Are things going very badly or is it even worse than that?

It perplexes me that so many people choose to go in living in such a dreadful world. In that world of their own creation, we are about to wipe ourselves out with greenhouse gasses, genetically engineered food, or cell phone radiation - or we are about to become victims of bird flu, flesh eating bacteria, or something that has become antibiotic resistant. In the dreadful world, teenagers are illiterate and drugged-up, aliens are either over-running the borders all day or probing us at night, depending on which type of alien one fears the most, and the old folks are sucking up all the Social Security money. And let's not forget to worry about the imminent collapse of the currency due to our lack of a true gold standard, the impending doom to come when the Chinese bail out of the bond market, and, most important for us Californians, the inevitable housing market crash. In a nutshell, we're all going straight to hell in a handbasket (made in Sri Lanka and purchased from the evil trolls at Wal Mart.)

If you choose to live in the other world, where it's okay to believe that life today may actually be pretty good, all things considered, and we all really have a lot to be thankful for, you might find your Monday brightened by results of two recent polls.

First, the eye-opening poll from the Times of London that tells us, despite what we're thinking here, just 27% of Iraqis think their country in in a civil war. This poll also reports that people there think they are better off rid of Saddam Hussein - even half of the minority Sunnis agree with that. Hmmmmm.

Second, an anti-gloom perspective on how we feel about the economy. Even with gas over $3 a gallon again, things just aren't that bad.

For those in the Eeyore camp, I'm sorry, I hate to be the bearer of good tidings...