Fri column ping. btw in the month of March WRKO’s ratings dipped slightly while WXKS 1200 (Rush Radio) has ratings almost 4 times as high as what they used to have under
Spanish (0.3 to 1.1) It’s a start and note that these numbers were BEFORE WXKS started local talk (Jeff Katz,
mornings). How high would they be if they got to hire Howie?
Crash mess dummies
Web of trouble for gang of rebate-challenged Mass. hacks
By Howie Carr | Friday, April 23, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Don’t worry about that new Obamacare health plan folks - by the time you have to call the toll-free government hotline to schedule your lung transplant all these little snafus will be straightened out.
How Massachusetts was it yesterday - these hacks can’t even manage to give away other people’s money without screwing it up to a fare-the-well.
Rebates to buy new Energy Star appliances to replace old appliances that may or may not be energy-efficient. Hey, sounds like Cash for Clunkers, and we all know how well-managed that was. So now Taxachusetts comes up with its own Money for Maytags, Kenmores for Cash.
On Tuesday, one of Deval Patrick’s inept $105,000-a-year minions assured us nothing could possibly go wrong, that the Web system was “overbuilt.”
Less than 48 hours later, the exact same hack was mumbling, “The system is struggling to accommodate all the people interested in this.”
They announce they’re giving away free money and then they’re amazed at the response! Please, try not to let this destroy your faith in Earth Day.
I heard about this latest Deval disaster from a friend of mine shortly after 10 yesterday. I called the Herald city editor to give her a head’s up.
“I know,” she said. “I’m trying to get through myself and it comes back ‘error.’ ”
Have you tried the phone number yet? I asked her. She hadn’t.
“Don’t bother,” I said. “It doesn’t work either.”
Here’s the only-in-the-hackerama twist: There was a second, back-door Web address to get to the free money. But for at least an hour or so, the only way you would have known to use that sneaky address was if you happened onto the right blog . . . or, perhaps if you, uh, knew someone who knew someone.
By the time the payroll patriots got around to posting the backup address online for the actual taxpayers, most of the $6.6 million was gone.
Of course, the clowns behind this Crash for Clunkers are the same dolts who gave us the Big Dig, Bunker Hill Day, the Easter toll backups and the RMV branch closings. And the fact that the Web site was designed by a company in tax-free New Hampshire - well, I just hope the geeks’ office is close to a New Hampshire state liquor state, so our local solons could kill two birds with one stone.
One last thing: If I were a G-man, the first thing I’d be doing this morning would be checking to see if anybody who pocketed some coupons early yesterday on the sneaky site had access through an ISP in Victoria BC.
Don’t worry, though, feds, you’ll have another crack today. If he got any rebates, you can bet Whitey will have all four of them listed for sale on Craigslist by noon.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1249372