IS THERE ANY GOOD NEWS LEFT?

What do we mean by "the news?"

The question is old, but the scope is new. Right now there are more ways and means of gathering and distributing news than ever before in the history of humanity (see the Wikileaks trauma for debatable details). The computer coupled with the Internet has now made everything and anything accessible at anytime anywhere to anyone.

But why, we wonder, must it always be bad news? Yes, yes, we understand the flawed schadenfreude nature of humanity that can't resist gnawing on the carcasses of other lives. But is there ever a time and place where we can savor the good stuff rather than the bad? That is to say, more than just the pre-requisite 90 smiley seconds at the end of the newscast?

Well, we have our answer. And she is a lovely one. She goes by the name of Kate Middleton -- the chosen princess-to-be at the royal hands of the UK's Prince William. The felicitous intersection of love, royalty, and fairy-tale grandiosity.

Right now the British and the American media are appropriately gaga over her. (Gaga as in thrilled not trashy). And why not? For a refreshing change -- don't tell me anything bad about her just yet, for that will surely come in time -- for a refreshing change, we have something other than paper mache' Hollywood starlets to ooh over. Here we have beauty without bawdiness, Charm without cheap. Sensuality without sleaze.

Please, world, don't ruin this! For just a brief shining moment, perhaps the Anglo-American media will dare to fuss over the tender rather than the tragic. Not to worry, fellas, the bad stuff will always be there waiting for you...