Clearing The Air

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Mpls Star Tribune tests the waters towards a new push for alcohol prohibition....ignoring the damages caused by the current smoking prohibition.

(The Star Tribune is quick to remove story links used online that don't coincide with their editorial agenda .....so highlights are shown below, the online link; if still available; can be found here.)

Speaking easy

Last update: October 27, 2007 – 4:09 PM

We visited some ....watering holes to ask local residents a few generations removed from the Bootlegging Era what they know about Prohibition and what they would do if it came back.

At W.A. Frost & Co., Kimberlie Rick, 25, of St. Paul, said she's a light drinker but "I definitely would fight" any effort to bring it back. "I definitely wouldn't just sit and accept it, [and] I would find a way to have a cocktail or glass of wine somehow. ... That battle has already been fought and lost. Isn't it almost like double jeopardy?"

Although Shonnie Brault, 37, works at Neumann's Bar in North St. Paul, home to a 1920s speakeasy/brothel...... But she admitted that she "would freak if it happened again. ... I'd cry [chuckles]. ... Wouldn't there be some serious riots and stuff?"

J.D. Strate, 27, of Minneapolis, was at Gluek's with a dozen friends. "Actually, those speakeasies sound like a lot of fun. But Prohibition was definitely not the best idea the government ever had. People our age want to go out and get together and drink beer. That's how I spend my entire weekends, with beer ......

The Star Tribune, like most print and news media these days, don't just happen to write a story to report the news or historical events. The new role of modern journalism is no longer about reporting the facts or headlines......it's about shaping public perception and opinion......to bring about policy changes. They are no longer impartial reporters they are advocates for political and social change.

So a Star Tribune story about alcohol prohibition coming on the heels of their successful editorial push for tobacco prohibition (smoking bans) seems less likely a special interest piece as much as a testing of the waters to see how and if the Star Tribune editorial board should pursue this new prohibition agenda.

Shamelessly, the Strib refuses to acknowledge the damages caused in the Twin Cities community from the current prohibition (smoking bans) they editorialized as necessary. 137 + hospitality establishments have since disappeared from the local landscape, taking some 5,000 -6,500 jobs in the process. Indicating that consequences from an ill conceived and unnecessary policy are not open to consideration nor debate from the elite, enlightened, and arrogant local media of record.

Meanwhile, the same "health advocates" Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) who funded the smoking ban movement ($200+ million), have for years been quietly funding the new alcohol prohibition movement. It's just a coincidence that RWJF's parent company Johnson & Johnson manufactures tobacco substitute products Nicoderm, Nicoderm CQ as well as drugs to eliminate alcohol dependency.

Pay no attention to the rent seeking man behind the curtain this is an issue about public health.......and as whispered at the local speakeasy (pharmaceutical profits).