A "disaster" we can handle

I see this pending pandemic of swine flu -- or North American flu, as agriculturalists wish we will call it -- as a public relations coup for government.

With scientists saying the strain is relatively mild, with governments and agencies ranging from World Health Organization down to local school districts jumping at the opportunity to be seen as pro-active, and with media who love a good fire story ... it looks like a win-win-win.

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from regular old flu, so the bar is pretty low for officials to be able to claim that their actions were effective.

I'm not saying the drastic measures are being taken because government wants to look good. It's because they don't want to look bad.

Frankly, though I want to blame them, I cannot.

History has shown viruses are capable of doing unpredictable and catastrophic things. While I roll my eyes with some of the actions, I then remind myself that high school seniors missing a field trip is not as bad as spreading a virus that has suddenly mutated to a highly malicious stage.

So, yeah, I'm hoping that everyone does come out of this "pandemic" looking good.