If I had a dollar for every time I heard the "time bomb" warning, I'd be a millionaire.

Then today I go and read that some glaciers are confusing the heck out of scientists by growing in the face of global warming. By the way, I'm still waiting for that first island to be overrun by the rising tides.

And wasn't it last year or so that the high price, and dwindling stockpiles, of corn had the world in a lather?

Right now, I’m too afeard of leaving my apartment and catching that killer pig flu. I mean millions of people must have been killed by it by now, right?

Fear mongers (Chicken Littles) suck, but they sell papers and lead on the 10 o’clock news (Central time zone).

Who is to say what the natural fluctuations of this planet actually are when no one has been around for its billions of years of existence?

We are an arrogant lot to think we know all the answers when we are actually just newborns in the history of the world.

Obama even adds "ticking" to really try and scare the populace.

Obama: Health care a 'ticking time bomb'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31366944/ns/politics-white_house

The current system is definitely broken, but so are many other systems (education, social security, immigration, etc.), and I don't hear him proclaiming 'ticking time bombs' there, or we won't until he gets them each individually into his sights.

Wow... American governance is like a season of "24."

Anyhoo... I agree with you about the histrionic descriptions, but that doesn't make the underlying problems any less real (or urgent). Unfortunately, sometimes the public needs to be shaken up in order for action to start happening at either the grassroots or governmental level.

In California, for example, they've been saying for at least two decades how messed up the governance system is and how it would lead to gridlock that would mean people not getting their meds, needed services curtailed or eliminated, etc., etc., and only now — when it really happens and long after generally "easy" solutions stopped being possible — are people paying attention.