Gaza

Chances are, if you are reading this, then you know Israel has been pounding the crap out of the Gaza Strip over the past two weeks. There have been calls for a cease fire from all over the world condemning the attacks and the occupation. News outlets love to point out that over 1000 Gaza residents (militant and non alike) have been killed while less than 20 Israelis have been killed from rocket and other attacks.

First, a bit of background. There has never been but a lull in violence and conflict in Israel for thousands of years. Control over Jerusalem throughout history has been one long game of hot potato. When the concept of Israel was being mulled over by the UN, the original plan was
for a partition, one Jewish and one Arab, with the West Bank remaining neutral (due to the holy sites for both sides and the fact that no one will ever relinquish/maintain control over those sites). Arab Nations (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq) rejected this and instead attacked the newly formed Israel. At the end, Egypt controlled Gaza and Jordan annexed the West Bank. Israel itself controlled a barren wasteland with no natural resources and only tourism to rely on (a real kicker to control the only land in that area with no oil).

To keep this from getting too boring, control over various regions of Israel (a small area about the size of New Jersey, mind you) moved back and forth, usually from Arab aggression resulting in their own defeat and Israel conceding the land from the resulting victories. This has been going on forever and I don't see it stopping anytime soon. The whole thing is really just so petty on both sides at this point, we should just have a bingo game to see who gets control of each area. Violence is as certain as a hypochondriac's thoughts when hearing the defintion of hypochondria.

Back to recent events. If any other country in the world was subject to unprovoked rocket attacks, no matter the casualty result, the "offensive" into the firing country wouldn't be second guessed. Can you imagine Mexico shooting rockets into New Mexico? Andorra taking on Spain? How about Germany laying a few on France (who is attempting to broker the cease fire)? Or, what would the response be to Israeli unprovoked attacks on Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, et all?

Now Gaza is claiming it will only broker a cease fire (after they broke the last one during its final days) if Israel withdraws? Hamas (which controls Gaza), is backed by Iran. Iran has gone on record saying its goal is the complete obliteration of the state of Israel. I don't think the problems with this whole thing could be anymore obvious.

Testimonials

Is it just me, or any time there are "testimonials" listed for a product or a service, that product/service is shady at best? I keep seeing the http://cash4gold.com/ advertised and I went to check it out. Gold is pretty valuable but I simply can't trust a site that has testimonials. It's like trusting the Bernie Madoff with this years tax return.

Football Playoffs

Next week's games are set. Here is the rundown:

Ravens @ Titans
Pick: Ravens 26 Titans 20

The Titans are pretty ripe for the picking. They are getting some players back (Haynesworth and co) from injuries but time will tell if they are 100% at this point. If Flacco can become Tom Brady circa 2001 and manages the gameplan well, that defense with Ed Reed and Ray Lewis can really carry them. We will see how Johnson and Kerry Collins (although as my brother says, "Never underestimate Kerry Collins") fair aginst a sound if not solid defense.

Chargers @ Steelers
Pick: Steelers 20 Chargers 17

I could use this as an excuse to explain why an 8-8 team shouldn't make the playoffs. Instead, Chargers looked good but without Tomlinson, Sproles is going to be on his back courtesy of James Harrison and Troy Polamalu and I don't think Rivers has enough weapons outside of Antonio (finally looking healthy and himself) Gates to overcome the Steelers Defense.

Arizona @ Carolina
Pick: Carolina 31 Arizona 14

I can pretty much boil this down to counting scores. I can see Arizona playing the couple of big plays (2 long TD's) and a lot of 3 and outs, turnovers and losing the time possession battle kind of game. against Carolina's defense and while Julius Peppers has himself a 3 sack day on as Kurt Warner is reminded he should retire before he gets the final hit he doesn't want.

Eagles @ Giants
Pick: Giants 24 Eagles 16

I really want to pick the Eagles in this game because if anyone in the NFC could beat the Giants its them. I think that if Brandon Jacobs is a) not 100% and b) forced into less carries or out of the game by injury the Eagles have a great chance to win this game. I don't trust the McNabb/Reid braintrust to carry the Eagles to a great extent so Dawkins and the defense and Westbrook on the offensive side will need to have big days. However, I think the Giants defense and an efficient offense and field possession game will move the Giants on.