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#1316149
Doctor Whom
Saudi Arabia brags about its low crime rate, so emigrate already.
7/29/2011 4:03:46 AM
#1316151
Think or GTFO
Yeah but on the other hand, a glass of wine is nice now and then.
7/29/2011 4:07:28 AM
#1316153
farpadokly
Two words: Al Capone.
7/29/2011 4:09:18 AM
#1316154
whatever
Citation needed.
Citation needed.
Citation needed.
Citation needed.
Citation needed.
And so on.....
7/29/2011 4:09:54 AM
#1316158
Comrade Potatovich
Get off the internet, Al Capone's ghost.
7/29/2011 4:15:39 AM
#1316165
Hertzyscowicz
Hey wait a minute, I have a citation for about one third change in the homicide rate:
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/homrate1.htm
Oh and for a whopping threefold difference in alcohol consumption compared to today:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1989146,00.html
7/29/2011 4:30:38 AM
#1316166
TGRwulf
"The wealthy liquor industry has so controlled the media over the past 50 years that most Americans today believe prohibition was a failure. They have literally been able to brainwash this country into believing that the out-lawing of booze hurt our citizens. It is an outright lie! Prohibition was a success. If liquor were controlled today, we would not need the massive amounts of tax dollars to build new prisons. Most crimes and accidents are committed "under the influence." "
Yeah, it's not like there was a huge increase in organized crime or anything.
7/29/2011 4:30:46 AM
#1316170
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
You can make a list if benefits for anything. Doesn't mean any of it is true or that it's a good idea.
7/29/2011 4:39:16 AM
#1316176
Hertzyscowicz
Taking a better look at the site, looks like Gomer H. Wayne Pyle will believe anything that he's told, provided there's not a shred of evidence.
7/29/2011 4:48:09 AM
#1316179
checkmate
Dear Wayne left out the best thing:
Men had harder erections!
But then again, you couldn't drink yourself into thinking that fugly thing at the bar wasn't fugly.
7/29/2011 5:00:04 AM
#1316183
Zeus Almighty
I have only question for this Pyle fellow: Did it hurt, pulling all of that out of your ass?
Oh, and as a former Baptist I shouldn't have to point out the obvious to a bigwig Baptist like Pyle.
Here's another benefit to your plan: All that prison space freed up by former alcoholics? It can be used to house teh gheys.
(Obvious snark is obvious)
7/29/2011 5:17:01 AM
#1316188
LDM
Prohibition didn't fail my ancestors. My great-grandfather made a buttload as a bootlegger.
7/29/2011 5:29:46 AM
#1316189
Swede
Alcohol and prostitution disappeared into secret bars, controlled by the Mafia, for whom the Prohibition was a huge success.
7/29/2011 5:30:32 AM
#1316192
dionysus
Crime in Chicago was DOWN 25%
I'm a Chicagoan so I can safely say you're full of shit. Prohibition did nothing but pave the way for organized crime which is worse than regular crime as the criminals can more easily get away with it. There's a reason we have a number of landmarks and bars that were formerly speakeasies or hideouts of some sort.
Alcohol almost disappeared
No it didn't, it went underground. Just because we can't see it doesn't mean it's gone. Come on, we're supposed to learn object permanence as toddlers.
Families were better clothed
Being a fan of mob movies I do have to admit that I like prohibition era fashion.
Savings accounts tripled
Insurance policies written were doubled
Real estate values increased
That has nothing to do with liquor at all. In fact, the Great Depression happened during Prohibition. The main factor in all of those is "the economy, stupid".
7/29/2011 5:32:40 AM
#1316203
Passerby
I don't even need to say citation needed, because your stats are outright lies: Arrests for public drunkeness went through the roof, organized crime became stronger than any other time in American history, and bathtub gin was everywhere. The homebrew was often lethal. The iron grip of Al Capone and other booze barons reduced random crimes of opportunity such as muggings but did so by employing every street thug in the city as enforcers for protection rackets. Hired hits and storefront bombings became commonplace.
Other 'facts' are mathematically impossible: A stat can increase over a hundred percent of a previous value, but cannot decrease as such because that would bring the base number below zero. You also cannot apply a multiplier above 1 to a decreasing amount.
Keep in mind that the stock market crash also happened during the prohibition years, which makes all claims of the entire nation becoming flush with disposable income among the most bold-faced examples of did-not-do-the-research and blatant lies I've had the displeasure of debunking off-hand. The market was at a high point before the crash but few people benefitted from it. After the crash, though, everyone suffered.
7/29/2011 5:47:20 AM
#1316213
nutbunny
Alcohol IS bad for your health in large quantities.
Alcohol is very easily abusable.
This leads to problems of alcohol abuse, which then leads to many other social ills.
Prohibition however DID fail.
That's because people will get their fucking drink come hell or high water.
This works exactly like abstinence advocacy
7/29/2011 5:53:19 AM
#1316216
Spats Colombo
Hey, you. I'll see you in Chicago on St Valentine's Day. And don't think dressing up as a dame is gonna protect you.
7/29/2011 5:57:52 AM
#1316221
Mister Spak
"Crime in Chicago was DOWN 25%"
You left out the mafia was a gang of roving paramedics saving random lives.
7/29/2011 6:04:23 AM
#1316224
Gawd
So, a five-fold decrease in "vagrancy" and a three-fold increase in the national savings rate? Wow! Now could you cite sources?
7/29/2011 6:05:47 AM
#1316225
breakereslion
EVEN IF those statistics were accurate in some way, like a cherry-picked snapshot over the years of prohibition, COINCIDENCE =\= CAUSALITY!
Oh, and,
"Families were better clothed"
During THE GREAT DEPRESSION? Bullshit.
"Savings accounts tripled"
From an all-time low in 1929-1930, thanks in part to FDR, the New Deal, and the NRA.
You're a lying stack of ignorant shit, Pyle.
7/29/2011 6:08:53 AM
#1316231
Dr. Shrinker
Ironically, when Pyle's allies realize that he is calling for government regulation of an industry, they will be screaming for his blood.
7/29/2011 6:22:49 AM
#1316235
Doubting Thomas
Prohibition was a success, because when it was enacted, everybody stopped drinking. Except for the millions of people who didn't!
I call BS on every claim in that list, especially:
Vagrancy decreased 525.8%
Savings accounts tripled
Families were better clothed
Because you do know that Prohibition was in effect when the Great Depression occurred, right?
7/29/2011 6:26:36 AM
#1316242
Vagrancy decreased 525.8%
Wait, what? Does this imply there was 5 times fewer vagrants than there were to begin with? That is, for every vagrant there was to start with, there are now -4 vagrants?
7/29/2011 6:37:58 AM
#1316247
@ #1316242
Actually that seems to imply that everyone who was homeless before prohibition was now employed and had 4 permanent residences and a timeshare on a property.
7/29/2011 6:45:31 AM
#1316250
Horsefeathers
"The wealthy liquor industry has so controlled the media over the past 50 years that most Americans today believe prohibition was a failure."
It was a failure. That's why we don't have it any longer.
The only thing it achieved was to create a black market for knockoff hooch which
1) killed a number of people via poisoning them because the stuff was uncontrolled, unregulated and unsafe and
2) created the Mafia as we know it due to their ability to acquire vast amounts of profits by manufacturing it, bootlegging it, and running the speakeasies that sold it.
This is what happens when you morons try to ban something on moral grounds. You just create a huge black market for it.
"They have literally been able to brainwash this country into believing that the out-lawing of booze hurt our citizens. It is an outright lie! Prohibition was a success."
Yeah? Then why was it repealed if it was so successful and solved all of the problems alcohol was supposed to be causing?
"If liquor were controlled today, we would not need the massive amounts of tax dollars to build new prisons. Most crimes and accidents are committed 'under the influence.'"
First of all, bullshit. That's what they thought when they passed Prohibition to begin with and what they got instead was more criminals and more violent criminals because of the huge amounts of money to be made.
Second, "under the influence" is a general term that can mean anything from "took too much prescription medication" to "zonked out of their mind on every narcotic known to man" and anything in between. It doesn't apply just to alcohol.
H. Wayne Pyle, chairman of the Central Baptist Social Action in Quincy, Illinois, has compiled a list of the benefits. They are impressive!"
Yet you don't cite your source for any of this.
7/29/2011 6:50:27 AM
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