...what would it be? Serious answers only, please. I need it by 10 AM tomorrow.

Scott Johnson
Editor,
y2ktoday

-- Scott Johnson (scojo@yahoo.com), August 03, 1999

Answers

Under penalty of your eternal soul, what personal preparations have and will you make for Y2K?

-- Dog Gone (layinglow@rollover.now), August 03, 1999.

How are you going to keep the media from running away with the y2k story at the end of the year, like they run away with EVERY OTHER STORY?

-- SuperLurker (slfsl@yahoo.com), August 03, 1999.

I'd ask about the compliance status of the 43 federal "high impact" programs. As of June, Congressman Horn's committee was saying that only two (2) out of the 43 were compliant:

http://freedom.house.gov/y2k/news/pr990615.asp

http://freedom.house.gov/y2k/grades/highimpact9906.pdf

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), August 03, 1999.

Here's my question (it's really a suggestion):

In the light of the expectation of large surpluses coming from the upcoming North American harvest of crops in the fall, does the government have plans to pre-position such surpluses strategically near high population areas in the event of disruptions to the privately-owned food distribution system?

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 03, 1999.

1. "What was your motivation in accepting the position of Y2K Czar?"

1a. "Would you have taken the position had you known then what you know now?"

Good luck Scott.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 03, 1999.

Kosky must be making the rounds. I asked the same question Sunday for a radio interview I was on with him on Monday morning. You can see the responses at :

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

I hope to post a transcript of the interview or a realaudio link to this forum soon. BTW he's a slippery one, must have had Q&A training from Klinton himself. I asked about the 43 high impact programs and he said that the Feds are compliant and the reason those programs are listed is because they are being tested with and are dependant upon the states being ready. He also infered that the report was politicallu motivated and the Republicans were picking on the administration with the issuance of this report. It's my belief that he is setting up Federal level failures to be blamed on the states (not that they don't have their own problems).

-- Kevin Lemke (klemke@undalumni.org), August 03, 1999.

In light of his recent statement that Y2K effects will continue into Jan, Feb, and March, is he now thinking of revising his suggestion for only preparing for a three day storm. Is it prudent to prepare for a longer durration event?

I really would like his answer on this point.

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), August 03, 1999.

When is he going to address the truth about oil, trains, the IRS, the post office, water, supply lines and the military's roll in y2k! Good for a start?

-- FLAME AWAY (BLehman202@aol.com), August 03, 1999.

How do you define IS?

-- Dave (dave@nospam.pls), August 03, 1999.

If your very life were dependent on a medicine made overseas and your insurance company's policy didn't permit more than a month's supply in advance:

a) how would you get extra supplies of medicine?

b) how much extra medicine do you think you would need?

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), August 03, 1999.

"John, seeing that there are less than 5 months left, and that you've basically told people to prepare for no more than a few days of problems, if at all, you've got to ask yourself one question: do I feel lucky? Well, do ya...Punk?"

OK, you need to be more polite, but the essence is there. People in the US are dying in their homes right now from an unforeseen event: a massive heat wave. Mr. Koskinen is essentially telling people that they really don't need to prepare for any serious Y2K problems. Does he feel lucky?

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 03, 1999.

Three weeks ago, I DID ask Koskin'em a SERIES of questions, mostly on Nukes, NERC, and the NRC. He did NOT like them... ;^)

At the VERY end, after almost everyone had gone, my wife and I were up on the dais with Kosky & a few other "die hards". I said to him: "But you KNOW that late in the year, when the media play up Y2K for all they're worth, that the people who've done NOTHING to prepare are going to panic. There'll be bank runs, and stores will be mobbed."

His response: "Yeah, I know...."

That's all I needed to hear.

150 shopping days left, campers... Got your preps done?

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), August 03, 1999.

Scott,

I did ask Mr. K. A question. He came to Columbus, OH. I attended and asked a question. You can download entire 2 hr. gig if you wish. www.year2000columbus.org/

You'll need real audio to download. Click on "upcoming events" and when that page opens click "John Koskinen" box. If you wish to hear my question scroll to 1:47:11 time period and listen away. Not a bad total program for those interested.

-- mr. johnson (never@noway.com), August 03, 1999.

Kevin,
Ask him how many pounds of rice and beans will be on hand in the new bunker that he and the other fed's will be in during the rollover...
-- don
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Tell him if he doesn't start telling the whole truth, we'll replace him with Gary North.
Then we'll see some wild press conferences!
-- Randolph
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Something real neutral, like: "Mr. Koskinen, if in fact the banks were nowhere near Y2K compliant, if in fact the power industry looked like it was going to give up the ghost, if in fact famine looked probable, if in fact all the martial law type training activity was about Y2K disruptions rather than terrorism ... you would TELL US, right? You wouldn't FIB about any of this, would you?"
-- King of Spain
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Koffinsky, do you believe you will ever be forgiven for betraying the unsuspecting children of America?
-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia
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How about asking why countries, cities, government agencies and big corpoorations are building and stocking bunkers so key people can weather any Y2K disruptions, and that is just "contingency planning", but individual citizens are told only to prepare for a 2 - 3 day storm and urged not to "hoard"? Why is it "contingency planning" if a city, CEO or agency does it, and "hoarding" if individuals do it?
Actually, we know the answer, it is because of the possibility of bank runs. But ask him...since they have allowed the risk of bank runs and market collapse to keep the media and government from getting the message to the people that they need to prepare as individuals and communities to be self-sufficient, how does the government plan to deal with the high percentage of unprepared people caused by their don't-worry-be-happy media policy?
-- Linda
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Ask him, In light of his statement that Y2K will not be over on 01/01/00 but will last into the next year, how many days (weeks) we should now prepare for..
I want to know...
-- helium
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ask him if doomers@suck is on his payroll
-- name the (other@trolls.too)
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Ask him if you can have some money to fix your tinfoil hat...
-- Y2K Pro
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...does he ever lurk here? Post? Under what name? His favorite doomer? Troll? How does he unwind and get y2k off his mind?
-- jor-el
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He's not computer-literate. He's just a PR lip-flapper. His henchmen do lurk here.
-- no wonk
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"How does he unwind and get y2k off his mind?"
Mud-wrestling!!!
-- Andy
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Ask him: If bank runs DO start, what course of action will be taken?
How many barrels of oil do we have RIGHT NOW in reserve? Any plans to increase that amount?
If massive failures occur in other countries who "roll over" before America, will the public be informed? Who will inform us?
How many days worth of food does HE have, and where will HE be at 12:00 midnight on the "big" day?
-- Gayla
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Look at the North site, ask him any one of the 50 or so questions in North's "open lette" - well worth a read...
-- Andy
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Please ask Mr. Koskinen for me: Mr. Koskinen, I wonder how differently the government and business response to Y2K would have been if it had been based on the premise that the public is the solution and the resource to solve Y2K disruptions instead of the widely publicized government premise that "the public is the problem." Tell him great leaders never viewed their citizens as the problem.
Leaders who do never do anything great. Can you imagine the great wall of China ever even being imagined, much less built by a leader who looked at the people as a burden rather than a great creative force.
-- Ann L Fisher
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There are very few report made public about the Y2K compliancy of the I.R.S. Is the government making any continquency plans for potential problems at this agency? If so, what are those plans?
-- B. K. Myers
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Kevin,
You might want to ask John Koskinen about the status of the 43 "high impact" government programs. An OMB report from June said that only two (2) out of the 43 were compliant at that time. Some are scheduled for completion in December, and some have no estimated completion dates at all...
You can find out more about these 43 "high impact" programs at these two links:
http://freedom.house.gov/y2k/news/pr990615.asp
http://freedom.house.gov/y2k/grades/highimpact9906.pdf
-- Linkmeister
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Please ask him about the US Postal Service, how will they deliver if we have fuel disruptions due to lower or no imports? If government contingency plans say welfare and social security checks will get printed, how will they be delivered?
-- Sammie
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Where are the US chemical and weapon storage facilities and what is their y2k status. What has been done to notify the population in their vicinity of the levels of risk and what evacuation plans have been established and how and when have these plans (if existant) been practiced?
-- catherine plamondon
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Good thoughts. Good questions. (Love the tinfoil hat remark. Made me laugh after finishing work at 1 a.m.)
Bottom line (in my humble opinion) is this:
Ask him what would happen to the economy if all Americans prepared for a "three day storm."
(Meaning--no heat, no sanitary water, no electricity for three days--in the middle of a North American Winter)
When he waffles (and he WILL) ask him the question again.
Keep asking the question until you receive the correct answer.
The correct answer is--by the way--there would be economic problems if 200 million plus Americans did that.
Get him to admit that the Clinton administration is trying to "protect" the economy.
Get him engaged in a discussion like THAT, and your show just might make the wire services.
Good luck.
:)
-- FM
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I would first give him this hypothetical scenario and then ask a few key questions.
Scenario: Your know for a fact that your house is going to catch fire in approximately five months but you do not know where exactly it will start burning or how quickly it will spread. You just know for a fact it WILL catch fire. You also know that you cannot move from this house to avoid this fire because no matter where you (or the rest of your family) move to your house is going to catch fire.
Under these circumstances, how would you prepare? How many fire extinguishers would you buy? Would you have an expensive sprinkler system installed? Would you VERIFY that your local fire fighters would be able to respond to your house in a timely fashion? Would you teach your family as much as possible about fighting fires and then make sure they were equipped to do so? Would you make sure your neighbors would be able to help you appropriately? etc.
-- claude
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Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California
Assume that some people will follow your recommendations and stop preparing once they have enough provisions on hand to last them just three days. Assume others have already prepared for more than a three day comfort zone, according to their own independent assessments of risk. If disruptions were to last further on into the year, as you've predicted, and stores thus eventually run out of necessities, as some responsible analysts expect, would the non-preparing people be provided for? Is the government already hoarding supplies or fuel in order to accomplish this? Couldn't that cause shortages?
What is the purpose of the new local and federal emergency seizure laws? What happens to families who refuse to share their provisions? Do they get shot on the spot, or what? What's to stop ordinary thugs with guns from posing as federal seizure agents? Is there some way we may distinguish them? How would a value be placed on what is confiscated? Will we get a receipt? Would receipts be transferable?
If the only kind of problems that anyone should expect will be "local" problems, just who, exactly, should be breathing a sigh of relief about that? By "local" do you mean local to you, i.e. the much-publicized Washington, D. C. problems? How can problems in Washington, D. C. infrastructure help but "locally" affect the Federal Government, and thus, by extension, all of us?
-- Dancr
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Question for John koskinen
Knowing that it is to late to prevent y2k from negatively Impacting the economy,Food supply chain and our nation's defenses how does the administration plan to mitigate the risk of nuclear confrentation between the super powers ?
What are the international plans for recovery?
Will the world govt's be able to order all aircraft grounded before jan 1 until it can see if planes are safely transistioned?
Will the govt act responsibly in shuting down all toxic and nuclear facilities early enough to prevent catastrophic life threating environomental releases against the wishes of the big transnational corpororations?
Would he be willing to answer questions by experts like ed yourdon, cory hamaski, Rick cowles and others in a publized national y2k townhall and set the record staight about y2k. Purpose being to bring the facts to light about the seriousness of y2k,and prepare the public for the failures that could orrur. also to prepare them,that repair time may be lenghty and it is not possible to forcast it with data currently availible.
do you have a plan to rally the american public to work together in the time remaining to soften the impact of the disruptions that we anticipate y2k will cause?
Is there a national public y2k plan?
Will one be drafted and issued via newspapers and the internet to inform the public what the drill will be if the infrastructure breaks?
-- y2k aware mike
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Ask him where he and his family are going to be on 12/31/99. If they are going to be in Washington, D.C., where are they staying?
What is HIS worst case scenario (as opposed to the Administration's)? After all, even Senator Bennett admitted that he was storing water.
Has he reflected on why he was given this position? And how convenient his "head" will be if there is a call for assigning blame because the Administration deliberately understated the problem to avoid panic?
Ask about martial law and what he sees as the state of the United States at various timepoints (day 1, day 7, day 30, etc).
-- Greg Lawrence
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K.L. You could throw his own words at him, "...we have no indication that there`re going to make it." (J.K. on U.S. railroads,6-8 months ago)
-- bud
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It might be interesting to ask him "why hasn't the media picked up on this story?" This has all the markings to be the story of all stories and yet where are the "Woodwards and Bernsteins?"
And, if he is so interested in bringing awareness to towns across the country why doesn't he challenge the media to more coverage?
The media obvilously has its hands tied by senior management and the laywers, but maybe a plea of "help" from Kosky might shake free a few stories that actually tell the truth.
Who better than the media could dissiminate enough information in a tight turnaround to create some change?
If he really wants to make people aware, ask him if he thought it would be a good idea to use the media for this job.
I would be interested in how he evades your question.
Good Luck - Keep us posted.
Keith Nealy Producer Hawaii 2000
-- Keith Nealy
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Why do so many cities have bunkers to endure a three day storm? Why is he intentionaly trying to start a panic at the end of the year with his happy face stance?
-- FLAME AWAY
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If this thing can be fixed why can't they fix the most important part of the govt's income. If they could fix the IRS they would have. They either can't fix it or they don't want to. In either case if the politicians can't control their income what makes us think they can fix the power grid or anything else for that matter?
-- Jon Dough
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Mr. K, if you were a diabetic and would die in days without medication, how many weeks' supply would you have on hand on January 1 next year? No qualifications, sir, please give your answer only in number of weeks.
-- Old Git
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Ask him if He's ever been hit by a THREE DAY HURRICANE or a THREE DAY BLIZZARD.

-- pinkrock
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Ask him about MARTIAL LAW.
-- mabel
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Whatever you ask him, please come back and tell us what he said.
-- Linda A.
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Whatever you ask him, please come back and tell us what he said. Thanks.
-- Linda A.
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I just got done with the radio show, about 1/2 hour of talk. I will try to get a transcription of it up on the site in a couple of days. More spin is the bottom line and setting the states up for the blame instead of the feds when things go bad.
-- Kevin Lemke
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I know this is late, but I fully concur with Linda. Why is it O.K. for large organizations, governments, businesses, etc. to make contingency plans by stockpiling supplies, parts, fuel, etc. but not for individuals, families, communities, churches, etc. This should be the question that the media should be asking all officials in charge, because it is the only one that will expose them because it is an obvious double standard an

-- questions to ask (K@KKK.K), August 03, 1999.

No doubt about it...Koskinen is a manager on a mission.

Mac, that is classic : )

"go ahead Kosky...make my day."

Dennis...glad you got to talk to him in private. I'm sure his personal veiws are much more interesting the the public persona he must carry.

My question would be,

Mr. Koskinen, I'm not sure if you have children but I do, and I'd like to know what advice you would give your child if he/she lived away from home. Would you want them to be with you at the rollover? Would you suggest that they have more than 3 days worth of food stored? What would you ask of your family? What special suggestions would you make?

Yeah, I know, thats like three questions : ) but the trick is to get him to answer one of them, honestly, right? I'd try to put the questions into emotional, personal terms. This is the Y2k Czar of the US so he has no "personal" life, IMHO.

Thanks Scott! Good luck!

Mike

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

-- Michael Taylor (mtdesign3@aol.com), August 03, 1999.

Well, since all the good ones are taken, I suppose the only thing left would be to ask him how it FEELS to be reviled by so many, and if it turns out to be really bad, will he FEEL any responsibility for the situation?

Then, I wouldn't particularly listen to his answer, rather look into his eyes...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 03, 1999.

Ask him for the truth. I can not convince my husband that this is serious. He insists it will not affect us. A 3 day storm is nothing for those of us in the country. We are use to having food for a month on hand.. But I want to know how bad could it get.. Not the 3 day story. How many weeks, months or years should I plan for if it is real bad! I have a right to know..!!We all do..

-- Cassandra (american_storm@usa.net), August 03, 1999.

Cassandra

Forget Koskinen. He doesn't know any better than you do. Prep for 4 months. That'll get you through the cold months at least.

-- mr. me (mrmee@menet.com), August 03, 1999.

Do you have a reservation at a Government bunker?

-- dave (wootendave@hotmail.com), August 03, 1999.

With as much evidence that has now come to light on the complexity of fixing the y2k problem, why hasnt the govt drafted a public planning document stating what it will do to minimise the risk of public safety if y2k causes our infrastructure to breakdown and fail.

It is extremely irresponsible for the Govt to say dont worry, when it knows the gravity of the y2k situation. All my peers in the electronics industry from techs to programmers know that when these 24hr/7day a week, on all the time systems that have been massively reengineered in labs only to accept the 00 are tested for the first time under real world load conditions many of them wont fly. Bottomline y2k is going to cause serious problems and we as the public your boss want to know if you are taking responsible action to prevent catistrophic loss of life. You know what the facts now are,we have run out of time to prevent very serious life threatening y2k related problems. Is the fed going to shut down any nukes that they dont have 100 % confidence in, enough in advance of y2k to prevent significant injuries, are we going to place our major biological and chemical facilities in a stand down mode to prevent environmental and contagion release problems.

We the public want to know the facts and not the hype and are holding you highly accountable to do the right thing even if it pisses off big money.

Y2k is also a war and peace issue. A highest level world confrence must be held at the U.N to work out protocols so that y2k does not trigger a global Nuclear holocust. Every member nation must be made aware of the tremendous risk that we now face, and we must work together harder then we have ever done before, not to do anything during the y2k transistion that can accidentally be preceived as confrontational. A protocol of operations between the worlds military needs to be worked out and establish well in advance so nations dont feel threated while dealing with internal y2k breakdowns.

Is this matter being given our nation's highest priority and if it is how come no news. Are other nations going to cooperate on this issue or not. Last but not least what is our continuty of business plan for our nation if y2k is more impactful than we have predicted. Do we have a recovery plan in place, and if we do where can we find it on the web so we can read it. My hope scott is that you can get him to give you a sense if these important life and death issues for our planet are being responsible address. If he cant give you a straight foward answer to these questions with out the hype and direct us to where we can preview there plans, then we are facing an even bigger problem of our govt acting outside the constitution. Scott when you ask mr koskien these questions remember that you and I the public taxpayers are his employer and we are calling the Clinton administration on the carpet to give us the real honest facts and nothing but the facts. If y2k is going to be an unforcastable negative event will they admit to it and take what action is right, now.

-- y2k aware mike (y2k aware mike @ conservation . com), August 03, 1999.

Ask him who, precisely, will be invited to "hunker at the bunker". Ask him who is making the decision on who to 'invite'. Ask him if he has ever considered 'retiring' from this position to spend 'quality time with his family'. Ask him where he thinks we'll be exactly one year from today, and WHY.

Ask him if he has a conscience.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), August 03, 1999.

"I believe that a man cannot be optimistic about Y2K and simultaneously well-informed about it, intelligent, and honest. You are certainly intelligent, and are surely well-informed about Y2K. What does that leave that we should conclude is an impossiblity for you, Mr. Koskinen?"

my site: www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), August 03, 1999.

All: thanks for your input. I interviewed him for thirty minutes today at the White House; it should be on our site by Friday, Monday at the latest...

Thanks again,
Scott Johnson
Editor, y2ktoday

-- Scott Johnson (scojo @yahoo.com), August 04, 1999.

Sorry I saw this late. Ihad been preparing for out counties bitg Y2K public "at large meeting" last night.

My bigest question is more like a demand.. That the Federal Government MUST really do more to educate & instruct State, County & city governments how to really work together & how to take Y2K seriously. Our county has about 1.5 million people & growing.. & yet out county manager is a bubble headed woman w/ no vision & obvoiusly no interest to properly educate herself about Y2K & therefore direct & manage the sectors.. Because CEO's or police chiefs, or fire captains etc.. personally are not educated about Y2K they think it is going to be a "non-event". They stated this. Yet this makes those under them halt their effort even mentally before they can ever move down the road to proper education & research about Y2K.. not to mention "everyone" thinks it is a 1 day event/problem. They can not grasp the domino effect, don't read the senate hearing transcripts, haven't read book 1 about Y2K, don't follow the news or reports or debates on it, To be quite honest the idiots thought I made up some new wonderful phrase when I insisted they alert the public & soon as "preparedness prevents panic". Now anyone who has done any looking into Y2K knows that fact & that catch phrase.

It is up to the Fed Gov. to knock some sense in these State, County & city governments. Because as Koshkin says "It will be up to the local governments to handle any Y2K disruptions, we can not do everything"

-- get it straight (Truth@facts.com), August 05, 1999.