In the midst of all the damaging news out there, this from Gallup was indeed sad — a point for the poor in not only in cash-on-hand, but the poor in heart:

Stay-at-home moms also lag behind employed moms in terms of their daily positive emotions: They are less likely to say they smiled or laughed a lot, learned something interesting, and experienced enjoyment and happiness “yesterday.” Additionally, they are less likely than employed moms to rate their lives highly enough to be considered “thriving.”

And, factor in the new finding (that supports old findings) that income equality is a health hazard, one can be readily assured life isn’t ‘thriving.’

Mitt Romney has a way with enduring himself to every one and creating so-many happy faces.
This is a pisser for any young person with a decent-sized brain: “Unfortunately, a lot of young folks haven’t had the opportunity to really understand how the economy works, and what it takes to put people to work in real jobs, and why we have banks, and what banks do,” Romney told WBTV in Charlotte, according to National Journal. “It’s a very understandable sentiment if you don’t find a job, and you can’t see rising incomes. You’re going to be angry and looking at someone to blame.”
Maybe they should blame and be mad at the clown in charge prior to President Obama — no, no, no.

And the so-called ‘pursuit of happiness’ can actually more harm than good:

Not surprisingly, most people want to be happy.
We seem hardwired to pursue happiness, and this is especially true for Americans—it’s even ingrained in our Declaration of Independence.
Yet is pursuing happiness healthy?
Groundbreaking work by Iris Mauss has recently supported the counterintuitive idea that striving for happiness may actually cause more harm than good.
In fact, at times, the more people pursue happiness the less they seem able to obtain it.
Mauss shows that the more people strive for happiness, the more likely they will be to set a high standard for happiness—then be disappointed when that standard is not met.
This is especially true when people were in positive contexts, such as listening to an upbeat song or watching a positive film clip.
It is as if the harder one tries to experience happiness, the more difficult it is to actually feel happy, even in otherwise pleasant situations.
My colleagues and I are are building on this research, which suggests that the pursuit of happiness is also associated with serious mental health problems, such as depression and bipolar disorder.
It may be that striving for happiness is actually driving some of us crazy.

(h/t The Big Picture)

And some happy from Mr. Carlin: So I say, “Live and let live.” That’s my motto. “Live and let live.” Anyone who can’t go along with that, take him outside and shoot the motherfucker. It’s a simple philosophy, but it’s always worked in our family.

What?