The problem with your analogy is that Hamas IS the rogue splinter group. Here are some quotes from it's own founding charter:
"Israel will rise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors."
"Israel, by virtue of its being Jewish and of having a Jewish population, defies Islam and the Muslims."
"Leaving the circle of conflict with Israel is a major act of treason and it will bring curse on its perpetrators."

Once again, if you want to go back to Israel's declaration of independence I don't think it's needed to go find any quotes from Arab nations about wiping anyone off the map. The formerly Iraq,Syria,Lebanon,Jordan and Exgypt sent nazi trained armies against Israel to destroy it, urging the Palestinian people to flee and return a few days later after the presumed victory. When Israel managed to win, the mess we see today began in full. The Arab nations failed to provide for the Palestinian people they'd encouraged to flee, and Israel was stuck with serious security problems with letting everyone simply return. The constant run of wars since has shown those security concerns to be undeniably valid.

A political solution would be great, and your right in spirit about negotiating with moderates to remove borders. The 2 problems are that Hamas is not the moderate group to negotiate with until it recognizes Israel's right to exist, and that surrounding Arab nations like Iran and Syria keep encouraging the rogue extremists with funding, training and weapons.

In reply to this comment by Irishman:
The attacks are in response to Isreali oppression just as Irish Republican attacks in the 70s were in response to British oppression.

The longer the oppression exists, the less grip Hamas will have over splinter groups just as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army has no control over rogue elements and splinter groups.

Arab nations did not say they wanted to wipe Isreal off the map, they refused to recognise its sovereignty and there are political and historical reasons for this. This is a quote also attributed to Ahmadinejad as well, it is incorrect and is bandied around in American media all the time. Neither Iran nor any Arab nation has claimed to want to attack Isreal or wipe it off the map.

Removing borders will not stop splinter groups attacking Isreal, but doing it in conjunction with a political process with Hamas WILL, just as it has in Ireland.


In reply to this comment by bcglorf:
If you want to go back to 1948 then you need to blame the Arab nations for abandoning the Palestinian people when they bid to wipe Israel out upon declaring it's independence.

The settlement policy of territory outside the '68 borders is criminal. But so are Syrian and Iranian rockets being launched by Hamas against Isreali civilians. Comparing atrocities though doesn't fix anything.

Despite knowing that removing the borders and checkpoints would create much good will, Israel can't ignore that Hamas agents would also take advantage of that to launch rockets into Jerusalem. When an Israeli checkpoint keeps a suicide bomber out, and saves a 14 year-old life, it is doing something good.

The attacks are in response to Isreali oppression just as Irish Republican attacks in the 70s were in response to British oppression.

The longer the oppression exists, the less grip Hamas will have over splinter groups just as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army has no control over rogue elements and splinter groups.

Arab nations did not say they wanted to wipe Isreal off the map, they refused to recognise its sovereignty and there are political and historical reasons for this. This is a quote also attributed to Ahmadinejad as well, it is incorrect and is bandied around in American media all the time. Neither Iran nor any Arab nation has claimed to want to attack Isreal or wipe it off the map.

Removing borders will not stop splinter groups attacking Isreal, but doing it in conjunction with a political process with Hamas WILL, just as it has in Ireland.


In reply to this comment by bcglorf:
If you want to go back to 1948 then you need to blame the Arab nations for abandoning the Palestinian people when they bid to wipe Israel out upon declaring it's independence.

The settlement policy of territory outside the '68 borders is criminal. But so are Syrian and Iranian rockets being launched by Hamas against Isreali civilians. Comparing atrocities though doesn't fix anything.

Despite knowing that removing the borders and checkpoints would create much good will, Israel can't ignore that Hamas agents would also take advantage of that to launch rockets into Jerusalem. When an Israeli checkpoint keeps a suicide bomber out, and saves a 14 year-old life, it is doing something good.

The effects of this were also included on This American Life. This was the band's 3rd gig. When everybody started getting into the songs they were happy and throught they were going to make it big. A couple days later somebody showed them the site and they learned it was a prank. All the bandies got disappointed and a bit angry. One of them even got so bothered by it he became paranoid. He was even talking in the interview about how he is now scared to talk to waitresses or people in the grocery store.

I have real mixed feelings towards Improv Everywhere. Although I like some of their stunts they may not be thinking enough about the after-effects.

Well, I must have first gotten here from Blue's News but the site definitely stuck with me after the first visit. I remember being seriously impressed with the quality and variety of videos, as well as the discussion, being bandied about on the Sift - so much so that I shed my lurker status on the site into voting and even attempting to sift a few videos now and again!

Then KP joined.

Seriously, though, I have never found a better group of folks online so willing to take part in a website like this, which makes it in my mind the best, most cogent argument for socially-driven content yet. Cheers!

Sorry *bandy . . . erm . . . uh . . . *candi

The merge idea has been bandied about and we need some real focus to make it a reality. It's somewhere on the giant list of potential improvements.

In terms of dupes, I feel that we've been pretty good about policing them - the policy, for the record, allows for a bit of slack, but this is it in a nutshell:
- earlier videos get priority
- newer postings which include part of an older video but include new content are ok
- new postings that include a micro-clip (5 to 20 seconds) of a significantly longer clip are a loophole which we have, to date, been allowing.

Ralph being a Unitard is a clear example I commented on directly:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Ralph-Wiggum-is-a-Unitard

Although I didn't go into extensive detail, the following factors need to be considered:
- you get additional enjoyment for the precise cut of the video
[the short cut either cuts through a very long video, or actually accentuates the humour/value]
- the quality is same or higher to that of the long clip

As the custodian of the MG&FAS http://OFF.videosift.com collective, I am of course interested in expanding upon the "& Friends" side of things. Posting tends to happen in waves EVERYWHERE on the Sift, with people going on a binge of one 'flavour' of video, being inspired by existing successful videos, before some intrepid souls find something else which starts a new 'herd' of sifters moving in another direction.

The fun is trying to steer the herd in a new direction with interesting, offbeat finds - you have your marching orders, now see to them!

We will likely get around to something like that, and have actually bandied the idea about. It seems like the logical next step, but as always we do things in baby steps.