People also can be forgiven for worrying because this administration seems to be looking for new ways to raise money from unusual sources. The president last week announced his intention to change laws that allow U.S. companies doing business abroad to pay less in taxes than those who are here. The obvious solution ought to be to reduce corporate taxes here, but the president needs money to fund his other projects, most notably health-care reform.

It goes without saying that these efforts would hurt businesses at a time when government ought to be doing all it can to help them. It also ought to go without saying that if the EPA identifies six planet-destroying gases, it makes little sense to crack down on some, but not others. If the cow burps, tax it. Maybe with a high enough tax, someone would finally create a cleaner cow.

Just to make sure this lunacy really doesn't catch on, South Dakota Sen. John Thune and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer are sponsoring a bill that would expressly forbid a cow tax.

There must be a joke somewhere here about all the lowing the federal government does in Washington. I'll let you figure that out.

Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News edito?rial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com. Visit his blog at deseretnews.com/blogs.