PICK YOUR PANIC

Swine flu is the latest. A real concern, of course. But by the way the story's been covered, it seems like thousands have already bit the dust. Well, we've seen this before with other flu strains, SARS and, well, swine flu, back during the Gerald Ford years. Ah, those were the days... pre-Carter malaise. (Of course many of us have also been concerned about the increase in nasty, once "gone" diseases in recent years, including TB. It's baaaack!) Add to the current tensions the guns-and- ammo sales rush, some people who think we'll run out of food (ala the big "toilet paper shortage" caused when Johnny Carson made up a joke about it on TV) and it's a perfect psychological storm.

The nation seems ready to madly embrace every fear that is magnified by the media. The only good thing about the swine flu news is that maybe, just maybe, the national media will finally back off talking up the Great Depression Redux every moment.  It's all of that which causes the crisis of the moment to take hold and make everyone nuts.