Germans and Angelinos tell regulators to get lost

In Germany, of all places, smokers are busy building loopholes into the country's internationally trendy anti-smoking laws where possible, and outright ignoring them otherwise.

The head of Frankfurt's civil order office, Hasso Haas, said his staff has better things to do than chase smokers.

"We are not the anti-smoking police. We do not patrol. If we receive a complaint we will look into it, but no, we are not proactive. It is our interpretation of the law that we do not have to be, and I think our colleagues in other states see things the same way," he told AFP.

Haas said his office instituted a period of grace and had only began issuing fines in March.

"Since then we have fined 25 pubs 280 euros (440 dollars) each but nobody has paid up."

He predicted that before long the ban in bars would be relaxed throughout the country, where nearly one in three adults smoke.

"I'll bet that within a year we will see a nationwide liberalisation. There is massive resistance and you cannot have exceptions in some places and not in others, people find it unfair and defy the law."

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, taco vendors who sell their savory fare from catering trucks are thumbing their noses at a new ban on parking in any one place for more than an hour. It's a law that County Supervisor Gloria Molina openly admits is intended to favor politically potent restaurants who resent the mobile competition.

A controversial new set of regulations regarding taco trucks took effect May 15, making it possible to bring criminal charges against lingering catering truck drivers.

But an organization of drivers said they do not plan to comply with terms of the new law. ...

Under the banner “Carne Asada is not a Crime,” more than 8,000 people have signed an online petition at saveourtacotrucks.org calling for the ordinance to be repealed.

Roxane Marquez, Molina’s press deputy, said that there were no plans to repeal the ordinance despite the defiance of some drivers.

Politicians can push and push, but nicotine fiends and taco lovers will only go so far.