■"House Passes Prohibition: Law and Order Assured," advertisement, Wall Street Journal, 14 September 2005, p. A5.

A rather cryptic full-page ad in the Times that shows that headline from a "Chicago Register" newspaper dated 1919. It just shows this paper with no other reference, so I'm not exactly sure what the sponsor is trying to say with the ad. Never a good thing.

What it reminded me of is that Department of Homeland Security officials, with whom Steve DeAngelis and I had spoken with at the Custom and Border Protection division of DHS, had commented that their efforts along the coast of Canada had reached levels not seen since the era of Prohibition.

Was making that connection the point of the ad? Beats me. Still, it's amazing to think DHS officials can say that about Canada-Canada for God's sake!