NEXT 48 HOURS CRITICAL IN GAZA WAR AS REPUBLICANS DOUBLE DOWN ON STUPID

The war with Gaza rages on as Hamas has claimed a truce is imminent by 5 PM EST which apparently is new to the Israelis who deny any movement in that direction. Either the Israelis are hedging their bets to kill off a few more rocket launchers before the deal goes through or Hamas is going to claim that the Israelis agreed to the truce behind closed doors and then violated it. The later is the most likely scenario as bombs continue to fall unabated. Egypt also denies that any truce is forth coming making the Hamas claim all the more suspect. Hamas is not winding anything down as the most recent reports show they scored their first kill against a soldier in the conflict as well as dragging the body of a suspected spy behind a speeding motorcycle

By Thanksgiving, Israel may use ground troops which will escalate the fighting and lead to higher civilian casualties. Reports are that Benjamin Netanyahu has given Hamas 36 hours to stop the fighting or else. That deadline expires tomorrow.

If ground troops are used, this could spin the violence in a whole new direction. Egypt is caught in the crossfire here, which is the only reason Gaza hasn't been flattened into the Earth. Israel wants to keep the peace with their neighbor as does Egypt for the most part. However, their illiterate population that follows militant Islamic notions are fuming about Israel and are demanding action. The current Egyptian PM, Muhammad Morsi, a member of the Islamic Brotherhood, now has to walk a fine line with keeping the people happy while not losing Israel as a peace partner and the billions in aid they get from the US. Power once gotten is sometimes not fully realized until it blows up in your face.

I will keep readers involved as much as I can over the next few days but with Thanksgiving coming, I will have other priorities. However, as situations change I will update this column or even write a new one. As tomorrow is my traditional "What to Give Thanks Over" column, I may be up to the wee hours writing if Gaza goes belly up, as it might, over the next few days. If things spiral out of control badly enough, that Mayan prophecy about the world ending on Dec 21st may not be that far off.

Meanwhile, the GOP is digging in the heels against raising the debt ceiling, the fiscal life and Susan Rice's potential nomination. Apparently they didn't get the memo that we don't agree with them on just about anything and they should get with program. Obama is letting the Republicans know that keeping tax rates on the rich as they are is NOT going to happen. Many are still balking about it. If taxes go up for everyone and the GOP gets the blame I hope they like what happened in the last election because it is going to be deja vu come 2014.

Allen West has finally conceded his loss which means the GOP will have one less whackjob to have to deal with. Now if we can only get rid of the remaining 95% of them that suck.

The democrats are proving their unreliability now with Patrick Leahy D-VT putting forth a bill that went from protecting average citizens from warrantless email searches to doing the exact opposite after law enforcement complaints. This is the exact garbage that brought down Petraeus and Allen. If a four star general and the head of the CIA can't get any protection, what chance do the rest of us have. This is a sleazy bill that needs to die on the floor. Make sure your congressman knows you DO NOT support this bill and any asshole voting for it, democrat or not, will see the unemployment office for their next term.

Happy Thanksgiving all. Let's hope cooler heads prevail in today's non stop parade of idiocy.