Seems that the political and economic issues are now way ahead of the the technical discussion. This outcome was implied strongly in Mark Ludwig's prophetic The Millenium Bug : Gateway to the Cashless Society? . Nobody on this forum should be surpised by De Jager's recent comments, this stance of his was pre-figured in the Esquire article on the Pat Robertson conference, where the crowd clearly felt he wasn't nearly apocalyptic enough in his statements.

Anyway, panic is now THE ONLY issue for the political and military authorities. Along those lines, our pal Declan McCullagh has written a pretty good piece in the March 1999 Libertarian news magazine Liberty

Y2K: Emergency Planning or Planning an Emergency

He says: Next New Year's Eve may be celebrated with a declaration of martial law.

-RC

-- Runway Cat (Runway_Cat@hotmail.com), January 28, 1999

Answers

RC,

Is there a link?

BTW, I fully expect to see it declared in at least the 120 cities.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 28, 1999.

I read Ludwig's book and laughed all the way through. To save anyone here the bother, I'll summarize it:

THE GOVERNMENT IS OUT TO CONTROL YOUR MIND!!! (Oh yes, there's this y2k thing too. Must be part of the plan).

I recommend this book only to Dr. Altman, who appears fairly reasonable but completely loses his mind when the government is mentioned.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), January 28, 1999.

Well I guess On Flint's recomendation I'll have to read this book. If you think info war isn't being carried on by the government and major media just flip back and forth from c-span to CNN on the impeachment trial.

-- Nikoli Krushev (doomsday@y200.com), January 28, 1999.

I'll go with Nikolai on this one. When you watch C-SPAN, you hear what *you* want to hear. When you watch CNN, you hear what *they* wanted to hear. Read the newspaper columns, you're amazed at the number of different things people heard. And you trust survey results?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), January 28, 1999.

"My job is not so much to report the news as it is to mold public opinion." Peter Jennings, 1988 "The new slaves are linked together by vast electronic chains of television that imprison not their bodies but their minds. Their desires are programmed, their tastes manipulated, their values set for them." Gerry Spence, 'From Freedom to Slavery' At least in the old Soviet Union, when people read Pravda and Tass, they KNEW they were reading propaganda. People in this country don't realize the truly massive levels of disinformation they are bombarded with daily, all directed to the manufacturing of consensus. For instance: on New Year's Day, a "poll" was "released" stating that Bill Clinton was the "most admired man." Do you know ANYONE who admires Bill Clinton at this late date? They lie and they lie and they lie. Wake up and realize it. The only exit from the Kafkaesque horror show we're sleepwalking through is to stop playing their game--simply reject it. I personally admire Robert Waldrop's (sic?) credo: "Live simply that others may simply live." Hallelujah!

-- Spidey (senses@tingling.com), January 29, 1999.

Sorry Diane, no link but here's a few more fragements and quotes:

Officials may respond to pressure either because they believe the crisis is genuine - or because they think the appearance of activity on their part is necessary to head off panic. Much will depend on the perception of the probability of of power outages and infrastructure failures. Sen. Bennett says he's far more optimistic than he was half a year ago.

But the process of planning for and anticipating these events can create pernicious mischief in itself. Once a plan and the resources to carry it out are in place, an evil temptation to take action will arise. In times of doubt, officials will err on the side of "order" over "anarchy".

Reports of shortages caused by sotickpiling are likely to fuel concerns. In the bulk-food market, hard-hit by Y2Kers, shipping delays already stretch to over six months. "People's patience is much thinner now than it was four months ago. They're tougher. They're less liekly to give us a few more weeks. All in all, I don't have a real pleasant experience with people yelling at me when I come to work in the morning," says Steve Portela, manager of Walton Feed, a bulk-food supplier in Idaho that employs 150 people.

Y2K might be more like the Civil War than a tornado, leading to a more prolonged and wide-spread military presence.

Marine Major General Stephen G. Olmstead, deeputy assistant secretary of defense for drup policy, warned a Senate subcommittee in 1987 that calling out the military to fight the drug war within the US would be unwise. "one of [America's] greatest strengths is that the military is responsive to civilian authority and that we do not allow the Army, Navy, and the Marines and Air Force to be a police force. History is replete with countries that allowed that to happen. Disaster is the result."

-- Runway Cat (runway_cat@hotmail.com), January 29, 1999.

Cat,

Know where I can get a copy of that magazine? Is it sold in bookstores, etc?

Drew

-- Drew Parkhill/CBN News (y2k@cbn.org), January 29, 1999.

Drew, that's the standard rag of the Libertarians, has been around many years. Any good newstand where you buy your Z Magazine and your Media Bypass will have it.

-- Runway Cat (runway_cat@hotmail.com), January 29, 1999.

Actually it's the standard rag of the lower-case-l libertarians, but thanks for the feedback, folks. To be clear, I co-authored the piece. I have not assigned copyright to the good folks at Liberty so I will post it online when I have a chance. In the interim you should support the magazine by buying a copy at your local newsstand.

-- Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com), January 29, 1999.

Cat,

Thanks- I'm almost certain I've seen that magazine- but not for a long while. I'll wait til Declan posts it (thanks, Declan). I haven't seen it at our local Barnes & Noble stores (no Borders, to my enormous displeasure).

-- Drew Parkhill/CBN News (y2k@cbn.org), January 31, 1999.