Last week the Washington D.C. City Council voted to nullify the rights of property owners. Smoking will be banned on all accessable private property except for "cigar bars, hotel rooms, retail tobacco outlets, outdoor dining areas and medical research institutions" reports the Associated Press.

The anti-smoke nazis usually claim that prohibiting smoking everywhere actually increases business in restaurants and bars. But that message seems to be lost on D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, who's worried about the impact on D.C.'s night life.

Lighting up in restaurants and bars would become illegal in the nation's capital under a smoking ban approved Tuesday by the city council, a move the mayor warned would send residents and tourists across the Potomac River to dine in more lenient suburbs.

"We should not impose a blanket ban on all of our restaurants," Mayor Anthony Williams said in a statement. "To do so puts the district at a competitive disadvantage."

So why not remain pro-choice and let the customers decide if they want to frequent smoking or non-smoking bars? In Chicago, anti-smokers are wrestling with the same dilema. They too want to tell people how to live their lives, but it's really hitting them in the pocketbook.

When I wrote about [bar owner Wendy Pick] in August, she was wrestling with her conscience. Should she continue to run a bar that abetted her customers in smoking themselves sick? Or should she forbid cigarettes, which might be as financially unhealthy as banning beer?

Gotta love the holier-than-thou attitude. Someone who peddles booze looking down her nose at smokers. She's not at all concerned about heart disease, alcoholism, or drunken driving. On top of that Pick knows that her self-imposed smoking ban is hurting her business. She's hoping to hold on until July 2008, when Chicago will begin using the police power of the government to force everyone else to ban smoking as well.

She feared that without a citywide smoking ban to "level the playing field," her smoking clients would take their money, as well as their Marlboros, elsewhere...

Since [she banned smoking], with clear lungs and a clean conscience, she's watched profits drop.

"We're not getting as many of the 'smoking's-not-going-to-hurt-me-I'm-young' crowd," she says. Some of the old-timers are gone, too, like the ardent pool player who complained about being forced outside to smoke in winter.

"I'm going to get pneumonia," he protested.

She thought he should be more worried about emphysema.

Ugh. Would you want to deal with this person? I bet if I ordered french fries she'd insist I eat steamed veggies instead. Working for her is apparently not much better.

Meanwhile, her bartenders are looking for extra work and trying to appreciate the bright side of fewer tips.

"When you go home, your clothes don't stink, and your eyes don't burn," [bartender Matt Wilson] said Thursday night. Then he amiably excused himself.

"We just got a rush."

A rush?

"Well," he said, "one person just came in."

Remember, it's about property rights and freedom of choice.