That woman with the website on The Bleat's StagWorld page is Bunny Yeager! She invented the centerfold pinup style as we know it. HUZZAH!

Here's the lead:

"The slog of war, a faltering economy and worries over health care and illegal immigration have pushed Minnesotans into a deepening funk about the nation's condition, even as they remain upbeat about their own state, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found."

First of all, those gloomy about the "slog of war" are those who choose to discount the continuing reports of success. That's someone choosing to be gloomy in the face of reality. Welcome to the world where "feelings" are more important than facts.

Those gloomy about "a faltering economy" are those who choose to ignore the vast majority of the current economic indicators (unemployment at all-time lows; the Dow at all-time highs) and who choose to cling desperately to whatever tiny shred of downbeat news they can find, because that reaffirms their view that The Current Occupant is incompetent.
When pressed about what exactly is faltering in the economy, they tend to point to dropping reaI estate values. Isn't it amusing how progressives are suddenly the champions of property owners, the sort of people they used to decry as hobnail boot wearing oppressors? Doesn't a drop in real estate prices mean more affordable housing? They hope you'll forget that when housing prices were rising, a lack of affordable housing is exactly what they were complaining about. The economy goes in cycles, kids. Look into it.

Saying people are gloomy about "health care" is painting with a pretty broad brush, isn't it? It's a little like the stories that talk about how a majority of the nation is unhappy with the conduct of the Iraq war, carefully avoiding the fact that about half of that majority is people who believe the war is not being prosecuted harshly ENOUGH. Mixing them together with people who want to withdraw immediately under he broad umbrella of "unhappy with the conduct of the war" is ridiculous and dishonest, and so is lumping together people who are happy with their current health care but fear what a Democrat-held executive and legislative branch might do (and are this gloomy) together with people unhappy with their current health care and dubious that any real change is likely (and are also gloomy).

Same goes for the impossibly broad category of "gloomy about illegal immigration." The folks who despair that the border fence will never be built may be gloomy, and the folks who despair that immgrants may never get free college tuition may be gloomy, but lumping them together for the purpose of concocting a lame navel-gazing trend piece is just lazy journalism.

I agree that it improves my quality of life substantially not to watch what goes for news these days. I think in the interested of honesty, it shouldn't be called News, because there is very little of that. It should be called:

All The Bad Stuff that Happened Today That Has No Real Impact On Your Life But Will Make You Afraid To Go Out Of Your House and Interact With Anyone on Any Level.

It would probably take 10 or 15 some minutes for most of the news readers to get through that title, so it would also seriously cut down on the nonsense they offer.

Certainly we do not live in a utopia. There are many things wrong in our everyday world. There always have been serious problems confronting folks in this world.

But I suspect that the vast majority of those who are truly gloomy are simply very shallow people, focusing on the wrong aspects of their lives (fed and nurtured by the vapid and often biased "news" we are fed by TV and the newspapers.)

We live in a society in which public information is dominated by those who gain by persuading the rest of us that "things are bad" -- purveyors of news, politicians, activists for various causes, and more than a few educators. We seldom are given a balanced look at both sides of any important issue.

We also are a society in which personal gain is valued over public service ("what's in it for me?"), and in which earlier values like family, church, community, and nation are often given a back seat (if any seat at all.)

In contrast to earlier generations, the folks who live today (in the US and Europe, at least) are SO MUCH BETTER OFF than previous generations. We live longer, have more freedom of choice, and have far more opportunities to excel. We enjoy generally better conditions in nearly every aspect of our lives.

To a greater degree now than at any other time in history, we are free to excel and find happiness in life -- todays' "gloomy gus syndrome" is simply paranoia fed by those in our world who benefit by spreading discontent.

I, too, have had it with the The End of the World is Near set. Remember when gas was going to be $5 a gallon by summer?

These days, I curb the gloom factor by turning off and tuning out every single story about two subjects: cancer and global warming. As a card-carrying Democrat, I'm supposed to wring my hands over the one subject and beat my chest over other, but I just can't manage it. There's nothing I can do about either. Same with the war in Iraq ... tho' I only turn off half of those stories. Still can't decide who's lying.

...at least in the context of the asshats in the Drive-By Media.

I heartily applaud your comments, Chris.

I have made the decision that, for me at least, there is no real reason to be gloomy all the time. I have:

-a healthy husband, family and pets
-a comfortable home
-a wonderful church
-a good job, that provides an adequate living
-plenty of food to eat
-access to adequate medical care
-a bit of leisure time in which to entertain myself
-the freedom to live the way I choose

No, The State of the World is not perfect--but it never has been, and I seriously doubt that it ever will be. It's not that I'm heartless, or don't care about other people's suffering. It's just that, since I'm on the right side of the dirt and blessed with all the things listed above, I would feel incredibly ungrateful if I had a perpetual case of the glooms.

hear-hear to the both of you.

And folks wonder why I read blogs instead of watching the news....

My 2007 New Year's resolution is the only one I've faithfully kept: to stop reading Eric Alterman's writing. My mood has brightened noticeably!