So Democrats don't just want to raise taxes,

they want to do it by slime:
California's Democratic leaders were planning a vote today on a brazen proposal to raise gas, sales and income taxes through a series of legal maneuvers that would bypass the Legislature's minority Republicans.
And you'll just love this:
"I still believe in bipartisanship," Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said at a Capitol news conference. "But there is an even greater responsibility than practicing bipartisanship, and that is to govern. And that is what we intend to do here today."
Translation: "I believe in bipartisanship as long as the other side does what we want; if they won't, we'll skip around the rules because we have to tell you what to do and what you're allowed to keep of what you earn."

Speaking of Democrats and nanny-state morons,
The Los Angeles City Council approved a package of gun control laws Wednesday, placing new requirements on ammunition sellers and banning the sale of military-style ammunition in the hopes of further reducing the city's gun and gang violence.

The measures ban the sale of .50-caliber ammunition, capable of penetrating a car's engine, and would require the city's ammunition vendors to be licensed, to sell ammunition face-to-face instead of over the Internet and require gun dealers to report a full accounting of their inventory twice a year to the Police Department.

The council passed laws prohibiting the installation of secret compartments for guns in cars and allowing the city to permanently seize vehicles used by certain gang members during a crime, which was proposed by City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.
Etc.
Villaraigosa dismissed questions about whether the ammunition restrictions would have a practical effect since buyers could simply purchase the bullets over the Internet or in cities where the laws do not apply.

"Part of what we're doing here is leading the way," Villaraigosa said, stating that the measures are another tool to fight gun violence and that he hoped other cities and President-elect Barack Obama's administration would follow suit. "This is the most far-reaching effort of any big city in the country. . . . This isn't about symbolism; it's about results."
It's both; it's a way of pretending to actually do something, and it's preening in their "We Care" halo. Won't do a damn thing to actually stop crime, but it'll screw honest people around some more.