This Is a Test, Only a Test

Every time the Emergency Broadcast System required test blares on my television, I still jump a little. Maybe that's because I was a youngster when we worried that those Godless Commie Pinko Russkies might drop the Big One on us.

Save the horror of September 11, we haven't had a full-fledged crisis to stir us all to contemplate emergency response. For years, we've been warned of the impending "pandemic" that will serve as a "market correction" to the world's population.

SARS tried to do it, but it passed.

Now we have Swine Flu ... pardon me, H1N1. It has things stirred up in Mexico. Even the murderous drug gangs are wearing masks. Not surprisingly, it crossed the border into the U.S. (What hasn't?)

So, a wonderful opportunity for the media, the pharmaceutical industry, the government, and plenty of others to cash in on a situation has emerged. Worldwide, there are 600 confirmed cases of Swine Flu, and 141 in the U.S. Sadly, in the U.S., a mother and father lost their child.

The good thing is that this appears to be a test, only a test, for a real emergency. The sad thing is that it will keep occurring, and maybe we'll be too sensitized to respond when it matters.

Just use common sense.