Curmudgeon Corner

My Rooney thoughts for October 19, 2014

It never fails!  Some weeks ago when the press began reporting the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, our government went to great lengths to assure the American people Ebola won’t reach our shores.  WRONG!

Suddenly, Ebola was present in America, in Dallas, Texas.  (Apparently Ebola didn’t affect the Dallas Cowboys who went to Seattle and taught the Northwest who still is the toughest state in the Union.)  And, our government officials, including the President, once again assured us all that the situation is under control and everyone is safe.  We have protocols in-place to handle this emergency, they assured us.  Further, they said, the hospital has a professional staff that is skilled in isolating patients that are contagious.  WRONG, again!

I don’t need to report that we now have two nurses down and hundreds of people under observation.  While the government has done an admirable job of trying to make the general public understand, our news media has caused an epidemic of panic.  Yes, panic.

In case you don’t know what panic is, here’s an explanation?  Panic is an irrational emotional state of the mind caused by, or related to, a fear for one’s safety.  With the news media so desperate for a meaningful new cycle, they keep hammering away at all the scary elements of the Ebola events.  (It’s like going into McDonalds and realizing the prices of a Big Mac have sky rocketed.)  I, for one, refuse to panic.  Mostly, because I don’t know anyone from West Africa and further, I don’t plan on messing with anyone’s bodily fluids.

Of course if you really need something to be extremely fearful about, something that makes someone unable to act and to rush to do something, consider our political system.  It’s been suffering from Ebola like symptoms for years and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

The mid-term elections are just a few days away.  Now is the time to buck up, go down to your local McDonald’s, bite the bullet and pay the ridiculous price of that Big Mac, read your  Voter’s Pamphlet, and then go vote.   This is the vaccine that will put our country back on track. (Hey, buy a coke to go with your Big Mac, they’re only a dollar.)