Jim McGreedy announced his new budget this week. He didn't raise taxes in the usual sense, he went the "sin tax" route. This is nothing but a tax on the middle and lower middle class, who tend to be the ones who smoke. If you tax only selected items such as smokes or alcohol, is it still a tax increase? You bet it is. When I become governor, I'm going to have a special tax on every piece of gold jewelry that union officials buy. Think about it, if I could get 1% for every ring or chain bought by union business agents, I could balance the budget and give a 15% tax cut to everyone.

Update: Speaking of unions, why does the AFL-CIO support candidates who don't vote for union supported issues?:

In his stump speech, Edwards implies he ran against Jesse Helms by saying he beat "the Jesse Helms machine" to win his Senate seat. It was a real David and Goliath match-up -- pitting a poor, beleaguered multimillionaire trial lawyer against an elderly senator of humble means. But the mere mention of Helms' name invariably elicits sneers from the party of the little guy.

Helms voted with the AFL-CIO on all three big labor issues -- against NAFTA, against trade with China and for half a million good jobs in Alaska. Indeed, Helms was one of the main lobbyists against trade with China. The guy Edwards actually beat, Lauch Faircloth, was in the Senate for only one of these votes. The AFL-CIO didn't have to take Faircloth's word on how he might have voted on NAFTA: He voted against it. The AFL-CIO endorsed Edwards and opposed Faircloth and Helms.

It's not particularly surprising that the party of trial lawyers, environmentalists and Hollywood actresses keeps voting against blue collar workers. What's strange is that the AFL-CIO keeps voting against blue-collar workers, too.