Posted on 02/14/2007 8:20:38 AM PST by raccoonradio
Howie Carr live thread and column
Air Deval’s take on using (or abusing) job perks? Just do it
By Howie Carr
Boston Herald Columnist
Gov. Deval Patrick is accustomed to getting a free ride, and so he was shocked yesterday when someone asked him about his latest free rides, in a state police helicopter that once was used for public safety.
“My policy,” Air Deval sniffed, “is to use all the resources at my disposal to be governor of the whole state.”
Translation: “The job don’t mean a thing if you can’t wear the bling.”
Then he said, “Next question,” which should have been this:
“But . . . but . . . what about the carbon footprint, governor?”
Deval, obviously, was taken aback by this lese majeste by a reporter. He’s not used to being questioned, about anything. He’s the king, and he was surrounded by his vassals, the Local Government Advisory Commission - municipal mendicants with their hands out for more local aid.
“I don’t care,” one shrew shrieked, “how often he uses the helicopter.”
How about you? Could you use a free ride this snowy day? Just cruise to the grocery store high above all those peons slipping and sliding around down on the snowy roads. It doesn’t get any better than this. Together we can!
Yeah, you can get used to riding around in a chopper real quick. Just ask Jane Swift. Of course, she paid a steep political price for her Thanksgiving flight back to her double-wide in Berkshire County on the state police helicopter. Why do you think Mitt Romney took it out only once in four years?
But that was then and this is now, and now there’s a new governor, and he’s apparently allowed to use the state police chopper whenever he damn well pleases and nobody can say anything.
But of course there is a very big difference between Jane Swift and Air Deval Patrick. She had an “R” next to her name, and he has a “D.” That makes him one of the Beautiful People.
It’s getting clearer by the day that Air Deval likes the perks of his job very much. His state police entourage is growing to Romney-esque proportions.
Now we know why Deval doesn’t plan to do anything about police details. Better to stick to the really important stuff, like refusing to sign a Ronald Reagan proclamation, and trying to gut the CORI law for the benefit of Benjamin LaGuer and all the Benjamin LaGuers to come.
Unlike the helicopter, his proposal to destroy the CORI law may not fly. But it’s not like Deval isn’t doing anything. Air Deval has also appointed a new insurance commissioner, a judge named Nonnie S. Burns.
Name doesn’t ring a bell? Well, if you were in the Wellesley College Class of 1964, you might remember her as Hilda Margaret Steer, the name by which she was formerly known, as she put it in her Governors Council questionnaire 10 years ago.
I wrote a column about her and several other hacks being appointed to the bench by Gov. Bill Weld, and how they were in reality nothing but liberal lawyers who had tested positive for robe fever.
You’ll notice how The Judge Formerly Known as Hilda (or TJFKAH, for short) was described as a Weld appointee, so we’re supposed to think she’s not someone who gave money to such well-known pro-business statesmen as Carol Moseley-Braun, Barney Frank, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Rosaria Salerno.
Then TJFKAH decided she wanted to retire to a judgeship, and guess what? She suddenly started ponying up to Bill Weld’s Senate campaign. And now she’s going to be Deval’s insurance commissioner, and what a coincidence that she’s making a career move right after her judicial pension vested.
I wonder if Deval will give TJFKAH a ride on his helicopter.
Together we can pay for Air Deval to follow in the footsteps of Jane Swift. The only difference is, for Deval it’s a free ride.
Howie Carr Show and column live ping
hi RR~!
Hows the snow fall in your part of Massachusetts? It has turned to freezing rain here in town. Maybe about 3 or 4 inches of snow at best.
They have the ALL IMPORTANT job of being Deval's PEOPLE and giving him helicopter rides all around the kingdom!!!
just 2 inches or so, lots of sleet/freezing rain
I know some FReepers here enjoy WTTT 1150:
http://www.talk1150.com
("Conservative" is their middle name!)
Perhaps as part of a trend (I think Salem's conservatalker in Cleveland is doing the same thing), WTTT
1150's website now uses the slogan "Boston's Conservative Talk" (similar to what WXKS/WKOX had
except for the middle word). Thus they are definitely tying the hosts' idealogy into their slogan...
(The site has a few pictures, including Mike Gallagher talking to soon-to-be-former AAR host Al
Franken, and one of Jimi Carter, a WTTT staffer whom I believe used to work for Gene Burns and/or
Jay Severin.)
Some of the conservatalk shows are being aired also on WROL 950, their sister station (especially
at night) and you wonder if Salem's committment to political talk is getting stronger. Might they do
better with the conservatalk on the 950 signal , or even WEZE 590? (Though their committment to
Christian teaching/preaching is probably their biggest concern). If they marketed themselves better
and got a local host on (didn't Don Feder briefly do a show for them?), and wound up on a signal
like 590 or 950 instead of 1150, they could make inroads against the likes of WRKO and WTKK...
Jane Swift backs McCain over Romney
BOSTON - Jane Swift, whom Mitt Romney stepped over in 2002 to become governor of Massachusetts, announced Wednesday she was endorsing Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential race.
”Senator John McCain is a principled leader whose unwavering determination to improve the lives of Americans is admirable,” Swift said of the Arizona Republican in a statement issued by his presidential exploratory committee.
Today's Poll WEATHER PREDICTIONS
How do you think the weathermen did predicting today's weather:
Right on the money 37%
F#%&ed Up Again 63%
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14
1st Hour
2nd Hour
Former Massachusetts Governor and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci will join us to tell us why he has hit the campaign trail for former New York Mayor and possible presidential candiate Rudy Giuliani.
3rd Hour
CHUMP LINE! Call 617-779-3469 and leave Howie, Sandy or Happy a message about today's stories or anything else buzzing around your bonnet and we may play it back on the air!.
4th HOUR
Cuz he wants a patronage job? If not with Rudy, than with whatever crumbs the GOP has left?
Irish snow storm. Good one!!!
Evening all; in for an hour.
Beverly has about 2 inches of snow and a foot of slush/
road flooding due to clogged storm drains. I parked half a mile away in a municipal lot so I knew I could get in/
get out easy. The trouble is getting to it--a drenching walk to get to it. Snow is bad, slush is worse. Wait till it
freezes, too
About a half inch of snow with LOTS of rain here in Norwood. My spine lives to see another day..(Big smile on my face)
Did the piece happen to mention why anyone would care what Jane Swift thinks (if she in fact does)?
Boy, oh brother, the callers sure are not exaggerating. That is serious heart attack snow out there. The guy who usually shovels the front of my place never showed up so out I went about 5 minutes ago.
But, on a very bright note I got to chat with my next door neighbor who was coming home from work. So after seeing her smile and exchange a few words it was all worth it!
Um, maybe McCain is pro-stomach stapling coverage by insurance companies?
I posted a couple of weeks ago that I remembered a news report after a Chicago storm that 18 people were felled by heart attacks shoveling snow.
I had not heard that at all. Thats horrible. I have heard that at least 12 people have died from this storm along the coast through NE so far. I understand Maine is getting pasted pretty good.
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