Oh yeah -- one more thing. When I heard about the shiznit going down between Israel and Hizbollah/Lebanon, I bought 100 shares of the US Oil ETF. I've made about $70 on it so far, and we'll see what happens from there. I made a bet on some S&P puts when Ben raised rates another 25 basis points at the end of last month.

Of course the next question: Is it immoral to profit off of instability thusly? Would the misery that'd occur if Syria or Iran were somehow directly involved be worth me making a few hundred (or even a couple grand) extra dollars? Or am I merely an observer of world events, and since I am not the cause of this misery, any money I make from wise (for that environment) investment choices merely astuteness on my part?

I will donate 50% of any capital gains to causes devoted to ending the suffering on both the Palestinian and Israeli sides. Peace will only come when people are tired of the violence (Northern Ireland) or if one side is beaten into submission (World War II.) In either case -- there will be suffering.