"We found that, compared to those who have never touched alcohol, many people do benefit from some alcohol, including some people who drink outside the guidelines,'' says Dr. Kew-Kim Chew, who led the study at Western Australia's Keogh Institute for Medical Research. After studying the habits of 1580 Australian men, it was found that men who drank within recommended guidelines had 30% fewer problems during sex than teetotalers, and, according to Clair Weaver of The Sunday Telegraph, "Even binge drinkers had lower rates of erectile dysfunction than those who never drank, although this type of drinking can cause other health problems." And if that isn't wacky enough, ex-drinkers were the ones with the highest rates of erectile dysfunction. (That sound you just heard was a million guys, giving up their New Year's resolution to drink less. Or perhaps a "WTF" sigh from your straight-edge boyfriend.)

There's no real reason given for the increase in performance that alcohol provides, though one would suspect a sense of relaxation and a lessened sense of anxiety helps a bit. Though it's important to remember that men who drink inside the recommended guidelines have the best performance, so if DrinkyPants McGee corners you tonight and tells you how awesome drunken sex with him will be before he vomits all over your shoes, starts singing "Sweet Caroline" and then begins to cry about the dog he had when he was 7, you might want to consider some other options. I'm just sayin'.

Want Better Sex, Fellas? Have A Stiff Drink [The Sunday Telegraph]

NARAL's executive director, Heather Brewer, says: "If Sen. McCain has a problem with women accessing birth control, he should state that publicly. His voting record makes it clear that he does not support access to birth control, so why is he ducking the issue at his own town hall meeting?" But a McCain aide, Jeff Sadosky, said hotel security and the Albuquerque police asked the abortion rights activists to leave when they were seen protesting in a parking lot. When they got in line to enter the event, it was reiterated that they'd already been asked to leave. Politico's Ben Smith adds: "The local press, a McCain aide said, had been aware of, and didn't cover, the story yesterday — often a useful sign of how meaningful an incident is."

We have an overpopulated, at-risk planet, in which a child dies of dehydration every seven minutes and a woman dies of a botched abortion every seven minutes (not to mention the hunger crises in Asia, Africa and Europe). Why is a pill for "erectile dysfunction" — not a life threatening or, frankly, as life-impacting condition as pregnancy — promoted and widely available? And free for the insured? While oral contraceptives (with health advantages like decreased menstrual blood loss, reduced risk of ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer, improved acne and decreased menstrual cramps and pain and uh, not getting pregnant) are not? McCain was at a loss for words, maybe you can fill in his blanks?

Planned Parenthood Launches Anti-McCain TV Spot [Time Magazine]
Naral: Pro-Choice T-Shirt-Wearers Barred From McCain Event [UPDATED] [Politico]

Then, there's the problem, as Salon succinctly puts it, of the "Serotonin Empire." "The Serotonin Empire continues to expand for a simple reason: Try getting your company's health insurance to cover the expense of counseling. Odds are, it won't. But it'll pay for pills," writes Jerome Weeks, in a roundup of several books about antidepressants. (No wonder that Eli Lilly, the company that makes Prozac, had its fourth-quarter net income rise six-fold last year!) The people are medicated, the drug companies are happy, and physicians — many of whom are not psychiatrists — are prescribing anti-depressant meds after consultations of as little as 3 minutes, says Salon.

Which is not to say that I am anti anti-depressants: I've been on Paxil, Prozac, Lexapro and Wellbutrin at some point or another over the past seven years, and I think I can safely say that at the time my initial SSRI was prescribed, I was far past the point of "bummed." I cried pretty much incessantly for over a month, could barely get out of bed, and was essentially unable to function. I have a vivid memory of struggling to make myself a bagel, and then breaking down into tears when the charred smell of burnt yeast started coming from the kitchen — toasting a baked good was a task both tiny and totally impossible.

Honestly, I don't know what would have happened had I not taken anti-depressants; I suppose I would have struggled through it, and hopefully not become Bell Jar refugee with my wrists slit or my head in the oven. Maybe I would have been fine, as I am now, and continued to live out my life contentedly. At least until middle-age (according to a new study, those in mid-life are most likely to be depressed). But of course, by the time I hit 50, Eli Lilly will probably have something for mid-life crises too.

[Image via Brandspankin']

Don't Be Happy, Worry [Salon]
Yale Lecturer Advises: Flush The Prozac And Hack Your Own Happiness [Wired]
Happiness Is Being Young Or Old, But Middle Age Is Misery [Guardian]