QUOTE: "Though I’m partial to Magic Brownies, Half Baked and Phish Food, this month I’m getting my Ben & Jerry’s fix through a personally heretofore unexplored flavor: ’Chubby Hubby.’ Or ’Hubby Hubby,’ as it has been called in Vermont this month. In keeping with its quirky corporate culture and commitment to social justice, Ben & Jerry’s has temporarily changed the name of its legendary ’Chubby Hubby’ ice cream to honor the legalization of gay marriage in the company’s home state of Vermont, where the change went into effect Sept. 1. This clever promotion joins other corporations rushing to drink from the LGBT water spout. Businesses are defining themselves as gay-friendly with the energy and enthusiasm once reserved for embracing the labels ’environmentally friendly’ and ’eco-conscious.’ Apparently, gay is the new green."

—Colorado Springs Independent staff writer Kristin Lynch

Rapper Jay Sean has ended The Black Eyed Peas’ remarkable 26-week run at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. The Peas tune "Boom Boom Pow" logged 12 weeks in the top slot, followed by the 14 weeks "I Gotta Feeling" spent at No. 1. That song’s reign tied Mariah Carey’s song "We Belong Together" for the longest tenure at the top in this decade. And the Peas are only the second act in the Hot 100’s 51-year history to spend half a calendar year enthroned at No. 1. Usher managed 28 weeks on top in 2004 with four separate songs.

The National Organization for Women has weighed in on David Letterman’s confession that he had sex with several women on his staff. A sternly worded NOW statement said that the late-night talk show host’s actions had created a "toxic environment" for his female employees. NOW president Terry O’Neill also commented, "As ’the boss,’ [David Letterman] is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace—and he did that with sex. This places all employees—including employees who happen to be women—in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation. … It is this kind of hypocrisy that perpetuates the image of men in power preying on women, while many look the other way." NOW has called for CBS to "take action immediately" regarding Letterman’s indiscretions, though the organization stopped short of asking CBS execs to fire the comedian.

While Letterman’s affairs have drawn censure, they’ve also drawn a bigger audience. The Monday after his confession, The Late Show with David Letterman pulled in 5.7 million viewers, making that episode one of the most-watched this season. It’s more than double the number of folks who watched The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on NBC that night (2.3 million). For that matter, Letterman attracted more viewers on Oct. 5 than any of NBC’s prime-time offerings—including one-time rival Jay Leno, whose 10 p.m. (Eastern) talk show drew just 4.5 million viewers.

QUOTE: "I think I’d rather get run over by a train."

—Madonna, responding to David Letterman’s question about whether she’d consider marrying again.

QUOTE: "Even when I’m old enough, I don’t think I’ll drink on tour. I’m all about good, clean fun."

—19-year-old country phenom Taylor Swift

QUOTE: "My parents are raising me just like everyone else is raising their kids. They are doing it the way they want to. It is not for the media or for anyone else to judge how they should or should not raise me."

—Miley Cyrus

MTV is proceeding with plans to air eight episodes of Gone Too Far, a documentary series focused on family interventions in the lives of young drug abusers, even though DJ AM, the program’s host, was recently found dead from an overdose of prescription drugs and cocaine.

An unidentified Illinois boy (who is a minor) and his mother have filed a lawsuit against four people who created a fake Facebook page for the boy and masqueraded as him online. The Facebook page was allegedly rife with racist comments and tales about the boy’s supposed sexual antics that made it appear as though he was a homosexual. "You can imagine the horror of a parent finding a fake Facebook profile purporting to be their child that contains information that could be harmful to their child," his mother says.

Facebook is now tracking the "happiness" of its U.S. users. The result is being called "The United States Gross National Happiness" index, based on the words users write in their updates. Using words such as "happy" or "excited" push the index higher. Words like "sad" or "despondent" nudge it lower.

QUOTE: "Turning 40 is such a blessing. Especially because as a child I always thought I would die before I grew up. … [Once] my father came home … mad at the world. He was drunk, as he was most of the time. He got the vacuum cleaner extension cord and trapped me in a room and beat me until the skin was coming off my back. … Nothing would compare to the random, drunken, violent beatings I would receive from then until I was 19."

—actor/director/producer Tyler Perry (I Can Do Bad All by Myself, Madea Goes to Jail, The Family That Preys), in a personal blog post on his 40th birthday, reflecting on the abuse he dealt with as a child. At the end of it, Perry says that the only thing that kept him from committing suicide was a voice that he later says he recognized as God’s. "I sure have no doubt that ’it’ was GOD. That voice always gave me comfort. It allowed me to hold on." Given these confessions, it’s perhaps no surprise that overcoming physical and sexual abuse are frequent themes in Perry’s films.

The Justice Department reports that more than 60% of all children in the United States have been exposed to violence in the last year, directly or indirectly. The government agency’s survey of 4,549 adolescents ages 17 and younger in May 2008 defined exposure to violence as having been personally victimized, having witnessed violence or hearing about violence or threats of violence against a friend or relative at school or at home. The Justice Department also said that nearly half of all adolescents had been assaulted in the previous year and that 6% reported being victims of sexual abuse. Shockingly, 20% of those ages 14 to 17 reported having seen a shooting. Attorney General Eric Holder said of the findings, "Those numbers are astonishing, and they are unacceptable."

Miserable childhoods can make for shorter lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A new study from the CDC suggests that children who experience repeated episodes of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse have life-spans 19 years shorter than children raised in more stable environments. Dr. Robert Anda, the study’s primary researcher, says that childhood trauma acts "like a dose of stress poison that negatively affects how the brain develops and [how] multiple organ systems function."

Seat belts, airbags and antilock brakes can help keep teens safe while driving. But one of the most effective safeguards has nothing to do with automotive technology. According to new analysis of data from the National Young Driver Survey, teens who were given strict driving guidelines coupled with aggressive parental supervision were 50% less likely to speed, 71% less likely to drive while intoxicated and 29% less likely to drive while using their cell phones.

Teens also are safer if they don’t have their own cars. According to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, one in four teens who had "primary access" to a car were involved in some sort of accident, compared to one in 10 who had accidents in vehicles that they shared with other family members.