WORLD ENDS TODAY AT 6 P.M. ET:  You've all seen the TV reports, and I was visually inundated with signs and sidewalk preachers in New York City on Wednesday, predicting that the world would end today at 6 p.m. ET.  (Please note that it's Eastern time.)

Apparently, the prediction is based on some eccentric minister's interpretation of Biblical texts.  He predicted the same thing in the 1990s, and was wrong.  This time he says he's sure.  He seems to have many followers, at least in the New York subway system.  More mainstream religious authorities find his prediction laughable.

Should we take this seriously?  I don't know.  We'll know it's serious when the Democratic National Committee, ACORN division, tries to register as many voters as possible by six p.m. under its new "Doomsday Registration Program," in which requirements for citizenship, personal I.D. and physical presence are waived.  Your friend Joe can register you just by making a phone call from his bunker.  Remember, voting is a sacred privilege. 

I plan no special preparation, except to get a suit out of the cleaners, as there'll be no deliveries after 6 p.m. 

No matter what happens, your first tax estimate is due June 15th.

May 21, 2011