FRESH AIR Americans are over-prescribed antidepressants, says Charles Barber, author of the new book Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation. Biological psychiatry, he writes, is not a substitute for psychotherapy. Currently a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Barber worked for years in New York City shelters serving the mentally ill homeless population. He is the author of Songs from the Black Chair: A Memoir of Mental Interiors, an account of his personal experiences with mental illness. RADIO TIMES Hour 1 Two recently published scientific studies have raised new concerns about the environmental benefit […]
MEDIA CHALLENGE: The Exorcism of John McCain
“All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area, that was not carried nationally, that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it would was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades. So I believe that […]
PETA Offers $1 Million To The Inventor Of Frankenmeat
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Animal rights activists are offering scientists a $1 million reward if they can produce commercially viable meat in a laboratory. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals leaders say lab-grown meat could satisfy appetites without harming animals. “People are surprised to learn that PETA is interested in lab-grown meat, but we have overcome our own revulsion at flesh-eating to champion a breakthrough that will mean a far kinder world for animals,” said PETA President Igrid Newkirk. The reward would go to the first scientist who develops a method that produces enough meat to be marketed in 10 U.S. states […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
ZOO STATION: Animal Collective, Electric Factory, 9:20 PM BY JONATHAN VALANIA Back in college — which was longer ago than I care to admit, so let’s just say some time after the Earth cooled but before the Internet — I lived in an old Victorian house that the college owned and subdivided into separate apartments. It was a gathering house for all the freaks and geeks who didn’t quite blend in with the frat-boy-cheerleader-chug-a-lug-date-rape ethos of the main campus. Across the hall my neighbors had set up a de facto commune of 24/7 hacky-sack drum-circling and druggy bird-dogging. Most of […]
MEOW MIX: Sweeping Up After The Party
The story on Gov. Corzine earlier this month was whether his superdelegate vote was in play. If we’re going by The Vest’s front-if-not-center place on the stage at the Bellevue, where he watched Hillary’s speech along with the Nutters, Bill n’ Chelsea and Mrs. Rodham, his vote and phonebanking skillz seem secure. Is he still “reserving the right” to jump ship? Doesn’t sound like it. . . . Speaking of Going O . . . OK. I’ve never interviewed or met Lisa Nutter so this is very much just me talking here. But one gets the feeling that Mrs. Philadelphia […]
HOLY COW: NJ Cop Charged In Barnyard Sex Romp
TRENTONIAN: MOUNT HOLLY — Robert Melia Jr., the Moorestown cop facing accusations of molesting young girls, found himself back in court yesterday charged with committing additional illicit sexual acts. But this time the victim wasn’t human. It was a cow [NOT pictured, above]. The behind-barnyard-doors action was said to have taken place repeatedly during the latter half of 2006 in Southampton Township. The new charges were revealed yesterday by an anonymous source and confirmed by Jack Smith, spokesman for the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office. Smith said four new complaints against Melia were signed yesterday and that Superior Court Judge John […]
NEWS CLUES: Making U Safer And Sounder Since 2007
Carter Calls Bullshit On Condi Rice, Says Secretary Of State Is L-Y-I-N-G Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Wednesday accused Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of not telling the truth about warnings she said her department gave Carter not to speak to Hamas before a Middle East trip. The State Department has said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, issued the warning before Carter, a veteran of Middle East diplomacy, went on his trip last week. Rice said in Kuwait on Tuesday: “We counseled President Carter against going to the region […]
WORTH REPEATING: ‘Mean, Vacuous, Desperate’
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it.Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election. […] By staying on the attack and not engaging Mr. Obama on the […]
We Know It’s Only Rock N’ Roll But We Like It
PRETTY IN PINK: The Foals, Johnny Brendas, Last Night BY TIFFANY YOON It was a long day at the polls for Phawker, and the long day almost seemed in vain when Hillary’s Pennsylvania victory was announced. Dejected and upset, Phawker was in need of a drink and some hope. What better way to lift some spirits about the Pennsylvania loss than to watch a band that endorses Barack Obama. Foals is the UK powerpop band that sounds like the result of Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke and the four handsome guys from Battles copulating. Quite an orgy of sound. Fans didn’t […]