Oops Jew

It's Rosh Hashanah time again and you know what that means. That's right, it's time for the Atone Phone. And this year it was John Lithgow that called Stephen at 1-888-oops-jew. However, it was a mistake. John was actually calling 1-888-nors-lez.

Stephen mentioned some well-known celebrities tonight. Apparently they like to swim, but only the thin people actually went in the water. I didn't really get that part of the show.

But the really interesting part tonight was the interview. His guest was Ken Burns to talk about his upcoming three-part film about Prohibition. It premieres October 2, 3, and 4 at 8:00 p.m. on PBS (Check Local Listings)

The short discussion that Stephen and Ken had about Prohibition was very interesting. While most people say Prohibition didn't work, it had the support of nearly everyone when it started. It solved some problems, but it created new problems. There were many loopholes. It was strict to the point of being ridiculous in some instances. And lots of people drank anyway, including women.

From the PBS website comes this sentence that is applicable for today if you think about what's going on now: "But the enshrining of a faith-driven moral code in the Constitution paradoxically caused millions of Americans to rethink their definition of morality." Hmmm. I would think that along with history of Prohibition and commentary about it, we might expect to see parallels to today's political climate discussed. As Ken Burns quoted from Ecclesiastes 1:9, "There is nothing new under the sun."