As much as I try to write a humorous or idiotic column this week about my latest inanity, it just isn't working. How do you write something funny when the world is coming to an end?

At least, that seems to be the chatter around the proverbial water cooler these days. I'm a little rusty on my Bible studies, but it seems plausible based on all the craziness happening of late.

• Unprecedented weather catastrophes: From the tsunami which washed away seemingly all of Southeast Asia in December of 2004, to the massive hurricane which devastated our own country last August, it seems as if Mother Nature herself is ready to spank us into oblivion.

Locally we've felt it too. Look at the flooding in June, which everyone said was the worst they had ever witnessed or the current heat wave wilting our area. Look at last winter, which was extremely mild, outside of a few weeks of intense cold.

• Constant warfare in the Middle East: Although it seems violence and war are the norm in the Middle East, lately we've seen the conflict escalate to a level which threatens to send the entire region spiraling into oblivion.

The Middle East, of course, is where Armageddon is supposed to begin, so one could view the most recent conflagration as a prelude to the final battle between good and evil. Sort of like World War III leading to Universal War I.

• The antichrist has risen: Well, this one's a bit of a stretch, but take your pick from any of the despotic yahoos terrorizing the world today from thrones taken by force.

It's the end of the world as we know it, right?

Nah, I don't think so.

Or rather, I don't think it's ending in the Biblical sense, with demons and angels and Jesus, oh my!

While I don't doubt that human civilization and planet Earth are headed full-tilt for absolute destruction, the reasons why are far from divine. If anyone is going to snuff out our candle, it's going to be us.

Man - not some deity from above or a demon from below - will be the ultimate cause of our destruction.

Some may write off global warming and the flurry of disasters as natural events, part of the Earth's natural cycle, but it is man's rapacious nature which has led to the plundering of the planet and its consequential overheating. Or were SUVs and strip mines part of the natural cycle thousands of years ago and nobody told us?

The Middle East is not where Armageddon and the battle between good and evil will take place, but it is where sorta-good men will forever decide to bomb and kill their sorta-good fellows because they believe that's what their God wants. Because they believe that their God would choose murder and destruction over peace and reconciliation.

Let the signs of the end come. Or, to quote one of my favorite chuckleheads, "bring it on." And after "The End" fails to happen, maybe we can return the dialogue back to a world grounded in reality.