What'd I tell ya?

The only reprieve for the business owner is the last-minute 25-foot rule will be phased in "later." Read it and weep.

A last-ditch effort to halt the start of the controversial indoor smoking ban was doused yesterday when a federal judge ruled the law can go into effect as scheduled.

The decision means it will be illegal for anyone to light up in a public place after midnight tonight.

But state health officials disavowed any intention to immediately prohibit smoking within 25 feet of buildings where it is banned. They said the 25-foot buffer zone, announced Wednesday, is still just a proposal.

U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Chesler rejected arguments by a coalition of bar, restaurant and bowling alley owners that the law violates their constitutional rights by banning smoking in their establishments while permitting it on casino gambling floors.

Ruling from the bench in Trenton after hearing arguments for 30 minutes, Chesler said the Hospitality Coalition for Fairness could not prove lawmakers lacked "a rational basis" for exempting gaming areas of Atlantic City's 13 casinos from the smoking ban.

I'm ready to sign on as one of L. Neil Smith's "political smokers." It's a relief that crime has been eliminated in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, so that we can set the police and media on those evil smokers and put them to work rescuing cats. I feel so much safer already.

Maybe it's time to move to Thunder Bay - although then I'd have to deal with the socialized health care system.

P.S. And if the federal judge had unconstitutionally invalidated a state law he theoretically has no jurisdiction over, I wouldn't have been thrilled with that, either. I think I'm turning into one of those happy curmudgeon types in my old age.