Bullshit

Well, we have the two big scare stories of the week.

The first one is the "maneating" staph bacteria that is GOING TO INFECT YOU! Nevermind that this thing has been around for over 50 years, routinely lives on about 1/3 of all human bodies naturally, and is as likely to kill you as getting hit by a meteor, it still led off the ABC News tonight ..... again.

The other is the internet predator things. Alicia whatever her last name is was the "victim" of an internet predator. Ok, now I don't like that there are criminals posing on the internet to prey on people, and I think they should be prosecuted. But this woman (she was 13 at the time) had an ongoing internet relationship with this guy for 9 months, then voluntarily walked out of her house and into his car when he came by to meet her. Here's the grab-line from today's testimony:

"The boogey man is real. And he lives on the Net. He lived in my computer -- and he lives in yours," she said, looking at the lawmakers. "While you are sitting here, he is at home with your children."

Where were her parents? Why did a 13 year old feel the need to have, and keep, a relationship with someone on the internet a secret? Aren't there criminals types around us all the time, i.e. at the shopping mall?

My point is that the internet is a public place. Don't people have some responsibility in protecting themselves in public? And if they don't, should the general public suffer with civil liberty restrictions because some people don't use common sense? And above all, is this really a national story any more than the numerous child abductions that take place every week?

Fear baby. It sells. And it will sell us right down the drain eventually.