...Face the Nation

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15 minutes. All over the board. I've only got a minute here, as we're spending the weekend doing some prep work...

here are the quick notes I typed while watching

I really enjoyed the Fidelity Investments commercial right before the program began.

Started with "misinformation" Simple but incredible problem Heart pump, 911, banks,

Report comes out monday, "pretty startling" Bennett, "at risk is a reletive kind of thing" "probably get the thing under control" "Not TEOTWAWKI as some of these websites are predicting" Accidental nuke launch? possible, not likely could turn out to be a "form of arms control" 90% of doctors offices not looked into

Yardeni - JIT,

bennett - flight to quality - rich get richer, poor get poorer

won't fly overseas, insurance problem

dodd - 2 or 3 days worth of preps. "I DID NOT say people should stockpile."

yardeni kisses ass

bennett - russia - "real problems and noone's going to notice"

-----you get the idea. It was serious, but schizophrenic. Will raise the awareness barometer among the six DGI's who watched it.

Have a good day.

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), February 28, 1999

Answers

I think we could call this Fa(R)ce the Nation! What do you think?

-- Marcy (YCRAM410@aol.com), February 28, 1999.

The woman that kept laughing in the background kept me distracted. Her giggles really bothered me.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), February 28, 1999.

We'll see how many people are giggling on January 17, 2000.

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), February 28, 1999.

Marcy,

ROTFL..... I have to agree with that.

However, we might be going from baby steps into the toddler stage with a slightly higher level of seriousness... There really wasn't much time to get any meaningful message across.

Did you notice that the news lady didn't appear to take it seriously and almost seemed quite aggressive about the hoarding and having cash on hand issue. I noticed a lot of laughing from her in the background too - that was a bit annoying.

-- Anon (anon@zzz.com), February 28, 1999.


You can bet your sweet bippy that the pablum spewed on Daze the Nation is not the same information that causes the Senate to discuss this matter in closed sessions.

-- Puddintame (dit@dot.com), February 28, 1999.


When the Washington Post story came out last Wednesday I told a bunch of people about it - especially the phrases "Worldwide Crisis" and "One Of The Most Serious & Potentially Devastating Events This Nation Has Ever Encountered". I just got a call from one of them asking me if the Senators on Face the Nation were the same ones that created this report. Told them yes. It is this kind of inconsistency that is keeping people from taking Y2K as seriously as we think they should, all in the name of preventing (forestalling, actually) a panic. The powers that be, as I have posted so many times, are between a rock and a hard place.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@net.com), February 28, 1999.

Anon,

On you comment about the woman giggling, apparently uncontrolably.

I have seen children faced with an overwhelming stress (parents have been physicall fighting and one parent is handcufed being hauled off to jail) start to giggle and laugh uncontrolably.

Now I'm not calling that woman a child. Perhaps what we are seeing here is a response from general society to an overwhelming stress. Even though this person would be called a DGI here, she may instinctivly get it (and not realize it yet) and this is her resonse to the stress.

I've seen similar responses from others recently on the whole subject of Y2K. I've presonally stoped discussing the more gruesome possibilities to the totally uninitiated.

Milk first, meat later.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), February 28, 1999.


I do not understand how these senators can write a report with such depth but when they have the opportunity to tell it like it really is, or at least read from their own reports, they back off and act very happy face.

It is sending out two different messages. Are they being told before airing to tone it down?

I was also surprised that Y2k was not the subject on other stations today. In the past, we have seen the same guests on several different channels. Instead today, we hear the story of Juanita Broderick (which I beleive to be true, but that is neither here nor there, and it is not going to make a hairy rat's ass difference to anyone anyhow so WHY is it being Talked to death?) And then Monica's story was released in London. And we all know that is much BIGGER news then Y2k.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), February 28, 1999.


Look, it's entirely possible that the Senators and Mr. Yardeni are not in fact giving dual messages, despite appearances.

What they are able to say in 30 second sound bites pales to the 160+ page report (and the thousands of similar reports) which are available to anyone who wants "the whole truth". The 30 second sound bite message is: prepare. America isn't immune to Y2K, but may escape the full force of the storm, at least in the short-term. As Yardeni said, "America cannot be an island of prosperity", or words to that effect.

It is entirely conceivable that the worst immediate impact on the power grid come 1/1/2000 will be localized brownouts. Of course, there is no way to know for sure until it happens, which Sen. Bennett also pointed out. What is irritating is when Sen. Dodd proclaims that "the worst case is brownouts", which seems like a very premature conclusion based on the facts.

I share the frustration. But more and more, it seems as though the TEOTWAKI scenario won't happen here (again, at least not immediately). I, for one, view "good news" reports with skepticism; however, there are some positive trends (power grid, e.g.).

Give the Senators credit. They don't sugarcoat: The risks are real, much of the work won't get done, they are encouraging basic preparations. What message would you rather they convey?

Flame away.

-- Steve Hartsman (hartsman@ticon.net), February 28, 1999.


Just heard a soundbite on the CBS radio affiliate. Dodd saying, "..but I don't think a little stockpiling would hurt, no need to go overboard, of course..."

Lead-in for the clip was "On CBS' Face the Nation, two senators discount Doomsday scenarios, but say that there may indeed be problems..."

No great revelation here, but certainly a very serious tone. I figure maybe a hundred more folks across the US just got less dismissive about Y2K, which is OK by me. Now the report will come out this week and provide some even more serious support for prep. Little by little...

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), February 28, 1999.



BE ACCURATE IN YOUR POSTS!

We just WATCHED the tape for the fourth time. THERE WAS NO GIGGLING FOLKS!

Hey! On another post I said this was a watered down version of what the senators said to their contemporaries in the report, but....we'll have to see that tomorrow.

Incidentally, Yardeni did not sell the farm. He would have spoken more about our "need for national leadership", but was most timely interrupted!!!!!!!!

IF YOU DIDN'T WATCH IT, OR TAPE IT, LET ME REPEAT: "THERE WAS NO GIGGLING!" DAMN IT, IF YOU DIDN'T SEE IT, DON'T AGREE WITH THOSE THAT MISREPRESENTED IT!

To understand Y2K fully, we need accurate reports.

Keep the faith.

BW

-- Bob Walton (waltonb@kdsi.net), February 28, 1999.


I heard the laughing in the background, too. She did it when Dodd was talking about 3 days of food, snowstorms, yadda, yadda, yadda... the word stockpile set her off.

This is a well planned effort to give fair warning, without setting off a panic. Yardeni was cut off several times. I feel he would have gone into more about the interdependency of the world economy, but they did not want to hear it. The agenda seemed to be, warn them, label "y2k survivalists" as kooks and chicken littles. The report will show progress is being made, but we have to keep working on it. Potential for problems. They won't admit some sectors will not make it, and the world economy is going to crash. That would create a panic. The cowboys are moving the herd right into the y2k corral.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), February 28, 1999.


Well then, Bob, what was it? I heard it....my husband heard it.....we interpreted the sound as laughing and because of it, we commented on the lack of professionalism during the show....but we didn't tape it and you did and you listened to it four times....so what was it? It was quite noticable...did you get the show on EST or are you on the west coast...could it have been edited out during the time lag?

Anyway, I would be relieved to hear that it wasn't blatant laughing....we hear so much of that on the local news when they air their so called y2k news. I'd rather had high hopes for the "Face the Nation" broadcast as the beginning of responsible reporting, but confusion seemed to be the main takeaway from the broadcast.....sound bytes like this just won't do.....

-- seagreen (seagreen@seagreen.com), February 28, 1999.


He really did. His words were "stockpile food and water."

-- Dodd Said Stockpile (ISawIt@This.morning), March 01, 1999.

As far as the giggling, I taped it, and (as they say in the NFL) upon further review....

Bennett: (on accidental nuclear launch) I suppose it's possible, but highly unlikely. The more likely scenario, if somebody would press a button to cause a intercontinental missle to go off, it wouldn't work (giggle)The computer would fail (giggle) this could be a form of arms control (bigger giggle)

***********

Dodd: (on preparing)We don't want to be the "sky is falling" crowd, the y2k survivalists as we call them, (giggle)nor do you want to have downplaying of this problem.

***********

Question to Yardeni: Don't you have to worry though about self fulfilling prophecies here, if the economists say the market is going to go down, then the market WILL go down. How do you deal with that without being a Pollyanna on all of this?

Yardeni: Fortunately I'm not that influential (giggle)

***********

Question to Bennett: Senator, are you going to fly on January first? (breathy giggle)

*********

Bennett: The quick summary of Russia, they said, yeah, they're going to have real problems, and no one is going to notice (giggle), because nothing works over there now.

*****************

What I noticed, is that they seemed to be having some audio problems - a lot of pops, clicks etc. Also, the level on her mic seemed to pick up any little sound she made (good thing she didn't try to sneak a little gas by unnoticed..lol)

The best comment was Bennett confirming that the insurance companies were balking at providing coverage of the airlines....

Hope this helps

-- Online2Much (ready_for_y2k@mindspring.com), March 01, 1999.



As I've been explaining to family, you must balance anything you see on the controlled national media against their 'first directive:' do not cause panic. No matter how horrendous their view of Y2K, they are NOT going to say anything that would cause the herd to freak. A freaking herd means A) bank runs and B) equities disintegration. So if what you behold is schizophrenic, then, balanced against what is most certainly the unutterable nature of the beast, it is left to you, the critical and astute propaganda viewer, to translate. My translation of the contradictory babble is: checkmate. Game over.

-- Spidey (in@jam.com), March 01, 1999.

FWIW, I have watched "talking Head" shows such as CBS' Face the Nation on raw feeds which are frequently available on C-Band satelite. On many occasions, the same show that I saw when it was first aired for the east coast, had been edited and was noticeably changed by the time it was aired to the west coast or even sooner. This may explain the "giggling", "no giggling" question. . .

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), March 01, 1999.

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