Apr 14, 2009
Owing to the fact that even our spouse won’t read us anymore because we’re too depressing, we are introducing a new feature this month: Happy Daze.

Happy Daze will compile only good news on a monthly basis, rather like Aux Barricades! lists action ideas, and Noted with Interest provides monthly short takes of interest. Happy Daze is devoted to reminding us that good things do happen, progress is being made, and that even Armageddon may, at times, seem to have a silver lining. Send us happy news we missed and we will add it to our monthly listings. Here comes April (so far):

Law Enacted: S.383: Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)

“[G]rant[s] the Special Inspector General (SIG) authority to conduct, supervise, and coordinate an audit or investigation of any action taken with regard to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that the SIG deems appropriate.” Read the bill summary HERE. (From Govtrack.us. Accessed Apr 26, 2009)

Gay Rights Groups Celebrate Victories in Marriage Push

Yes, our very own boys and girls in the Vermont legislature overrode our grim governor’s veto, for only the second time in history and by only one vote, but we’ll take it any way we can get it. Look for the rest of the states to fall in line at an increasing rate. (From the New York Times, Apr 7, 2009, accessed Apr 8, 2009.)

Peru’s Ex-President Convicted of Rights Abuses

So 70-year-old Alberto Fujimori is looking at 25 years in a Peruvian prison, after being convicted of murder, aggravated kidnapping, and crimes against humanity. We have written about Peru before, in A Half a Million Cheers for Peru. Could this South American land be quietly re-forming itself into a just and compassionate society? (From the New York Times, Apr 7, 2009, accessed Apr 8. 2009.)

Growth in Prison and Jail Populations Slowing: 16 States Report Declines in the Number of Prisoners

Perhaps we are weaning ourselves from a tendency to throw every hungry shoplifter and weekend toker into the hoosegow for long stretches. (From the Department of Justice, Mar 31, 2009, accessed Apr 12, 2009.)