Imagine, for a second, that you’re a smoker, which, if you’re a smoker, should be easy. You’ve triumphed over brownish teeth and the lingering stench of stale smoke. You’ve bravely ignored the highly increased risk of lung cancer in the noble pursuit of having something to do with hands while you drink.

Do you like to pair your quintuple-cheeseburger (The High Five!) with a soft drink big enough to swim in and loaded with enough fizzy additives to clean limestone? Are you a lobbyist for a large soda company that long ago traded your chance for any sort of spiritual salvation for piles of stress and increasingly redundant money?

California is dealing with the most intense budget crunch in the country. One proposal for dealing with the financial hardship is one quite familiar to glassy-eyed freshman on 3 a.m. Taco Bell runs everywhere: marijuana. Who says money can't grow on trees?

The IRS decided it doesn’t need to tax airlines for the $1.76 billion made in baggage fees, this year. I mean, when you have the chance to add to the airlines’ astounding amount of tax breaks and subsidies, you’ve got to take it, right? And why not give airlines incentive to institute more “fees” that, like entertainment, food, drink, and alcohol, generate tax-free revenue? Look, TaxRascal is no fan of unfair taxes. We’ve pretty much affirmed that by now, yes? But the airlines are already enjoying all kinds of gentle caresses from the IRS (as well as basically every other government agency ever created, ever), so giving them a pass on another somewhat despicable revenue stream is silly, if not unconscionable. Facts on the ground are changing, and the tax code should follow suit. Airlines are participating in a cashgrab orgy, and given the loose reins, there’s not an end in sight. Just a couple weeks ago, Delta & Continental both increased their baggage fees, tempting other carriers to follow. Delta’s increase moved their fees to $25 for the first and $35 for the second, up from $15 & $25. Delta’s been the pioneer in the baggage fee frontier, with ...