Sign No. 3 That the End is Near: Hamas Wins Palestinian Elections.

" This is The End, my only friend, The End" -Jim Morrison

One of the people I look up to is Dr. Morris Anderson. Not only is he a Florence County Councilman, he is my Sunday School teacher, and a devout Christian. He has the respect and wisdom that comes only with living a long and full life. For a while, I could see that he was concerned about us living in the end times, but I attributed it to his being older, and overly sensitive in his later years. With the latest events in the Middle East, I'm not so sure he is wrong. This week, the political arm of Hamas won a majority in the Palestinian elections, overtaking the more secular Fatah Party. This bodes badly for peace in the Middle East. Israel will not recognize Hamas, and Hamas' sworn aim is to destroy Israel. Just when this area was beginning to stabilize, this combined with Ariel Sharon's illness, throws the region into near chaos. Let's take a look at the area as it is now: 1. Israel has an unelected PM who is from a party that didn't exist 6 months ago. 2. Lebanon is still under the rule of Syria, which murdered the most respected PM in Lebanon. 3. Iraq is Iraq. Getting there, but still the only nation even trying to hold free elections. 4. Iran is getting closer to nuclear power, and their PM wants to wipe Israel off the map. 5. Afghanistan and Pakistan still can't seem to control the terrorists hiding in the mountains. Osama is still there somewhere. 6. Saudi Arabia and Yemen produce and import more of the Al-Qaeda terrorists into Iraq than any other country. That's a start. Joshua Gross could probably add 50 more examples. If this keeps up, we're going to be about a week away from hordes of locusts or raining sulfur! " You're and errand boy, sent to collect a bill." -Col. Kurtz If this were 30 or 40 years ago, Israel would be preemptively striking countries in every direction, but those days are gone. Somehow , we have talked them into negotiation and compromise. It's easy for us to tell them to play nice, but we don't live there. The only incident we have to compare it to is Cuba in 1962, and look how crazy we got with a threat from 90 miles away. If the missles were still there, would we negotiate? I doubt it. There is a big point America needs to remember: Israel is the only true friend we have in the Middle East. All the others are faking it. Dr. Anderson just about blew a gasket when we talked Israel into giving up the Gaza Strip - I might have to skip church this weekend out of fear. This may be the highest level of instability that I've seen in my lifetime , and I don't have an answer. The amount of hatred among these people is unimaginable for us - we fought for freedom, rights or political gain. These people fight for revenge that goes back hundreds and thousands of years. I hope Dr. Anderson is wrong, and that some peace can happen in this troubled region. Until then, I'll keep looking out my window for locusts..... " The horror.....the horror".