Lotsa Big News we end up reading about every day. It’s mind boggling. eCAHN and I were yakking a bit the other day about how it’s challenging to keep on top of Everything! But, minute by minute by minute we keep holding on. And, as much as some days I Feel Like I’m Tied To The Whipping Post,- does anyone Not just Love Gregg Allman? – I mostly feel grateful, blessed and Lucky.

This whole Occupy Everything event has got me excited about people feeling into their individual power. And, then the increased power of a whole group searching for a better Something. And, it’s got me thinking about the beginning of a real potential for a Group Think Leap in our society. Imagine! But, I also see an increased need for people to work together to make change happen. Our friend, Southern Dragon, shares links most mornings and I just love the Gandhi Rap he shares from time to time. It inspires me. So what helps us work together more efficiently? I think being nice makes the whole process work more easily and with Way Better Vibes.

Good Golly, Ms. Molly, demi’s talking about being Nice again! But, that’s not precisely what I’m hoping to talk to you about this morning. It’s naturally easy for me to be nice to people if I’m in a happy mood. Or, more precisely if I’m in touch with my own personal happiness. I sometimes wonder who and what I wanna Be. And, I choose to be Happy. When I’m happy, I can do anything. (Still thinking about the Occupy Movement? Good.)

I talked to a few friends and asked them what they thought about happiness, if I were to quote them, what would they say? One person, let’s call him chef, said that “True happiness comes from within.” He’s the kindest man, teaches me alot and loves to serve others. “chef” walks what he talks. So. And “boss” said “The key to happiness is not getting what you want, but appreciating what you have.” Okay, see why he’s the boss? Another said “Happiness, this is the important thing. I tell my kids this is their priority.” Someone else said that “Happiness isn’t what you get for yourself, but what you do for others.”

I think we have to be happy within ourselves before we can share any of that with others. Well, duh. Like with the oxygen masks on planes. Always put yours on first so that you can help those around you. And, like it happens with us, the effort of looking inward makes us focus. And, that focusing invigorates us. Okay, sometimes it’s scary, but that’s fun too. And, sometimes in moments we actually feel great benefits, it’s like another Gregg Allman song, Love is Everywhere.

As with other aspects of our lives, when we practice being happy – going through the steps of Identifying, Choosing and Action, it becomes like a second nature. Smile, sweeties, in that act, you already feel better. Smile at someone out in the world, and they most likely will smile back at you. How many smiles can you share today? What are your feelings about happiness?

Tell Blondie. Tell Blondie all about it. Pull up a chair and dish, sweet pups.

Madeline Kahn and The Mutations — Feet, from episode 209 of The Muppet Show.

Grab your popcorn, put your feet up on the coffee table, and try to keep the spitballs off the screen please. This is Late Late Night FireDogLake, where off topic is the topic … so dive in. What’s on your mind?

(photo: Brian Stansberry)

Okay, it wasn’t exactly betting on the Cardinals to win the World Series when they were still 5 games short of a playoff spot in mid-September, I’ll admit that.  But still, you can see in this week’s news stories what I meant three weeks ago when I told you Herman Cain’s rivals for the GOP presidential nomination were due to turn up the heat against him.  And to boot, I wasn’t far off the mark with my lame joke educated guess that the insinuations against him would be sexual in nature.

But the surfacing of past sexual harassment complaints against Cain hasn’t hurt him in the polls yet, which has surprised a lot of folks (including me) because Cain’s initial support seemed so soft.  And perhaps I haven’t watched the Republican presidential contest closely enough — don’t blame me; I’ve always been squeamish about seeing car wrecks — but Cain hasn’t seemed to demonstrate the kind of extraordinary charisma or resonant message you’d think he would need for voters to rally around him.

Maybe it’s not about Cain, though.  It could just be that the ever-more-delusional right-wing base has decided that this moment is as good as any to make a firm stand against reality, once and for all.  Or perhaps Cain supporters’ instincts toward denial have been helped by the fact that the charges against him are still essentially anonymous, and therefore an abstraction.

The question now is, what (if any) shoe is going to drop next?  Longtime observers of the politics of personal destruction know that once the amorphous issue of “character” has been raised regarding a candidate, all sort of follow-up allegations suddenly are treated as newsworthy, even if by themselves they would have been ignored.  And if someone scheming against Cain gift-wrapped the harassment “scoop” for Politico without one or more sequels ready to be released, then Republican political campaigns really have declined in quality.

Or perhaps there is a slowly unspooling plan to put a face to the current allegations… preferably, from the standpoint of Cain’s rivals, one that not only can survive the inevitable blowback but also triggers the primordial fears (“He’s after our daughters!”) and resentments of the GOP electorate.

Failing that, the camps of Romney, Perry et al. will have to hope that Cain engages in current behavior that accomplishes the same goal.  And, frankly, given the elevated levels of hubris that may intoxicate an inexperienced candidate who begins to believe he’s invulnerable — to the point where he starts to boast about his alleged vulnerabilities — that might not be such a surprising development.  When you think you’re getting away with something, why not keep doing it?