Good News All Around

Jill Carroll has been released in Baghdad; she is well and was not mistreated.

Randal McCoy, the sole survivor of the Sago mine disaster, has gone home; his recovery is well ahead of schedule.

Charles “Pappy” Taylor, the former Liberian president, has been recaptured and will stand trial for crimes against humanity.

The Afghan government released Abdul Rahman; he has moved to Italy, where Muslims and Christians are allowed to live side by side, and to switch sides without fear of capital punishment.

My daughter-in-law has started a blog that will focus on two of my grandsons; it looks promising, as do they.

George Mason University is in the Final Four; there are only 148 people in the country who don’t want them to go all the way – 147 of them live in Baton Rouge; the other one is John Wooden.

I survived the UTI; it’s finally gone, and I’m still drinking a lot of water every day.

Baseball is going to officially investigate Barry Bonds and the other sorry-ass Roid Warriors who have seriously undermined the credibility of the game; long live Hank and the Babe.

George Clooney won an Oscar; even other guys like him.

A new two-drug cocktail appears to be very effective in preventing HIV infection and the companies that make the two drugs involved are selling them at cost in poor countries.

Bob Dylan will roll his stone into Bakersfield next week; we’ve also had some rain.

The threat to shut down my BlackBerry has passed.

My wife and I have survived another March; April brings spring and daylight savings time.

Michael Jackson has boarded up Neverland and appears intent on remaining in Bahrain.

There were no bills in the mail yesterday.

Jack Abramoff is going to the slammer for almost six years, and the Senate passed a bill that imposes at least a few more limitations on lobbyist activity; something is better than nothing when it comes to regulating these shadowy relationships.

The NFL is clamping down on some of the ridiculous end-zone “celebrations”.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding that Iran suspend all uranium enrichment activity.

The Dodgers enter the MLB season with reason for hope, and with new seats in Dodger Stadium.

500,000 Latinos, mostly students, are marching in the streets of Los Angeles and most of them are wearing white as a symbol of peace; there is no violence.

McDonalds is now selling premium coffee; and Starbucks is going to sell premium sandwiches.

People are no longer getting shot at Denny’s.

On April 14th there will be a new guy whispering in George Bush’s ear when trouble hits.

Who says there’s never any good news? Each of these events is a bit of miracle; each of them, in their own way, gives us some reason for hope. I love springtime.