Last week I met Senator George Mitchell in a closed door meeting concerning Mideast Peace and I heard the Prince of Jordan speak at the Abraham Initiatives. Both events seemed hopefully optimistic in light of the bombing in Jerusalem, but optimism beats the prison building mentality any day. The highlight of the day was in between meetings – sharing a car with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and talking about the Mideast as a big football game. It sounds like a joke – the rabbi and imam talking pigskin – but that’s how it happened last week in the Big Apple – so God Bless America. On Friday I was at Columbia University’s Center for Human Rights at a consult on Human Rights and Religion – another nexus to watch in the decade ahead.