H1N1 Swine Flu Panic: Hype or Reality

I'm curious how others feel about this Swine Flu phenomenon. Is this just a cover to take the heat off the failures of the current administration? Or could we really see deaths in the hundreds of thousands as some are reporting.

I know the Swine Flu or H1N1 is a reality but the almost crazed coverage of it seems more than a bit overdone. This morning in my newspaper there was an entire front page section dedicated to "A survival guide to the flu."

So which is it, hype or reality?