The Doomsday Clock

In 1947, the board of directors of the BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS at the University of Chicago created the Doomsday Clock -- a clock face used as an analogy to depict the number of minutes to midnight, whereby midnight represented “catastrophic destruction” of the human race.

In other words, if the existence of the human race were reduced to 24 hours, how much time would remain before a catastrophic event would be inflicted upon humanity.

The original concern in 1947 was the threat of global nuclear war, primarily between the USSR and the USA. However, additional factors have been added to the equation as old threats subside and new threats emerge.

At conception in 1947, the Doomsday Clock was set at 11:53 -- 7 minutes to midnight.

On January 14, 2010, the Doomsday Clock was changed to 11:54 -- 6 minutes to midnight.

1947 -- 7 minutes to midnight (initial setting)
1949 -- 3 minutes to midnight (USSR tests 1st atomic bomb)
1953 -- 2 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR test thermonuclear devices)
1960 -- 7 minutes to midnight (increased scientific cooperation)
1963 -- 12 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR sign Partial Test Ban Treaty)
1968 -- 7 minutes to midnight (France & China test nuclear bombs, war in Middle East & Vietnam)
1969 -- 10 minutes to midnight (USA ratifies Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)
1972 -- 12 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR sign Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)
1974 -- 9 minutes to midnight (India tests a nuclear device)
1980 -- 7 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR deadlock in talks, increased terrorism)
1981 -- 4 minutes to midnight (Global arms race escalates, conflict in Afghanistan, Poland, South Africa)
1984 -- 3 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR further arms race escalation)
1988 -- 6 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR sign treaty to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear forces)
1990 -- 10 minutes to midnight (Berlin Wall comes down)
1991 -- 17 minutes to midnight (USA & USSR sign Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)
1995 -- 14 minutes to midnight (Global military spending high, USSR proliferation of nuclear weapons)
1998 -- 9 minutes to midnight (India & Pakistan test nuclear weapons as show of aggression)
2002 -- 7 minutes to midnight (USA withdraws from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, possible terrorist nuclear attack)
2007 -- 5 minutes to midnight (N. Korea tests nuclear weapon, Iran nuclear ambitions)
2010 -- 6 minutes to midnight (a puzzling minor burst of optimism by atomic scientists)

Today, the USA and the USSR have a combined known inventory of some 26,000 nuclear weapons. Plus, more and more countries (and radical groups) seek to attain such weapons.

To an observer from the Galactic Federation, Mother Earth must seem like a Planet of Nitwits. Perhaps that’s why they keep bypassing our little orb of chaos and depravity.

On January 12, 2010, King Obama signed an Executive Order creating a Council of Governors, a body of 10 state governors, to be appointed by King Obama, to work with the federal government toward the “integration of State and Federal military activities in the United States.”

Posse Comitatus was a law enacted in 1878 barring the U.S. military from becoming involved in domestic police actions. King Obama’s Executive Order is a blatant attempt to circumvent this important legal imperative.

Marshall Law is coming to the USA.

It will commence at approximately 1 minute to midnight.
___________

Quote for the Day -- “We love death more than you love life.” Islamic Jihad
___________

Bret Burquest is an award-winning columnist and author of four novels. He lives in the Ozark Mountains with a dog named Buddy Lee and the Spirit of Crazy Horse. His blogs appear on several websites, including www.myspace.com/bret1111
___________
-
-