Jan. 16 -- An anniversary of a sad day in history

I was just sitting here relaxing with my bottle of hootch and comtemplating the world when I realized something was wrong about today.

I mean here it is January 16, 2007. The temperature is at near record highs. I am not being abused or ignored. I have a nice table to rest on and watch the world go by.

Life is good.

But something about today is not right.

Then it hit me. Today marks the 88th anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history: Prohibition took effect this day in 1919.

Why anyone would think that passing legislation based on a narrow idea of what is right or wrong would work is beyond me.

Just think of all the bad things that came out of this "forced morality." Thanks to Prohibition we got the Mafia instead of a bunch of local gangs. Corruption ran rampant across the country and -- because so many people ignored the law -- we started a nationwide trend of ignoring laws we didn't like.

But this is all a debate for the politicians.

All I know is that Elmira is not smiling because of her new holiday ribbon. And I was not kept warm during those cold desert nights by snuggling up to Elmira.

Oh, and for the history buffs, the country finally came to its senses in 1933 when the 21st Amendment was passed. So let us celebrate December 5 -- the date the 21st Amendment was ratified -- as a day of freedom and liberation.