Leo Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina with the line: "“Happy families are all alike, every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I've always thought that he had it backward - happy families have an enormous spectrum of ways to be happy together, but unhappy families would be populated with the proud or cruel and those reacting to them. Period.

But here comes the proof. Probably no other happy family spent Thanksgiving evening the way mine did. After jokes, probing into the various young ladies' romantic lives, and singing a song or two from Prairie Home Companion, we found ourselves in my brother's basement watching my middle-aged (but lithe and fit, mind you) sister together with various nieces and nephews initiating us into the hip-hop mysteries of the "Soulja Boy dance". Not only is the artist (well, Soulja Boy, of course, silly) sweeping the nation with his music and video, YouTube is thick with amateur videos of people (all in their basements, for some reason) displaying their own talents at the dance. There are even instructional videos for those of you who aren't superhuman but want to join the fun.

If your curiosity is aroused, here's a good demonstration. But, this one takes the cake, in my opinion. Their parents think they're paying for ballet lessons. Heh.

The Canadian, a "national newspaper with an international readership" explains to us how traditional religion is actually a plot by "Manipulative Extraterrestrials". They cite John Lash and his "related research on the ancient Gnostics. The Gnostics, had sought to warn humanity about reported attempts by demonic Extraterrestrial Consciousnesses, to manipulate humanity."

"Even the act of prayer among Christians, and other correspondingly apparently Extraterrestrial orchestrated organized religions, is an apparent Manipulative Extraterrestrial ruse. In the context of John Lash's research, prayer, can be viewed as an attempt to manipulate humanity into conceiving God as some kind of "supernatural" being, whose existence is toward the sky."

Light on The Canadian's orientation may be shed by what it expects to be winsome to its readership. "Click to make a donation pledge herein. Help support more investigative coverage on the fascistic North American Union (NAU) agenda."

Once upon a time, there was a dumpy guy who had never gotten around to having his teeth straightened. The son of a bus driver and a supermarket cashier, he had been bullied in school which mangled his self-confidence. He eventually supported himself with a job at the "Carphone Warehouse" in the south of Wales, but he carried another dream in his heart.

One day, not too long ago, he auditioned for the British version of America's Got Talent, usually a magnet for quick-change artists and yodeling Grannies.

This is what happened. Get your Kleenex.

"BAGHDAD, Iraq — Members of the Iraqi Army in Besmaya collected a donation for the San Diego, Calif., fire victims Thursday night at the Besmaya Range Complex in a moving ceremony to support Besmaya's San Diego residents.

Iraqi Army Col. Abbass, the commander of the complex, presented a gift of $1,000 to U.S. Army Col. Darel Maxfield, Besmaya Range Complex officer in charge, Multi-National Security Transition Command Iraq, to send to the fire victims in California.

The money was collected from Iraqi officers and enlisted soldiers in Besmaya. "

Things like this make me glad.

Hat tip: Julie D.