I am glad to hear this response from Secondhand Smoke regarding the emergency declaration by President Obama.  Wesley J. Smith had the same initial reaction as I had to the news.  It makes me think I am not crazy.  Of course, it could simply mean we are both crazy.  It seems to me that some measures could be taken without publicly declaring a state of emergency.  The word emergency needs to be reserved for times of serious action in which the potential for hysteria is overruled by the magnitude of the impending disaster.