Day 1

Dear Olmert,

First, congratulations for asserting that the minimum wage in Israel will reach $1,000 by the end of this year. That is brave and encouraging!

Second, I woke up from my hangover this first day of 2007 to news from our government that no progress has been made in releasing our hostage soldier due to "inflated demands of the Palestinians" (Haaretz).

And I was wondering, how can we expect to make progress when we speak in this way about the Palestinians negotiating tactics? Perhaps our government is cynical about the possibility of making progress on its own or with the other side. Who should be making progress to release our captive soldier?