I had the privilege of speaking with Jim Lord at the "Survival Expo" in Pulalup.....Pulilaliup.....Puelalupe....a town south of Seattle. If you attended the Y2K Expo in January - this doesn't hold a candle to it. Mr. Lord, on the other hand, was sitting in his booth and I was able to do some "lurking" with his conversations.

First of all, in his recent trips to the other Washington, he has not seen the nervousness since the Cuban Missle Crisis. "They" , the ever present "they", are more afraid of terrorism than Y2K. - not that we haven't seen this in other posts.

He, Mr. Lord, will release, in his talk tomorrow, the naval list of cities that they are most worried about. For those up here in the NW, there are 3 in Washington - only two of which I remember - Bremerton and Widby Island. The entire list will appear at his site in about 2 weeks.

The other item he mentioned was that the U.S. wants to get our people out of 20 foreign countries BEFORE 1/1/2000. The trouble is not knowing how to do it. If, for example, we park a carrier off of a country's coast and evacuate people, what will that do to the economy (currency, stocks, infrastructure) of that country. And what about where that evacuation crew goes next. Not a pretty picture for them and no easy solution for U.S. - sacrifice a country for 1000 citizens or 1000 citizens for a country. The U.S. can only do 2 evacuations at a time, so a simultanious (sp) job is out of the question. The entire process could take upwards of 2 months. So, if it is a wait till the last minute situation, the process won't start until Oct. or so.

There is also concern in the ranks of the military that the top isn't telling the truth. or knowing the truth of Y2K. Not just from our IMPEACHED pres. but also from the top of the military ranks. What will the ranks do when having been sent off to a far off land, told that Y2K will be a bump, and then hearing that their hometown has no services of one kind or another or worse yet, the towns folk were moved to go to emergency shelters. IF there is no trust now, what will that do to.

Speaking of trust, the powers that be are really afraid of the masses sinking the boat by running banks and crashing the stock market.

Personally, I think that if "they" had been honest from the get-go about y2k and possible ramifications, the people (see sheeple) may have understood our shakey ground and NOT panicked. But anymore...fat chance . . . i feel that it is too late for that. the time to explain to sheeple how not to panic, would take too long, and now not be believed.

Other than that time, for which he charges five cents an hour, i looked around at the various dealers but not much new - blow guns, food stuffs, safe water of several kinds, baygen stuff, white light flashlights, etc. The one bright spot was a medical booth which had a supply of finger cots. They were advertised as Gov't. Surplus from the oval office. Hmmmmmmmm

Thas all folks -

Robert

-- Same as B4 (NWphotog@Foxcomm.net), July 31, 1999

Answers

Robert,

It's Puyallup. Pronounced Pew-AL-Up with the accent on the AL as in Al-d :)

Thanks for the interesting report.

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), July 31, 1999.

I don't understand about the evacuation of Americans from other countries. Why can't the gov't just inform (like in tell the truth) the people what is apt to come down? And tell them they need to get out of there. I am assuming we are talking civilians here. If they don't heed the warnings, then they are on their own. I won't feel sorry for anyone who gets stuck in Tim Buck Too because they balked at leaving.

-- Hannah (Hannah@Colonial America.com), July 31, 1999.

I agree with Hannah. People need to take some responsibility for their own actions/decisions. If civilians choose to stay in another country after having been warned against it, thats their choice. But don't expect the US to provide a rescue mission to get them out later. I do some occassional work for UN and turned down a trip to Mongolia. I am supposed to be out there now. I decided that the responsible thing to do, at this late date, was to stay home. Mongolia is TEOTWAWKI all of the time compared to most of the world. I can't think of a worse place to get stuck in. My whole attitude is to "hunker in the bunker" from now on. Time is running out and I need to draw up loose ends.

Taz...who has been riding along as Chubby Hubby hauls next year's hay home. 5 more loads today and we will be done.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), July 31, 1999.

Taz/Hannah,

Has it occurred to you that it might be an *advantage* not being in the USA - of course it depends on the place and personal situation - for example it might be better to be on the west coast of Ireland or Portugal than return home to Chicago or New York in the middle of winter. Power outages, frozen pipes and no doubt rioting to look forward to. Just a thought.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 31, 1999.

Robert, we met Jim Lord at the Seattle Expo & talked with him. Impressive. He had a good way of connecting with the audience. Thanks for your report.

We got an odd eMail which proved to us just how cluess the .gov really is re Y2K, and how blinder-stuck they are on bank runs. Their head is in the sand deep in a burrowrat bank tunnel.

Their bottom line obsession will become their flatline.

3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), July 31, 1999.

What is the web address for Jim Lord's site?

-- Sure M. Worried (SureMWorried@about.Y2K.coming), July 31, 1999.

Robert -

The only other Navy cities in Washington besides Bremerton and NAS Whidbey are the Navy base at Bangor (near Bremerton) and Everett which is the new Carrier base. My guess would be Bangor because of all the polaris subs that are stationed there. I had thought of going to Puyallup today but alas company from out of town arrived yesterday - early.

As for the evacuations. Can't they do some of it by air? You can get a lot of people in those big C141's.

-- Valkyrie (anon@please.net), July 31, 1999.

http://www.nutburger.com/L ordoftheflies/

-- Tattle Tale (narc@narc.narc), July 31, 1999.