Odds and Ends

— I don't know whether to be shocked or ashamed: USAToday's Report: Mass Media Harms Kids

I think it's mostly TV, but we all get painted with the same brush. The studies, done over 28 years, said that heavy media exposure increases the risk of obesity, smoking, drug and alcohol use, attention problems and poor grades, and that 93 percent of studies found that children with greater media exposure had sex earlier.

On the other hand ... at least they're well-informed.

— On a somewhat related note, if you're interested in plan B, Oxford, Mississippi, or Walgreens pharmacies, here's a first-person account about that.

— The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. has been in a recession since last December. I think the only person surprised by that information is John McCain.

— And this morning, the City Council's public safety and homeland security committee discussed the possibility of having Shelby County deputies patrol in Memphis with county sheriff Mark Luttrell and MPD head Larry Godwin.

Godwin said he was concerned "about the drain on the sheriff's department" and that they would have to figure out how the county officers would file reports.

"It would require those officers working for MPD, answering our dispatchers," he said. But more on that later ...