Mayor Bloomberg is proposing a ban on smoking in public parks, beaches, and other areas, like the pedestrian walkways in Times Square. Where do they expect everyone to smoke now? How long before cigarettes are outlawed altogether? Five years? Ten?

In the cat-and-mouse game that is New York's smoking ban, the cat just got a sweet new asymmetrical haircut. The Health Department is deploying "younger and hipper-looking" inspectors to snitch on New York's coolest clubs. The sketch comedy potential!

The issue people take with trend pieces is that [this thing] should be [that thing]. That's not the problem with the "People are Illegally Smoking in New York Bars" pieces, because breaking laws is always trendy! The problem is...

The Economist—the most serious magazine in the world—argues today that America's smoking bans have killed untold numbers of innocent people. While bans on smoking in public places are in place theoretically to save us from ourselves, the piecemeal approach America has taken to instituting them has led to huge leaps…

Except for dry cleaners, almost everyone likes the New York City cigarette ban. People smell better, smokers have an excuse to leave a bad conversation and non-smokers feel left out, as they should. But oh no: we're getting fat without our cigs! From 2002, when the law was enacted, through 2004, New Yorkers gained 10…