Irene Saves Hundreds

The Telegraph lampoons the television and governmental coverage of Irene, calling it The Perfect Storm of Hype: 
The surf may have told a story but so too did the sight behind the reporter of people chatting and ambling along the sea front and just goofing around. There was a man in a t-shirt, a woman waving her arms and then walking backwards. Then someone on a bicycle glided past.

I realize there was flooding and property damage, and I'm still a little antsy having not heard from Grammy, but I do not believe that Irene lived up to her wall-to-wall coverage over the weekend.

In fact, my theory is this:  Irene saved lives. 

Think of how many people stayed home over the weekend and did not get killed on the highway.  The way Irene was hyped, I'm sure that every death that could possibly, in any way, be attributed to the storm was meticulously counted and placed in Irene's column.  But how many people didn't die by remaining safely at home with their rented DVD's and gratuitous groceries.

And what about all those people at home with no electricity?  What are they doing to amuse themselves?  How many unplanned pregnancies will be directly attributable to Irene?  Irene was most likely responsible for more new lives than lives taken.

So there you go!

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