Mayor Greg Ballard -- damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, but that's politics -- took quite a bit of heat recently over his decision to not support a ban of smoking in Indy bars and nightspots.

This is a toughie. The progressive argument says it is time for Indianapolis to get on the map; who wants to support a throwback city where smoke gets in your eyes every time you go out to have a drink in an adult watering hole? Besides all that, here's a testimonial: I lived, barely, and breathed, barely, in those smoke-filled newsrooms of the Star many years ago. One of the best actions ever taken by the paper was to banish smoking in the work area. The exception was a designated smoking room (as well as the publisher Gene Pulliam's office).

But the Libertarian in me, years later, had to respect the position of many bar owners -- adult businessmen and women, in other words -- who wanted to make their own decisions about their workplaces. (The weak link is the effect on employees of such establishments; I didn't want to work in a smoke-filled joint; why should they?)

Nonetheless, Ballard's refusal to back the smoking ban, allegedly despite throwing his support that way during his run for mayor, has been problematic.

Then comes Sunday's New York Times SundayStyles section, with its front page article: "Blowing Smoke At a Ban."

Seems New York, Chicago and other cities -- hello, Bloomington -- are chock-full of little clubs etc. that refuse to tow the line. In other words, patrons defy the law, and bar owners are complicit.

Here, in my opinion, are the key points put forth in the NYT article, written by Douglas Quenqua and published this past Sunday Jan 3:

"There is evidence that smoking bans outside New York City may also be losing their bite. USA Today reported last month that bars in Chicago and Honolulu as well as in Ohio and Virginia were openly defying bans."

(This comes after the writer documents the defiance taking place in NYC). Quenqua continues:

"Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have passed smoking bans that affect bars and restaurants. Smoking bans were popular a century ago but were all but repealed in the late 1920s, according to Christopher Snowden, the author of 'Velvet Glove, Iron Fist: A History of Anti-Smoking.'

"Most bans meet the same fate, Mr. Snowden said:

"'They usually end up with the same kind of passive resistance you see here.Its just the fact that you have a habit that won't go away,' he added."

Could it be that Ballard is the big picture thinker on this? He might well be...at any rate, he's playing to the anti-nanny state crowd that is tired of being to eat only zero trans fats, without foi gras and no smoke, period.