hi, Bill. As far as believing ANYTHING the "gov't says," either locally or nationally, I've been a skeptic for a very loooong time. maybe it comes from being misquoted so often in the media. or maybe just plain editorial bias at 6PM news soundbytes.
the gov't tells the truth about who is inaugurated Jan 20 every 4 years,
when the price of postage will go up,
when school starts
and when daylight savings goes into effect.
all other "gov't utterances" are suspect.
that is why not only have i been concerned about the nuclear power generation failure that is SURE to come, but the statements from cyber neighbors that hydro-power and coal fired power will be "allright" by inference.
THAT SIMPLY IS NOT TRUE.
Bonneville Power in Washington State is just such a hydro power facility. Has anyone toured that monster dam/hydro facility lately?
Well, I have, because they are still giving public tours.
Not only do computers run that behemoth, but employees driving non-compliant cars, eating just in-time food, and earning fractional derivation wages are employed at these hydro-hopes for power.
DITTO COAL FIRED POWER GENERATION facilities.
so, when Burlington Northern, the nations #1 conveyance for anthracitic coal, confessed last summer they were NOT going to make it to Y2K compliancy in time, & simultaneous admission that they carry 80% of this nation's coal from the SW coal fields of this great land to the coal fired generators up North and East of this great nation, me and my family "saw the handwriting on the wall" to use a great OT allegorical reference.
it amazes me as we watch from our y2k relocation site the utter denial and disinterest of those in our new surroundings. we have no intentions of "converting" our new neighbors. we do have intentions of further squirreling away of assets and food and doing the "big fuel" tank thing (rented, of course)
for those who read these cyber penned lines and think this facing of a new reality coming smack dab at us is easy, well, they need to think again.
i, personally, don't enjoy swimming upstream, but i certainly can, have and continue "to do it," some days with more vigor and enthusiasm than other days.
the resolve doesn't get shaken, in fact, it becomes more intrenched with each activity, each accomplishment on the list of "to do's."
the onlookers who scoff now will just be a part of the problem later, that is a truism. however, us doers will also be a part of the problem because we have built an ark, and the pounding on the doors as the flood tide of panic and realization rises and lifts our ark of safety in the days directly ahead.
i personally hold no dilusions that i will be unmarked by the death and tragedy that is about to engulf the unprepared. nor will my ark escape the tremendous amount of denting as the result of the pounding on the closed doors. i do not look forward to facing that primal fear of death and injury, personally nor for those i love.
i watch the discovery channel on occasion, and observe the various wildlife animal presentations with a new "set of eyes" nowadays. as civilized as we "upright" mammals like to think we are, there is still a "survival of the fittest" paradigm operating; our assigned "animl kingdom membership" lot on this plane.
fit and prepared will become synonymous in less than 200 days. none of us are truly insulated or prepared in that sense. maybe the geographic shift from being a part of the large city rat race (1.75 million) to more of an observer (community of less than 1,000) while still being an active acquirer of skills and hard goods) will bring some answers. that I do not know.
but if life has taught me anything, it has taught me that the more i think i know, the more i have left to learn. it is just that the baser side of human "civilized" behavior observation and preparation for is not something i am anywhere close to being prepared for.
and i don't believe anyone has written a Y2K prep course/timebomb manual/expose about that facet of this Y2K prep and aftermath stuff
so that i can shorten THAT learning curve. it makes me sad when i deal with that side of this issue.
so, to wrap up this essay, and tie it to the subject paragraph about gov't utterances/believeability quotient, part of the reason i have no faith in gov't assurances or y2k readiness statements is simply this: i have observed over and over, and never more so than with this current political governance and its use of 'spin' the baser side of gov't. the corruption, the greed, the lies, the lack of morality in personal or warfare "at the top" has pretty much laid the foundation for anything goes and martial law inevitability as the result.
having said that, if there WERE any survivng hydro or coal fired power generation capability left, it WILL BE "acquired" through military force and re-distributed according to some hierachy of need, which will also be politically and gov't administered. WHY DO YOU THINK THE MILITARY HAS BEEN SO VERY BUSY TRAINING THOSE 120 cities for what's ahead?
having said that, i guess the military is the only facet of our society who has contingency plans for dealing with the "baser side of human nature" that is coming directly at us as swiftly as the incoming panic tide. but even their generals down to and including corpsmen/women are laced with liberal amounts of cyanotic immorality, cruelty, having been blindly programmed "kill" or "deny its validity/existance" mentality, instead of rule with compassion and wisdom.
GOD help us all as we observe, reach deeper inside, and gather our meager plans and dearly loved folks around us in a massive circle the wagons scenario dead ahead. i don't know about you, but i'm worried about my neighbor as well as my "gov't and its utterances."
in closing, i'd like to remind any who read this of the Old Testament story re: the rebuilding of the wall around the city of Jerusalem. the wise elders of that time assigned those who lived within XYZ radius of said fallen/disrepaired wall the responsibility of rebuilding and maintenance of that section. as a child, i remember asking my mother why the Jews couldn't go work on any section of the wall they wanted to, i.e., why the limitation/restriction. her reply has stuck with me all these years. to her, the answer was swift and simple and profound: if you wanted protection, you worked on the part of the wall that is closest to you and those that you love.
it wasn't a matter of not being permitted to work on other sections of the wall surrounding the city, but the surety of the elders that the section closest to MY house would be built as well as I could, since my life and the safety of those of my family would be totally dependent upon the care and effort put into that part of the wall which most directly affected me.
Y2K preparations for me and my family are just such a wall building experience. while my "elders" in Washington dc, Austin TX, Sante Fe NM or Topeka KS are busy uttering and muttering, i'm busy on my part of the wall and praying like crazy that others are working on their part of the Y2K wall. it is simply this: if they get through your wall, Bill, the "less civilized" will get to me and mine. and ditto on the reverse. i'm building my wall as best I can, bill. i trust you will do/are doing the same.
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