Drudge report this evening leads with this, even ahead of Jane Doe #5 interview airing on NBC:

UPCOMING SENATE REPORT SAYS Y2K RISKS WIDESPREAD A report on the Year 2000 computer problem prepared by a special Senate panel warns that Y2K is "one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered," the WASHIGNTON POST is planning to report on Wednesday. A draft copy of the Senate report, to be released later this week, was leaked to POST. The report represents the most comprehensive assessment of the Y2K problem.

Has anyone in DeeCee seen the early Post editions yet?

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 23, 1999

Answers

I mean "devastating," of course. Darn fumble fingers grumble, grumble, grrrr, mumble.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 23, 1999.

Yep, Cash, it's still leading at 7:20/p Pacific Time. Impressive. Now, where's the URL for the wp article? Looking ...

one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), February 23, 1999.

That would mean worse than the WWs, the Civil War, the Depression ...

mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm

-- Ashton (allaha@earthlink.net), February 23, 1999.

Leska: No URL yet. Last I checked the Post, Wednesday's front page wasn't up. Gotta sign off soon (kids in bed, cat's been fed, time to sleep), but it should go up before you West Coasters hit the rack.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), February 23, 1999.

You mean this is leading the news tonight on NBC Or is this on the Drudge Report on Fox? Let me know. If we have not seen panic yet...with this report it is sure to start soon. The supplies we have been stalking up on are going to be hard to find.

Please let us know as soon as someone has a link!

PMM

-- PMM (grute22@yahoo.com), February 23, 1999.

Here is the link to the story in the Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/daily/feb99/y2k24.htm

S.O.B.

-- sweetolebob (buffgun@hotmail.com), February 23, 1999.

To Whom It May Concern,

You can see it hereDRUDGE REPORT

May GODS Will Be Done

Mike

-- flierdude (mkessler0101@sprynet.com), February 23, 1999.

Ashton......

In your seeming crusade to paint Y2K as a 10, you jump to conclusions. The article said "one of the worst......." and then you rant on about that meaning it would be worse than the depression, civil war etc.

Worst, and one of the worst are different........I doubt the mistake was deliberate, rather just a sympton of wanting to believe the worst about Y2K so much that you don't take the time to look at the facts.

Slow down just a bit and relax!

-- Craig (craig@ccinet.ab.ca), February 23, 1999.

Lets try the link... Washington Post

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 23, 1999.

I noticed it was on page A-1...does that mean it was on the front page????This could be a HUGE step!

-- POOP (hey@net.com), February 23, 1999.

That would mean worse than the WWs, the Civil War, the Depression ...
A musing extrapolation, hardly a rant or crusade; a report-based phrase

The article says "a "worldwide crisis" and as "one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered."

A leap to conclusions: "a sympton of wanting to believe the worst about Y2K so much that you don't take the time to look at the facts."

Busy looking at the new facts summarized in the Senate report.
Looking for indications that Y2K will not be so bad. Do not at all want to believe the worst. Do not have the means to prepare for the worst. The worst means a bad death; don't want that.

Healthcare is our field. Healthcare will take the most severe hit.
We have known that for months now. Being familiar with the demographics, the burgeoning numbers of frail elderly, the increasing number needing JIT medications -- we work with the facts every day.
We've used the noncompliant equipment every day. Every week we see the deaths; we watch the bodies nosedive when the Doctors decide the equipment is to be discontinued.

And, quite slow and relaxed, and do take notice when fresh facts are presented. "... warns that a number of foreign countries and U.S. economic sectors, especially the health care industry, appear at significant risk for technological failures and business disruptions ... More than 90 percent of doctors' offices ... have not addressed the Y2K problem ... communities will not be able to provide "911" and other emergency services ... In assessing U.S. preparedness, the draft report reserved some of its strongest language for the health care industry, concluding it "is one of the worst-prepared for Y2K and carries a significant potential for harm." " Enough hands-on experience to exactly see what this translates into.

Been a month a grounded ship has leaked oil off the Oregon coast. Scores of alphabet agencies plus the military working round the clock to try to solve. Can't fix it yet. Shipping & maritime industry far behind, even Koskinen admits. Imports slowed due to port bans. Flight rationing. Friends in military are being trained for martial law. Facts. We go by what we see, hear, touch, and smell. We are doing everything possible in our communities to help people prepare so Y2K's impact will not be as bad as it otherwise would be.

Our community has just taken an international lead in Y2K awareness, honesty, and neighborhood planning. We have been instrumental in this development. If anything, a behind-the-scenes persistent fact-dispersed nudge to make sure Y2K, in our neck of the woods, is not "one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered." The fact is, if one presents ppl with the facts, calmly, with solutions, others prepare, fear dissipates, and communities are strengthened. That, we have done.

mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmm

-- Ashton (allaha@earthlink.net), February 24, 1999.

Just returned from a meeting of the Upstate y2k business advisory council. Essentially the same thing was said by a number of spokesmen from different industries. Big thing to come to light was that the man from Duke Power said all Nuc Plants belonging to Duke would be online. (He didn't say for how long). The basic message from the banks was "please don't take your money out". One thing I did notice in the Post story is that the Fed has increased their money reserve to 200 mil. Was I asleep?? When was that announced?? The bank reps tonight were still on 50. More rice, more beans, more..... Lobo

-- Lobo (hiding@woods.com), February 24, 1999.

PS In WWI+II, the bombing & carnal disruption of war was not on USA land. We still had electricity, water, farming, medical care, phones, sewers, infrastructure, etc. Citizens pitched in to achieve victory over a foreign enemy. There was still faith in the establishment, institutions. Not as much drug abuse, lack of respect, road rage, moral breakdown.

Same with the Depression. Infrastructure up, not dependent on computers yet.

In my line of work I have talked to many elderly people, who have said that if anything like those times were to happen again, it would be disastrous, because of the moral decline and the erosion of civility prevalent in society today. They still take pride in the truths that people lived by in those times and remember fondly the honor people had in behaving rightly to one another.

mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmm

-- Ashton (allaha@earthlink.net), February 24, 1999.

You're right, Ashton. I can tell you personally that the effects of WWII were nothing in this country compared to England, Europe and elsewhere. Y2k will have a much more deleterious effect on the US than did WWII.

My biggest fear is of the predators who already prowl the streets: just two hours ago the police were out in force chasing car thieves only a block away--in our "nice" neighborhood. I'm relieved it was "only" car thieves. A major drug dealer was arrested by the Feds two weeks ago--three blocks away. We're lucky there were no shoot-outs from bad drug deals.

At a three-day crime seminar near DC, a gang expert told us that the major cash crop in Iowa is now pot--and it's controlled by the Bloods and the Crips. Iowa! Sweet ol' Radar's home! Is nothing sacred? The average person just doesn't realize how many bottom-feeders are out there or how vicious they are.

Thanks very much for all your hard work, you and Leska, and please keep it going. Just wish the rest of the country had an attitude similar to that of the Pacific NW coast. Okay, off to read the Post article now!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 24, 1999.

All I can say is that a society is judged by it's prisoners. Bottom feeders are there for a reason, ex. prostitiution increased during the Victorian Era.

I Am That I Am

-- Zipper the Cat (fearzone@home.com), February 24, 1999.

I don't consider prostitutes, or other non-violent lawbreakers, bottom feeders, unless they try to take away my family's means of survival by force. I worked for many years in the War on Poverty and have thousands of volunteer hours logged in social programs--the dirty work, not sitting on boards. I am not without compassion but my family's survival comes first. I won't wax philosophical about society's prisoners and its other ills, because that's not the purpose of this forum. It's about surviving Y2K and, in this city, a firearm will be essential if police services fail.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), February 24, 1999.

My parents had a hard time during the Depression, but they lived in a rural community and had friends and food. They also had friends in other places where homes were burned down to get people to grab their money and run; in cities, crimes for food was not uncommonl. There was a local religious school nearby where dozens of kids were sent, from a nearby city, just so they could eat. My folks said the horror stories they told about the cities they came from were heart breaking.

Not all people during that time were any better than those now. It's normal to look back on the good old days as better than they were. My mother, who died at 95 just four years ago, said people tend to forget a lot of the bad things that were normal then.

-- gilda jessie (jess@listbot.com), February 24, 1999.

Lobo: The increase is still $50 billion. The existing "reserve" cash ( the extra cash ready to be put in circulation) is $150 billion, so the available reserve will be increase to$200 billion.

-- PNG (png@gol.com), February 24, 1999.

Craig, after reading the WP article and discussing it in email with a friend, I reacted the same as Ashton, I made the same comment. You are probably right, I am expecting the worse, and I'm attempting to prepare for such (and still hoping/wishing for the best). I fully expect it to be worse than WWII and the Great Depression, because of the fact that this time, the infrastructures will be affected, worldwide, on top of the economy. Here's the comment I made to this friend in email;

Thanks for the heads up. I'm not worried of it starting a panic, because it's a mixed message piece. I know what my husband will latch on;

"Clinton administration officials have portrayed the Y2K problem as similar to a severe winter snowstorm that causes inconveniences but little lasting harm. Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan assured Americans that they can keep their money in the bank over New Year's 2000 without fear.

"There's almost no conceivable way . . . that computers will break down and records of people's savings accounts would disappear," he told the Senate Banking Committee. "

And that's what the masses will see too. They won't see [or will won't want to see] this part, which is what you and I know and understand; "

"The report, scheduled for release this week by Sens. Robert F. Bennett (R-Utah) and Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), includes a letter to Senate colleagues describing the problem .... as a "worldwide crisis" and as "one of the most serious and potentially devastating events this nation has ever encountered." [..ever encountered....worse than the Civil War, WWII, the Great Depression....] and;

"But the report represents the most comprehensive assessment of the Y2K problem to appear as companies and governments scramble to fix their computer systems. In addition to health care, the report portrays the oil, education, farming, food processing and construction sectors as seriously lagging on computer repairs." [ which means disease, famine, and extreme unemployment/collapsing economy. Especially for us, hubby is a general contractor in construction.]

Nothing at this point will make the masses panic, it will take Greenspan or Clinton himself to come on t.v. and say what Bennett is saying.

-- Chris (catsy@pond.com), February 24, 1999.