Copy of article in one of our national papers.

US sceptics ready to 'bug-out' in 80 days

FRANCIS TEMMAN Year 2000 in The Australian

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina: The radical right, religious conservatives, and gun-toting militiamen rub shoulders in Charlotte, swapping stories about the chaos to come.

This is Preparedness Expo, a week-end fair where paranoia stalks the stalls and you can buy all you think you need to survive the millennium bug.

Next to the dried foods, seeds and grains, are survival weapons, military camouflage kits and animal traps.

"As far as I am concerned, the Y2K is a reality." says Ragnard Holmes, 62.

"I'm ready for home defence. We got water, emergency food, medical supplies."

He brought his entire family here from Tennessee to visit the fair.

Many fear the worlds computer systems will crash at the dawn of the new millennium (80 daysaway).

Built to record the year with only two digits, they will revert to 00, confusing the year 2000 with 1900, they believe.

Most of the customers at the fair share a profound distrust of the US Government, the central power they view as intent on curbing individual freedom. Patty Honeycut, 37 is one of them. A lounge singer, she came to buy a camping gas cooker to prepare for the power outages she believes couldaccompany Y2K.

The Government is holding out on the people, she says, knowing more than it will reveal about problems linked to the millennium bug.

"The Government is not telling us everything, so we should be informed and prepared for the worst while hoping for the best." she says.

For those who wish to keep informed, Preparedness Expo offered plenty of literature on the problem, including a catalogue of giudebooks on survival.

Browsers can check out titles including Y2K: Its not too late, and 101 Things to do till the revolution. They can buy the SAS Survival Guide In the Wild; and consider The Anarchist Cookbook, which will disapoint the gourmet but delight the prot-terrorist, with information on bomb-making, sabotage operations, and urban guerilla warfare.

Conspiracy theories abound. One book promises to reveal the "secret establishment" that rules the US. Another offers to disclose the truth about the 1993 FBI sige of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1996 TWA Flight 800 disaster.

-- praxis (fake@oz.com.au), October 12, 1999

Answers

The Austrailians rolled over and let their holy government DISARM them, and now -suprise!- violent crime is up 40%.

Not suprised to see editorials making light of a free society, coming from the land of once and future convicts. Makes them feel better about those lovely iron bangles.

Liberty

-- Liberty (liberty@theready.now), October 12, 1999.

Ain't capitalism grand? See a cult, throw a bazaar! Make some money, everyone's happy.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 12, 1999.

Note to self:

Go to survivalist convention and pick up volume on FLINTKNAPPING.

Liberty

-- Liberty (liberty@theready.now), October 12, 1999.

Best double entendre I've seen in a while, Liberty!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 12, 1999.

"Gun toting militiamen", "radical right", "religious conservatives" , "swapping stories about the chaos to come","paranoia stalks the halls", "ready for home defense", "The Anarchist Cookbook which will dissapoint the gourmet but delight the pro-terrorist", "conspiracy theories", "Waco", "OKC", "TWA Flight 800"

And some on this forum wonder why those of us who have decided that it is a logical choice to make some types of preparation, are near fed up with this kind of reporting. As much as I pray and hope that Y2K is nothing at all, I do have some tempting dreams about some of these arrogant b-----rds going without eating for a few days.

-- Ken G. (Theyareall@thesame.com), October 12, 1999.

>> Ain't capitalism grand? See a cult, throw a bazaar! Make some money, everyone's happy. <<

The way I see it, this is far, far preferable to compelling everyone to adhere to whatever the majority grants legitimacy to. What is the harm if people are granted the ability to go to hell by their own chosen path? I do think it's grand! It is freedom in action (freedom being very different than wisdom).

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), October 12, 1999.

Agree entirely, Brian. Do you suppose Liberty is opposed to free enterprise? I think it's great.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 12, 1999.

It's the arrogance and the bigotry of this reporter and of so many other pollys that is so offensive. They love to look down their noses at us ignorant misguided yahoos and hillbillies. I'd love to be there when they find themselves looking at the barrel of a .38 or a shotgun. I wonder just how arrogant and superior they'll feel then?

-- cody (cody@y2ksurvive.com), October 12, 1999.

It's a sad state of affairs when people decide they don't need to take advice from experts. I wonder how certain people have survived this long by only listening to themselves.

-- Amy Leone (leoneamy@aol.com), October 13, 1999.

I thought Flint was "napping!"

(Couldn't resist).

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), October 13, 1999.

Gee. This is as good as the coverage we get from our own media. That's why we (our milita unit) took the battle to the news print. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but cable news networks kick both of their asses. (and we're still hanging on to a few swords).

But I really liked all the Aussies' I've ever met. They're nice people.

Watch six and keep your...

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.not), October 13, 1999.