Prohibition

When Prohibition clutched the tiny town of Washington Crossing 70 years ago, Anna Shaudys was a sturdy Christian soldier who fretted over tales that bootleggers were toting moonshine and shotguns through the rural night. The whiskey breath on the neighborhood drunk, a retired tailor named Isaac Lipman, also permeated her childhood, smelling of sin and charm. And Shaudys' picture of alcoholism was simply sketched: Lipman clumsily loading himself into a horse-drawn wagon at twilight and setting off for the musty saloons in Trenton.

At a time when branding is paramount and every wannabe celebrity hopes to be photographed for online viewing, why would a new bar open without signs, advertising, or PR? And who would have the audacity - in this Facebook/Foursquare society - to forbid cellphone use or cameras inside? Welcome to Hop Sing Laundromat at 10th and Race Streets, Philadelphia's most-anticipated secluded barroom, with 12 months of buzz behind it. If blogging is any sign of sizzle, Hop Sing Laundromat has been aflame for a whole year - and that's before it opened, garnering more than 50 combined mentions on local blogs "Foobooz," "Meal Ticket," "Grub Street," "The Insider," and "Eater Philly.

PHILADELPHIA, close enough to Atlantic City to occasionally bask in the glow of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," gets only a few glancing mentions in PBS' "Prohibition. " Society Hill bootlegger Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, described as a "sometime boxing manager," makes the cut, though we don't learn much about him. In Philadelphia, we're told, "citizens bought up homemade drinks with names like Happy Sally, Jump Steady and Soda Pop Moon. " "Prohibition" doesn't say what went into those concoctions, but maybe it's better not to know: It does list ingredients for a Chicago favorite, Yak-Yak Bourbon, described as "raw alcohol, flavored with burnt sugar and iodine.

As a challenge to the constitutionality of cannabis (marijuana) prohibition, and to halt the repression of rights under color of statute, and to protect the abuse of the law, as it has been demonstrated, I offer these legal, scientific and historical facts: Given that it was deemed necessary to pass a constitutional amendment to prohibit ethanol/drinking alcohol, the present prohibition of cannabis, deriving as it does from a mere statute (Marijuana...

The Lower Moreland commissioners have met in another attempt to end the confusion over the township's prohibition against leaf burning. On Tuesday, the commissioners decided that the leaf-burning ban would remain, but that it would not be enforced unless there were complaints. Township manager Alison D. Winter on Thursday attempted to explain the commissioners' actions. "Township officials are not going to be out riding around, looking for people who are burning leaves," she said.

SURE, THAT CUP of bathtub gin might be laced with deadly wood alcohol. But bouts of blindness, leg amputation and sudden death notwithstanding, boozing during the Prohibition - at least as depicted in the new Ken Burns three-part docu-film airing on PBS next week - sure looks fun. The dandies in tuxedos, the girls in flapper dresses dancing to the raucous music of jazz bands as gallons of lager sprays from speakeasy faucets - wow, the...

* PROHIBITION. 8 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, WHYY. * BOARDWALK EMPIRE. 9 p.m. Sundays, HBO.   WE DIDN'T really need Ken Burns to tell us there was nothing dry about Prohibition. Not with HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" already partying on for its second season in a long-ago Atlantic City. But it's nice to be sure. And there's nothing like a documentary miniseries from Burns and his producing partner, Lynn Novick, to make it clear that HBO hasn't cornered the market on colorful characters when it comes to telling the story of the 18th Amendment, one of history's better illustrations of the law of unintended consequences.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, after demonstrating repeatedly over the years its ineptitute in State Store operation and liquor code enforcement, has added yet another piece of solid evidence that it is incapable of acting responsibly or caring one whit about the public it is supposed to serve. It has provided further proof, although none was needed, that the State Store-LCB system deserves to die and be replaced by competitive free enterprise as Gov. Thornburgh is attempting to do - despite a barrage of lawsuits and the prospect of numerous court decisions and appeals.

New Garden Township supervisors plan to prohibit all truck traffic on Scarlett Road between the eastbound and westbound lanes of Old Route 1. Because of increased traffic on Scarlett Road and stop-and-go traffic on the steep hill approaching the traffic lights at both eastbound and westbound Old Route 1, an ordinance to ban trucks has been drafted and is scheduled to be voted on at next Board of Supervisors' meeting Tuesday. Supervisor Chairman Willard H. Smedley Jr. earlier this year asked board members to study his suggestion to either limit truck traffic to one-way or prohibit it. "I've seen trucks stopped on the hill in a line of traffic and have a devil of a time getting started.

Let's raise a toast to Ken Burns, and not just any old swill. How about a sidecar? Or an aviation? Or a clover club? Or any of dozens of elegant cocktails that were popular and widely consumed in the 1920s, when alcohol was illegal in the United States and the country, nevertheless, became the biggest importer of cocktail shakers in the world. Burns and his collaborator, Lynn Novick, have held the reins taut and produced a rarity for them - a historical documentary that sticks to the point and runs at a reasonable length.

By Daniel Akst You are about to read four words I never thought I would write: Pat Robertson is right. The good reverend isn't right about everything, of course. After the 9/11 attacks, when Jerry Falwell laid much of the blame on feminists, gays, and the American Civil Liberties Union, Robertson readily concurred. On other occasions, Robertson - a Yale Law School graduate! - has also suggested that feminism promotes witchcraft and child murder, and that America should assassinate Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez.

At a time when branding is paramount and every wannabe celebrity hopes to be photographed for online viewing, why would a new bar open without signs, advertising, or PR? And who would have the audacity - in this Facebook/Foursquare society - to forbid cellphone use or cameras inside? Welcome to Hop Sing Laundromat at 10th and Race Streets, Philadelphia's most-anticipated secluded barroom, with 12 months of buzz behind it. If blogging is any sign of sizzle, Hop Sing Laundromat has been aflame for a whole year - and that's before it opened, garnering more than 50 combined mentions on local blogs "Foobooz," "Meal Ticket," "Grub Street," "The Insider," and "Eater Philly.

By Ted Galen Carpenter Nearly five years ago, Mexico's president, Felipe Calderón, declared war on the country's powerful and vicious drug cartels. His strategy of using the military against them initially enjoyed widespread domestic popularity, as well as Washington's strong support, but it has failed to yield results. Some 42,000 people have perished in the resulting violence, and the cartels seem more powerful than ever. The Mexican people are increasingly disenchanted with the drug war, and influential political figures are urging a different approach.

Sometimes rules are a good thing Gov. Corbett is right in wanting to privatize liquor stores, but wrong to say "History has shown - as it always will - that the people, not government bureaucrats, know best how to live their lives" ("$1.6B expected if liquor stores sold," Wednesday). Did the people who resisted requiring seat belts in cars know best? Is the government wrong to restrict where people can smoke? On the other hand, government prohibition of alcohol clearly was a big mistake.

Let's raise a toast to Ken Burns, and not just any old swill. How about a sidecar? Or an aviation? Or a clover club? Or any of dozens of elegant cocktails that were popular and widely consumed in the 1920s, when alcohol was illegal in the United States and the country, nevertheless, became the biggest importer of cocktail shakers in the world. Burns and his collaborator, Lynn Novick, have held the reins taut and produced a rarity for them - a historical documentary that sticks to the point and runs at a reasonable length.

PHILADELPHIA, close enough to Atlantic City to occasionally bask in the glow of HBO's "Boardwalk Empire," gets only a few glancing mentions in PBS' "Prohibition. " Society Hill bootlegger Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, described as a "sometime boxing manager," makes the cut, though we don't learn much about him. In Philadelphia, we're told, "citizens bought up homemade drinks with names like Happy Sally, Jump Steady and Soda Pop Moon. " "Prohibition" doesn't say what went into those concoctions, but maybe it's better not to know: It does list ingredients for a Chicago favorite, Yak-Yak Bourbon, described as "raw alcohol, flavored with burnt sugar and iodine.

* PROHIBITION. 8 p.m. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, WHYY. * BOARDWALK EMPIRE. 9 p.m. Sundays, HBO.   WE DIDN'T really need Ken Burns to tell us there was nothing dry about Prohibition. Not with HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" already partying on for its second season in a long-ago Atlantic City. But it's nice to be sure. And there's nothing like a documentary miniseries from Burns and his producing partner, Lynn Novick, to make it clear that HBO hasn't cornered the market on colorful characters when it comes to telling the story of the 18th Amendment, one of history's better illustrations of the law of unintended consequences.

SURE, THAT CUP of bathtub gin might be laced with deadly wood alcohol. But bouts of blindness, leg amputation and sudden death notwithstanding, boozing during the Prohibition - at least as depicted in the new Ken Burns three-part docu-film airing on PBS next week - sure looks fun. The dandies in tuxedos, the girls in flapper dresses dancing to the raucous music of jazz bands as gallons of lager sprays from speakeasy faucets - wow, the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Voters will get the chance to decide whether Ohio can opt out of the national health-care overhaul after the state's top election official said Tuesday that opponents of the federal law had enough signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot. Secretary of State Jon Husted determined that supporters of the amendment, which would prohibit Ohio from participating in the federal Affordable Care Act, had gathered 427,000 valid signatures. They had submitted more than 546,000 and needed roughly 358,000 of them validated to make it onto the ballot.

OOK, SO MAYBE the Irish Pub doesn't sit exactly on Atlantic City's Boardwalk. But it's just paces away from the Great Wood Way on St. James Place. Besides, it's hard to argue it isn't the coolest place in town. Dating from the 19th century and owned - lock, stock and treasure trove of antique furnishings - since 1972 by Cathy and Richard Burke, the Irish Pub is a living, breathing (and totally accessible) portal to the Roaring '20s, when no place in America roared louder than Atlantic City.