CORONA -- Bombastic radio talk show hosts "John and Ken" lit the fuse.

And thousands of Southern California residents provided the "boom," turning the normally laid-back setting of Tom's Farms, a pastoral roadside attraction/farmers market on the outskirts of Corona, into a raucous staging ground for an anti-tax rally on Saturday afternoon.

The rally, a companion piece to the anti-tax KFI AM 640 hosts' live broadcast, featured hundreds of colorful signs, "Don't Tread on Me" flags and life-size effigies of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ripped to pieces by a industrial shredder.

The rally was one of several anti-tax gatherings staged throughout the state Saturday to urge the defeat of five of the six propositions on Tuesday's ballot, a slate of measures that the governor has endorsed as a way to help California close its gaping budget deficit.

The first five propositions -- 1A through 1E -- are a mix of proposed budget fixes that would change how the state raises capital and spends it. All five were derided Saturday as "smoke and mirrors."

Proposition 1F, the only one leading in recent polls, would deny lawmakers raises during years when the state is running a deficit.

At one point during the rally, the crowd, cheered on by the radio show hosts, chanted in unison: "Liars, thieves and whores! Liars, thieves and whores! Liars, thieves and whores!"

The focus of the crowd's ire was the state's politicians -- both sides of the aisle -- big business, big oil, state worker's unions, teacher's unions and, in somewhat of a stretch, the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team.

The Lakers were included, John and Ken said, because the team is one of the state's businesses that has sought to avoid paying taxes.

"We're going to beat the propositions and we're going to beat the Lakers!" shouted the pair, whose full names are John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou.

A good-sized percentage of the thousands of people who attended the event traveled from Orange and Los Angeles counties, as evidenced by the traffic jam on Interstate 15's Temescal Canyon Road exit. But there were plenty of Southwest County residents in attendance as well: people from Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee.

Danielle Marrujo, a Temecula resident, attended the rally with her 14-year-old son Devin.

Taped to Marrujo's chest was a picture of Gov. Schwarzenegger with a red bar crossed through his face.

"He lied to us," Marrujo said, explaining why she singled out Schwarzenegger for criticism. "He's raising our taxes."

In the last few months, Marrujo said her life in Temecula -- she's lived in the city for six years -- has started to unravel.

"I'm losing everything, my home … my husband has been laid off. I realize (the governor) can't control everything. It's not all his fault. It's everybody's fault, all the political parties," she said. "If not for my parents, me and my family would be homeless."

For Marrujo and others at the rally, the wellspring of their disappointment and their anger was mismanagement of the state's resources.

"We're the ones working, sending them our tax dollars and they're taking it and misusing it," she said.

Murrieta's Gary and Debbie Adams, watching the proceedings from a shady spot near the petting zoo, said the taxes heaped on the state's residents by Sacramento is getting out of control.

And budget problems that have plagued the state for years, if not decades, aren't getting any better.

"We're not fixing anything," Gary Adams said.

Debbie Adams said the issue is personal for her because she is an English teacher who is trying to help put her daughter through college. Just recently, her daughter's state grant money was cut by 15 percent.

"Where am I going to get that 15 percent?" she asked.

Janine and Mark Matelko of Menifee said they were really impressed by the turnout at the rally, and they said Sacramento and local politicians should take heed.

"Government is too big," Mark Matelko said. "And politicians have been lying to us the whole time."

Two of the Matelko's friends and fellow Menifee residents, Max and Marylei Wilkie, said the state's residents bear too much of the burden for the state's expenses.

Using the example of Marylei Wilkie's home state of Hawaii, the Wilkies said the state's park system should be charging two rates, one for state residents and another for tourists.

During the rally, the radio hosts broke down what an average California resident's tax dollars support, a list of programs and bureaucracies that especially steamed Max Wilkie.

"The entire state should be self-sufficient," he said. "Roads should be paid for by gas taxes and the DMV. Parks should be paid by the people who use the parks. The entire state shouldn't be tapping into the general fund."

Contact staff writer Aaron Claverie at 951-676-4315, ext. 2624.