It would at least prove interesting if Ms. Clinton should be elected, Israel was attacked by Iran and she fulfilled her campaign promise to turn that rogue Muslim nation into glass. Well, just on the basis of either her or Obama being elected is enough for some to start parading with placards proclaiming “The End is Near!”

From childhood I’ve been familiar with the cartoons that show up occasionally of some fellow with a long beard wearing a robe and sandals carrying a sign with the words The End Is Near! Here lately what with the growing prospect of world famine of Biblical proportions and earthquakes in divers places like Illinois and Indiana it may be that cartoon if not the actual characters will once more be popping up with regularity. But I would like to figure out something a little different.

That’s a funny scene in “Forrest Gump” where the guy is splattered with mud and it results in the bright idea for the “Happy Face.” Granted starving to death or dying in an earthquake is nothing to joke about but I was thinking of something similar to the Happy Face for The End Is Near! But try as I might there is just no putting a happy face to the dangers and human suffering we are being confronted with on a daily basis.

Some TV evangelists preach about the “End Times” with glee, as though they were actually enjoying preaching apocalyptic sermons filled with the horrors described in Biblical texts of how the world is going to end. And in many cases it is patently obvious some of these preachers actually do take great delight in calling on the Almighty to bring down the fire of judgment against a “wicked and perverse generation.”

However, going back to Jonathan Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” preached in 1741 I don’t doubt there was some satisfaction on the part of Edwards lashing out at his congregation, and the preaching of such “terror sermons” has a very long history including some of the Old Testament prophets. But for real hellfire, brimstone and damnation preaching there is material enough in the New Testament to satisfy any “latter day prophet.”

Trouble is, despite the many religious charlatans there is no way of mistaking the many texts of the Bible that fit too well into the kind of doomsday scenario of events plaguing our world today. I can easily dismiss those dressed in their fine clothing, living in kings' palaces and preaching in cathedrals but the very words of Scripture pointing to the “end of the age” Jesus and others spoke of are not so easily dismissed.

Behind every inequity, inequality, and injustice to be found in America you will find a corrupt and self-serving politician. Behind such things throughout the world you will find some equally corrupt tyrant or despot, and it is useless to expect third world nations like Mexico or those of Africa and elsewhere to operate any differently. Muslim nations will continue as they are being led of religious zealots or corrupt politicians and no amount of American troops thrown into Iraq or Afghanistan will change this.

“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Well, the robber barons of the “Gilded Age” certainly didn’t take much thought for the matter as natural resources were raped heedless of any damage being done to earth, air or water. Further gilding of the lily with wasteful extravagance characterizing stages of excessive wealth and affluence only considered the weather when not cooperating with those raping our natural resources and polluting America.

So now we have an “Earth Day” and the weather has become of “concern” to many people decrying the fouling of our nest, this planet that has suffered so much at the hands of those that continue to profit from the rape of our Earth. But whether of solar flares, naturally occurring conditions changing the climate or manmade the one thing that might help is contraception, something the more civilized and educated of the world practice but cannot dictate to third world nations that are most in need of birth control.

Earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions are among grim reminders there are some things beyond any science or technology to control. But it is within the realm of possibility to control excess population; however the means to do so would be at the very least Draconian. Survival of the fittest has not yet seen its “finest hour” despite Darwinian Theology and the many attempts at ethnic cleansing but if global famine actually does threaten entire nations, if the rationing we knew during WWII should once more occur here in America the circumstances much like the inevitability of evil by the machinations of the Devil or men will dictate the outcome.

I know the Bible very well through and through, and it is easy for me to see America as the “Babylon” of Revelation. I don’t doubt there is a conspiracy of evil, but I believe it is one born of Satan rather than the “Illuminati,” though I don’t discount such a thing as an instrument of the Devil and I believe Dan Brown to be more correct than wrong. But as I have said many times, whether a Devil or not it seems our species is bent on its own destruction.

An Earth Day though well intended seems a mockery in the face of the facts that dictate what would be needed to save our species and our planet apart from those things over which we have no control. If conditions worsen whether of globally catastrophic weather phenomena, global famine, pestilence, or nuclear terrorism national priorities throughout the world will change in an instant.

We went to bed the night of December 6, 1941 in the belief the war was far away being fought on foreign soil. But we were met the following day with news of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Now the war was real, brought to our very doorstep in an unforgettable moment of time and during the following years we were sacrificing to win that war against the Axis Powers. But we had an advantage at the time, a face had been put to our enemies and they were properly demonized. What face do we put to the enemies now threatening our planet? Who of us are confident any of the contenders for president are capable of even putting a face to the enemies of America? On the contrary they reflect the robber barons of the Gilded Age and are “talking about the weather,” but few of us have any confidence they will do anything about it. Well, unless Ms. Clinton is elected and Iran attacks Israel.