Maybe those of you who are more "in tune" to the complex Israel/Palestinian situation can help me out here. But I can't help but notice that there always seems to be a <a href='http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20030519/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_explosion' target='_blank'>spike in suicide bombings</a> immediately before or during planned peace negotiations. Do the Palestinians want a state, or be perpetually engaged in a state of conflict? Maybe the ordinary Palestinian "street" may want the former, but groups like Hamas and their 72-virgin-yearnin' desciples act like they're begging for the latter.

Sometimes, liberation movements turn into gangster movements. They find illegal ways to pay for their actions and, at a certain point, find they can make a living through liberation.

I do not mean to express an opinion on the rightness or wrongness of particular political causes by stating this. That said, one could argue the IRA was/is at least in part a gangster movement with at least a partial interest in maintaining the conflict. The same analogies might also be drawn in Colombia.

The traditional explanation is that Hamas is hardline to the point of not wanting Israel to exist at all. Does that represent the view of all Palestinians? I suspect not, but I don't know.

Would creation of a state mollify that hardline Hamas sentiment. I would think so, but I understand the politics that are at stake when most Israelis say they aren't willing to take that risk.

I'd like to see a high profile pledge from George Bush that he would put $50 billion on the table to help in a settlement of the problem. I see the money being used primarily as cash awards to Palestinians who lost land in exchange for a settlement of all claims (and the elimination of the "right of return").

$50 billion is a ton of money. But we spent more in Iraq, and I'm not sure it has accomplished as much, at least as far as our own self-interest is concerned.

I think your theory's a very good one. Hamas, et al, certainly have a vested interest (which doesn't exclude financial) in constant conflict. In fact, I think many despots across the Middle East and Asia "need" the constant presence of Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to boost their own rhetoric. Quite frankly, I believe a number of them could give a hill of beans for the Palestinians, but are merely exploiting their "plight" as a convenient rallying cry for their own masses.

BTW, brown is beautiful, but only when side-by-side with gold.

Quote:BTW, brown is beautiful, but only when side-by-side with gold. &nbsp;

Which has always left me wondering: Was there a revolt when the Broncos went to these new Army-like unis? They are cool and all... but decidedly not brown.

Most were in favor of the new unis. We did lose some "uniqueness", since - aside from Wyoming - we were the only school with that color scheme. However, there were some years where the combo looked pretty nasty.

I think part of the problem wasn't really the brown, but that our gold wasn't gold at all. It was a bright yellow. So, in that case, I think the change to the current true gold was an improvement.