“Here’s a Fourth Watch story for you,” emailed one of the readers of this blog. And I agree. Early Sunday morning, June 25, 2006, Corporal Gilad Shalit, a nineteen year old soldier with the Israel Defense Forces, was kidnapped by Hamas militants on the Israeli side of its border with Gaza. Abducted back into Gaza, Corporal Shalit became the rallying cry of a nation caught between two clashing ideals: never negotiate with terrorists versus never abandon one of your own.

Let’s talk health and the end of the world for a moment. You probably would have to be a man to have paid much attention to the two recent headlines that have challenged the medical community. Headline #1—a government panel of physicians and researchers released their findings last week with the recommendation that the simple P.S.A. (prostate specific antigen) blood test for prostate cancer (a cancer diagnosed in one of every six American men) no longer be prescribed.

Here in the Fourth Watch blog we examine current trends in this nation or the world that I believe are harbingers of earth’s darkest hour (what the ancient Romans called the fourth watch) just before the sunrise of Christ’s return. And while these observations and analyses reflect my personal convictions, I am amazed at the ascendency of voices—secular as well as religious—that are warning of what lies ahead for our civilization.

If you’re afraid of heights, don’t read any further. But can you imagine people actually doing this for a living? The engineering firm—Wiss (that’s not “woos”), Janey, Elostner Associates Inc., from Northbook, Illinois—has been hired by the National Park Service to provide an inch-by-inch inspection of the Washington Monument in our nation’s capital. How much damage did this national treasure sustain in the recent earthquake that shook Virginia and the east coast?

“Trim the Fat, Roast the PIIGS,” yelled one headline. “Is Europe Going to the PIIGS?” chided another. For those who aren’t following the European Union’s debt crisis, PIIGS is an acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain—five European nations on the brink of bankruptcy. In fact, some are estimating that Greece’s bankruptcy is now 98% certain. And the drama this week has centered on Chancellor Merkel of Germany and French president Sarkozy’s huddle with Greek prime minister Papandreou.

This Tuesday I sat with rapt attention, along with the rest of the student body (you could have heard a pin drop), as Stanley Praimnath recounted his harrowing survival  on the morning of September 11, 2001. An associate vice-president with Fuji Bank (which occupied floors 78 through 81 in Twin Towers #2), Praimnath was on the phone in his 81st floor office, when he happened to glance across the space and out a far window.

The old American folk song sings it well, doesn’t it? Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams You cause me to weep, you cause me to mourn You cause me to leave my home But the very last words I heard her say Was “Please sing me one more song” Irene goodnight, Irene goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams But nobody up and down the eastern seaboard is in any mood to sing these words, as the massive clean-up for Hurricane Irene’s devastation continues.

Facebookers on the west coast have had fun, good-naturedly chiding their east coast cousins. “A 5.8 magnitude earthquake—and you’re hyperventilating?” After all, the 7.0+ magnitude quakes Californians have lived with for decades do make the temblor in Virginia this week seem a bit “wimpy.” But a quake is a quake. And the nervous chatter of “survivors” in the nation’s capital made for headline grist.

Just as the ubiquitous yellow school busses are revving up to begin another school year across the nation comes word about President Obama’s brand new $1.1 million mystery bus. Perhaps you’ve seen it on his road trip this week through some of our Midwest neighbor states—that new Greyhound-size black bus, with blacked out windows and red and blue police lights. Few details of the bus have been released, although the Christian Science Monitor website has conjectured what the imposing bus might be like.

Are these crazy times, or what? With a bit of self-talk, I actually enjoy careening roller coaster rides (mostly when they're over). But the plunging ride Wall Street and the global financial markets have taken us on these last few days as the result of America's credit rating being cut--no amusement park fun at all.