The Hamas goons bloodthirstily goon on, glorying in their pariahdom, still vowing to obliterate Israel and its infidel allies, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issues a supremely vacuous ultimatum about supposedly changing their attitude toward their despised neighbor. So it now goes in the ever more violent, ever more chaotic territory ceded to the Palestinians. With his own life perhaps hanging in the balance, Abbas called on Hamas to recognize Israel - but only under such conditions as made the entire proposition a cynical farce... the world must not falter in its resolve not to pony up a nickel more than what's needed for the barest humanitarian concerns. Hamas has again and again proven itself a sickness upon this Earth.