Yesterday Essex House employee Derrick Praileau was charged with strangling and stabbing a woman in her Essex House condo. But whoa, the NYDN says somebody who appears on a TV show was only a single floor away!

Makenzie [Vega] - who plays Julianna Margulies' daughter in the drama [The Good Wife] about an unfaithful politicianthat debuts tonight - thinks she spoke with Derrick Praileau.

He came to her apartment to help her find her lost iPhone, and her apartment is just one floor above the scene of the crime! Had Derrick Praileau inexplicably snapped while looking for the iPhone, or chosen to break through the ceiling after his first crime in search of another, more famous, victim, this tragedy could have been even greater.

But hey, private equity guys are still schmoozing journalists at Essex House and Ahmadinejad's still planning to speak there, so the PR battle's been won.
[Pic: CarbonNYC's Flickr]

This is just a god damn classic piece of service journalism. Parents, you can thank ABC 15 in Phoenix for bringing you the latest secrets of the hopped-up youth:

But she said the latest trends include "snorting vodka shots."
More graphic yet, she said teens are doing anal beer bongs and soaking tampons in vodka.

Impossible. Not my teen—he's just studying.

If you think your kid is studying, she said look closer at his or her highlighter.
It too, can pull open and become a pipe.

And don't even get this expert started on the energy drinks kids are consuming these days. "If your 12-year-old is drinking that much caffeine, it begs the question what will they be doing at 15?" The answer is probably drugs. Sucking on that highlighter pipe can lead directly to whoring (for drugs), if you know what we are saying. Do not think your child is "fine," Arizona parents.

"It's hard to recognize," Siete said. "A lot of drug use looks like the everyday common cold, allergies, watery eyes, tired, who isn't tired?"

The kids drinking the energy drinks?
[Related. Pic: Flickr]

So, as we know, Miley Cyrus pole-danced at the Teen Choice Awards. Or, rather, she leapt up onto an ice cream cart with a pole in the middle and executed a single shimmy, obviously pole-dance inspired. Then she got down.

The dance itself wasn't that big a deal; yeah, it was completely inappropriate for a show that targets kids (because I think real "Teens" have moved on by this point), but not especially more so than her minute booty shorts or the parade of scantily-dressed dancers grinding behind her. It was, as the Examiner blog points out, a whole lot less raunchy than the pole-dance 'Fire Burning' number co-performer Sean Kingston indulged in.

Kingston is only 19, three years older than Cyrus, and he had not one but two poles. He also had two very scantily-clad ladies dancing around those poles with moves that were much more provocative than Cyrus's one shimmy. So why then is only Cyrus getting called out her inappropriate dancing and for using a pole in her performance, whereas no one is blinking an eye at Kingston's very sexy, very racy stage outing? Double standards, anyone?

Well, sure - and Scores doesn't seem to be clutching its pearl G-string over his two-pronged approach - but it's also true that Cyrus made her name as a good girl, has very young fans, and has recently started a spate of deliberate provocation: far from the remorse she espoused after last year's Vanity Fair fracas, now Cyrus is defiantly making her mark as an older entertainer, posing on the cover of magazines in overtly sexy getups and, yes, thumbing her nose at us fogeys with that half-assed gyrations.

Yes, she's just a kid. There were choreographers who put it together and parents who sanctioned it and managers who thought it was a good move, or at least trusted a 16-year-old's judgment. She doesn't deserve anyone's hate mail or the blame for society's ills. Maybe people are pissed off about it because a) it's August and people enjoy histrionics and b)now it feels deliberate. The Vanity Fair thing, most of us didn't mind: whatever, she was in over her head, it was Leibovitz, weird call on dad's part but really what's the big deal? But now, she's trying to throw off the yoke of exactly what made her famous, and while I understand chafing at Disney's stranglehold, it also feels, well, unfair to those little girls who look up to her. And she's playing deliberately with the clean Hannah Montana image that made her big. Says Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory,

That's some potent imagery: an emblem of childhood (an ice cream cart) juxtaposed with a symbol of modern young womanhood (a stripper pole). Looks like her managers are following the Britney Spears sexy-virgin path to success — or self-destruction, depending on your perspective.

Was the dance a big deal? Not in itself - it's short, not especially sexy, and frankly the song she was caterwauling was unlistenable. But will it negatively influence little girls? Frankly, I seriously hope most little girls weren't allowed to watch it, because it sucked, and the entire show was completely inappropriate. I maintain that girls are smarter than they're generally given credit for being, however impressionable their age, and that the behavior of one already-tarnished TV star isn't going to change the course of their lives.

But it does kind of depress me, because this is obviously what Miley Cyrus and her handlers/parents want for her, and for her career. I'm depressed for all the usual reasons - sexualization and cheapening and objectification and growing up too fast, and the lack of wholesome role models - but I think it's something more. I'm offended on behalf of little girls. Being a role model whom younger children look up to is not second-class. It's not a necessary minor-league servitude before the big leagues. It's not less important than attracting their older sisters. (It's certainly not less renumerative.) No, being a role model, someone who has the influence to touch and influence younger girls at a formative age, is an honor, and it's not an honor a lot of people are accorded. When I saw Miley Cyrus on that crummy pole, my heart sank a little: because, once again, she was saying that what she does, and her market, isn't important and she's eager to leave it behind. I get that for a young girl playing to kids doesn't feel sexy or glamorous, and it's natural to be rebellious. It's why kids shouldn't be in the public eye, arguably, in the first place - they have no control over what they're getting themselves into, and then, inevitably, they resent the pressures. That's sad for a lot of reasons, but not least because it plays havoc with the young girls whom Miley's growing up and abandoning, rather than the other way around.

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, here's what "Ed Norwick, General Manager of SCORES, the legendary NYC gentleman's club" had to say: "While Miley did show off some skills, we at SCORES cannot encourage this kind of behavior for women under the legal age. If she'd like to come try out in a couple of years, our door's open!")

Miley Cyrus, 16, Shows Off Her Pole Dancing Skills At The Teen Choice Awards [Daily Mail]

Miley Cyrus: Too Young To Pole Dance? [Salon]
Miley Cyrus Vs. Sean Kingston: It's A Stripper Pole Dance-Off At The Teen Choice Awards [Examiner]
"Party In The USA" At The Teen Choice Awards (FULL VERSION)(HQ) [YouTube]

Some teen stars grow up unscathed by their lifestyle; others have meltdowns, drug/alcohol problems and blame the black kid when caught driving like a crazy person through Hollywood. Is Taylor the latter or the former? It's cool that she has her own band, Pretty Reckless, but is it all too much too soon? Here are five quotes from her interview that make us wonder if she's headed for trouble:

1. Hints she was forced into the spotlight.

I kind of grew up in front of the camera: I started modeling when I was two. I was never pushed into it, but I never really chose it either.

2. Possible attention problems?

I found [high school] kind of boring [She finished two years early]. I'm an artist; I'm not going to use trigonometry.

3. A false (?) sense of maturity.

I'm taking college classes online — I want to major in Language Arts… For most people, college is a place where you learn about yourself, and I feel like I'm doing that already. I'm already independent.

4. A lack of friends.

I have such trust complexes. I'm close to like two people. I've always been like that. People misinterpret what I say all the time: They think I'm being offensive, when really, I'm only being opinionated.

5. She's into older guys.

I'm not dating anyone right now, but I've had lots of relationships. My parents know that I'm not going to date someone who's sixteen. Boys are so much less mature than girls as it is; there's just no way — I would eat a boy my age alive.

On the upside, she really enjoys working on Gossip Girl; says her parents trust her and was turned down for the role of Hannah Montana when she was nine, which means she's never posed draped in a sheet for Vanity Fair. So maybe everything will turn out alright.

Iron Maiden (interview), Taylor Momsen Photos, Video From Photo Shoot [Teen Vogue]

Earlier: Teen Vogue Makes Gossip Girl's Patch-Wearing Little J Pretend To Exercise

The Times investigates this startling new trend in wanton affection. When will the madness stop?

Girls embracing girls, girls embracing boys, boys embracing each other - the hug has become the favorite social greeting when teenagers meet or part these days.

Cats embracing dogs! Homosexuals embracing your child! And hey, what would a moral panic be without peer pressure, the proof that these are just good kids led astray?

A measure of how rapidly the ritual is spreading is that some students complain of peer pressure to hug to fit in.

Uh oh! But how does our dreadfully over-litigious nanny-state politically correct nation of lawyers fit in to all this?

And schools from Hillsdale, N.J., to Bend, Ore., wary in a litigious era about sexual harassment or improper touching - or citing hallway clogging and late arrivals to class - have banned hugging or imposed a three-second rule.

A three-second rule! Like your bro is a mere Jolly Rancher dropped in a hallway!

Ok we are not even going to get into the armchair sociology of it (organized play dates are to blame!) or the pop culture culprits (MTV invented the "bromance"!). No, this article is too stupid and anecdotal and pointless even to continue mocking. Those are all the hallmarks of a classic teenage moral panic story, but this is about hugging.

Not Pharm Parties! Or "Fruit Salad Parties"! Or those magical evenings we all remember from our school days when the ladies would apply all manner of fancy lipsticks and fellate our peers in sequence. The fun we had! Well apparently Oprah ruined that for everyone and today's teens are just grabbing each other in hallways like fucking Italians or something.

It's not surprising that the mag would get a first look, because Lauren pretended to work there for a time while she filmed her show, so they have a good working relationship and whatnot. You promote me, I'll promote you, and so on and so on until they are both borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.

From the first glimpse, the book is basically about Lauren's life. Well, I mean, the girl's name is Jane and she wants to be an event planner rather than a fashionista, but it's all basically the same. Same dumb boy names (Brody and Doug in real life, Caleb and Braden in Jane life), and same creeping worries about whether or not anything is real, or just for the cameras. That little twinge of worry is actually vaguely interesting; did LC keep herself up fretful at night, wondering if she got this or that promotion because of the television show? Did she doubt her own merit? I would say yes, because look it's all there in the book!, but um, I'm also pretty sure that Lauren didn't actually write the damn thing. Oh, which is called L.A. Candy. Which is the name of the fictional reality show in the fictional book about a real girl on a fictional reality show. Blergh!

Now let's play guess the fake passage:

1)

Jane felt her blood freeze. Fiona never called Jane into her office unless she was in trouble. It was always something like, "Jane, the last time I checked, ivory and eggshell weren't the same color," or "Jane, is this message from Jeffrey with a J or Geoffrey with a G?" What had she done this time? Either way, she preferred that her humiliating lectures take place in private-just her and Fiona behind closed doors. Guess not today. She frowned at the cameras, which were supposed to be capturing "an average workday." Well, now, the L.A. Candy viewers are going to see my average butt getting yelled at, Jane thought.

2)

"During those three months, you will work harder than you have ever worked before. At the same time, you will have opportunities that you have never had before. And if you succeed, your future as an event planner in this town will be virtually guaranteed."

Fiona leaned back in her seat and stared at Jane, waiting for her answer. Suddenly, Jane noticed that Fiona was wearing makeup. When had the boss lady started wearing makeup?

3)

Sitting at her new desk, feet twitching nervously in navy Tory Burch flats, Jane suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Was it nerves over the new promotion? Or was it something else? Why was Fiona always so nice to her when the L.A. Candy cameras were around, but then so cold and nasty when they were gone? She dialed her friend Melora's number at the record company and prayed that she would answer. Jane needed some advice quick, or else she worried she'd get sick all over her new, cream-colored office on her very first day.

4)

Paolo smiled at her. He had the cutest smile. "Hey, this may be a little forward, but ... could I call you sometime? Maybe we could go out for coffee or something? I just moved here from San Francisco, and I don't know too many people in town."

Jane was taken aback by his boldness. They had met all of 60 seconds ago. Still, he did kinda look like a young Brad Pitt. Besides, when was the last time she'd been on a date? Braden didn't count. She had met him for drinks again at Cabo Cantina over the weekend, to celebrate her being on the show and moving in to a new apartment. It had been his idea. But that wasn't a date. It never was with him. "Sure," she said.

As J.M. Barrie once said, "the printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times. Sometimes one forgets which it is."

Indeed.

Just look at this paragraph:

The latest addition to the well-stocked smut canon is aimed not at adults, but at impressionable teens and pre-adolescents. It's called "Castration Celebration" — a kind of "High School Musical" meets "Saw." Gross.

Dead giveway word. Ted Haggard: "Hot gay sex and crystal meth. Uh, Gross." So anyhow Andrea goes on to condemn this teen novel about teen sex and castrations although she goes out of her way to quote a portion which include the words "testicles," "penis," and "scrotum." But look, Andrea Peyser is not naive about teen sex. Not naive at all. She knows all about it:

Believe me, I'm not so naive as to think kids don't engage in some of the acts listed here: Sex. Gay sex. Drunken sex. Stoned sex. Angry sex. Unprotected sex. Sex, real or imagined, with farm animals. Baaa!

Gross(???)

[NYP]

Once upon a time a year or two back, the Washington Post employed a terrible journalist named Laura Sessions Stepp, who specialized in writing big feature stories about pseudotrends and things so obvious that you would have seriously considered slapping any actual human being that asked you a question about them. She also wrote an entire book on the crazy youth culture of HOOKING UP, and why kids are all sluts. She took a buyout earlier this year, thank god.

But today, in December of 2008, the NYT has a brand new op-ed by Charles M. Blow (should we take the time for the joke? No) on this very subject. Kids today: they don't date, they just fuck. Mr. Blow has learned about child sex from the trustiest place: a research report, saying kids today are HOOKING UP. Blow me away!

When I first heard about hooking up years ago, I figured that it was a fad that would soon fizzle. I was wrong. It seems to be becoming the norm.

Easy, commitment-free sex—who could help him understand such a thing?

To help me understand this phenomenon, I called Kathleen Bogle, a professor at La Salle University in Philadelphia who has studied hooking up among college students and is the author of the 2008 book, “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating and Relationships on Campus.”

Ah. Did not ask a sexy 18-year-old, then. Righto.

It turns out that everything is the opposite of what I remember.

Boys now have vaginas.

I asked her to explain the pros and cons of this strange culture.

Good lord. An alien, an unknown life form from another planet outside of our solar system, has landed an op-ed gig with the New York Times. What a thing. His kicker:

Now that’s sad.

Mr. Blow has journalistically violated us, and he didn't even take us out first. We are his whores. [NYT]

Sarah Palin may be running for Vice President but is she any different from the woman who sold the story of her daughter Jamie Lynn's pregnancy to a magazine for $1 million, or from the father that allowed 15-year-old Miley Cyrus to be photographed semi-nude for Vanity Fair supposedly to further her career?

Well, I mean...

Bristol Palin hasn't been the star of a major kids TV show like Jamie Lynn or Miley Cyrus. She has not chosen a life of celebrity. But now, thanks to her mother's decision to accept the Republican Vice Presidential candidacy, her private life — her sex life — is as exposed as if she had long been a cover regular on Star or US Weekly.

Ha! Yes, well...

Seventeen year-old girls are not yet adults... Haven't endless teen movies and TV shows from "Sixteen Candles" to "Gossip Girl" all dealt with these issues of lack of confidence, fear of embarrassment and befuddlement with dealing with the opposite sex?

I guess so, but...

Bristol Palin should have "the protection of her mother right now and not be paraded around as a platform.

That's a quote from Atoosa Rubenstein!

Then she closes with a coherent point. Next time put that part up top, Bonnie.

[HuffPo; pic via NYM]

Lorillard doesn't have to market disproportionately to African-Americans, because the market share of menthols in the black community is already massive. Look at Orlowsky's own math:

The truth is that there are twice as many Caucasian menthol cigarette smokers as there are African-American menthol cigarette smokers.

African-Americans are about 13% of the US population. Whites are about 74%. There are roughly six times more whites than blacks in the US, but only two times more white menthol smokers. Disparity? Duh.

Targeting the youth?

Heavily-advertised Marlboro, Camel and Newport cigarettes dominated the teen smoking market between 1989 and 1996, according to a new study, which found that the percentage of teen Newport smokers doubled during those years.

Newport made its most significant inroads with the white and Hispanic teen market, say Karen Gerlach, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and colleagues. Their study appears in the American Journal of Health Behavior.

Newport cigarettes contain menthol, which may make them less harsh-tasting and easier for experimenting teens to smoke, Gerlach and colleagues say. They also suggest that expanded advertising campaigns may have helped increase the brand’s popularity.

Nobody has to target underage smokers. Target 18-year-old smokers! Their kid brothers will totally pick it up.

[CAOH; letter via Multicult Classics]

• "It's been a tough hop for this caravan of sales crews, though. Winding their way down from California, they lost a few agents. Two were arrested in Albuquerque after they allegedly forced their way into the home of an elderly couple and beat them to death, raping the wife first. A few weeks later, another agent allegedly raped a woman in Claremont, California, so he got picked up, too."
• "In the eight months the Press investigated door-to-door magazine sales across the country, the industry has seen at least three murders, one rape, two attempted rapes, one stabbing, one attempted murder, one vehicle fatality and one attempted abduction of a 13-year-old girl."
• Crystal Mathahy (pictured), a 17-year-old in Texas, got recruited to join a magazine crew. An older cousin signed a "permission slip" for her to participate, since her mom was illiterate. She didn't make enough money to eat, and tried to leave the crew, but couldn't afford a Greyhound ticket. Shortly after, the crew's van plunged 80 feet off the side of a mountain, crushing Mathahy to death.
• "[In] Houston in 2005, a sales agent raped a 17-year-old mentally retarded girl who answered the door of the apartment she shared with her mother. To gain her confidence, that agent acted as if he had a disability as well."

Apart from the individual tragedies, the real scandal the story lays out is the blind eye that big players in the magazine industry—including the MPAA, Conde Nast, and many other top-tier publishers—turn to the well-known excesses of the subscription business. That's to say nothing of the financial risks to consumers, like being subscribed to magazines against your will. The whole thing is worth a read.

[Houston Press]

People still profess confusion about which ad man had his way with JC Penney's image, making an unauthorized teen sex ad and submitting it to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Neither the pissed-off retailer nor its apologetic ad agency would name names, and Ad Age yesterday concluded, "Just who is responsible for creation of the ad... is a bit cloudy." But it's not, really. Is it? It's got to be Mike Long, of Epoch Films. Read why, and watch one of Long's other "fake" Penney ads, this one a bit terrifying, after the jump.

In a statement distancing itself from the ad, JC Penney said the spot "was created by a former employee at JC Penney’s advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, solely as an award submission."

Saatchi & Saatchi, meanwhile, said the commercial was "created by a third party vendor." That's probably Epoch Films, since Penney's chief marketing officer told the Wall Street Journal "the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi," as the Journal put it.

So if both Penney and Saatchi are telling the truth, we're looking for a former Saatchi employee at a third-party vendor, probably Epoch Films, where he probably worked on Penney ads.

It just so happens that the man credited with directing the teen-sex spot, Mike Long, is (according to Ad Age) a former Saatchi staffer. He now works for Epoch Films. And his credits there list work for JC Penney.

The only other former Saatchi man credited on the ad, Tony Granger, does not appear to work for Epoch and told Ad Age he "would not have presented" the advertisement. Then he added, "neither would any of the team." Hmm. Granger might want to rethink that, because Long has presented this sort of work in the past. Find below another ad by the rebel director, apparently dating to last fall and also "fake," according to Silicon Alley Insider.

"Long... apparently did these as a giggle," the Insider wrote. Well, not entirely, since Long also has the fall ad listed in his online portfolio on the Epoch Films website (as also stated by the Insider). And some people, at least, appear to have been under the impression the ad actually aired.

Crazy idea, advertising people: Give out awards and list in your portfolios advertisements you were able to convince your clients to actually, you know, run. Or, even better: Let any teenager who can grope his way around iMovie enter your competitions, whether he has customers or not.

Long's fall JC Penney ad:

[Silicon Alley Insider, Ad Age]

From JC Penney:

Regarding your post: Teen Sex Gains Mainstream Approval With JC Penney Ad…

JCPenney was deeply disappointed to learn that our name and logo were used in the creation and distribution of a commercial that was submitted to the 2008 International Advertising Festival at Cannes . No one at JCPenney was aware of the ad or participated in the creation of it in any way. The commercial was never broadcast, but rather was created by a former employee at JCPenney’s advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, solely as an award submission without JCPenney’s knowledge or prior approval.

JCPenney does not approve or condone its content, and we have asked Saatchi & Saatchi to remove the ad from online circulation and to apologize to our customers and our Associates for misrepresenting our Company in this manner.

From Saatchi & Saatchi, the ad agency:

“Saatchi & Saatchi has a long history of producing principled and respectful advertising for JCPenney and its entire client roster. The Speed Dressing TV commercial, which was submitted to the 2008 International Advertising Festival at Cannes, was created by a third party vendor without JCPenney's knowledge or consent. It was produced and released to the public without any knowledge or prior approval from JCPenney. Saatchi & Saatchi did not enter the spot and deeply regrets the message this ad presents. Saatchi & Saatchi apologizes to JCPenney, its associates and its customers. The commercial is being removed from public circulation.”

Tomorrow: "Horny Rogue Youth Couple Commandeered Video Camera, Acted Alone In Teen Sex Production."

[And don't worry, we have the ad whether it gets taken off YouTube or not!]

Because the spot is so well made, and because someone had to enter it it at Cannes, JC Penney is blaming its ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. The ad agency, in turn, is pointing the finger at production company, Epoch Films of New York, which is indeed the listed entrant. There is speculation "the video may have been filmed after hours by a producer at Epoch who was working on the Penney ads for Saatchi."

Since Penney is based in Plano, Texas and sells to middle-American families that were so outraged to see teen starlet Cyrus in nothing but a bedsheet, a lawsuit, against an individual if not a company, doesn't seem entirely out of the question. On the bright side, some swashbuckling video rebel (every company has one!) just launched a promising career in the awards-obsessed ad industry, albeit at the expense of someone else's brand.

The fake ad in question:

[WSJ]

[via Adrants]

"I've seen everything from your basic striptease to sexual acts being performed," said Reynoldsburg police Detective Brian Marvin, a member of the FBI Cyber Crime Task Force of Central Ohio. "You name it, they will do it at their home under this perceived anonymity."

Somebody arrest that man! But not even Jesus, or a penis, can save us!

"This happens a lot," said Kelsey, author of Generation MySpace: Helping Your Teen Survive Online Adolescence. "It crosses every racial socio-economic group. Christian kids are doing it. Jewish kids are doing it."

Male teens are also doing it.

Authority figures are flummoxed!

Mark Raiff, a principal at Columbus' Olentangy Liberty High School, said some of his students and their cell phones have caused trouble.

"They don't see anything wrong with it," he said. "It leaves me speechless."

Hundreds of Teens Rally in Times Square to Change Pop Culture as We Know It, Feb. 8

While Presidential Candidates Promise "Change," Thousands of Teens Are Enacting Change and Asking the Candidates to Help

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2008—Representing a movement of more than 400,000 teens, hundreds of teenagers will rally on Military Island in TIMES SQUARE, FEB. 8, 3:30 p.m. ET.

The rally will highlight teens' concerns about the toll today's pop culture is taking on their generation—the largest generation of teens in U.S. history.* The teens oppose the "cool factor" pop culture entertainment associates with substance abuse, violence, premature sexuality, Internet porn and more. The rally, called RECREATE '08, will showcase the thousands of TEEN MANIA teens who are out to RE-create entertainment, fashion, the arts, and the Web into products that build up, not tear down, their generation.

"I want to use film and television to give this generation hope that they can break free from depression, substance abuse and hopelessness in their lives," says 19-year-old Katherine Haller of Baltimore. Haller, an organizer of the RECREATE '08 rally, is currently receiving film and television production experience through Teen Mania's Center for Creative Media.

Fueled by their faith, these Teen Mania teens have sparked a movement of more than 400,000 like-minded teenagers who have gathered at arena events from coast to coast over the past two years to impact pop culture for the good of their generation.

The RECREATE '08 rally in Times Square will feature teens in the act of RE-creating some of their generation's favorite products including:

*

MTV videos
*

Teen-produced TV shows and movie-shorts running on the Panasonic jumbo-tron in Times Square
*

Tag/Graffiti artists
*

Dance and more . . .

CALLING ON THE CANDIDATES
The teens will also issue a list of 8 QUESTIONS for the presidential candidates that reflect their top concerns including: youth exposure to Internet pornography, media glamorization of drugs, sex and alcohol, and the AIDS pandemic.

Following the rally, more than 10,000 teens will gather at New Jersey's Izod Center for a two day RECREATE '08 event featuring: New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Kirk Franklin, the David Crowder Band, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and TEEN MANIA founder, Ron Luce.

[H]ow you feel about it probably depends on whether you are a teenager or a parent of teenagers. I am more than a decade away from being either and so regard myself as a neutral in this debate. Moreover, as an economist, I feel uniquely qualified to opine on why it is happening.

Next week in Slate, Christopher Hitchens makes the case for sobriety.

A Cock-and-Bull Story [Slate]