Dallas News: praise where deserved

Since we've been so critical of the MSM, it's nice to see one get it right. Better late than never. Anyway, how were they supposed to know when the CDC hasn't made it a point of telling the MSM this just might be more important than Michael Jackson?

The Dallas News has an Editorial that hits the nail on the head:

[I]t seems that warnings about the flu are suddenly all around us, in print, in cyberspace and on the airwaves. In the face of these frightening and often confusing reports, one natural response is to shut down, turn aside, decide to worry about it tomorrow.

And, in fact, there's no call to panic. It's not time to stock up on bottled water and nonperishable foodstuffs. But it is time to pay attention. Reputable scientists, not just alarmists, agree that the threat of a global flu pandemic exists and that the time to plan for it is now.

[snip]

[L]ocal and state governments, medical institutions and all employers need to figure out how they will operate if a pandemic forces closures and quarantines such as the one [Dallas's] Mayor Lawther ordered in 1918 ["Now, therefore, I, Joe E. Lawther, ... do here, now, issue my proclamation ... that the public schools, churches, private schools, colleges and universities of the city of Dallas, and other like places, be closed ..."]. Each of us should think about what our families would need and how we adults might continue to perform our jobs if we were confined at home for several weeks.

We can hope that those plans will never have to be activated. We just can't count on it.

Good job, Dallas News. The rest of us should be asking why our hometown papers don't have similar Editorials. Ask.