Wherein you, the readers, talk amongst yourselves.

A hundred college presidents are urging lawmakers to lower the drinking age. We've all heard the argument before — if you're old enough to vote and die in a war, you should be old enough to drink. Do you agree? If you're a drinker, how old were you when you started drinking?

Wherein you, the readers, talk amongst yourselves.

It's hard to watch celebrities like DMX fall off the deep end, and you've got to wonder why someone in their lives hasn't successfully intervened. If you could send a celebrity or famous person to rehab (or a psychiatric hospital), who would it be?

We all know that there are more liquor stores and liquor ads in black neighborhoods with high crime, so a study recently conducted by University of Minnesota researchers that found this to be true wasn't a shock. This tidbit shouldn't have been a shock either, even though it was — the average price of a 40 ounce bottle of malt liquor was $1.87, which is less than a gallon of milk.

Malt liquor is a concern in inner cities because of its cheap price, high alcohol content, association with heavier drinking, and its link to aggressive behavior that can result in public safety issues, said Rhonda Jones-Webb, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health and principal investigator of the study. The cheap price of malt liquor also makes it especially available to inner-city youth, she added.

The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Substance Use and Misuse.

“We wanted to know the extent to which the alcohol environment in African American neighborhoods — high concentration of alcohol outlets and high availability and promotion of malt liquor – contributes to high homicide rates in those communities,” Jones-Webb said.

Drugs have more to do with murders in these communities than malt liquor ever will, but it stands to reason that all of these negative factors contribute to the degradation of the neighborhood. And malt liquor is so nasty. That's probably beside the point.

• Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you know what you need to do. If you're like me, you probably won't do it, though.

• So you're Thanksgiving dinner might have made you sleepy, but don't blame the turkey. The bird gets a bad rap.

• Drinking is good for you. Somewhere deep down, we all probably suspected this.

• Maybe it's time for everyone to just go the vegetarian route.

• This one's a break from the post-Thanksgiving drinking/eating theme. Click here only if you care about prehistoric, man-sized insects.

• Throw away your beef and your Geno's and Totino's frozen pizzas.

• If your dentist is listening and dancing to cheesy disco music while he performs your root canal and is named Dr. Trusty, run.

• Red wine hangovers might be a thing of the past. Hallelujah!

• Most people find nothing wrong with birth control being offered in school and do not think that it will promote promiscuity.

• Death makes us happy.

I can picture the impending class action lawsuit already.

According to the NY Daily News, the company that licenses Donald Trump's vodka inked a deal with Interscope Geffen Records to slap the label's most famous artists on liquor bottles.

"The deal will provide Drinks Americas with the potential to partner with select iconic celebrities … including artists such as Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, G-Unit, Daddy Yankee, Sheryl Crow, Enrique Iglesias, Chris Cornell, Gwen Stefani, Marilyn Manson and many others."

Actually, I was being harsh with that class action lawsuit comment. They are obviously trying to be responsible by only choosing artists that appeal strictly to a 21 and older crowd. I mean, what 14-year-old would want Daddy Yankee or 50 Cent-brand vodka? How uncool!

[NYDN]