Bloomberg's New York: Smoking Banned In Times Square

Wow - the arms of Big Brother get wider and wider around the throat of freedom:

NEW YORK — Lawmakers have voted to extend New York City's smoking ban to parks, beaches — and Times Square.

The ban approved Wednesday by a vote of 36-12 is one of the most ambitious outdoor anti-tobacco efforts in the U.S. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says the new law will save lives and make New York a healthier place to live.

The smoking ban will cover some 1,700 parks and 14 miles of public beaches plus boardwalks, marinas and pedestrian plazas. It goes into effect 90 days after Mayor Michael Bloomberg signs the bill. The signing date has not yet been announced.

A law banning smoking in New York City bars and restaurants went into effect in 2003.

Backers of the ban say even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can pose health risks.

Many smokers say the law will infringe on their rights.

I hate smoking. I smoked for many years (from the age of 14 until the age of 31) and one of the best steps I ever took in life was quitting cigarettes. I don't like being around cigarette smoke, it annoys me when somebody is smoking in a park and blowing it my way, and I hate walking by bars with a Tobacco Row of smokers outside choking up the environment.

That said, these Big Brother pronouncements from Bloomberg and the City wherein they dictate just what people can do and can't do, what people can eat and can't eat, where they can smoke and cannot smoke in the outdoors - well, it is just more and more troubling to me.

An oligarch like Bloomberg thinks he knows better than everybody else about everything. And of course, limiting smoking in outdoor city-owned spaces is within their legal right.

But Times Square?

Hell, I remember the old days when you could buy a gun, knives, fake I.D., cocaine, hookers, and whiskey in Times Square.

Now you can't even smoke a cigarette.

Too much Big Brother from Obama, too much Big Brother from Bloomberg.