Big bags of rice were going by in carts when I was at a warehouse store the other day.  There seems to be a rice mania around here that came about as a result of media coverage of the Australian/world rice situation and general food shortage projections.  I don’t blame restaurant owners for wanting to stock up a bit before prices go up further, but I don’t think every family of four needs to buy three 50-pound bags of rice at this point.  News people in this country need to stop creating these situations.  Then again, is there any real news nowadays?  Can you tell the difference between the evening news and Entertainment Tonight?