George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times is shamelessly using the burning wildfires, thousands of homes destroyed, and score of deaths in California to call for a tax increase. The L.A. Times had campaigned for keeping tax and spend liberal Gray Davis as governor in the form of targeted Schwarzenegger hit pieces in the 11th hour prior to the election. Now the embers haven't even been doused; the houses haven't even been extinguished; and the bodies of the dead haven't even been laid to rest and the Times is calling for billions of dollars in new taxes.

Here are some old suggestions: a half-cent sales tax increase raises around $2.4 billion annually. Upping the highest income tax rate to 10.3% from 9.3% for couples earning $300,000-plus picks up $1.3 billion. Boosting the cigarette tax by 40 cents a pack generates $675 million.

Socking smokers is cowardly, but there is some logic to taxing cigarette butts for firefighting.

You have to love that backhanded jab at smokers. Skelton all but blames them for setting the wildfires themselves. Taxing cigarettes for firefighting is a bit like taxing McDonalds because of the problem with littering. And, it would seem as though there is no problem the L.A. Times cannot solve without higher taxes on the rich.