Daniel Lubetzky

I heard Ron Pundak (the CEO of the Peres Center) most recently attended a meeting of a coalition of NGOs working for peace, and he was struggling because he is fighting a particularly noxious type of cancer, currently going through treatment.

I have always secretly and quietly admired Ron, and have always felt we need more people like him.  In a world filled with well-meaning mediocrity down to cynical manipulation, Ron never succumbs and always applies the highest standards to what he does.  We seldom speak about people we admire with the candor they deserve, unless they are no longer with us, which means we lose the opportunity to do the right thing at the right time.  Hoping that Ron will get stronger as we need him to continue to lead, I want to share why I so deeply am impressed with this man:

• Because he is a Doer – he gets things done;
• Because he works for the mission, not for the institution; if they conflict, in everything I’ve ever seen from Ron, the mission always takes precedence; he eschews jealousies in favor of positive partnerships; he thinks long-term; he doesn’t lose sight of his ultimate purpose;
• Because he is humble and down-to-earth, never seeking praise or the limelight, always just doing the right work;
• Because he is a solid manager and coach;
• Because he is an extraordinary thinker;
• Because he is a mentsch – a real human being – who treats everyone with dignity and respect, Israeli or Palestinian, President or janitor.

Just like on the Palestinian side the call for "resistance" has been strengthening, Israeli views towards negotiations with Palestinians are hardening, according to the latest War and Peace Index conducted by Professor Tamar Hermann.  We’ve got our work cut out for us.

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Ehud Olmert died in the war and was buried in investigations. The two years under his governance since the war were not so bad. He knew how to run the Government, knew how to converse with world leaders, made some important security decisions and prepared the ground for peace. Soon, under Mofaz, Livni or Bibi, they will start to reminisce.

Nahum Barnea in Yediot Aharonoth

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Prime Minister Olmert has announced that he will resign after Kadima (his party) chooses a new leader in the primary elections that were negotiated under pressure with his rivals amidst the turmoil generated from investigations into his dealings.  The investigations center around a disgruntled donor who supported Olmert back when he was Mayor of Jerusalem, well prior to Olmert’s turn to support peace negotiations with Syria and Palestine. I’ve heard from smart insiders that the prime "witness"/corrupt donor – Talansky – is a hawkish marionette of Sheldon Adelson, who may be prodding this investigation in an effort to derail negotiations.  Upon hearing Olmert’s announcement, right-wing Knesset members immediately questioned Olmert’s legitimacy in his continued determination to pursue peace negotiations with Syria and the Palestinian Authority.

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Today was a very bloody day in Gaza, yet the Western media barely reported it, partly because Hamas has blocked them out, so instead of redoubling efforts to cover things, many in the media just move on.  In the meantime, apparent infighting within Hamas is being blamed on Fatah sabotage, even though Fatah is pretty much inoperative in Gaza.  More alarmingly, Hamas rounded up hundreds of people, not just Fatah-aligned politicians, but also unaffiliated civil society groups.  People are terrified and have no recourse – or voice!

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It’s been a known and disappointing reality that Arab aid to Palestinians is significantly less than aid from the West, but it borders on repulsive that even the committed pledges are not being fulfilled, and all this in the midst of a surge in oil prices that is generating hundreds of billions in windfalls to Arab oil producers.

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A study from Cornell University demonstrates a correlation between junk/unhealthful food and energy costs.  Artificial stuff, junk food and red meat all require more energy and natural resources to produce than fruits, nuts, veggies, etc.  So by eating real foods, you are not just helping your health – you are also helping reduce greenhouse emissions.

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Interesting cultural observation: in the US, people take one cent or one dollar off to create a perception of value: an iTunes song costs $0.99, not $1.00; a KIND Bar retails for $1.99, not $2; a jacket is on sale for $199 instead of $200.  In Great Britain, that "discounted" valuation is a sign of poor quality and is not used.  A product costs 1 pound.  If it is going to be less, it goes down to 0.79 – 79 pence.  Almost nothing is ever sold for 0.99 or 1.99 in the UK, and certainly also not for 99 or 199 pounds.  It’s rounded numbers.  Telling of the entire business personality of these countries.

Every line in Cameron Crowe’s script for Jerry Maguire (one of my favorite movies) is at once witty and apt.  IMDB has a good compilation of some great lines. Besides the ones that have made it into every day life, like "Help me help you", "You had me at hello," and "Show me the money!", here are a couple examples:

Rod Tidwell, Jerry’s only remaining client: You are hanging on by a very thin thread and I dig that about you!

Jerry Maguire: I’m finished, I’m fucked. Twenty four hours ago, man, I was hot! Now… I’m a cautionary tale. You see this jacket I’m wearing, you like it? Because I don’t really need it. Because I’m cloaked in failure! I lost the number one draft picked the night before the draft! Why? Let’s recap: Because a hockey player’s kid made me feel like a superficial jerk. I ate two slices of bad pizza, went to bed and grew a conscience!

Avery Bishop, Jerry’s hard-core fiance: If you ever want me to be with another woman for you, I’d do it. It’s not something I’m interested in. Once, yeah, it seemed normal, but it was just a phase, a college thing, like torn Levi’s or law school for you. Would you like something from the kitchen? I’m gonna get some fruit.

Copy store clerk, after reading Jerry’s Mission/Manifesto: That’s how you become great, man. Hang your balls out there!

Ray, Dorothy’s munchkin son: D’you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds?
Jerry Maguire: Did you know that Troy Aikman, in only six years, has passed for 16,303 yards?
Ray: D’you know that bees and dogs can smell fear?
Jerry Maguire: Did you know that the career record for hits is 4,256 by Pete Rose who is NOT in the Hall of Fame?
Ray: D’you know that my next door neighbor has three rabbits?
Jerry Maguire: I… I can’t compete with that!

Avery Bishop: There is a sensitivity thing that some people have. I don’t have it. I don’t cry at movies, I don’t gush over babies, I don’t buy Christmas presents 5 months early, and I DON’T tell the guy who just ruined both our lives, "Oh, poor baby." But I do love you.

Dorothy: I just want to be inspired.

Dorothy: He’s coming over.
Laurel: Tonight?
Dorothy: He just lost his best client. I invited the guy over.
Laurel: Dorothy, this is not a guy. It’s a syndrome. Early mid-life. Hanging on to the bottom wrung. "Dear God, don’t let me be alone or I call my newly long suffering assistant without medical for company settlement."

Marcee Tidwell: [shouting, to Jerry] What do you stand for?
Dorothy: How about a little piece of integrity in this world that is so full of greed and a lack of honorability that I don’t know what to tell my son! Except, "Here. Have a look at a guy who isn’t yelling ‘Show me the money." Did you know he’s broke? He is broke and working for you for free! Broke. Broke, broke, broke. I’m sorry I’m just not as good at the insults as she is.
Marcee Tidwell: No, that was pretty good.

Dicky Fox, Jerry’s mentor earlier generation agent: Hey, I don’t have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success.

Pom Wonderful did something, err, wonderful for the food industry by fighting to uphold the standards of the category in which it leads, pomegranate juice, to the point of successfully suing unscrupulous new entrants who tried to ride on its coattails by marketing lower grade products as if they were the real thing:

"Consumers buy the products to gain the health benefit – if that is not present then there are problems for the category. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should be more active in this area but we all know how under resourced they are. We are trying to protect the integrity of the category." Rob Six, spokesperson for Pom Wonderful

"Purely Juice", a company that claimed to sell purely pomegranate juice that was in fact primarily cane sugar and corn sweetener was ordered to pay $1.5mm to Pom.

The category for healthful snacks where KIND leads gets similarly hurt when consumers are duped into buying "natural" "nutritional" and "energy" bars whose ingredients contain refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup and refined flowers and hydrogenated oils, contributing to the diabetes and obesity epidemics overtaking America.  Similar enforcement action should follow for companies – big or small – that manipulate what it means to be "all natural" and "healthful."

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