Episode 4 of Boardwalk Empire tonight, and we assume some of the Prop 19 folks will be watching:

[T]he official sponsors of Prop 19 argue the four-page initiative was drafted carefully and deliberately to mirror the end of alcohol prohibition in the 20th century, which gave rise to a patchwork of wet and dry counties that endures to this day. They are particularly heartened that their campaign momentum coincides with the success of HBO’s new Boardwalk Empire as a timely reminder of how the ban on booze spawned Al Capone and organized crime.

“When prohibition ended, you didn’t see Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch pulling out guns on the street corner. They pulled out advertising. And there are no illegal grape-growing cartels producing wine in our national forests,” Dale Sky Jones, chief spokeswoman for the Yes to 19 campaign, told the Star in an interview at Oakland’s battle-leading Oaksterdam University.

“That’s why it feels like there is a sea-change in attitudes now. Not only do the vast majority of polls show Californians in favour, but when you break down the numbers to those who have actually read the initiative, we’re at about 70 per cent support.”

Dave Walker describes prohibition as “American organized crime’s Big Bang.” And Mary Anastasia O’Grady in the Wall Street Journal says the escalating violence of the Mexican drug cartels would be curbed by ending prohibition:  “Legalizing grass in the U.S. would mean increased competition for Mexican exporters and lower profit margins, thereby depriving the monopolies of important income.”

Broadway Empire was the #1 trending topic on Twitter last week during the broadcast. While the economics of prohibition is fascinating, I think more people are just into the boobs.

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