September/October 1998
Articles on the theme "Health Consciousness"
A Matter of Life and Death
by Sylvia Jackson
The writer, who is dying of brain cancer,
gives some advice concerning prevention and medical exams.
Magic Tea Plus
by Constance Felos
How an attorney and her client created an adventurous new paradism of health
consciousness. The recipe for a special herbal tea.
Health-Minded Living
by Bob Gonzalez
Some tips from the manager of a health
food store how to achieve and maintain optimum physical health.
Miracle Consciousness
by JoAnne Gregory
Miracles, fake or real? What is it
that makes miracles possible?
How's Your Subconscious?
by Patrick Plaskett
Habits and their effect on our health.
Changing bad habits. Creating a different future.
True Health Consciousness
by Carol L. Roberts, MD
A doctor talks about what you can do
to avoid visits to the doctor.
Becoming Health Conscious
by Dr. Audrey Craft Davis
The importance of our words and thoughts.
Becoming food conscious. Our attitude to things, especially money. Counting
our blessings. Awareness of others and the environment.
A Simple Clay Bath!
by Lauana Lei
How the writer, suffering from heavy
chemical/metal poisoning, recovered her health by taking a clay bath.
A Healing Education
by Barbara Bedingfield
An account by a Waldorf teacher of
the basic educational requirements for maintaining the health of a child.
Our Spiritual Source
by Rev. Pat Cross
On connecting with our spiritual source
to realize a true health consciousness. Using our spiritual powers to heal
ourselves.
Other Feature Articles
2000 and Beyond!
by David Findlay
Natural Health Q&A
by Dr. Scott Rubin
Parasites and allergies -- some natural
remedies.
What is . . . A Course In Miracles?
by Mary Barbara
How "A Course In Miracles"
came to be and some of its basic teachings.
Mineral Kingdom
by Judy Power
Featured stones for September and October:
Labrodorite and Opalized Quartz
2000 and Beyond!
by David Findlay
Panic! Second Great Depression By October.
Washington -- The world economy is on the verge of a collapse
that will leave banks in total ruin, currency worthless -- and at least
a billion people homeless and starving in the streets. (From Weekly World
News August 11)
As editor of Tampa Bay New Times magazine, I have the pleasure to introduce this new section "2000 and Beyond". It is intended as a forum for debate. Your contributions are solicited. What do you think? Contributions can be anything from a letter to the editor to short articles (1,000 words maximum).
I was planning to get the ball rolling with some comments on the long-term challenges and opportunities facing us in the new millennium.
However, the past few weeks, the year 2000 itself has been pushed right in front of my face, as it were, and I have been spending my free time trying to put together some pieces of a remarkable jigsaw puzzle.
I received an e-mail with a report written by a Dr. Gary North. His opening sentence: "What are you going to be doing for a living in the year 2001? Unless you're a fix-it man living in a small town, you won't be doing what you do today."
Obviously a crackpot!
He goes on to write about the Y2K problem. "Y2K" stands for the "Year 2000." Specifically the problem -- sometimes known as the "millennium bug" or the "millennium bomb" -- is that many older computer programs, which used two digits to express the year (for example, 98 rather than 1998), will not recognize the year 2000. Maybe they'll think it is the year 1900 or maybe they'll go berserk and crash.
Yawn!
Typical of the "yawn" is a comment on Crossfire by Pat Buchanan: "But you can't tell me, I'm a total skeptic on this. I think this whole thing is a total fraud. You can't tell me they're not going to fix it . . ." William Press added: "They're going to fix this, Pat, and you know what else? It's going to cost you and me money. We're going to have to run down to our store to buy -- pay $49.95 for some piece of software to fix our home computer, and then the whole thing will be over. Sing 'Auld Lang Syne'."
Is this something to yawn about?
Dr. Gary North is obvious a crackpot, so I won't quote him again! Let's hear what the IRS Commissioner, Charles Rossotti, said to The Wall Street Journal (April 23, 1998) about Y2K: "There's no point in sugarcoating the problem. If we don't fix the century-date problem, we will have a situation scarier than the average disaster movie you might see on a Sunday night. Twenty-one months from now, there could be 90 million taxpayers who won't get their refunds, and 95% of the revenue stream of the United States could be jeopardized." The italics are mine to stress that he is seriously pointing to the possibility of a "disaster". Why would he do that? To prepare people for what?
More recently, this is what Senator Robert Bennett said to the National Press Club in Washington (July 15). Robert Bennett heads the Senate's Year 2000 Committee. "Now, the number-one problem we face is denial. People say, 'No, it can't possibly happen.' . . . I believe we're going to win; that is I think that civilization as we know it is not going to come to an end. It's a possibility. Possibility, if Y2K were this weekend instead of 76 weekends from now, it would. But we have 76 weeks in which to try to get this under control. But we are, in a sense, at war against this problem."
Wow! We have 76 weeks left! Plenty of time! No sweat!
August 17 (which is a couple of days away at the time of writing) will probably go down in history as the day Clinton "came clean" about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. August 19 marks 500 days left to the year 2000. This gives an indication of the problem. Where is people's attention? Not on the Y2K problem -- only 500 days left! -- but on whether Clinton lied to the people!
Is the Y2K problem serious?
Having spent the past couple of weeks studying it, I can say, "Yes, it's serious." Just how serious, I don't know.
But let me ask you this. If a hurricane were brewing somewhere in the Atlantic, wouldn't you keep an eye on it? Or even a Tropical Storm?
The Y2K threat is something potentially far more serious -- and yet most people give it hardly a thought. It's not like a hurricane -- it's too nebulous.
How seriously should we take it? Surely, at least seriously enough to monitor the problem and the progress in solving it.
How can we do this?
This raises an interesting question. How do we get our news?
Most people, most of the time, get their news from TV and, to a lesser degree, newspapers, magazines and the radio.
It should be obvious that, to survive, the media needs tremendous audiences and, therefore, have to provide the consumer with what he wants -- largely entertainment (as evidenced by the Clinton scandal) and, to a lesser degree, informative news provided it is not too threatening -- who wants that! Therefore, if we rely on these sources to get all our news, we are likely to be getting only part of what is really going on.
Books are a great source of information. The trouble with books, as far as the Y2K problem is concerned, is the time and money it takes to produce them. We need up-to-the minute information.
I suggest that as many people as possible get on the internet. One can buy a workable computer system for $6-800 and unlimited internet access for $9.95 a month. If you can't afford this, use the public libraries which have computers set up for free for the general public.
But the time it takes?
According to one survey, the average American family watches TV 35 hours a week. Why not spend an hour a day of that time (only 7 hours a week) using the internet and e-mail as a means of getting the news we don't otherwise get?
Of course, not everything on the internet can be regarded as reliable. The advantage, however, is that one can get all the news and do the filtering oneself, as opposed to getting filtered news -- with a big question mark as to who is doing the filtering and why?
In the next issue, some more bits and pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. In the meantime, you might care to check out: www.Year2ooo.com, www.arlinst.org, www.garynorth.com, and www.yardeni.com. (If you don't have internet access, and would like more information, send me $2 to cover printing costs and postage.)
Do write. Let's know what is on your mind regarding Year 2000 and Beyond.
Address: David Findlay, Editor, Tampa Bay New Times, P.O. Box 6143, Clearwater, FL 33758. Fax: (727) 446-0017. E-mail: david@altnewtimes.com.