The state of the culture

Oh, my goodness! Is it July already? And I haven't even started looking for a tree:

It's Christmas in July at Sears Holdings Corp.

Headline on this story: "Michael Jackson's casket was the same used for James Brown." So what have they done with James Brown?

Another group with a big image problem turns to the government for help:

Little People of America, at its annual conference in Brooklyn this week, has called for the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word "midget" on broadcast TV.

Let's hear it for the humble pocket knife:

The lame leading the pathetic:

According to the National Association of Health Education Centers, children's stress levels have increased 45 percent over the past 30 years.

Youngsters are most frequently worried about parents, peers and grades, the organization said.

The opening Wednesday of "Public Enemy," the new movie with Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, seems to be renewing Hoosiers' fascination with the romanticism of Depression-era gansgters. This AP story captures the flavor:

There are those of us who still cling to the "celebrities die in three" myth because guessing who the third might be in any given triad is an interesting way to pass the time. We were cheated out of our game last week when Ed McMahon's death was followed so closely by Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson checking out within hours of each other.

You listen to "Thriller," and I'll listen to this.

Common sense breaks out at the Supreme Court:

Arizona school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old girl when they strip-searched her on the suspicion she might be hiding ibuprofen in her underwear, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The decision put school districts on notice that such searches are "categorically distinct" from other efforts to combat illegal drugs.

It has seemed like "The Catcher in the Rye" would go on forever, with each new generation discovering and identifying with the alienated Holden Caufield. But, apparently, the current generation of young men is fed up with the whiny little brat: