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Posted on 04/16/2011 10:25:40 PM PDT by raccoonradio
Howie thread for the week starting with his Sun. Herald columkn
Ha, ha, ha- staying alive, staying alive
By Howie Carr | Sunday, April 17, 2011 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
I’ve been listening more and more to the ’70s station on satellite radio. I haven’t got the gas line blues yet, but do any of these other words ring a bell?
Stagflation.
Misery index.
On Friday the government released another bad inflation report. You know how terrible it was by how gingerly the state-controlled media handled it. One reporter brushed off the spiraling increases in prices as “transitory.” Sort of like life, I suppose. An AP reporter alibied, “Except for food, fuel and rent, inflation remained tame.”
Or, as the old joke goes, “Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?”
I’ve been asking my radio listeners how they are attempting to whip inflation now. Some of the old ’70’s remedies are no longer available. Those damned bar codes — at the supermarket you can no longer peel off a couple of weeks’ worth of price increases before you reach the checkout counter.
But there is a way around bar codes. Sometimes on Fridays, when the specials change, they forget to change the barcode back to the higher price.
At the meat and deli counters, human beings still punch in the code to set the prices. Sometimes they make a mistake. If you know the worker, mistakes are more likely, shall we say, to happen.
“I’ve bought porterhouse at chuck steak prices,” Matt said. “It’s amazing how much better porterhouse tastes when you pay $1.99 for it.”
Pre-Obama-era bargains are also available at your local package store.
“I have developed a taste for the domestic legacies — Pabst Blue Ribbon and Narragansett,” said another caller. “After three or four, you can’t tell the difference.”
Then there are the EBT cards, formerly known as food stamps.
“They give you $200 a month,” said a briefly unemployed listener named Brian. “After you sign up, you get six months, one way or the other. I got myself another job, but I’m still getting the handout for four more months.”
Generic brands are hard to beat. OK, so no one in their right mind would buy anything other than Philadelphia cream cheese. But the cheddar, the Monterey Jack — don’t tell me you can tell the difference between block cheeses. Ditto, potato chips.
Why have cold cuts suddenly almost doubled in price? Let me put it another way: How can cold cuts double in price and the mainstream media refuse to mention it, just like they ignore the fact that when George W. Bush left office, the cost of a gallon of gas was less than $2 a gallon?
“These damn moonbats are costing me money,” said Paul from Vermont. “They hate the big discount stores — Costcos, Walmart. Rutland, St. Alban’s, it’s always the same, we can’t bring ’em in, because they’ll hurt downtown. How about me — I’m hurting too.”
Back to the future. It’s the ’70’s all over again. When will Glenn Heller be reopening Beacon Hill Gulf?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists//view.bg?articleid=1331297
Thanks. I only found Howie recently and am now addicted to his writing and humor.
Carr used to be quite good.
But no more.
His listeners left for good when he began pimping Romney
until Deval Patrick was re-elected.
Some of his listeners but not all. If his ratings truly tanked he would have been kicked out like what WTKK did to Jay Severin. They gave him a long term contract when ratings were good and the economy wasn’t too bad. A couple yrs back WTKK tried to get out of their contract and suspended Jay but couldn’t get out of it. Now they have done so (taken Jay off the air, at least) but will prob still have to pay what’s left of his contract until 2013. In 2007 Howie tried to jump to WTKK but he couldn’t under his WRKO contract. Entercom had the right to match Greater Media’s offer and they did. Which is why Howie makes more than a million per year and gets a lot of vacation time.
In other words, Greater Media was willing to pay him well as they were paying Jay well, and Entercom managed to match it. When Howie’s contract with Entercom expires at the end of Sept 2012, I would expect Greater (despite one denial) to try again for Howie, and perhaps Clear Channel (Talk 1200) as well. He may wind up at either place or back at Entercom. The point is, if Howie were losing many listeners Entercom would have cited something Howie said and gotten rid of him to rid themselves of a burdensome contract.
Howie’s ratings may not be sky high but he does bring them some money (a couple years ago he did win his time slot though). He also has a column that attracts people to the Herald and his second book is about to come out; he also has a novel in the works.
Yes, you may not agree with his stands on Romney, Brown, etc. (he has criticized both at times but maybe not to your liking). You don’t agree with him and feel he has lost his edge and listeners and readers are fleeing.
That doesn’t seem to be happening. He continues on WRKO and an 11 station network, with the Herald, and with his new book which I daresay will do better than Deval’s. You may not like him these days but many still do. If you tune in one day and find out Howie has been kicked out of WRKO; if you find the Herald has gotten rid of him and he’s had to make do with occasional pieces for small time newspapers; when the day comes when publishers don’t offer him big deals for books, then you’ll know that Howie no longer resonates with the public. If neither Greater Media nor Clear Channel decided to offer Howie a contract, and Entercom gives up on him too, you will know that Howie has jumped the shark.
So far, that hasn’t happened.
Michele is on today and Thu; I think the Col. is on Tue (Howie said that last wk). Michele said Avi will also be on at some point this wk.
McPhee.........click.
Off to Felger and Mazz for today
roger that
These fat cats sure show some fire
By Howie Carr | Tuesday, April 19, 2011 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
So Donald Trump wants to get into a mud fight with Mitt Romney over which one of the two fat cat Republicans has the most money?
Can we just stipulate that both the Donald and Mitt were born on third base — and both of them desperately cling to the belief that they hit a triple.
I’ll take Trump at his word — he likely does have a lot more money than Mitt. And Trump, I think, also has a bit more of the common touch than Mitt, although neither of them is exactly Mike Huckabee in the folksiness department, not that that’s a bad thing.
Over the weekend, Trump spoke to a Tea Party group in Boca Raton, Fla., and he went on and on about how we’d squandered all this blood and treasure in Iraq, and that as soon as we leave, Iran would move into the vacuum. All of our soldiers’ lives would have been in vain ... so why didn’t we at least grab the oil?
Our soldiers’ lives wasted? After the speech, one of Trump’s friends asked him, how do you suppose that sounded to anybody who had a child killed in Iraq?
Mitt, of course, is just as tone deaf — in 2008, he explained that while none of his five sons had served in the military, they were all involved in public service — trying to get him elected president.
But let’s consider the plutocrats’ tale of the tape:
• Relationship with Ted Kennedy. Mitt ran against him in 1994. Trump gave him $7,000 in contributions.
• Worst business investment. For Trump, the Atlantic City casino that nearly went belly-up, total losses unknown. For Mitt, the presidential campaign of 2008, total losses $45 million.
• Favorite Palm Beach billionaire. Mitt, David Koch, at whose mansion he had a fund-raiser in 2008. (This year, Muffy Healey will also be holding one for him in Palm Beach, in her new $17 million cottage on North Lake Way.) Donald Trump’s favorite? Himself.
• Hair. Mitt doesn’t even know the meaning of the word “combover.”
• Alcohol. Neither one drinks.
• Sexual prowess. Headline in the New York Post from Marla Maples re: Trump: “Best Sex I Ever Had.” Ann Romney could not be reached for comment.
• American roots: Mitt’s dad was born in Mexico, Trump’s grandfather in Germany.
• Favorite cartoon character: Trump, Scrooge McDuck, Romney, Dudley Do-Right.
• Business catchphrase: Trump, “You’re fired.” Romney (through a lackey): “Mr. Romney wanted you workers to know that like Ayn Rand, he believes in the ‘creative destruction of capitalism,’ like closing down this worthless factory after Bain Capital sucked all the money out of it. You’re ALL fired!”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1331766
$2M question: Has Whitey departed?
By Howie Carr | Thursday, April 21, 2011 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Pssst, pass it on – Boston underworld czar Whitey Bulger’s bum ticker recently gave out in Costa Rica, and his longtime gal pal Catherine Greig had his remains cremated.
That was the very unconfirmed rumor going around yesterday; although as of last night, apparently no intrepid Boston scribes were jetting off to yet another outpost of the Beautiful People where Whitey has allegedly been spotted.
But this most recent Whitey “sighting” does raise a few issues.
First question: why the bleep would you cremate $2 million?
Second question: Would the FBI pay the $2 million reward if the 81-year-old serial killer is in fact dead rather than alive?
The Boston FBI office seemed unsure of the answer to that second question last night, but my feeling is, if NASA can spend $19 million on a toilet, then the FBI can spring for 2 million bucks for an ashtray.
Here is the official statement from the Boston FBI office, as delivered by Special Agent Gregory Comcowich:
“The FBI has no credible information to indicate that Bulger is deceased. Until the FBI receives credible verified information that he has died, the FBI will continue its fugitive investigation.”
Man, those G-men must have bigger expense accounts than Trump’s p.i.’s in Hawaii.
Needless to say, his old mates were somewhat less than distraught about the rumors of his death, no matter how unfounded they may be.
“He’s not dead until I say he’s dead,” one of his victims said yesterday. “And I don’t say he’s dead until I see him laid out in the coffin.”
Another said with a chuckle: “If I were Whitey, this is exactly the story I’d want out there. Not only is he dead, but the body is gone.”
He paused to consider the twist in the latest story – that Greig had him cremated.
“She needs to cut a deal to stay out of prison, and I would think it’d go a lot easier on her coming back to the States with a body instead of an urn. Saves time on the DNA. Plus, I’m sure she wants the money. But if he’s dead, does the FBI still pay off...?”
Back to the same question.
That, it appears, is the only remaining mystery regarding Boston’s Most Wanted.
Does “Dead or Alive” still apply?
Oh, and one other question:
If the $2 million is in play, how much of it will the Bulger family demand?
I can hear Billy now, in front of a judge, begging for the pot to be whacked up in his favor: “Jimmy would have wanted it this way.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1332287
Proof you say? How about DNA? You Federal clown!
Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down.
Whitey ain't dead and he was never in Costa Rica for the Ecotourism. He's living in a village in Southwestern Sicily after the best plastic surgery your hard-earned Euros could buy. Also look in County Clare or Kerry.
see post #6
oops...post #7
see post #8
*snicker*
Michelle's accent is not for radio. Good stories though.
The colonel still hasn't gotten his head out of BHO's colon.
Anyway, did anybody mention Howie's 5 minutes on Anthony Bourdain's show this week, or are they waiting for Howie?
And BTB, the best job, that is, the most pointedly useless, is the one looking for Jimmy Hoffa.
Not that I don't wish closure for family members, but the cost/benefit has long since demanded it go into the unsolved/cold case files, until something concrete turns up.
I don’t listen to RKO anymore except for the occassional day where I listen to Howie.
snicker...
John Buonomo’s pension a steal
By Howie Carr | Friday, April 22, 2011 |
http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists
Who could have ever predicted it — John Buonomo got his pension back before Jackie Bulger.
I asked Buonomo’s lawyer, Nick Poser, how much the sticky-fingered Somerville hack was collecting while serving time at the Billerica House of Correction.
“Somewhere between 30 and 40 thousand a year,” Poser said yesterday. “But the check didn’t go to the jail.”
It’s actually $38,300, according to the Somerville Retirement Board.
Where was it sent?
“I don’t think I’m at liberty to reveal that.”
John Buonomo got his kiss in the mail back in August. The city of Somerville hand-delivered a check to Poser’s law office on Portland Street in Boston for the $20,000 or so they were in arrears. Who says crime doesn’t pay?
And here’s some more news — the reprobate register of probate was cut loose by the sheriff March 7.
You remember Buonomo. The state police caught him red-handed on surveillance videotape, creeping downstairs into the courthouse offices of his political ally, the register of deeds, another old Somerville hack named Gene Brune. He’d look around, and then he’d empty the copying machines of all their quarters (actually it was dollar bills, but somehow the story sounds better when you say quarters).
In a fair world, John Buonomo would have been elected Massachusetts Democrat of the Year by acclamation. He pleaded guilty to 39 various and sundry counts, most of which involved ripping off his campaign account, which he treated like one of Gene Brune’s copying machines in East Cambridge.
The story of his pension miracle appeared in the Somerville Journal, so I called up his attorney, Poser, to get some more background, and it turns out Buonomo was even shiftier than we thought. The pension the city of Somerville was trying to strip him of had nothing to do with his last $110,000-a-year elective job in the hackerama.
When he was first elected, he already was collecting a pension, on top of the 110 large, and had been since around 2000 — when he was 48. How very Group 4 of him! Poser wasn’t sure, but it probably had something to do with his old job, Middlesex county administrator, which ended when the Legislature abolished the county. Since then, the state also had abolished the odious provision that may have allowed him (and a host of other hacks) to start collecting early because they’d been “fired.”
So now Buonomo presumably needs a new job. Qualifications: convicted thief, jailbird, never worked a day in his life.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one possible job for John Buonomo: Mass Pike toll collector.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1332496
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