Senator Lugar on Y2K

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He's right...and others should listen and act.

I can't do a link, but it's at: www.indianapolisstar.com Click on City and State. Scroll down to Friday, February 19,1999. "Lugar Tells Lawmakers About Y2K Progress, Worries."

-- Eye on y2k (bugscaresme@mellinium.com), February 21, 1999

Answers

Here's the link to the Indianapolis Star article:

http://www.starnews.com/news/citystate/99/feb/0219AP_lugar.html

By John Kelly The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS (Fri. Feb. 19, 1999) -- Sen. Richard Lugar told state lawmakers Friday that government agencies and private companies should tell the truth about possible problems looming from the Y2K computer bug.

When some computers' internal clocks fail to recognize the Year 2000 because they read years as only the last two digits instead of all four, some critical government services are bound to be interrupted, Lugar told the Indiana Senate Committee on Planning and Economic Development.

Flights could be delayed. Government checks might not go out on time. Power could fail in the United States and around the world.

AP file photo / December 1997 A PLEA FOR FORTHRIGHTNESS: Sen. Richard Lugar wants federal agencies to do more to warn the public about potential Y2K problems.

"The amount of truth-telling here is critical," said Lugar, who is studying the issue in his role to oversee certain federal agencies. About 40 percent of the federal government's computers still are not immune to the Y2K bug.

While governments appear to be making progress, Lugar worries some agencies and companies are going too far to provide Americans with a false sense of security.

Instead, government officials especially ought to feel obligated to tell the public about systems that might not be fixed in time and warn them about inevitable problems, he said. That way, Lugar said Americans would have time to prepare instead of panicking.

Two federal agencies critical to Indiana are struggling with the Y2K issue, Lugar said. As chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Lugar is investigating the Department of Agriculture because those systems are considered among the most at-risk for failures.

Indiana's farm economy and industry could be devastated if more progress is not made, Lugar said. The Agriculture Department's computers control everything from payments to farmers to inspections of meat and poultry.

The Health Care Financing Administration is also at risk, according to government and outside reports, Lugar said. The agency is the heart of the payment system for Medicare and Medicaid, a system Lugar fears could grind to a halt at year's end -- impact doctors, hospitals and patients across Indiana.

State Sen. Teresa Lubbers, R-Indianapolis, said she asked Lugar to testify because she wanted an update on federal systems that could affect Indiana and because she wanted to share in Lugar's expertise on the issue.

Lugar offered whatever assistance Indiana needs, especially in the area of cooperation on fixing state and federal government computer networks that are linked together.

The federal and state government -- with a "nonnegotiable deadline" looming -- need to step back from their efforts and take a triage approach, Lugar said. Instead of trying to repair every computer system, the government needs to identify those that affect public safety the most, such as national defense and major economic systems.

Honest, accurate information about those problems could forestall panic, he said. But Lugar told lawmakers the public could be its own worst enemy -- overreacting to rumors of widespread food shortages and Armageddon-like results.

"And even after all of our reassurances, some people are skeptical of the government."

-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), February 21, 1999.


Eye on y2k, You from this area???? Nice to find others from your area. Do we have any kind of task force going that you know of???

Thanks for article, Kevin, thanks for link

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 21, 1999.


Indiana people,

This is a great article. I copied it off and am going to distribute it. I have been asked to be on a y2k task for in our small community. Is there any one out there that knows of any other in Indiana that we can communicate with? This is our chance to help people.

I went to email and thanked Lugar for his article. Anybody else in Indiana should write and lend their support to him as he will probably take some heat over this. If you need email address I can provide.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 21, 1999.


Moore-

Please post Lugar's email address. Thx.

Blessings....Mercy...another Hoosier

-- Mercy (prepare@now.com), February 21, 1999.


Greetings Mercy, Moore Dinty Moore, & Eye on y2k

It's nice to know that an elected Hoosier Senator has the guts to say the truth. Did you folks highlight the part about "Indiana's farm economy and industry could be devastated if more progress is not made"? The sugar coating of good news concerning y2k is slowly dissolving and leaving the bitter taste of looming disaster in the mouths of the DGI's. Blessings to all my fellow Hoosiers and all the folks who contribute their time and energy to keep all informed. Kevin, thanks for all the great links.

-- trafficjam (roadconstruction@darntraffic.com), February 21, 1999.



i'm a hoosier too, live in elkhart county, on the border with michigan.

btw, the locals may want to check out yesterday's saturday feb 20 edition of the Elkhart Truth newspaper, large business section. page 147 has a pretty good article about y2k and business, good photo.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), February 21, 1999.


Poor Mr. Lugar,

Why expect people to start telling the truth now? They have been trained most of their lives to lie or to ignore the truth. Many cannot discern the difference between truth and lie. And if a nation is not able to do this, it's TEOTWAWKI.

In the last twenty years I've been punished most severely for telling the truth. It made me stronger, about as strong as one can get.

Can you make the same claim?

-- Not Again! (seenit@ww2.com), February 21, 1999.


Hello fellow hoosiers,

Great to find some local buddies. Let's stay in touch and follow this thing thru. Washington DC Email address: senator lugar@lugar.senate.gov

Direct address - Evansville Federal Building, rm 122 101 NW Martin Luther King Boulevard Evansville In 47708

Ph # 812-465-6313

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 21, 1999.


Traffic Jam,

yes, I highlighted the part on the farm community. We live in a small farm area and it was of particular concern! I think we are finally getting some truth out here. Rather scarey!

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 21, 1999.


At least "some" Senator's and Congresspeople know what is important and ARE speaking out.

Perhaps more will a time goes by. Quite refreshing!

Diane

(Saw a TV blip showing the two Senators from Oregon -- together -- going around to small town meetings and finding out what issues people wanted them to focus on. On camera, citizens stated the Y2K computer bug was a very important topic to them and that they needed more honest information on it from the Senators. Not quite sure if the Senators were surprised or not.)

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 21, 1999.



Hi Diane,

Lugar is pretty good but I was suprised to see him being so straight forward. I emailed the other senator from Indiana requesting more info on y2k. Think I might write in to the newspaper too. This might get a trend going for us! Let's just all keep working together for the truth about this thing. It will eventually be revealed.

-- Moore Dinty moore (not@thistime.com), February 21, 1999.


My! I posted this before I went to bed, and only just now turned this 'puter on to read the replies. I had no idea there were so many Hoosier Yourdanites! Where is everyone located? I'm in Jennings County....Southeastern part of the state...20 miles from the Ohio River. AND how much disruption are you planning for? Today, I think probably a 5...but tomorrow, who knows? My opinion on the severity of Y2K is kinda like my weight...up'n down. (:- Dinty, thanks for Lugars e-mail address. I am going to e-mail and thank him. He's always impressed me with his straight forward attitude. If I remember correctly he comes from a farming family.

-- EyeonY2K (bugscaresme@mellinium.com), February 22, 1999.

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