2012: the end of Oprah or of everything?

There's been an unrelenting amount of dismal news. Heaped on top of the existing and illogical wars, economic woes, job scarcity, terrorism, genocide, trafficking of women, global warming, identity theft, the greed of pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street tycoons, we're worried about health care reform, Social Security going broke, swine flu and how to deal with Guantanamo prisoners at the same time we're grappling with new medical announcements about mammograms and pap smears, along with the finding that Zetiya doesn't prevent heart attacks.

Thank goodness for the Mayans, the only ones with news that can minimize all this stress. They predicted that life as we know it will end on December 21, 2012. Could they have been referring to Oprah giving up her show? Or is it even bigger than that? And if so, do we have to wait?

President Obama must be as relieved as I am. If the Mayans were right, no matter how many more troops we do or do not send, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be over in two years. Future generations will not have to pick up the tab for what we're spending. And the added bonus is that there will be no Cheneys or Ann Coulter gloating, "The apocalypse happened on Obama's watch!"

The filmmakers who made the movie must also have had faith in the Mayans; if ever there was a movie with no sequel potential, it's "2012."