Does George W. Bush have the numbers 6, 6, and 6 tattooed on his head? In recent years it has become popular for every calamity, natural or man made, to be ascribed to the end times, the last days, Armageddon. If the end is near, the nation most responsible is the United States of America.

Throughout history human beings have competed with Mother Nature in the killing business, and humans win hands down. The Middle Passage, the American Indian holocaust, Stalin’s purges and Hitler’s concentration camps took out many more millions than bad weather, or shifting tectonic plates. If no one speaks up to stop Bush and does so very soon, that awful trend will continue.

The Bush administration has been openly threatening a military attack against Iran. Seymour Hersh recently wrote in the New Yorker that not only is the Bush administration preparing to attack Iran, but is planning to use nuclear weapons to do it. In this latest report, Hersh quotes sources who repeat the Bush messianic vision to “save” the people of Iran. If the Iranians will be liberated like the Iraqis were liberated, they are on their way to a living hell.

Hersh is not the first to report that the president is a megalomaniac hell bent on killing people in order to save them. Bush reportedly told Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas that he is getting his orders straight from God.

It isn’t clear if God also recommended permanent bases, theft of resources, no bid contracts and Abu Ghraib.

There are obvious reasons to fear Hersh’s assertions about Bush. Equally frightening is the prospect that he will get whatever he wants from a spineless, bought-off Congress. One Congressional source tells Hersh, “There’s no pressure from Congress. The only political pressure is from the guys who want to do it.”

A psychotic president and a collaborationist Congress aren’t the only reasons to believe that the end is near. The corporate media will play their usual role and repeat GOP talking points instead of doing investigative reporting when we need it the most. They have played and replayed the drum beat for an attack on Iran. The New York Times and CNN were never in the habit of hanging on to every word from speeches given by Iranian presidents. Yet when Mahmoud Ahmadinajed said that Israel should be “wiped off the map” the quote was repeated endlessly. The fact that Israel is a nuclear power in no danger from Iran is seldom if ever mentioned.

We don’t need anonymous sources to have proof that most members of Congress will support a slaughter of the Iranian people. The still pathetic Senator John Kerry is a case in point. He still believes that going along with wars of aggression is a political winner.

His recent appearance on Meet the Press gave us déjà vu all over again. When host Tim Russert asked if he would support the use of tactical nuclear weapons against Iran, Kerry initially said, “…for us to think about exploding tactical nuclear weapons in some way is the height of irresponsibility.” When pressed by Russert, we got the Kerry of old.

MR. RUSSERT: So you seem to be accepting the Iranians having a nuclear bomb.

SEN. KERRY: No, I’m not accepting it, and I’ve said point blank that you leave that option on the table for the end, but I don’t think using tactical nuclear weapons still makes sense. But you leave the military option on the table.

Apparently Kerry is in favor of a non-nuclear attack. Or maybe he isn’t. Assuming anyone is left to ask the question, he will probably tell us that he was for it before he was against it.

The Congressional Black Caucus cannot be relied upon to speak against this horror. They know too well that they will suffer the same fate as colleagues targeted for defeat by the Israeli lobby. In the past there were always members of Congress who took their constitutional duty seriously. Now there is no one standing in the way of mad men and women.

While allegedly sane people plan nuclear terror, the planet is dying because of human created global warming. Global warming is worsening, and at a rate that may not be reversible. The Bush administration denies that it is taking place at all. 

Whether Bush acknowledges it or not, glaciers are melting. That means that sea levels are rising. Pacific island nations like Tuvalu are experiencing floods, beach erosion and salt water destruction of crops. Tuvalu and other islands may have to be evacuated completely.

The end may indeed be near. If you see four horsemen, don’t be surprised and don’t blame God. Human extinction wouldn’t be the first, it would just be the first that was self inflicted.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BC. Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. She can be reached via e-Mail at [email protected]. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at freedomrider.blogspot.com.