Alcohol

You got to love this excerpt from a state senator addressing Mississippi legislature, 1958:

"If, when you say whisky, you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge,
the bloody monster that defiles innocence, yea, literally takes the bread from
the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the
Christian man and woman from the pinnacles of righteous, gracious living into
the bottomless pit of degradation and despair, shame and helplessness and
hopelessness, then certainly I am against it with all of my power.
But, if when you say whisky, you mean the oil of conversation, the
philosophic wine, the stuff that is consumed when good fellows get together,
that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips and the warm glow of
contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the
stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty
morning; if you mean the drink that enables a man to magnify his joy and his
happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies and
hearbreaks and sorrows; if you mean the drink, the sale of which pours into out
treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for
our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged
and infirm, to build highways, hospitals and schools, then certainly I am in
favor of it."

There are so many things I would like to say about this. First of all this is so typical of politics, they can never really choose a side, especially when it will take money away from them. Secondly, its amazing to see the difference in the way people talked back then, thinking it was appropriate and correct. "Crippled, dumb, pitiful, and infirm," these words would not even be thought now days in fear of getting hit by some activist. Not to mention they are degrading and incorrect terms. Thats all for now, but I will leave you with this...

Alcohol remains the one mood-altering substance viewed with consideral ambivalence by the American public (Stimmel, Barry. Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, and the Road to Recovery: life on the edge).