Clinton Mentions Y2K in Meeting with Religious Leaders

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...and what he says is so disjointed and unrelated to the rest of the talk, it's just downright weird.

(snip)

But today I want to just focus just for a few minutes -- I'm going to have breakfast and then we'll have a talk about it -- but I wanted to ask you to think about this. And that's why I'm so grateful to our pastor, for his invocation and for, after what he's been through, for coming here and sharing with us today. All the rage in Washington today is we finally succeeded in getting, I think, the general public interested in the so-called Y2K problem. You know, we live in a world that is dominated by computers and now we're trying to make sure we're Y2K ready and everybody just has all these horrible scenarios of what might happen when the computers turn to 2000 and all the old computers revert back to 1900, and what might happen. We've been working on this steadily, the United States has worked very hard here and we've worked very hard to help other countries throughout the world, and especially to avoid any disasters in military operations, in airline operations, things that could really have a profound impact on us. But I think at this prayer breakfast today I would like to say that there is more to getting ready for Y2K than fixing the computers. And when this kind of seminal event occurs it gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000.

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

He then goes on and on about gun violence. Guess that's the extent of the famous "Y2K Speech" we've been waiting for :-)

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), September 28, 1999

Answers

Link...

www.whitehouse.gov/library/PressReleases.cgi?date=0&briefing=1

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), September 28, 1999.


Hey, Roland, where did you find this?

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

Hey, you answered my question before I asked it!

Mind reader...

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


"All the rage in Washington today is we finally succeeded in getting, I think, the general public interested in the so-called Y2K problem."

Depends on your interpretation of 'rage', I guess.

-- are (his@lips.moving?), September 28, 1999.


LOL, Patrick. And now for my next trick...

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), September 28, 1999.



I least he didn't try and pass off any sample sermons to them...

-- a (a@a.a), September 28, 1999.

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Think about what he said:

"And when this kind of seminal event occurs it gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000."

Emphasis on "...what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000."

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He is holding something back. He knows something is going to happen. And now very recently it is obvious that so does Alan Greenspan.

Just suppose for a moment that they know there will be some terrible events, not necessarily related to y2k but within the year 2000 time frame. His phrasing begins to become a little more understandable.

The century date rollover is not the only problem lurking on the horizon. If you go back and read official statements, you find numerous references to terrorism in the year 2000. It may be that they know much more than they say.

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-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 28, 1999.


"... we've worked very hard to help other countries throughout the world, and especially to avoid any disasters in military operations, in airline operations, things that could really have a profound impact on us"

Amazing what order he put these in eh? First concerns, other countries....(Probably the ones who contributed most to his re-election campaign) Next, Military Operations...(Don't want to f**k up foriegn policy anymore than he already has!) An Last, Airline Operations...(If the planes don't fly, he won't be able to take all those taxpayer paid for 'state visits' IE his vactions to exotic locales) Whatta TOOLFEST the current C.in C. is...

-- Billy-Boy (Rakkasn@Yahoo.com), September 28, 1999.


He's definitely a GI... "it gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000."

In other words,.. "get your spiritual house in order, kiss your materialistic trash goodbye, and get ready to meet your maker".

I'm sure Al-D will be jumping in here momentarily. Ya gotta admit, the kid never gives up, and I think he deserves his few moments of glory.

-- @ (@@@.@), September 28, 1999.


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Another observation:

Watch the faces and eyes of the leaders when they speak. There is no confidence, no joy, no optimism. Koskinen is pretty good with the happy look sometimes, but not all the time. They look hollow, worried and distracted. Even fearful.

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-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), September 28, 1999.



Clinton's no fool. Some people may hate him but he is a master politician and doesnt say something unless there is a reason for it.

He is positioning himself for something, but he is only letting a little bit out right now.

Dont be surprised if in the next week or two you start to see uncharacteristic actions from the powers that be (TPTB). If suddenly the White House and the Y2k team start sounding like doomers, hang on to your hat.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), September 28, 1999.


"All the rage in Washington today is we finally succeeded in getting, I think, the general public interested in the so-called Y2K problem."

Huh? What?

I thought they didn't WANT the public to be interested.

Ooops! I forgot! "Feed 'em a little information at a time."

"Don't "peak" on the message too soon!"

Watch for a preparedness messages coming from D.C. starting October first.

-- sheeple (with@eyes.wideopen), September 28, 1999.


Dang! I was hoping that he'd hand out some new sermons on Y2K (a la the bankers...). My pastor is always on the look out for new humorous materials...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), September 28, 1999.

Actually, I DO expect the White House and others to start sounding like doomers in the next two weeks. Oct. 1 is the date that they will start pushing the "prep for a 3 day storm" mantra big time, and I expect that the tune will start to sound a bit different. Nothing compared to what it should be, now doubt, but they'll be whistling a bit louder than in the past.

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

Pshannon,

Please check your email ASAP.

Thanks!

-- sheeple (with@eyes.wideopen), September 28, 1999.



If the financial situation continues to move the way it has, with gold up and markets down, there will no longer be a need to try to sustain the current optimistic message. I think they expected the financial situation to turn anyway and they're timing their shift.

October 1...yep...but no need to panic. It'll take some time, at least a couple of weeks before the panic starts.

Mike

=================================================================

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), September 28, 1999.


Yep, pshannon... agree.

The dot gov dial is about to get turned up. They likely wanted to prepare themselves first.

Do HOPE they get off the 3-Day storm bit, this thread belies that notion...

For an idea of how it may FEEL when stuff fails...

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001U9S

...and tugs at the old heartstrings!

Diane

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


Sheeple,

did you send me that e-mail that I trashed without responding to? Sorry, I get so much -mail, that when I see things like that, I assume that they're just trying to verify my address for spam purposes. Please send again, and I'll be glad to respond!

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


It sounds to me like he's covering his rear end.When things get bad he'll say he really tried hard to get the people to prepare and they just wouldn't listen. "It's not my fault your children are hungry we tried to get you people to listen" JERK.

-- tress (tress59@aol.com), September 28, 1999.

"And when this kind of seminal event occurs it gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000."

[left unsaid}.... let us pray.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), September 28, 1999.


Clinton: "And when this kind of seminal event occurs it gives us the opportunity to ask ourselves what it would take to be really ready for the year 2000."

Butthead: "he said SEMINAL...uhhuh huh huh huh..!"

Beavis: Shut up Butthead! You're not funny! At least he gets to score.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), September 28, 1999.


Part 4 of my White Paper, "A Call to Action: National and Global Implications of the Year 2000 and Embedded Systems Crisis", addresses the President's Y2K strategy: to wait until the rollover to take a leadership role.

Part 4 is entitled "The Y2K and Embedded Systems Crisis ~ Why Isn't the Crisis Being Treated as a Crisis as Yet, Nationally or Globally". (The White Paper can be found at ttp://www.gwu.edu/~y2k/keypeople/gordon.)

I hope that Part 5 of the White Paper will also be of interest. It's entitled "In Case of Fire, Yell 'Fire'". It is about the options before us in the next three months, if the President continues to hold to his present strategy of waiting until the rollover to act and if he fails to encourage and assist in preparedness efforts which could help hold the social fabric together.

In Part 4, I argue that one of the reasons (a non-political reason) that the President has adopted this strategy is that he doesn't get embedded systems. Someone who knows him and has his confidence should let him know that the motto for the Administration for the next 93 days should be: "It's the embedded systems, stupid!"

The President and the head of the President's Council are in no way addressing all of the most serious high hazard, high risk potentials for disasters here and abroad, from the potential for catastrophe posed by the hair trigger alert status of nuclear weapon systems, to nuclear power plant vulnerabilities, chemical industry problems, oil and gas pipeline challenges (with some companies adopting a fix on failure approach), refinery problems, water purification plant problems, dam problems, hazardous materials sites and facility vulnerabilities, etc., etc.

With few, too few exceptions, the President and the head of the President's Council have proceeded on the assumption that the responsibility for taking action resides in the individual Department or Agency, the individual industrial sector, the major metropolitan area, the state, etc., etc. They have not recognized the paucity of expertise on embedded systems or other aspects of the crisis that resides in those entities and sectors. They have not recognized that there are embedded systems that are not being adequately assessed, remediated, and tested in all of these high risk, high hazard plants, sites, pipelines, etc.

Indeed, there even seems to be an absence of awareness or concern regarding the certain failures of less "safety critical" energy and security systems in some Federal buildings. Failures are expected to occur in at least some Federal buildings owing to the approaches to assessment, remediation, and testing that the General Services Administration has employed. These approaches include type testing. The reason given by a GSA spokesman for adopting such an approach in Spring of 1999 was that it would be too costly and take too much time to test everything that should be tested. And, yes, he was well aware that using such an approach would result in some failures.

(See page 35 of the April 30, 1999 NERC report for a list of the kinds of approaches that NERC recommended for the electric utilities industry, including the nuclear power plants. These recommendations included type testing, statistical sampling, and other approaches, certainly not suitable for safety critical systems.)

The President appears to be laboring under the false assumption that we are headed for a 3 to a 5 on the impact scale. Owing to his poor comprehension of the nature and scope of the problem, his apparent absence of expert advice, combined with his absence of real leadership; impacts will likely include a wide range of technological disasters here and abroad. These disasters will be over and above the "localized, regional" infrastructure disruptions that are expected. They will make response and recovery efforts all the more costly and arduous. The implications for public health and safety, as well as environmental sustainability could not be greater.

There is still time to minimize the number and severity of the most serious impacts. To do so will take political will, dedication to the public good, a sense of responsibility, initiative, organizational leadership, expertise, commonsense, ingenuity, and the dedication of time, effort, and resources. That kind of proactive, crisis-oriented pre-rollover action is missing at the moment.

Even the Senate and the House are not addressing these challenges. They seem content to air the issues, assess the likely impacts, and monitor the progress made by selected sectors in addressing a far narrower definition of the problem than the problem that we are actually facing. Why are they failing to at least state what should be done on the basis of the assessments that they have made? Where is the leadership, the statesmanship, and vision concerning this crisis? Were the President and the head of the President's Council to take needed actions now, the impacts on the economy would certainly be great. But if they fail to take such actions now, the impacts on the economy will be infinitely greater and the future of the nation and the world will be placed in great jeopardy.

Pay now or pay much, much more later. That is our option.

Part 6 will be entitled "De' Nile Ain't Just a River in Egypt". Part 6 will be about the various reasons that people fail to "get it" and why too many of those who "get it" fail to do very much about it.

Real videos on many of the topics addressed in the White Paper can be viewed at http://www.y2kapproaches.com/real/pgordon.htm.



-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), September 29, 1999.


Oh please, not another right winger trying to blame it all on Clinton again. You guys are getting to be so commonplace that you are downright boring!

-- @ (@@@.@), September 29, 1999.

Clinton, Greenspan and most of the rest of the top dogs know what's going on. The campaign is to stall and let big business (who is pulling the strings, anyway) have as much time to get their act together. We, on the other hand, are the sacrificial lambs, who will not be told about the realities of Y2K for fear of a stampede which will bring down their house of cards earlier than expected. Of course the rank and file just do what their told and play the ostrich game and point fingers to other countries or terrorist groups and say " its their fault... we were ready". It's getting harder to be proud to be an American. As a combat vet in Nam this is beginning to stink the same way... the gubmint working for "big bidness" while the little guys get the shaft. "Of the people, by the people, and for the people" seems to have lost its meaning. I think their biggest mistake is underestimating how people will take this when they find out the good news. I just hope we haven't become a nation of couch potatos... I get worried about where the new leadership will come from though... we haven't seen any of it lately, not even in the news media. Where are the "Woodwards and Bernsteins"? And what if aliens are scanning our planet... they won't find a scred of intelligent life anywhere... Help... I'm losing it.... This is just too bizarre...

-- Keith Nealy (keithn@aloha.net), September 29, 1999.

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