything else on Long Island.

Tonight, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey discuss the past, present, and future of food before joining author Michael Pollan in a conversation that continues the exchange of views the two have been conducting since the publication of Pollan’s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”

The chat is taking place tonight in Berkeley, CA, but you can watch it live online at 10:00 p.m. EST.

Last night I briefly caught 60 Minutes on CBS. Bill O’Reilly from The O’Reilly Factor was being interviewed by Mike Wallace. I stopped and watched the segment, afterward I thought about the brushes we paint each other with.

While I’ve seen the O’Reilly Factor a few times, I haven’t watched it on a regular basis. The times I’ve watched I agreed with some of the things I heard and disagreed with others. But I certainly had concluded what I thought Bill O’Reilly would and would not care about.

I was fascinated to hear Reilly say, when questioned about by Wallace about various topics, that “Global Warming is here” and something like “to hear those idiots say it’s not, is ridiculous.” When talking about Iraq he said the Bush Administration, Rumsfeld in particular “totally underestimated what we would face after we got there.”

Whether we should have been in Irag to begin with wasn’t discussed, but I think on previous occasions he agreed we should be there.

My point is this, canvas already been painted by some as a liberal magazine. When asked for specifics no one has been able to tell us what is specifically liberal. I would find it hard to say we’re liberal because we don’t take political positions. I’ve been asked by co-workers why I think people have labeled us liberal to that I’ve replied “When you put art, environment and holistic practices into one package, it’s easy to label it liberal.”

I find it funny how painting people with the label brush is so easy. Go figure most people wouldn’t think Bill Reilly gives a damn about the environment, but maybe he does. No one would think he’d pick on the Bush administration to criticize the Irag debacle, but he did.

In that vein, maybe at canvas we’re not liberal or conservative, maybe we just want to help people live better lives and enjoy themselves while they do!

Labeling should stick to cans on the shelf in a supermarket and let people be judged on their actions and merits.

We’ve all heard about how violent video games and violence on TV encourage violent behavior in the viewer. Recent studies including one by researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia indicate that brain waves are actually altered by observing violent video games. Not only does playing these games result in real-life aggression, researchers found, but it also results in desensitization to violence.

If you have any doubt of this truth, let me tell you something about “canned hunts.” For those of you who (like me, until today) don’t know what this is, I’ll explain.

There are websites out there, right now, being run from within the United States, that allow you to, for a fee, press a button to release a rifle shot directed at a caged animal. This cruel, sick and barbaric practice brings the idea of video violence to unfathomable new levels.

Even various hunting associations have condemned this practice, indicating that is not a “fair” competition between man and beast.

The American Human Society is currently desperately trying to enact Federal Legislation to make this practice illegal. Although some states have outlawed it, others have not. Further, only Federal Legislation will also make it illegal to participate in this type of video commerce even if it is run offshore.

If you want to learn more, or help please go to the Human Society’s website at http://hsus.org/wildlife/stop_canned_hunts

Let me warn you that the video and images there can be quite disturbing.

Let me also say this: Past writing this message as a way of hoping to help end this practice, I had to pen this today to express my shock, dismay, and fury at the human condition.

How have we sunk so low as this? It’s bad enough that we already (like the Romans in their crumbling empire) garner the most entertainment value from programs that degrade other people under the guise of “reality” or those that promote violence toward one another, the Earth, and its creatures.

Beyond the fact that it’s reprehensible that many of us we have to fantasize and act out violence through video games in order to engage our brains, it’s just pathetic. How feeble minded have we become that cruelty is no longer recognized for what it is, and the bar of compassionate behavior is lowered and lowered and lowered? How arrogant are we that the life of another creature who feels, carries its young, gives birth and nurtures its family can be reduce to nothing but an vehicle for our momentary enjoyment?

Again, I ask you to visit the Human Society’s website at http://hsus.org/wildlife/stop_canned_hunts and help stop this practice if not for the sake of the animal victims then for the sake of our own humanity. As Albert Einstein once said:

“Our task must be to free ourselves…by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.”

Last week, our site director Lenn and his wife had their baby boy “Jack.” First, congratulations to Lenn and his new family!!
As I learned the happy news it gave me a moment to reconnect with the important and happy things in my life.
Everyday we all navigate the challenges of life and it can be hard to stay focused on what’s really important and more importantly, what makes us happy. As we got the news that Lenn and his wife were ready to go to the hospital, I wished him well and being a father myself I knew the happiness he was about to experience. I hope the first time he saw the new addition to his family was beyond anything he ever expected.
When news that Lenn’s baby arrived I took a moment from the pressures of my everyday life. I felt a smile come to my face while I thought about Lenn seeing his son for the first time. I then remembered and felt the same happiness I experienced when my daughter and son were born. Very quickly I found myself moving from those happy thoughts to thinking about my wife and to other happy moments.
We can all use the happy moments of others to remind ourselves of all the happiness in our lives and use them as motivators to help us copy with life’s never ending challenges. Better yet, if we continually work to make every moment happy, sharing the happiness of others becomes a special bonus.
Congratulations again, Lenn, and thanks for sharing your happiness.