Ken Burns + Prohibition

= Awesome. "If we just banned (insert subject of 'wedge' issue,) America would be a better place to live."

"BAN" is such an extreme position:

I need to help them.

They are drinking Keystone Light. They are beyond help.

cwh wrote: They are drinking Keystone Light. They are beyond help.

I think that with patience, time and bottle of good tequila that I could make progress.

poopshovel wrote: = Awesome. "If we just banned (insert subject of 'wedge' issue,) America would be a better place to live."

True that. Bastids managed to bring on the federal income tax while trying to make other people stop drinking.

did I miss some news?

I don't wish to appear unsympathetic, but I really don't give a E36 M3.

mad_machine wrote: did I miss some news?

I didn't get it either, this is what Google coughs up:

http://watching-tv.ew.com/2011/10/02/prohibition-ken-burns-daniel-okrent-peter-coyote/

I tried to watch but it could'nt keep my interest.

It aired last night on PBS. Ken Burns does those documentaries that are 3,000 hours long (ie: Civil War, Jazz, Baseball, and now Prohibition).

I watched it and it was interesting. I'll probably try and catch the rest of the 800 part mini-series.

Prohibition was an illustration of two major points. One, a democracy can be manipulated for the benefit of the few. Secondly, this was a real bad example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Ooops, double post.

I would watch it if I could pick up a channel it aired on. I'll probably just end up downloading them as they air, like I do with everything else that isn't on Netflix.

PBS stations aired Part II this week, don't know how many more parts there might be after next week/Part III.

Apparently, when it first passed (the 18th Amendment) folks were given the impression that beer and wine were going to be exempted...only HARD liquor was being banned. Then, it turned out that folks making/selling CIDER had to get exemptions.

What was interesting was all the "tricks" or "hoops" folks jumped through to continue getting liquor. If you had a doctor's "prescription" (shades of medical marijuana?) you were able to get some liquor.

Sorry for the vague 1st post. I was all berkeleyed up when I put it there (joking.) Prohibition affords scumbags (Capone, Kennedy family, etc)...(half-joking that time) the opportunity to become insanely wealthy. It also creates a 'who do you think you are trying to tell me what I can and can't put into my body?' in the hearts and minds of the people.

I'm still dumbfounded that we as a society have essentially told politicians "You guys are really smart. If you think it's bad for me, just make it illegal."

What I didn't know until tonight was that the ideas of job-creation and increased tax revenue played a big role in the push to repeal the 18th amendment. Maybe it's time for drug laws to change...maybe that was Ken Burns plan...he strikes me as a pot smoker. 