Doomsday Clock

[Guthrie]

The Buschista Junta is not good for the continuation of life on the planet Earth.

The Star

For the first time in five years, the elite board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is moving the minute hand on their Doomsday Clock closer to the fatal hour of midnight.

The clock – a symbol of the perils facing the human race – is expected to shift two minutes, from the current seven minutes to midnight to five, a figure the Bulletin would not confirm before its news conference today.

"This is a sober and highly alarming judgment by a group of people who are knowledgeable and experienced," said Nobel laureate John Polanyi, a faculty member in the University of Toronto's chemistry department.

...

American non-proliferation expert Joseph Cirincione said today's movement of the Doomsday Clock's hand was a "measurable indicator of how bad things are. If some of the world's smartest scientists are saying we are now closer to doomsday, it should focus attention on both the problems, and the urgency of finding solutions."

And, he said, U.S. President George W. Bush's administration has made the dangers faced by the planet worse.

...

[kimmy]

Junta?

[Guthrie]

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English -

Main Entry: junta2

Part of Speech: n

Definition: a closely knit group; clique; also called [junto]

Etymology: Latin jungere 'to join'

[Shakeyhands]

Junta?

gesundheit!

[kimmy]

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English -

Main Entry: junta2

Part of Speech: n

Definition: a closely knit group; clique; also called [junto]

Etymology: Latin jungere 'to join'

My mistake, then. I've only ever heard the word applied to military strongmen seizing power through undemocratic means, and I thought you were implying that the Bush regime is an example of such.

-k

{will be having coffee with my Junta later.}

[BC_chick]

The NPT was two-part. First, the five members of the nuclear-club were supposed to disarm, and the non-nuclear countries were supposed to give up nuclear ambitions. The nuclear-club didn't honour the treaty, and instead went scrambling trying to get OTHER countries to honour the treaty. Meanwhile they had what - almost 40 years to work on the issue?

Now all we get is a stupid clock telling us what we all know. Gee, thanks.

[Guthrie]

Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English -

Main Entry: junta2

Part of Speech: n

Definition: a closely knit group; clique; also called [junto]

Etymology: Latin jungere 'to join'

My mistake, then. I've only ever heard the word applied to military strongmen seizing power through undemocratic means, and I thought you were implying that the Bush regime is an example of such.

-k

{will be having coffee with my Junta later.}

no, Bush and his cabal are not military strongmen, they are frat boy criminals who only display all the honesty and decency of a bunch of, "military strongmen seizing power through undemocratic means" - militarily, they couldn't plan a successful panty raid

[theloniusfleabag]

Dear kimmy,

One of my dictionaries lists only one definition for 'junta', that being "a group of military people who control a country after a revolution or coup d'etat'. This has been the generally accepted definition, but it may be that Webster's has broadened it recently, as Guthrie's definition looks to be a "#2".

[cybercoma]

I really should find out more about this 'Doomsday Clock' and whether or not I should give a crap about what these people say.

[Guthrie]

yes, junta can be defined as a military group who seize power or fill a power gap during a government transition -- and commonly, a junta is pictured as a group of cigar smoking Fidel Castro types --- and certainly, that image is one that like (in my own thinking) to associate with Bush and his gang - even though, according to one definition they don't fit the bill

I really should find out more about this 'Doomsday Clock' and whether or not I should give a crap about what these people say.

yes, you should - I especially recommend Stephen Hawking's recent comment:

"As scientists, we understand the dangers of nuclear weapons and their devastating effects, and we are learning how human activities and technologies are affecting climate systems in ways that may forever change life on Earth. As citizens of the world, we have a duty to alert the public to the unnecessary risks that we live with every day, and to the perils we foresee if governments and societies do not take action now to render nuclear weapons obsolete and to prevent further climate change." - SJH

[M.Dancer]

I really should find out more about this 'Doomsday Clock' and whether or not I should give a crap about what these people say.

I have a Timex......

[Guthrie]

I really should find out more about this 'Doomsday Clock' and whether or not I should give a crap about what these people say.

I have a Timex......

that is not a doomsday clock so much as a doomed clock -- worst damned watches ever to be successfully peddled