Hysteria over Hurricane Irene

By Douglas V. Gibbs

The East Coast is in a panic. The media and the political establishment have the people believing that all hell is breaking loose. First, the headlines read that thousands fled because of a "huge earthquake," when the trembler was relatively minor; and now Irene has dropped down to a Category I hurricane, yet they are treating it like Katrina.

Understand, I am not downplaying the danger of a hurricane. A hurricane is a hurricane, and as with preparing for the "big one" (cataclysmic earthquake) here in California, when it comes to hurricanes, I'd rather folks be over-prepared than under-prepared, because we've seen under-prepared and it's not pretty.

That said, we must also recognize over-hype when it occurs.

The worst news makes better news, as far as the media is concerned. Bad news attracts viewers, and holds them in their seats. Unfortunately, the liberal media has gotten to the point that they are willing to create a crisis out of everything. Besides, Obama needs a crisis or two to take the focus off his incompetence, and to create conditions that will enable the government to, as Rahm Emanuel once suggested, "do things they normally cannot do."

This Irene Hurricane Hype includes the argument that it is the result of Man-Made Global Warming — remember, Al Gore suggested Hurricane numbers would increase, (blaming everything climate-wise on CO2 is just another way to taxation) and the number of hurricanes has been decreasing every year since. Sure, eventually there will be a year where the number of hurricanes will be high, but it will be way past Gore's predictions, and people have been realizing that the Man-made Global Warming propaganda is nothing more than flummery designed to frighten the gullible public into relinquishing their freedoms for the illusion of security provided by the nanny-state.

Our planet was much warmer during the Middle Ages, and I don't believe there were factories and SUVs back then.

Remember, too, that the Vikings settled Greenland at one point, and farming communities existed during that time period on that land that is now frozen tundra.

Yes, Irene is a hurricane, and care should be taken with the conditions the hurricane offers. Yes, there will be flood waters, heavy rain, high winds, and it is not advisable to be standing on a pier so as to watch nature hammer the East Coast.

Hurricanes should not be taken lightly.

But don't buy into the hype, don't accept the over-reporting by the media and the overreaction by the government, and understand that this storm has nothing to do with any human environmental activity. Irene is simply a storm traveling up the coast bringing heavy rain and high winds, but the hurricane is not Armaggedon.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

Hurricane IRENE Position Estimate - National Weather Service

Hurricane IRENE Public Advisory - National Weather Service

Irene still a dangerous Cat 1 as storm nears NC - Associated Press

Get Real: Hurricane Irene Should Be Renamed "Hurricane Hype" - Forbes