The Lord spoke to Noah and said, "Noah, in six months I am
going to make it rain until the whole world is covered with water
and all the evil things are destroyed. But I want to save a few
good people and two of every living thing on the planet. So I am
ordering you to build an Ark."

      And, in a flash of lightning, the Lord delivered the
specifications for the Ark.

      "OK," Noah said, trembling with fear and fumbling with the
blueprints. "I'm your man."

      "Six months and it starts to rain," warned the Lord. "You
better have my Ark completed -- or learn to swim for a long, long
time!"

      Six months passed, the sky began to cloud up, and the rain
began to fall in torrents. The Lord looked down and saw Noah
sitting in his yard, weeping. There was no Ark.

      "Noah!" shouted the Lord, "where is My Ark?"

      A lightning bolt crashed into the ground right beside Noah.

      "Lord, please forgive me!" begged Noah. "I did my best, but
there were some big problems. First, I had to get a building
permit for the Ark's construction, but your plans didn't meet
their code. So, I had to hire an engineer to redo the plans, only
to get into a long argument with him about whether to include a
fire-sprinkler system.

      "My neighbors objected, claiming that I was violating
zoning ordinances by building the Ark in my front yard, so I
spent months trying to get a variance from the city planning
board.

      "After all that, I had a big problem getting enough wood
for the Ark, because there was a ban on cutting trees, to save
the spotted owl. I tried to convince the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service that I needed the wood to *save* the owls, but they
wouldn't listen. And they wouldn't let me catch any owls, either-
so no owls on the Ark.

      "Then the carpenters' union started picketing my home
because I wasn't using union carpenters. I had to halt
construction and begin negotiating with the National Labor
Relations Board.

      "Next, I started gathering up the animals -- but got sued
by an animal rights group that objected to me taking along only
two of each kind. Just when that suit got dismissed, the EPA
notified me that I couldn't complete the Ark without filing an
environmental impact statement on your proposed flood. They
didn't take kindly to the idea that they had no jurisdiction over
the conduct of a Supreme Being.

      "Then the Corps of Engineers wanted a map of the proposed
flood plan. I sent them a globe - and they went ballistic!

      "The IRS has seized all my assets, claiming that I am
trying to leave the country, and I just got a notice from the
state that I owe some kind of use tax.

      "Lord, I'm sorry, but I don't think there's any way I can
finish the Ark in less than five years - if ever!"

      With that, the sky cleared, the sun began to shine, and a
rainbow arched across the sky. Noah looked up and smiled. "You
mean you are not going to destroy the world?" he asked hopefully.

      "Wrong!" thundered the Lord. "But I'm going to do it with
something far worse than a mere flood. Something far more
destructive. Something that man himself created."

      "What's that?" Noah asked.

      "Government!" said the Lord.