Only Hours Away from Rapture

89 year old retired civil engineer Harold Camping has built a ministry worth over $104 million in assets. His radio station is near the Oakland Airport stuck between an auto shop and a palm reader. While his flock are home praying and waiting for the end, he said he was going to spend today with his wife in the mountains and wait for the end there. Nice idea. And if it doesn't happen, he still has the cash.

The problem seems to be that the end is supposed to start in New Zealand and the media there are reporting no earthquakes, well-nothing much is going on at all. It is New Zealand after all.

When this stuff started hitting the media in force,a scientific blogger wrote how much he enjoyed these end time speculations. He pointed out that the Mayan year 2012, when the world was supposed to end, actually occurred several years ago. He claimed the Mayan calender was geared to Venus and hence did not calibrate to our calender. I have no idea how true this is.

Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series claims people like Harold Camping give people like him a bad name because he was too specific, unlike LaHaye. Although LaHaye was specific in the old days saying Mikhail Gorbachev was the anti-Christ.

A couple of suggestions are fun. Tell fundamentalists that Rapture happened, sorry they didn't make the grade. Or leave clothing outside fundamentalist churches with little notes saying goodby. A website was created offering to take care of your pets when you are raptured.

But Camping's conceit is relatively harmless unless his parishioners gave him their life savings. Someone who is a menance is anti-gay preacher Bradlee Dean, who for some unexplained reason gave the opening prayer at the Minnesota Legislature. Among his highlights was his accusation that President Obama was not a Christian. Even the Republicans said the prayer sounded like something from Nazi Germany. The Speaker interrupted the session and began it all over again with someone else giving the opening prayer.

Meanwhile President Obama is off to his ancestral homeland of Ireland, where his distant cousin campaigned for him to visit Moneygall,the town of his Irish ancestors.

Before you are raptured, make sure you watch a video of John Lithgow reading the press release from Newt Gingrich's campaign about the attacks on the Newt for his comments on the Paul Ryan Medicare Plan.

Newt hasn't had such a great week. He apologized to Paul Ryan, sucked up to Rush Limbaugh claiming inprobably that he never said those things about the Ryan Plan, even though all of YouTubeLand have his comments for eternity. He sent out an e-mail to everyone whom he could reach saying that people saying these things are the liberal media.

After being blasted by teabaggers for advocating tests for potential voters, he backed away from his statement only to double down on his belief that students and immigrants should take an American history test before they can vote. I seem to remember that immigrants actually do take a test to become a citizen, which is still a requirement for voting. He said these things in Iowa to a wildly applauding audience. He again backed away from his remarks.

Newt refused to answer any questions about he and Callista owing between $250,000 and $500,000 to Tiffany's. He did remind everyone that his campaign only comes around once in a lifetime.

Jon Huntsman obviously is serious about running for President. The reason you know is that he is changing every position he ever had about anything.

Willie Nelson endorsed libertarian Republican candidate Gary Johnson. And then, after a few joints, he decided not to.

Herman Cain, the creator of Godfather's Pizza,announced today he was running for the Republican nomination. I guess he saves Alan Keyes the trouble.

Michelle Bachmann, who grew up in Iowa, senses an opening now that Mike Huckabee has turned down a bid for the nomination. She is going full-tilt boogie into Iowa.

Sarah Palin says she has the fire in her belly and is still considering a run.

Tim Pawlenty officially announce on Monday if he hasn't been raptured. Earlier in the week he was asked why he was running for President. He said it was so he wouldn't stay at home and drink beer. His defenders said this was indicative of his being low-keyed. His detractors said that this was like Roger Mudd's interview with Ted Kennedy when Ted couldn't figure out why he was running.

Mitch Daniels got in the new for walking into a door, requiring several stitches.

Mitt Romney has been up to much. He did say that he favored Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan but, of course, he is filthy rich and doesn't need Medicare. Paul Begala cuts ads against Romney, which are being aired in South Carolina, which are aimed at making the elimination of Medicare a litmus test for all Republican candidates. Begala is a Democrat.

While Benjamin Netanyahu left his meeting with President Obama relieved, that hasn't stopped Orrin Hatch from drafting a Senate resolution opposing President Obama's position on Israel and Palestine. This reminds me of Eric Cantor saying he would protect Netanyahu from Obama, a statement that created several press clarifications.

Gallup reveals for the first time that a majority-- 53%-- of Americans support same sex marriage and 45% oppose. If you want to watch a fascinating discussion, Ted Olson and David Boies spoke at the CATO institute this week on the Proposition 8 case. You can access it on YouTube. It is about an hour discussion on the intricacies of federal marriage laws and their implications for rights.

I second the motion that President Obama should make Elizabeth Warren a recess appointment to the Consumer Protection Agency since both Senate and House Republicans have vowed to block her.

While New York 26 is exciting people because a Democrat could capture a House seat in an historically Republican district in New York state, I wouldn't get thrilled about this. It is true that democrat Kathy Hochul is campaigning against the Paul Ryan plan and that is generating alot of support. But Karl Rove and his billionaire friends have poured buckets of money in the campaign for Jane Corwin. Today Hochul has a 4-pt lead but Corwin is deep pockets herself.

In the funny history department, someone noted that 2012 will resemble 1984 in that the economy will be almost identical with 7.7% unemployment and just recovering from a severe recession with the incumbent sparking intense animosity from the rival party.

Joe Biden is in an undisclosed location trying to work out the deal on raising the debt ceiling. GOP Young Guns claim that not raising it for a while won't hurt but even under their plan--the Ryan budget--the debt ceiling would have to be raised multiple times within a short period to stave off a financial collapse of the country.

So far, no one has been able to tell me a single private health insurance company who will ensure seniors under the Ryan Plan.

Remember America is exceptional even under Harold Camp's vision of today. Over 200 million people will be saved tonight. According to his calculations, Americans will constitute the plurality.

The reader should know I took the Pew survey on political attitudes and I am one of the Disaffected.