drugs are bad.....

here's the epic journey of a stoned college student who ate a bag of hallucinogenic mushrooms ("probably wasnt'a good idea," he said). he later ended up in jail after trying to climb magic mountain "to see what's on the other side."

gas prices up, price of a gallon of milk is up, paychecks aren't up...

here's a story from the ny times about how average people's wages are actually lower than they were three years ago when compared to inflation. it's more the usual: it doesn't matter if the middle class and working class are being screwed over -- the economy will keep on chugging because the rich are the ones who are spending. great.



here it is in a nutshell...

'There's a bit of a dichotomy,' said Ethan S. Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers. 'Joe Six-Pack is under a lot of pressure. He got a lousy raise; he's paying more for gasoline and milk. He's not doing that great. But proprietors' income is up. Profits are up. Home values are up. Middle-income and upper-income people are looking pretty good.'"

that's one hot box turtle...

in case you didn't know, an idiotic texas congressman compared gay marriage to potentially allowing one's neighbor to marry a box turtle. charles pierce now recounts his own tale of terrapin romance.

the weirdest beach boy....

yeah, everyone knows that brian wilson went crazy about 30 years ago, but i can't help but enjoy this interview in the NY Times magazine. it's a quickie.

john kerry, teen outcast....

here's some interesting stuff about john kerry's stint at St. Paul, an elite boarding school.

soccer is more american than baseball...

well, in a way it IS. here's an article about how the business of soccer (football) is actually more capitalistic than the major sports leagues we have here.

the world's toughest interviewer...

no, it's not tim russert. here's jon stewart absolutely ripping apart stephen hayes, a right-wing "journalist" who was on the daily show to promote his book about all those extensive "links" between saddam and al qaeda.