good times bad times

I’m not one who devotes the last day of the year to introspection and analysis because I engage in both every day of the year. As well I don’t sit down making New Year’s resolutions to better myself because again that is a daily activity.

The year’s been too varied and complicated to briefly sum up – and again that’s not needed because I blog almost daily.

So I’ll shoot the last of my good and bad headline harvest wad. The first section is the headlines I find have good implications showing the better side of humans, while the second portion ponders how evil, selfish, mundane and stupid most of us seem to be.

~ ~ ~

GOOD LINES:

Detroit Man Turns Misfortune Into Art

Tennessee Man Buys Gas For 80 Strangers

France’s First Lady Carla Bruni Strikes Up Friendship With Homeless Man

NY Mom Gets Sight Back, Sees Daughter For First Time

Cute Animals Kissing

Beautiful, Sustainable Homes Made Of Straw

The Book Isn’t Dead Yet

California Restaurants Ban Trans Fat As Of January 1

Thirst: A Terrific Debut Short Story Collection by a Peripatetic Quadrogenarian

Senate Confirms First Openly Gay US Marshal

Boozer Busted After Calling 911 for Bar Ride

Man Unloads 58 Guns At Compton Weapons Exchange

Belligerent Ivana Trump Gets ESCORTED Off Plane

Obama Moves To Curb Federal Secrets, Reverses Decision By Bush

Christmas ‘Miracle’ Birth Has Some Claiming Divine Intervention

Rare New Year’s Eve ‘Blue Moon’ To Ring In 2010

France Permits Partying ‘Til The Break Of Dawn

Judge Rules Cities Can’t Use Federal Law To Justify Banning Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

~ ~ ~

That was the good, nice, amusing portion of our news headlines cast. Now (if you decide to hang around, and you need not because you already know how venal and inhumane humans can be), here is how most of our world was these past 10 years of greed, theft, murder, lies, backstabbing, war crimes, and power grabs (and that was just Dick Cheney’s contribution).

~ ~ ~

BAD LINES:

Polls Show That People Don’t Know What They Want But They Want It Right Now

Breast Implants And Bound Feet — What’s The Difference?

Uncle Sam Wants To See Us Naked

The Global War on Stealth Underwear

How to be a Perfect Wife, Mother, Career Woman and Super Hot Sex Babe? Buy More Stuff!

Strippers, Sluts and Army Wives

Jesus Robots, Poo Dolls, And Blandness Girl: The Craziest Japanese Toys Of All Time

LOST IT: Man Kills Dog, Streaks Through Country Club, Pours Coffee On Head

Hedge Fund Manager Tased Employees, Hired Dwarf To Pull Pranks

Right-Wing Response To Attack Scare: More Religious And Racial Profiling

‘Being Lectured By Cheney On Terrorism Is Like Being Lectured On Fidelity By Tiger Woods’

‘Help Us Raise Money To Save America, Destroy The Opposition’

Montana Tennis Courts Rebuilt With Stimulus Funds

“Only One Thing Can Make People This Stupid, And That’s Money”

Poverty Shortens Perfect Health By 8.2 Years

China Executes British Man Said To Be Mentally Ill

Who’s the Biggest Douchebag of 2009 — Sarah Palin or Tiger Woods?

What I Learned From A Yam

86-Year-Old Indian Governor Resigns After 3-Woman Sex Tape Surfaces

and this one–Is Life After Death Possible?–reminds me of a bit of doggerel I wrote back in the early 1960s:

Quantum Stereo

You ask – is there life after death?
Now holding my breath
And intending no mirth
I reply – is there life after birth?

The graveyard’s filled
The graveyard’s full
Yet still the dead are dying
This lifeless life
Makes death look dull
And you wonder why I’m whying?