Ban on Alcohol

Alcohol is responsible for c.105,000 deaths in the U.S. each year (CDC). In about 1/2 of homicides, alcohol is a serious causal factor. I conclude that only the government should be permitted to have alcohol. Or, at best, that all purchasers of alcohol regularly have a universal background check for alcoholism and traffic violations involving alcohol, that only small amounts of alcohol can be purchased at any one time, that the content of alcohol in each distribution be <4%, that alcohol manufacturers can be sued if their alcohol is used in a traffic fatality regardless of the quality of its production....or, again, more simply that there should be no alcohol (except in the hands of the government).

'It is called wine,' said O'Brien with a faint smile. 'You will have read about it in books, no doubt. Not much of it gets to the Outer Party, I am afraid.' (Orwell, 1984)

Baptists Switch to Wine: Grapejuice Companies Concerned

The Christian Post:

Grape juice companies are concerned about their profit margin after the nation's largest Protestant denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, announced it would stop using grape juice and begin using wine for communion on April 1 this year.

Southern Baptists use communion grape juice for a ceremony known as the "Lord's Supper." In the ceremony, the grape juice is called "the blood of Christ," or "the blood of Christ but not the actual blood of Christ," when speaking to Catholics.

U.B. Duped, a spokesperson for Jester's, the largest supplier of communion grape juice, announced Wednesday it would cut back on production and may cut its work force "thanks to those stinkin Baptists."

Former SBC President Frank Page told The Christian Post he was outraged that Jester's would consider "profitcy more important than prophecy," then quickly added that he knows "profitcy" is not a real word, but as a Southern Baptist preacher he is required to make it rhyme.

In other interviews with CP, Southern Baptist leaders expressed mixed feelings about the change.

Current SBC President Ronnie Floyd was excited about the move.

"I look forward to any change that makes communion more like the original Last Supper," he said, adding that he will also celebrate with bare, recently washed feet, and point out people who have betrayed him.

Here is the rest.

Bootleggers and Baptists in Arkansas

The economic theory of "Bootleggers and Baptists" is alive and well in Arkansas with the proposed amendment allowing dry counties to go wet on the ballot.  Obviously in a state like Arkansas there are mixed opinions since this is a big amendment for a small state.  In fact, the Washington Post just reported on it.

“This fight has made for some unusual alliances,” said Brian Richardson, chairman of the Citizens for Locals Rights, which opposes the amendment. “The package stores and religious moral objectors — they’re certainly strange bedfellows.”

For the economic theory of Bootleggers and Baptists see this short video:

Why I Gave Up Alcohol

This is largely autobiographical but there's also somewhat of an argument here and there.  I found a photocopy of it today in my workroom box on the way out of the office.  I wonder why the person didn't just email me with the link?  At any rate, I will assume that this person knows I have this blog and wants me to write a post about it. There are certainly a good deal of sensible things in that Christianity Today article (and I applaud D.L. Mayfield in pursuing her calling), but there's also nothing said that's new; other than the autobiographical parts, it's mostly old news.  Nonetheless I shall make a few comments below on some of the problematic or noteworthy items: