The state of the culture

Hell to get old, ain't it, Luther?

Although he was one of the early pioneers of Miami Beach's Memorial Day hip hop extravaganza, even Luther Campbell says he no longer makes his way to South Beach during that weekend because it's become too rowdy.

If Maslow were around to work on his hierarchy of needs today, he might need to make an addition to the five layers of his pyramid. The existing levels would remain the same (from bottom to top): psysiological needs, such as food and water and sex, are met first; then safety needs, followed by love/belonging needs; after those are met, we can work on our esteem needs; finally we can work on our self-actualization needs, such as morality and creativity.

Tattoo artist Victor Whitmill is suing Warner Bros., saying a facial tattoo in its new movie "The Hangover 2" violates his copyright because the tattoo looks identical to the one he designed for boxer Mike Tyson. Apparently, no court has yet grappled with the question of whether tattoos can be protected by copyright.

I made it all the way to today -- the day after Oprah's last show -- in keeping my vow to myself not to comment. I mean, saying something snide about the insipid queen of gush and how she epitomizes the banality of popular culture, we're talking fish-in-a-barrel time. But, really, this just sent me over the edge:

Congratulations to the state and the governor for having the courage not to be tolerant. Many parents and students affiliated with the Indiana School for the Deaf are upset with Gov. Mitch Daniels for his appoinment of three new board members with ties to the mainstreaming approach to teaching deaf children, an approach that encourages them to listen and sometimes read lips.

There actually is something called the Journal of Animal Ethics, and the loons who publish it have penned an editorial declaring that our dogs, cats and hamsters should be rebranded as "companion animals" and owners should be known as "human carers." They say "pets" is a derogatory term and "owner," while technically correct, harks back to a time when animals were considered just property. Furthermore:

An intriguing and provocative theory about why American soldiers suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at a higher rate than other soldiers:

American writer Ethan Watters's recent book, Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the Western Psyche, offers a highly subversive answer. It is that American society has been permeated by psychoanalytical beliefs about the fragility of the human mind.

We believe in heaven, but are increasingly uninterested in hell, in part because of attempts by some pastors and theologians to make God seem more human. But "scoffing at eternal damnation" also makes human life less fully human:

We're almost in the era of "culture on demand" -- everything available all the time. Bill Wyman at Slate:

This shouldn't be any big !*&!@# surprise: