We are all artists now

You gotta love this. Chicago's nanny state culture is drawing national attention due in part to the Obama nanny state in store for us, but some have had second thoughts. Tribune. Sun Times, Alderman Brendan Reilly:

Reilly said he would introduce the amendment at Wednesday's City Council meeting and push for speedy passage to allow the Chicago production of "Jersey Boys" to put cigarettes back into the hands of actors playing Frankie Valli and the boys.

"While I fully support the smoking ban and using it as a means to protect public health, I don't think it was ever intended to limit artistic expression. It would be wise for us to ... allow theater productions to obtain a special waiver when smoking is a critical component of their performance," said Reilly, a smoker.

Hey, we are all artists now. Liberals don't have a monopoly on artistic expression. Or at least we could be artists for a day...every day, why not?

The foie-gras ban was overturned because Chicago was a laughingstock, so maybe this will fall by the wayside as well. We live in hOpe.

P.S. Last word from the mayor:

Despite his efforts to promote Chicago's downtown theater district, Daley appeared to be somewhat ambivalent about the smoldering controversy.

"I think we should use common sense. Maybe they could do phony [herbal] cigarettes. I don't know," the mayor said.

But, Daley quickly added, "That is not a big issue."

Umm. What do liberal artists smoke?