The movement to try George W. Bush et al for war crimes

By Len Hart
25 Dec, 2008

Members of the Bush administration and George W. Bush personally conspired to violate the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Principles and US obligations to both. Bush and key members of his administration deliberately violated US criminal codes and tried to make their crimes legal after they had already committed them. Bush and his minions embarked upon this subversive action when it was made clear to them that they could be put to death for violations of US Codes which bind the US to Geneva and other treaties that were almost insisted upon by the United States.

These are not abstract principles, politics, spin or PR. These are legal principles upon which a distinguished American --Justice Robert Jackson --help codify at the Nuremberg trials of major Nazi war criminals.

Robert H. Jackson's Opening Statement, Nuremberg Nov 21, 1945

It is encouraging that, of late, there is a growing chorus demanding that George W. Bush and members of his criminal regime be held to account for the crimes of aggressive war, mass murder, and torture.

Can there be a better reason for prosecuting George Bush and his administration for war crimes than those words from the chief prosecutor of the Nazis, a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, with the full support of the U.S. government? Robert Jackson's words and the values this nation claims to stand for provide sufficient moral basis for putting Bush and Cheney, their underlings who implemented their policies and the perverted legal minds who justified them all in the dock. If those are not sufficient reasons, there is a long list of binding law and treaties – written in black and white in surprisingly plain English.Bush imagined, and his attorneys advised, that he could simply wave aside these laws with "they don't apply." Imagine how a judge would treat even a simple traffic court defendant who brazenly stated the law was only a quaint notion, just "words on paper?"--Mike Fermer, Why we must prosecute Bush and his administration for war crimes

The Bush administration itself is aware that it is in deep, deep trouble.

...there is one group of people that has always taken the war crimes charges seriously--the members of the Bush administration themselves. They have good reason for doing so, because they have exposed hundreds of Americans to possible prosecution for violating US law.As long as George Bush is president and controls the Department of Justice, there will no prosecutions for war crimes, but after Bush is gone, anything could happen and hundreds of Americans could be charged with war crimes.--David Wallechinsky, Is George Bush Guilty of War Crimes...and Who Cares?

Unless Bush plans to make his escape to Paraguay while still 'President', his exit from the Oval Office will make him vulnerable to process for violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996 passed by both houses of Congress without dissent. The act covers every crime that may be charged to Bush as of this moment and as of the time Bush will exit the 'cover' of the Oval Office. The act deals specifically with his deliberate "killing, torture or inhumane treatment" of 'detainees' at Abu Ghraib, GITMO and the gulag archipelago of 'detention centers' throughout Eastern Europe. Violations of the War Crimes Act that result in the death of a detainee carry the death penalty and there is no statute of limitations.

(a) Offense.- Whoever, whether inside or outside the United States, commits a war crime, in any of the circumstances described in subsection (b), shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for life or any term of years, or both, and if death results to the victim, shall also be subject to the penalty of death.
--TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 118 > § 2441 § 2441. War crimes

Bush had been planning to commit capital crimes long before 911 and, in fact, tried to make 'legal' the crimes that he had intended to commit.

Wishing to rebuke the unpunished war crimes of dictators like Saddam Hussein, in 1996 a Republican-dominated Congress passed the War Crimes Act without a dissenting vote. It defined a "war crime" as any "grave breach" of the Geneva Conventions. It thereby advanced a global trend of mutual reinforcement between national and international law.The War Crimes Act was little noticed until the disclosure of Alberto Gonzales's infamous 2002 "torture memo." Gonzales, then serving as presidential counsel, advised President Bush to declare that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to people the United States captured in Afghanistan. That, Gonzales wrote, "substantially reduced the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act." --The Nation, Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes Act

Bush did not succeed in putting himself above the laws that prescribed the death penalty for the very violations of laws that he had planned. Title 18 of the US Code as currently published by the US Government [as quoted above] reflects the laws passed by Congress as of Jan. 3, 2007, and it is this version that is published here.It was because Bush knew he was guilty that he tried to ram through Congress amendments to the War Crimes Act that would exonerate him EX POST FACTO. Ex post facto laws are unconstitutional. Bush defenders will waste their time trying to convince me that ex post facto prohibition applies only to those laws making one prosecutable for acts that were legal at the time of commission. In other words, if it was legal to spit on the sidewalk at the time you did so, you are immune to prosecution under any law passed after you had so spit! Clearly --Bush can not commit murder now and expect to escape prosecution by making it legal after his crime of murder. That is nothing less than rule by decree and is utterly inconsistent with the very concepts of 'rule of law' or 'due process of law'. Don't confuse this with amnesty, which, to my knowledge, Bush has not sought nor does he deserve. Rather, Bush has tried to rewrite both laws and history. He tried to make legal those capital crimes that he had already committed, a notion that is absurd on its face. Several yeas ago, I wrote an article that pointed out that any federal grand jury could indict Bush for capital crimes and, in fact, could begin an investigation of Bush upon its own volition. Any federal judge can, upon his/her own motion, convene a federal grand jury to consider any case deemed worthy of investigation. I would suggest that any Federal Judge reading this, get off your bench and convene a jury! It is your patriotic duty to this nation and its laws! Former LA Prosecutor Vince Bugliosi makes another case, that because Bush deliberately lied in order to send US soldiers to their deaths in an illegal war, Bush is prosecutable for murder.

In the first sentence, we're told:

The book you are about to read deals with what I believe to be the most serious crime ever committed in American history - - the president of the nation, George W. Bush, knowingly and deliberately taking this country to war in Iraq under false presences, a war that condemned over 100,000 human beings, including 4,000 American soldiers, to horrific, violent deaths." (V. Bugliosi, p. 3)

The president "knowingly and deliberately" caused the deaths of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians and that's called murder, plain and simple. This is not a hypothetical case that could happen under special legal interpretations. When the president leaves office, he is subject to the same law as the rest of us. Bugliosi explains the ability to prosecute the case against George W. Bush by a district attorney or states attorney in any local jurisdiction where a life was lost in the Iraq war. Federal prosecutors also have that option. Bugliosi's detailed analysis of this phenomenon offers some of the best analysis in the book and the detailed end notes.--E. Pluribus Media, Bugliosi's The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder

Because he has notoriety, Bugliosi has succeeded in attracting some attention to this issue. My fear is that in the post-election atmosphere of relief that Obama turned back the GOP wave the pressure to bring George W. Bush to justice will subside. That would be a grave mistake, a catastrophic precedent. If Bush is allowed to make good a get away, the signal will have been sent that US presidents are above the law and may perpetrate mass murder and war crimes at will. Violations of US Codes, Title 18, Section 2441 are NOT to be confused with violations of international treaties which may have the effect of putting Bush in the dock at the Hague. Certainly, Bush had planned to commit acts that were known to be violations of US laws and our treaty commitments. Even before 911 provided Bush the pretext to attack and invade both Afghanistan and Iraq, Tom DeLay sponsored legislation that provided for a US military invasion of The Hague in those instances should Bush find himself in the dock for war crimes. The timing of the bill is material to the case against Bush and speaks to the fact that Bush had been planning to wage war and wished to immunize himself against prosecution for the acts that were known at the time to be violations of international laws to which the US was bound by treaty. I know of no reason why Bush should be impeached before he is indicted. Impeachment is a political remedy, the purview of Congress. What is discussed here are specific acts that are against the law. Bush should fear the very real possibility of being hauled before a federal judge charged with capital crimes.There are yet other legal ghosts that will haunt Bush. He may be charged with perpetrating the crime of genocide.

U.S. Code; Chapter 50A; Section § 1091. Genocide (a) Basic Offense. - Whoever, whether in time of peace or in time of war, in a circumstance described in subsection (d) and with the specific
intent to destroy, in whole or in substantial part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such.

(1) kills members of that group;

(2) causes serious bodily injury to members of that group;

(3) causes the permanent impairment of the mental faculties of members of the group through drugs, torture, or similar techniques;

(4) subjects the group to conditions of life that are intended to cause the physical destruction of the group in whole or in part;

(5) imposes measures intended to prevent births within the group; or

(6) transfers by force children of the group to another group; or attempts to do so, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b0. --US Codes; Chapter 50A, Section § 1091. Genocide

As this blog has pointed out for years, the crimes prosecuted at Nuremberg apply as well to Bush and those key members of his cabinet with whom he conspired.

At Nuremberg, the foremost crime identified was starting a "war of aggression," later codified by U.N. Resolution 3314, Art. 5, as "a crime against international peace." Launching a war of aggression, as Hitler did against Poland, is considered so monstrous that the nation responsible can then be charged with "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity," spelled out in detail in the Geneva Conventions. As Tom Paine said long before the U.N. formalized the definition of aggression, "He who is the author of a war lets loose the whole contagion of Hell and opens a vein that bleeds a nation to death."A small sampling of the contagion of Hell let loose by Bush includes illegally invading a sovereign state, using banned weapons such as white phosphorous and napalm, bombing hospitals and civilian infrastructure, withholding aid and medical supplies, terrorizing and knowingly killing civilians, torturing prisoners, killing a million people and displacing four million more.Following World War II, humanity resolved that wars do more than spark a series of loathsome, individual crimes. Leaders responsible for a war actually commit crimes against the entirety of humanity. They inflict harm on every human being, something that must be put right before humanity can be restored.There is a final reason why we must prosecute Bush and Co. It is not what some argue, although they point to a serious danger: that Bush trashed the law and usurped powers, encouraging future presidents to expand where he left off. Such reasons are about George Bush and those who hold the office after him, but in the final analysis this is about us.We are complicit in the horrors of this administration. We can claim neither ignorance nor innocence. We are complicit by the very fact that we are citizens of the United States, more so because we paid for the war, and even more so for this reason. Listen to a village sheik I met in Iraq describe it better than I ever could.--Mike Fermer, Why we must prosecute Bush and his administration for war crimes

Hat tip to: Above Top Secret The Congress did not have the stomach for impeachment and shirked it's duty. Impeachment might have saved this nation the nightmare that it has not yet survived. The Congressional leadership of both parties have much to answer for. I would hope that a hard nosed federal judge will consider the crimes holistically, in accordance with the conspiracy laws that are currently on the books. America's leaders betrayed the people in order to conduct war crimes for which Nazis were hanged! How we do justify to the world a double standard that says, in effect, if Nazis do it, we hang them! But if Americans perpetrate precisely the same crimes for the same purposes, we let them retire and bequeath a library! I would urge that a federal grand jury be convened immediately to consider upon the probable cause and the evidence whether or not George W. Bush is guilty of capital crimes and whether or not he should be put to death!



Authors Website: http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/

Authors Bio: Len Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy

~ OpEd News ~

Israeli attacks kill over 310 in Gaza in one of Israel’s bloodiest attacks on Palestinians since 1948

AMY GOODMAN: We're also joined in Ramallah by Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, independent Palestinian lawmaker, democracy activist. Your response from the West Bank right now, which isn't under siege, to say the least, in the same way as Gaza, Dr. Barghouti?

DR. MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI: We are not under siege, but we are under Israeli attack, as well. The Israeli army attacked civilian nonviolent demonstrators yesterday in Nil'in and killed one person and injured three very seriously. Another young boy was killed in another village in [inaudible]. Three people have been killed already in the West Bank, and the number is rising.

But let me say that what Israel is doing in Gaza is not an act of self-defense, as it is claiming. It's not an attack on Hamas. It is an attack on the whole Palestinian population. What we see is a war crime, a bloodbath, unprecedented since 1967. What we have had so far is 318 people killed, including thirty children, and at least 1,400 people injured, including 150 children and forty women. I was shocked deeply today over the fact that yesterday the Israeli planes destroyed a house in Jabaliya camp and killed five girls, five sisters from one family, and injured their mother seriously and critically. This is a bloodbath that should stop immediately.

Israel is claiming that it is attacking Hamas, but in fact it is attacking all the Palestinians. It is attacking the whole infrastructure. They have destroyed a university. They have destroyed five mosques. They have attacked the hospital. They are shooting and destroying everywhere. And it seems imminent that there will be even a land invasion which could destroy and kill and take away thousands of lives. This is very dangerous. And Israel would not have gone so far if it wasn't for the compliance and the silence of the international community.

One very important point here, I must clarify that it was not the Palestinians or Hamas that broke the ceasefire; Israel was the one that broke the ceasefire since two months. They started operations and attacks here and there, trying to provoke a reaction, 'til there was a reaction, and then they claim that it was the Palestinians who broke the ceasefire.

Also, I want to clarify that Gaza Strip is the highest densely populated area in the world, with almost 4,150 people in each square kilometer. When you start bombing the place with bombs that are one to two tons heavy, then you're determined to kill people and kill civilians and innocent people. I've just heard Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister of Israel, saying that Palestinians should go away from Hamas and Gaza. Where should they go away? In which place? Where? Which place they can go to, when Israel is putting Gaza for two years under total blockade, by sea, by air, by land. Israel has been claiming that it has withdrawn from Gaza. Israel never ended its occupation of Gaza. It maintains the occupying of the airspace, the sea around Gaza and the land around Gaza. And it was preventing people from getting medical aid and equipment and fuel and electricity. I was just talking to our people in Gaza and asked them, “What is your situation?” They told me they don't have bread. Even bread is unavailable in Gaza. And now Israel is bombarding it in this horrible and unacceptable way.

I think the world community must see the reality. This is an unprecedented bloodbath that the Israeli generals are using—and politicians are using for their political campaigning in their elections. For one more time, they're using Palestinian blood for their election campaigns. I'm so sorry that even some left parties in Israel are supporting such an aggression. They all claim that this is about missiles. But let me ask a very simple question: How many Israelis were killed during the last six months by missiles? Almost none. The only two Israelis that were killed so far were killed after this operation.

Will this bring peace? It will not bring peace. Will this bring security? On the contrary, it is bringing back the intifada of the West Bank. It is creating terrible feelings all over the occupied and Palestinian territories, and this must be stopped. And if it wasn't for the compliance of this terrible American administration, Bush administration, who seems to insist to have a very dark reputation before he leaves his office, if it wasn't for that support and compliance, Israel would not have dared to go so far in punishing innocent victims and in creating this terrible disaster in Gaza Strip.

~ more... ~

Tick tock ... tick: Extra second added to 2008

Those eager to put 2008 behind them will have to hold their good-byes for just a moment this New Year's Eve.

The world's official timekeepers have added a "leap second" to the last day of the year on Wednesday, to help match clocks to the Earth's slowing spin on its axis, which takes place at ever-changing rates affected by tides and other factors.

The U.S. Naval Observatory, keeper of the Pentagon's master clock, said it would add the extra second on Wednesday in coordination with the world's atomic clocks at 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC.

[ ... ]

Among the reasons for Earth's slowing whirl on its axis are the braking action of tides, snow or the lack of it at the polar ice caps, solar wind, space dust and magnetic storms, according to the U.S. Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology, another timekeeper.

By contrast, a leap day, February 29, occurs once every four years because a complete turn around the sun -- our year with all its seasons -- takes about 365 days and six hours.

In 1970, an international agreement established two time scales: one based on the Earth's rotation and another on highly accurate atomic clocks.

~ more... ~

US and Japanese researchers crack flu pandemic's deadly code

The genetic code that made the 1918 killer flu so deadly has finally been cracked, claim US and Japanese researchers, who say their discovery may lead to new drugs able to keep future outbreaks in check.
By experimenting with genetic material recovered from preserved lung tissues of three victims of the so-called Spanish influenza, a team led by virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka claim the virus landed a lethal one-two punch.

First it disrupted normal immune reactions, as previously known. But then it infected its victims' lungs with deadly consequences. Ordinary flu bugs infect just the nose and throat. Potentially dangerous lung infections are caused secondarily by bacteria.

"People have been trying to sort out for some time what it is about the 1918 influenza that made it so nasty,'' said Sydney-based medical virologist Dominic Dwyer with Westmead Hospital's Institute for Clinical Pathology and Medical Research.

"What this study shows is, in fact, it's a combination of a number of genes that made the strain so virulent,'' he said.

According to virologist and infectious diseases physican Steve Wesselingh, dean of medicine at Monash University in Melbourne, the final step is to tease out just how the virus killed its victims after spreading to their lungs.

Weilding this multi-gene weapon the 1918 virus infected roughly 500 million people, or 30 per cent of the world's population.

Worse, it killed an estimated 20-50 million people, over 2.5 per cent of those infected, compared with less than 0.1 per cent killed during other influenza epidemics.

The genetic key to the invasion consists of three genes which code for a part of the virus called it's RNA polymerase complex, Professor Kawaoka's group reported yesterday in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

~ more... ~

2012: Final approach to end times?

From Planet ponders perilous prediction

Melissa Garcia is certain that the planet will suddenly die. She doesn't know when, but she's ready.

"In the blink of an eye, the world won't exist some day," said Garcia, 33, of Pharr. "It could be four years from now or many years from now."

Others expect something much more exact.

What appears to be a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar has left people all over the world pondering Earth's destruction in December 2012. Dozens of Web sites dedicated to the apocalyptic event also reference historical figures such as prophet Michel de Nostradame, known as Nostradamus, claiming that he predicted the third world war would be preceded by many large-scale natural disasters.

One Web site - www.december212012.com - even references Albert Einstein, quoting him as saying: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

The site offers viewers survival tips and a "disaster watch" with links to news articles about the 2012 phenomenon.

As the world swiftly approaches the date, people's fear is fueled by Hollywood productions such as Mel Gibson's "Apocalypto," a film about Mayan civilization, and "2012," due for release July 2009. December212012.com even features a list of celebrity believers with names like Janeane Garofalo, the Smashing Pumpkins, Lil Wayne and Montel Williams.


From Earth changes based on Mayan prophecies

This cosmic event which will occur on Dec. 21, 2012 is known as “galactic synchronization.” This means that the earth and solar system will be in line with the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way. According to the Mayan calendar, this astronomical synchronization marks the end of the present world age or cycle and the birth or beginning of a new one.

The Mayan prophecy does not say nor does it imply that it would be the end of the world. But certain unprecedented changes would take place on planet Earth that will affect all its inhabitants. Planet Earth is on the last 5,126 years of its present cycle which, according to the Mayan calendar, began on Aug. 13, 3114 BC and will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

“The Maya,” according to Gerald Benedict, in his fascinating and important book, “The Mayan Prophecies for 2012,” were able to work with vast periods of time and calculated that it would take a cycle of approximately 26,000 years for a constellation to reappear over the same observation point on earth. Modern astronomy has confirmed this period as 25,800 years.

According to Benedict, “What will actually happen is that at sunrise on Dec. 21, 2012, the sun forms a conjunction with the galactic center of the Milky Way at the constellation of Scorpio. Because of the precession of the equinoxes the winter Solstice sunrise has been moving toward that point of the Milky Way known as the 'galactic center.' Thus, the planet Earth and the solar system will come into galactic junction with the rest of the universe.”

And what, according to the Mayan Prophecies, will happen to our planet at the end of this present earth cycle?

1. “There will be violent sunspot activity that will cause a radical change in the Earth's magnetic fields, perhaps amounting to a reversal of the poles.”

According to Benedict, even the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed this. NASA has predicted that there would be very intense solar storm in 2012, and the sun would reverse its magnetic poles because of the ending of the 11-year sunspot cycle. This would cause disturbances in the Earth's magnetic fields.

2. “The end of each Mayan age, or sun, is marked by extreme natural catastrophe. The Earth will experience violent earthquakes and volcanoes together with the side effects these produce.”

3. Although the Earth will be at risk, it is prophesied that as we move toward 2012, “it will become increasingly apparent that the various races, religions and classes that divide us, mask an essential unity and despite the conflicts, people will be drawn closer together. The prophecy emphasizes that only by realizing our inherent unity can the problems now facing both our planet and our civilization be solved—it points to a more outward-looking interfaith dialogue and mutuality.”

4. According to a Mayan priest, “The Earth will not end on Dec. 21, 2012. It will be transformed.”
And Pacal Vocan, one of the most widely known Mayan leaders and prophets, foresaw that “human beings will develop a universal telepathic facility, a considerable heightening of our senses and a more perfectly focused self reflecting consciousness.”


From Five Nuggets of Knowledge about December

1. Let's get ready to rapture

Mark the date Dec. 21, 2012 on your appointment calendar. What do Jack Van Impe and Smashing Pumpkins have in common? A belief the date 12-21-2012 signals the world as we know it will end. Well yee-haw, rally round the survivalist groups hoarding food and supplies in anticipation of the end.

The evidence? (a) The ancient Mayan calendar portends the catastrophe. (b) The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in 26,000 years (Oh my!). (c) The energy flow to the earth will be disrupted causing the sun to rise in the west.


From This Could Be the Book that Ushers in the New Age, Author Says

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mayan Calendar predicts it. The I Ching says it's coming. Mystics, metaphysical thinkers, seekers of truth and the Web Bot agree ... SOMETHING is happening on or about December 21, 2012 ... a catastrophic event or, as many leaders of the New Age movement believe, a shift in consciousness which, if we're not prepared, could leave us behind in, well, we don't exactly know where. Perhaps the proverbial end of the world is heralded by the systematic destruction of the global economy, bit by bit, nibbling at our collective heels, chipping away at our past and forever changing our future. If that's the case, we may be just about there.

It's been 40 years since the musical Hair first introduced "the Age of Aquarius" and a loose knit group of individuals emerged seeking spiritual awareness and expecting the dawn of a New Age that will be accompanied by a higher level of awareness among humans. Now that it may actually be upon us, a new book entitled THE TRUTH: What You Must Know Before December 21, 2012 (The Oaklea Press, $14.95) may be the vehicle that helps the rest of us understand. Drawing upon research by impeccable mainstream scientific sources, author Stephen Hawley Martin connects the dots to overturn the twentieth century scientific tenet that awareness and thought are products of the brain. A strong case is then made that the human body, including the brain, is actually a vehicle to transport nonphysical, spiritual beings into three-dimensional, physical reality.

"There is plenty of research available today to support the hypothesis," according to Martin. "All I've done is bring it together in a way that presents a case that's hard to refute. It is often said that we are not physical beings who have spiritual experiences, but spiritual beings having a physical experience." The author went on to say that once this is fully known and understood, readers of The Truth can find themselves closer to a state of enlightenment attained in the past by only a select few.

Author Stephen Hawley Martin is an Internet talk show host of a top-rated program for seekers called The Truth About Life. His nonfiction books and novels have won a total of six national awards for excellence.

SOURCE The Oaklea Press


From The best of times, the worst of times, or the end of time?

A young check forger -- a bum rap, to be sure -- unexpectedly whispered to me "What do you think of the twenty-twelve thing?"

I scratched my head and, trying to reassure the young man, carefully replied that a sentence of 20 years to 12 would be highly unusual, particularly for a first-time forgery defendant.

"Normally," I explained pedantically, "the sentence would start at the low end and go to the high end. Besides, you'd have to forge the Magna Carta and sell it to the state of Rhode Island before you got twelve years on a first-time forgery rap."

With a sigh of barely suppressed exasperation, the young man explained that he wasn't talking about prison time, but Mayan time.

"No, no, no -- not twenty twelve, 2012. The year of the Mayan calendar prophecy," he explained patiently, as if speaking to a slightly backward fourth-grader.

(Funny, the judges sometimes speak to me in much the same way.)

The prophecy, he explained, with growing excitement, revolves around the complex calendar created by the Mayans, a highly advanced people who
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flourished in parts of Mexico and Central America from roughly 250 to 900 AD.

Although the Mayan civilization had kind of tanked by 1,000 AD, it left behind lots of pyramids and a calendar that surpassed any of those in use throughout Europe and North Africa at the time.

There is, however, one catch with that calendar, my courthouse informant related. It ends rather abruptly in 2012.

"What does it mean?" he asked rhetorically. "The end? The beginning? Is everything going to come crashing down? Will it be the end of time?"

Before I could reply, the young man's attorney arrived and whisked him away.

Unfortunately, I was hooked by the Mayan calendar mystery.

What to do? What to do? My Seattle Seahawks calendar never gives me these kind of problems, despite the fact that their civilization also seems to have tanked.

In researching the Mayan calendar prophecy, I found that its abrupt end in 2012 has a lot of people rather concerned for the future.

Some experts have narrowed the end of time down to Dec. 21, 2012 -- exactly four short years from today, amigos. Others theorize that the date might be slightly different due to anomalies in the Mayan calendar's "long count" cycle, but the cataclysmic result remains the same -- don't bother buying any 2013 calendars.