Diki, that's one of the best articulated demonstration of understanding of the issues involving Prohibition, the Kennedys and the financial issues involving organized crime I've see lately. Well done.

There have been similar arguements over the years for the legalization of pornography...take the profit motive away, and prices drop dramatically when something is legaliuzed.

Not an avid proponent of legalizing either porn or drugs, but the issues are what they are.


Russ

What I like about most of the gigs I'm doing now... senior homes, dances, and private parties... is the non-smoking enviornment. Lots better than the 'good olde days' in the bars.

Glenn

Come to Florida....... we've had a ban on bar and restaurant smoking for several years. The bars didn't close, the restaurants are all still in business and no-one lost their gig.....

Captain Russ - porn IS legal in the US, just kiddie porn gets the well-deserved attention of the police. You can buy a Hustler or a Playboy without looking over your shoulders for The Man........ But you can't get a joint.

With alcohol, only the RESULTS of intoxication are penalized - DUI, public intoxication, murder, whatever.... But possession or purchase of the drug itself is no longer prohibited except for the young (and, in the US, even that is an absurd 21 years old now, not the 16 or 17 it used to be in the days of the Greatest Generation - Why, if they were the Greatest Generation, do we try to change everything they did?).

It is assumed that, even under the influence of alcohol, we are responsible for our actions. Why not other intoxicants? Strip the cartels and the drug lords of their profits, and watch the whole problem go away (mostly). THAT is the true lesson of Prohibition......

For those of you who do not know much about tobaco farming, it's one of the few crops you can grow on a postage stamp size parcel of ground that has lousy soil and still make a good profit. In southern Maryland, most of the tobaco farms have been replaced with housing developments where McMansions have been placed on those tiny parcels of ground. The person who was selling tobaco retired on the profits from selling the farmland to a real-estate developer. An acre of ground anywhere within 50 miles of Washington, DC sells for nearly $500,000 U.S.. The homes that are being built on those properties sell for $1-million or more and the size of the homes ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet. The irony of this is there are still a few small tobaco growers situated between the McMansion developments. Guess those growers are a bit like OMB performers--they'll never retire.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

Glenn years agop I played clubs where you couln't even see the audience thru the smoked filled Stage colored spotlights....it was like playing in a clouded mist Argggg! Thank goodness smoking is banned almost everywhere!

The current smoking bans are great for the musicians that are just starting to gig. For the rest of us, we'll probably buy it from the second-hand (or in some cases, first-hand) smoke we inhaled ten years ago. But what the heck, you gotta die from something. What's the point in being physically healthy at age 90 but can't remember who you are or what day it is....this is Tuesday, right?

chas

Here's a blurb from Bob Newhart's famous Sir Walter Raleigh sketch:

"Are you saying "snuff," Walt? What's snuff? You take a pinch of tobacco (starts giggling) and you shove it up your nose! And it makes you sneeze, huh. I imagine it would, Walt, yeah. Goldenrod seems to do it pretty well over here. It has some other uses, though. You can chew it? Or put it in a pipe. Or you can shred it up and put it on a piece of paper, and roll it up - don't tell me, Walt, don't tell me- you stick in your ear, right Walt? Oh, between your lips! Then what do you do to it? (Giggling) You set fire to it! Then what do you do, Walt? You inhale the smoke! Walt, we've been a little worried about you...you're gonna have a tough time getting people to stick burning leaves in their mouth...."

That Bob Newheart bit was a classic! Thanks for the reminder of how good the "Button Down Mind" album was!

Russ

and,--good news for the PSR3000, there is no room to place an ashtray on it.
Greetings
Peter