1. Can't stand any more spin. Watched the stuff on C-Spin. Well meaning people calling in with good questions simply fed the trolls. Good questions gives way to great spin.

2. The real y2k problem: You can no longer believe anybody. For all many of us know, Koskinen is being as honest as he can be. Problem is that he could be a complete liar. If nothing happens can we still blame the Kosky in Klinton (BJ Billy)? Yes. Because I have spent some serious money simply because I couldnt trust any of them as far as I can throw them. There can not be any leadership under such circumstances.

3. It is so appalling that the spinmasters tell people with concerns to ask their utilities if they have concerns. They're not going to fess up. How stupid do they think we are? Answer: Apparently, as a collective population, we are very stupid. The only thing more appalling is the notion put forth that you need three days worth of food because "that's how long it will take to get people to shelters".

4. The other forum said KIO3 was was better than KI. Ten minutes ago I grabbed a little from my lab, ignored all the horrible warning labels, and put a small fraction of a recommended dose on my finger tip (you know, the same way the drug lords test their coke shipment). My stomach feels like crap. Maybe it's in my head, but it feels like the full dose (130 mg per day) would kill me. If I start to fade while writing this I'll make sure I type "help" and hit the submit key. If I never post again, it means I died. I sure hope we don't get nuked.

5. Bought two hundred pounds of rice again this weekend. As I posted on the other forum, I seem to never have enough to quit. (Just had a KIO3 burp.)

6. Tony Blankley on McLaughlin group made a revealing closing statement on their otherwise fluffy Millenium show. (I slept through what may have been a good part.) His prediction was that industry and government folks would lose their jobs over y2k. You could take that a number of ways.

7. Why morally sound people might suppress panic until the rollover? It hit me that Draconian measures in the face of panic prior to y2k might be difficult to justify. This is not the case after the lights go out. I'm not fond of the idea, just trying to understand how, if Kosky is a GI, he might find a way to sleep at night.

8. Interesting thread previously on the DeeCee millenium party (DeeCee -- I really write like a doomer now) that didn't seem to get huge press was the underlying motivations for such a party. As I recall, it's being "catered" by the Army, and they're bringing in generators so that the party won't be ruined by a power blackout. How convenient it would be that, if the lights go out, they'll have all the ingredients of an emergency rescue in place.

9. Anyone notice the increase in the percentage of women on the forum? If true, I think it's that "mom thing". I converted our neighbors with four kids by going past polydad and playing into the "mom thing". Don't get me wrong guys; I raised my kids in a very big way (many, many diapers). I just think that maybe the moms are a little bit better hard-wired for kid-preservation (better chips). Keep up the good work, "mom".

10. Right after finishing random thought "9" a call came in from another GI in the building. For what it's worth (and it's vague indeed), her son in the marines has been restationed from Japan to a ship somewhere near Turkey. Supposedly he said, "Mom, you're not gonna want to hear this, but it's y2k stuff." She didn't have a lot of details, but it certainly smacked of black helicopter and white van stuff.

10. I'm now scheduling a normal life for the spring. As the mud wrestling champion and poster child for the National Organization for Women -- the King of Spain -- once said, don't put yourself in a situation where collapse is necessary for you to win. Could be cancelling (or simply not going on) some business trips in the spring.

Its not the odds, its the stakes. See y'all on the other side.

Dave

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), August 30, 1999

Answers

Hope you have something to flavor all that rice with.

-- rambo (rambo@thewoods.com), August 30, 1999.

Dave, You wrote: "her son in the marines has been restationed from Japan to a ship somewhere near Turkey. Supposedly he said, "Mom, you're not gonna want to hear this, but it's y2k stuff." She didn't have a lot of details, but it certainly smacked of black helicopter and white van stuff."

That is very interesting statement. I attended a function this past weekend with several enlisted people (army) and a civillian army contractor (overseas) I got the same story....not alot of details but I was absolutely shocked by the casual attitude with which these things were stated. Like they were talking about the weather. Also very y2k aware. I'm sorry not to give more details, but I refuse to compromise their privacy.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), August 30, 1999.

On the ground intel via an email list from the Free Republic web site indicates that governments in the Middle East are only now GIing. There are MAJOR concerns about shipping oil. Aside from water and banking, this is the single biggest global concern.

Unfortunately, the problems may not be evident at rollover, but may take many days or weeks to impact daily living (e.g. the price of gas).

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), August 30, 1999.

Turkey, Aegean Sea, Black Sea via Straights

No major oil that side other than a small pipe going from Iraq through Turkey.

Lebanon

Syria (State sponsored terrorism)

Egypt (some oil)

LIBYA -- oil bingo

Could be working out some deals to station US warships at port to provide electrical power for local oil shipment systems. Had heard about this in relationship to NYC, etc but it makes more sense to do this to assure the flow of oil. Without that its 'lights out'.

Isreal (defense help)

-- ..- (dit@dot.dash), August 30, 1999.

Good writing. Of course, if you live(d) in Izmit, Turkey, Y2K, or its doppelganger, already hit: it was a Richter 7. I hope you don't have to use all your rice; I also hope you have water to go with it. Annnnd....'C-SPIN' remains one of the most surprising rides in the funhouse: what other network would air a speech by Joe Sobran...in its entirety? Whimsical if nothing else. But Dave, really, I think everyone's 'spider-sense' is tingling: all the odd half-truths and more muscular dissembling that's been shoveled out by the government doesn't suggest a BITR. Like you say, when Truth has fled, who do you trust? EVERY information source nowadays is viewed with suspicion: and that includes Doomer sources. Especially Doomer sources. So we sift the wheat, and hope that we don't end up eating too much chaff. "What is Truth?" a minor Roman factotum once asked. We may all find out quite soon.

-- Spidey (in@jam.commie), August 30, 1999.

Deborah: Military types CAN take this more casually, since they have a LOT of firepower, supplies, and logistical support. The U.S. Government may treat their troops like crap (Agent Orange, Desert Storm Syndrome, letting vets with their legs blown off live homeless now in the streets, etc.), but the Govt WILL see that the troops get fed and supplied, insofar as possible, before the civilians and prisoners (us on this forum and various other people who hve stuck their heads up) when TSHTF.

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 30, 1999.

The Ultimate Time Machine
Joe McMoneagle


p. 232-233
"There is war brewing. Within five years, 1998 to 2003, there will be a second war in northern Iraq."
" It has to do with a number of issues. . . It also has to do with money and power.
"Few know that to the north of Iraq lies what might be the largest natural oil reserve on the face of the planet. It rests within a square that is probably 250 x 250 miles, an area presently occupied by the extreme eastern and south-eastern tip of Turkey, the northern tip of Iran, a large portion of Armenia, and the southern half of Azerbaijan. It is an area occupied by the Kurdish people, refugees from all of these countries..."

Joe McMoneagle, for those who don't know, was a researcher and remote viewer for the classified Army project STARGATE. Joe's psychic skills as a remote viewer have been validated by both laboratory testing and his years of intelligence-gathering in the Stargate program.
I would not be surprised if there was some concern over the military capabilities of the air defenses in Turkey (although I don't know what they fly) ... there was a recent thread in the forum about some particular military jets that are not Y2K ready.

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), August 30, 1999.

A,

LOL! That is the discussion Hubby & I had in the car on the way home. :-D

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), August 30, 1999.

Dave,

Re. thot #9: it took me three minutes to GI early in the summer of 1998, and another two weeks to research the issue enough so that I didn't feel I'd lost my mind. Then I spent last summer/fall helping friends install a wind system on their farm, and organizing preps. I only found this discussion group after the humpty dumpty forum was created. Just so you have a sense of where one of the 'moms' is coming from.

-- PH (ag3@interlog.com), August 31, 1999.

Calm before the storm? Who knows.

The continuing spin is not "a good thing" in my opinion, and a trend- watch indicator. Always was... probably will continue to be.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), August 31, 1999.