Posted 3/06/2008 06:21:00 PM by Douglas

Loopholes are generally for pussies that want to circumvent the law, but when they go to circumvent a stupid law, then let's get on with the show!

All the world's a stage at some of Minnesota's bars. A new state ban on smoking in restaurants and other nightspots contains an exception for performers in theatrical productions. So some bars are getting around the ban by printing up playbills, encouraging customers to come in costume, and pronouncing them "actors."

The customers are playing right along, merrily puffing away - and sometimes speaking in funny accents and doing a little improvisation, too.

The state Health Department is threatening to bring the curtain down on these sham productions. But for now, it's on with the show.

Nevermind the fact that people that want to smoke in a bar have to come up with such a lame excuse. If every other bar in town is non-smoking, that means everyone in this bar wants to smoke, and I'd guess in Minnesota it's pretty ball-droppingly unpleasant to step outside on the patio. So I'm sure the state is going to let this practice continue and let these adults live their lives as they see fit, no? No:

The Health Department this week vowed to begin cracking down on theater nights with fines of as much as $10,000.

"The law was enacted to protect Minnesotans from the serious health effects of secondhand smoke," Minnesota Health Commissioner Sanne Magnan said. "It is time for the curtain to fall on these theatrics."

Hey Sanne, shut your smokeless pie hole. Some people choose to smoke, and still other choose to smoke and make a living waiting on other smokers. Why not stop trying to tell these people how to live their lives?