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Howie Carr thread week of 4/6/08
howiecarr.com ^ | 04/06/08 | raccoonradio

Posted on 04/06/2008 5:34:27 AM PDT by raccoonradio

Howie Carr thread; columns, discussion of his show. Is there a winner in the death pool? Charlton Heston won't be down for bkfst...also if there's a Sunday Herald column today we'll lead off with that


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: badboy; bostonsradiobadboy; deathpool; devalpatrick; friedclams; friendsofbarrack; heston; howie; howiecarr; obama; paperboy; sevenmillarge; talkradio; tartarsauce
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1 posted on 04/06/2008 5:34:27 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; CatQuilt; ...

That clip Howie plays of someone saying, “Hurts...like...a...
bastard”, was that Charlton Heston? Well, his latest role is
in heaven.

http://bostonherald.com/news/obituaries/general/view.bg?articleid=1085290&srvc=home&position=7

>> Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84.

The actor died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills with his wife Lydia at his side, family spokesman Bill Powers said.

Powers declined to comment on the cause of death or provide further details.

“Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played,” Heston’s family said in a statement. “No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession, and to his country.”


And now Howie’s column—sorry about UNC, HC!
Deval’s book deal reeks of Wright stuff
By Howie Carr | Sunday, April 6, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Why is everyone so shocked about Gov. Deval Patrick’s latest scam . . . I mean, score?

This whole $1.35 million book deal, relying on “bulk corporate buys” to bolster what would otherwise be anemic sales, falls squarely into the grand traditions of the .

Does anyone remember ex-U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright? Back in the 1980s, the Texas hack also wrote a little book, “Reflections of a Public Man.” His supporters openly admitted they had bought thousands of copies as a way of funneling cash to their pal, Mr. Speaker. Reflections of a Public Man, indeed. After the public reflected awhile, Wright was no longer a public man. Here is how The New York Times [NYT] described Wright’s book in 1988, and I’m sure it will sum up Deval’s as well:

“A modest-sized book written by the Democratic leader and bought in bulk by longtime supporters to benefit him financially.”

The more things change . . .

The problem for Fort Worth Jim was that the book deal became a symbol of his slippery ethics. Ditto, Deval. All of a sudden, even the bow-tied bumkissers of Morrissey Boulevard feel free to raise questions that had previously been ignored by the Politically Correct mainstream media. Like, does Deval have a big-time money problem? How is he making that $30,000-a-month payment on his mansion’s mortgage?

Hope and opportunity, that’s what Deval is all about. Now he’s hoping the controversy about his sleazy book deal goes away, so he’ll have an opportunity to cash that first $450,000 check (presumably minus a taste to his agent).

On Thursday, the governor refused to take calls on his radio show about the sweetheart deal. On Friday, he walked away from a reporter in Lowell who tried to ask him what percentage of the money will be going to “charity.”

Now it turns out in his pitch to publishers, he talked about the crowd of 10,000 he attracted to the Common last fall. Only it turns out it wasn’t him they were coming to see, it was Barack Obama. But this, too, is a familiar phenomenon in publishing: A genre becomes popular and obscure players cash in with memoirs. The Rolling Stones are always hot, so their drug supplier gets a book deal. People want to read about Whitey Bulger, so maybe they’re gullible enough to buy rehashed court testimony by Whitey’s tubby gravedigger.

In this context, you might say Deval is playing Kevin Weeks to Barack’s Whitey Bulger.

The difference, of course, is that, as governor, Deval will have a lot more opportunities for “bulk sales” than Kevin “Two” Weeks ever did. The Massachusetts Teachers Association should be good for 5,000 or so. The cop unions owe him at least 10,000 sales, after his craven cave-in this week on police details.

It goes without saying that no one ever reads any books bought in “bulk sales.” How do I know this? It just so happens that I once owned several copies of “Reflections of a Public Man.” One of Speaker Wright’s old friends from Texas was Boston University President John Silber. Herr Doktor had a huge oversupply and some of them ended up in the Herald newsroom. To our regret, we quickly discovered that they weren’t thick enough to make proper door-stoppers. I grabbed a few, thinking they’d make good gag gifts. I was wrong.

So now we are to have a “Reflections of a Public Man” for the 21st century. I’m sure Random House is very excited. I’m also reasonably certain the thrill will be long gone by the time Deval delivers the “manuscript,” after which he can collect his second $450,000, with the balance due on publication day, when the trucks from Buck a Book back up to the warehouses.

By then, Random House will have realized the error of its ways. They’re expecting “I Have a Dream.” What they’re going to get is “I Have a Scheme.” Buyers’ remorse, thy name is Deval - from the Clinton administration to Texaco to Coke and now the moonbats of Massachusetts. He talks a good game going in, but he’s never done a damn thing. That’s what happens, I suppose, when you’ve always had a free ride.

Somewhere, Fort Worth Jim is smiling.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1085289


2 posted on 04/06/2008 5:37:48 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

>>the governor refused to take calls on his radio show

Deval hosts “Ask the Governor” the first Thu of every month
on WTKK, the station that could have had Howie. On Ch 4
the other night they talked to someone who waited on hold
the whole hour but never got on (IIRC) because of WHAT he
wanted to talk about!


3 posted on 04/06/2008 5:41:06 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Howie sheds light on the book scam.

Books like Hillary Clinton's or Deval Patrick's are not bought by the public. Every public school library orders a few hundred. Town and county libraries order thousands, university sales Jr. Colleges, High Schools, skyrocket, they mysteriously appear in union warehouses ... in short everywhere the left has a stronghold is suddenly a good customer.

4 posted on 04/06/2008 7:32:42 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (GOP Plank: Double Domestic Crude Production. Increase refining capacity 50 percent)
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To: raccoonradio
Don't blame me -- I voted for MUFFY! :)

MA just gets more and more ludicrous . . . it would be a good laugh if I didn't live here . . .

5 posted on 04/06/2008 11:50:54 AM PDT by maryz
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To: maryz

I do liver here, and Muffy (for whom I voted) lives
just down the street from me.


6 posted on 04/06/2008 1:50:44 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

Say hello for me! No, she doesn’t know me . . . but I’m sure she’d like me if she did! :)


7 posted on 04/06/2008 2:17:32 PM PDT by maryz
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To: raccoonradio

I’m guessing that Howie will wait until at least Tuesday if not later this week before he does another death pool. Based upon what Howie usually does, this is too soon after the last death pool to do it this Monday.


8 posted on 04/06/2008 9:18:09 PM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (Vote for conservatives AT ALL POLITICAL LEVELS! Encourage all others to do the same on November 4!)
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To: raccoonradio

“That clip Howie plays of someone saying, “Hurts...like...a...
bastard”, was that Charlton Heston? “

IIRC that’s Robert Mitchum from movie “The Friends Of Eddie Coyle”


9 posted on 04/07/2008 5:29:46 AM PDT by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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To: GQuagmire; Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; ...

GQ: Ah! Never saw that film. Thanks

All: ping for Mon


10 posted on 04/07/2008 6:37:29 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

Good movie.Filmed in Boston area in the early 70’s.City Hall plaza,the old Garden(during a hockey game),Storrow Drive,the Revere Quarry near the Saugus line(which are condos now I think) are some of locations shown as well as some others.


11 posted on 04/07/2008 7:22:08 AM PDT by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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To: GQuagmire

Love that movie. Especially when they at the old Garden watching Bobby Orr.


12 posted on 04/07/2008 7:29:09 AM PDT by Holicheese (Hillary deserves the CMoH for her time in Tuzla!)
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To: Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; CatQuilt; ...

Death pool in the 4 pm hour. The winner is from Vermont.

Boston: tomorrow’s Red Sox home opener will be on WEEI
so we should be all set for Howie; WCRN will have Sox
(game starts at 2) but they don’t pick Howie up till 5 pm
normally anyway. WXTK has Sox too I believe

MONDAY APRIL 7

1st Hour

2nd Hour
Charlton Heston, the actor who heard the voice of God as Moses in “The Ten Commandments” and met Jesus Christ face-to-face as a Jewish slave in “Ben Hur,” died Saturday night at his Beverly Hills home. He was 84. He was also in the Death Pool. We will reopen the Death Pool for one hour...call in and give us your prediction for the next celeb to shed his mortal coil...if you are right you will win a prize!

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!

Max Robins TV Guru, editor of MediaZulu.com and Vice-President of the Paley Center (formerly known as The Museum of Television and Radio) will be with us to answer all of those nagging questions about your favorite show on the boob tube...

4th Hour


13 posted on 04/07/2008 12:45:18 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

WVMT will have the Yankee game at 4 so we won’t be getting Howie either.


14 posted on 04/07/2008 1:10:56 PM PDT by Straight Vermonter (Posting from deep behind the Maple Curtain)
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To: All

DP 04-07-2007

(think I missed #30)

1. Karl Malden
2. Patrick Swayze
3. Jack LaLaine
4. Bobby Byrd
5. Paul Newman
6. Art Linkletter
7. Carol Channing (hung up)
8. Olivia DeHavilland (QP)
9. Eunice Kennedy Shriver
10. Maggie Thatcher
11. Artie Lange (Stern Show)
12. Jerry Lewis
13. Britney Spears (clik-clik-clik-clik)
14. George McGovern
15. Van Johnson
16. Lauren Bacall (QP)
17. Kirk Douglas
18. Prince Philip
19. Soupy Sales
20. John Wooden (hung up)
21. Gloria Stuart(Titanic, going on 98)
22. Ernie Borgnine
23. Rev. Jeremiah Wright
24. John Daly (rehabbing golfer)
25. Dave Maynard (your vote may hold the key)
26. Dick Cheney
27. George Steinbrenner
28. Bob Barker
29. Liz Taylor (QP)
30. ???? missed it
31. Betty White (“…Bea & Betty White in a lesbian fantasy…”)
32. Farrah Fawcett
33. Muhammed Ali
34. Johnny Pesky
35. Eli Wallach
36. Ozzie Osbourne
37. Billy Graham
38. Abe Vigoda
39. Ted Kennedy
40. John Wooden
41. Doris Day
42. Kevin White (hung up)
43. Jamie Lynn Spears
44. Angela Lansbury (QP)
45. Whitey Bulger
46. Ethel Kennedy
47. Dick Clark
48. Queen Elizabeth
49. Phyllis Diller
50. Tony Bennett
51. Harry Morgan
52. Hugh Hefner
53. Pat Summerall
54. Zsa Zsa Gabor
55. Jack Klugman
56. Barbara Bush
57. Rex Trailer
58. James Arness
59. Phil Donahue
60. Nancy Reagan
61. Annette Funicello


15 posted on 04/07/2008 2:09:22 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

I’m surprised that Howie did do the death pool this early in the week as well as so soon after the last death pool. I honestly could come up with decent choices for the death pool for the whole day, and I’m always amazed when people can’t think of anybody to pick for the death pool near the end of the hour.


16 posted on 04/07/2008 3:53:36 PM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (Vote for conservatives AT ALL POLITICAL LEVELS! Encourage all others to do the same on November 4!)
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To: johnthebaptistmoore
My guess is that Howie was influenced by "happens in threes", so he might as well get it over with.

That, and he might sense that people are bored with Obama and Hillary at this point, so anything to avoid talking about that for a period of time, no matter how brief the respite.

17 posted on 04/07/2008 7:17:41 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

And nobody picked Fidel Castro this time in the death pool. I’m also surprised that nobody has picked Howie Carr for the death pool in awhile.


18 posted on 04/08/2008 5:00:51 AM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (Vote for conservatives AT ALL POLITICAL LEVELS! Encourage all others to do the same on November 4!)
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To: johnthebaptistmoore

I was expecting Fidel too, right out of the blocks. Then I plum just forgot about him.


19 posted on 04/08/2008 6:29:09 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke; Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; ...

Tue ping


20 posted on 04/08/2008 9:19:41 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Guess who threw out the first pitch at Fenway? "The Red Sox would not have won the 1986 AL pennant without him..."

Hint: The ball went through his legs...

Dewey Evans caught it.

21 posted on 04/08/2008 11:05:02 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

Q: “What do Bill Buckner and Michael Jackson have in common?”

A: “They each wear just one glove for no apparent reason.”


22 posted on 04/08/2008 1:10:37 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke

Ah! I remember that one!


23 posted on 04/08/2008 11:46:40 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; CatQuilt; ...

Wed column ping

Marzilli facing reps’ usual rap
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, April 9, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

Sen. Jim Marzilli must not have attended the orientation classes for new members of the Senate.

The rule is, House members are the ones who are supposed to be accused of assaulting women.

Senators generally get lugged for something a little more white-collar, like attempted extortion.

But now look what’s happened. Jim Marzilli, a moonbat’s moonbat, has been accused of indecent assault and battery on an acquaintance he accompanied to “a local arts event” on Saturday night.

Ah, the old “local arts event” . . . how Arlington is it? And he probably still wonders why he got crushed in Billerica when he was elected to the Senate last winter.

It could have been worse, though - Marzilli could have been charged with impersonating a Kennedy. And speaking of Kennedys, Senator, when you’re accused of this sort of thing, do you really want to have a lawyer named Kennedy speaking for you?

Marzilli has been reeling for a while this year. He got a real jolt in that special Senate election when he had to campaign in places like Billerica and Burlington - you know, places where people don’t have trust funds, and actually have to work for a living. North of 128, he found himself in an unknown land, terra incognita if you will. It’s called America.

Then, another shock to Marzilli’s fragile system. Hillary Clinton narrowly carried Arlington on Super Tuesday over Barack. Talk about a stunner - Arlington is mostly moonbats whose trust funds didn’t allow them to buy the traditional $1.6 million single-family in Cambridge. But nowadays even moonbats are in total consternation over the property tax rates in Arlington, and the fact that Town Hall does not offer abatements to Beautiful People who have “Darfur - Not on Our Watch” signs in their front yards.

And now Marzilli, with his squirrelly little goatee, gets tagged with the sort of rap usually associated with solons from Waltham or Worcester. On Mass. Ave., as fat women with no makeup knit and their men braid unwashed gray hair, the moonbats are whispering that they always suspected something was a little off with Marzilli, but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it.

Now they know what the problem is. He’s a heterosexual.

Say what you will about moonbats, they’re not usually accused of sexual assault. The prescription meds have dampened their libidos. The sex drive is replaced by the blogging drive.

Did you get a bad ice cube, Senator? Lawyer Kennedy says his client will be acquitted, and maybe he will be. Convicted drunk-driving cross-dressing Judge Robert Somma doesn’t see any reason why the fact that he rear-ended a truck on the main drag of the Queen City - Manchester, N.H. - should cost him his $158,000-a-year-for-life job.

Naturally, Marzilli won’t resign. They never do. They have no shame. One of his big issues is “global climate change.” I’m guessing he’s undergoing some very big climate change around his home, mostly cooling. He’s married to Susan Shaer, not just another pretty face as they say. She’s cooking every night for him, I’m sure - hot tongue and cold shoulder.

This beef should really put him in tight with that 30 percent of the Senate that is female. But maybe they’ll understand that Marzilli just spent too much time in the House of Representatives - 17 years. All those years with no opposition - DiMasi’s three-watt bulbs tend to get sloppy.

But even the dolts in the Legislature take some precautions. Usually, House members try to restrict their tomcattin’ to the State House. It’s like Vegas - what happens on Beacon Hill stays on Beacon Hill. You can touch everything but the third rail in Boston, but when you go home to “the district,” you keep your nose clean. It’s OK to put your State House girlfriend on the payroll, as long as it’s somebody else’s payroll. Then you hire the girlfriend of the guy who hired your galpal.

Sometimes mistakes are made, as Bill Clinton would say. One chairman ended up in the jail where his wife worked. One high-ranking member of leadership still lists his address as a post-office box, just because his favorite country song became “Livin’ Here, Lovin’ There, Lyin’ In Between.”

Try not to let this destroy your faith in the integrity of the Massachusetts state Senate.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1085951


24 posted on 04/09/2008 12:57:17 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

BUMP another Howie masterpiece.


25 posted on 04/09/2008 1:19:33 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: raccoonradio

The Felon will resume lobbying....

http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1085957

Howie’s taskmasters will”monitor the situation”


26 posted on 04/09/2008 7:17:40 AM PDT by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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To: GQuagmire

Hopefully he’ll step over the line and get fired; it could
only improve their ratings


27 posted on 04/09/2008 8:17:33 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

radio-info.com says Mitt Romney fills in for Paul Harvey tomorrow (show is prob not on in Boston; WTTT had it but they went Spanish)

At least they got Mitt “His Hair Was Perfect” Romney to
fill in. Imagine the other former MA governors they could have had:

—Mike Dukakis, national model...good jobs at good wages...
zzzzzzzzzzzzz

—Paul “You Talkin’ To Me?” Cellucci (Still disappointed
his man Rudy fell short)

—Jane “I’m in a Firing Mood” Swift

—William “Pink” Floyd Weld (dove into Charles River
fully clothed to show how clean it was; author of
such spellbinders as “Mackerel By Moonlight” and
“The Big Ugly”)


28 posted on 04/09/2008 8:36:42 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

Afternoon Everbody!


29 posted on 04/09/2008 12:06:08 PM PDT by Cheapskate (Still backing Hunter"I refuse to be fitted with collar and chain, and given a pat on the back")
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To: Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; CatQuilt; ...

Wed ping
Last half hour on WRKO pre-empted by Celtics ( Red Sox on WEEI)


30 posted on 04/09/2008 12:16:17 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
What a motley crew! [shudder!] And Deval (surely destined to be the blue-ribbon winner -- I hope!) isn't even a former governor yet!
31 posted on 04/09/2008 12:34:08 PM PDT by maryz
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To: GQuagmire

Howie was all over the lobbying thing during the first few minutes of the show, funny stuff!


32 posted on 04/09/2008 12:36:01 PM PDT by rockabyebaby (PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR INFIDEL STEPHENJOHNBANKER)
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To: rockabyebaby

Why have a hamster? To have a pointed story about giving mouth-to-mouth to a rodent to assuage traumatized offspring, of course.


33 posted on 04/09/2008 1:28:56 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke; All

Finneran, Reese, and Russshhhhhhhhhh aren’t doing well for RKO. The shows place 25th and 26th
while WTKK came in 9th with Imus and 8th with Graham and Eagan and Braude

http://bostonherald.com/business/media/view.bg?&articleid=1086171&format=&page=2&listingType=media#articleFull

Some wondered if Finneran’s ratings would suffer if he had Howie on WTKK opposite him. But he’s actually being beaten by a whole bunch of other stations (including the man Howie calls “the corpse in a cowboy hat”)
even with Howie safely in the afternoon WRKO lineup rather than at WTKK (no word from Herald on
what HC’s ratings were)

If WRKO were a station running all syndie in those time slots (say, Air America, Jones, or Salem shows)
those numbers would probably lead to a change of hosts, maybe even a format change.
Instead RKO gets them with six hours of local and three of the #1 talk host nationwide. What gives,
Entercom?


34 posted on 04/10/2008 8:38:07 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio; Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; ...

Thu show ping and a special Thu column for Howie.
Mayor’s fee plan needs a good kick to the curb
By Howie Carr | Thursday, April 10, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

Hey, Mumbles Menino, you want to raise some revenue, forget about soaking the motorists again.

Instead, do what everybody else in the state has to do when they run out of money - run a Proposition 2 1/2 override election. Let’s see how you do then. Ask the taxpayers to cough up some more dough on their property taxes to keep the Mumbles clan in the chips and see what the answer is.

Let’s run the numbers from the new, improved, everything-included city payroll now online at bostonherald.com. First we have Mumbles Menino, mayor, $175,000 a year.

Next comes Thomas M. Menino Jr., Boston police detective, total pay, with base salary, overtime, police details and Quinn bill benefits for education: $137,529.14.

Next comes Mrs. Thomas M. Menino Jr., a/k/a Lisa, administrative assistant, Property Management: $102,050.22, including $29,140.03 in overtime.

At City Hall, they call this cornucopia of six-figure Mumbles salaries “basic city services.” The rest of us, who are picking up the tab, call it the hackerama.

Hey Mumbles, I know it’s been a while since you drove yourself into the city, so let me be the one to give you the bad news. The reason people park in crosswalks or fire lanes or wherever is because there aren’t any more open parking spaces downtown.

Every one is reserved - for the judges, for the “court personnel,” for the BPD, for the MBTA police, for the - well, you get the picture. And my favorite proposed new fine - $35 for parking more than one foot from the curb.

The first snowstorm usually hits in mid-December. The city’s snow plowing is, like most other city services, substandard. The piles don’t go away for months. And now, the meter maids falling behind in filling the ticket quotas that City Hall says don’t exist will always be able to write a ticket for “more than 1 foot from curb.”

How much do you want to bet that the rulers they use to measure the distance will be 10 inches or less, just like the 2-hour city parking meters that start flashing “EXPIRED” after 90 minutes.

Naturally the fines are only going up downtown, because Mumbles figures the only people down there are suburbanites, tourists and rich Yuppies who are just drifting through.

The excuse at City Hall is that these downtown parking fines haven’t been raised in 17 years. That’s true, but you can say the same thing about the cost of parking at the South Shore Plaza.

Cost to park in Braintree (or at any mall) in 1991: zero.

Cost to park in same in 2008: zero.

Somehow, the malls have been able to hold the line. But then, I doubt they have many “administrative assistants” making $102,000 a year.

Another City Hall rationalization: Everybody should take the T. To which I reply: You take the T, if you like it so much. They don’t call certain lines “the Vomit Comet” for nothing.

A gallon of gas now costs over three bucks. The state gas tax is probably going up. The tolls were just hiked 25 percent, and will soon be going up again.

Mumbles, have pity on the working man.

Here’s a suggestion: Hit the colleges on their in-lieu-of-taxes payments. Harvard owns Allston, lock, stock and tollbooth. Boston College has acquired most of Lake Street.

Jack up the money the colleges pay for “basic city services.” Make them foot the skyrocketing cost of keeping the Menino family, as well as so many others, in the chips.

I don’t care if the snotty Euro-creep college boys double-parking on Newbury Street get hit harder. Just don’t hit me again.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1086158


35 posted on 04/10/2008 8:41:29 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio

Thanks for the ping!
I love reading Howie’s columns.


36 posted on 04/10/2008 8:51:57 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Lancey Howard; All

37 posted on 04/10/2008 12:14:14 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Howie say anything about Monk actor, Kamel, not being either down for breakfast, or in the DP?

I only bring it up because Howie/Sandy once said something about Tony Shalloub's wife (name escapes, but she was in one of the many crappy Stephen King movies, iirc. And about 50lbs lighter, too) getting appendicitis immediately after being on Howie's show.

38 posted on 04/10/2008 1:02:06 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: Calvin Locke; Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; ...

Fri column ping. btw is Howie taking another week off?
Someone on SaveWRKO.com said they heard Reese Hopkins say he’s in for Howie “the week of the 21st”...

Retired Bulger boy grabs onto second state job
By Howie Carr | Friday, April 11, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Another nationwide search, another Bulger added to the state payroll.

And not just any Bulger, either, you understand. This new Bulger on the state payroll, Patrick, has already maxed out his MBTA pension, so now it’s time to start working on a new one. At the still-tender age of 43.

It’s a beautiful thing, the hackerama that is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. You get on the T in July 1984, at age 20, when your father is president of the Senate and your uncle is the biggest gangster in the state, and you get to retire as a $72,675-a-year construction inspector last Dec. 1, with those 23 years you needed to max out your T pension.

State budget crisis? What state budget crisis? Not for anybody named Bulger, anyway.

This all happened so fast that, as of yesterday, we had Patrick listed twice on the Herald payroll Web site, once for his old T job and once for his brand-new probation slot.

For the record, Pat Bulger is now collecting around 60 percent of his T salary, or just over $40,000 a year. Plus his new state job as assistant court services coordinator pays $40,447 a year. Add it all up, and the Corrupt Midget’s kid is raking in more than 80 large a year.

Of course, Pat doesn’t make nearly as much as his little brother Chris Bulger at his job at the Probation Office, but then Chris is deputy legal counsel, for $102,947 a year.

I found out about this latest nationwide search in a snail-mail missive from a concerned citizen.

“Howie,” it began, “looks like your (sic) slipping. I can’t believe you missed another Bulger getting on the state payroll.”

“Signed, Howie your (sic) losing your step.”

Hey, pal, how do you think I get my information? By putting on a turban and a cape, turning off the lights and sitting in front of a crystal ball, watching hacks’ names float up to the surface through the ether? You dropped a dime, it’s in the paper this morning, OK? Just get me the ball and I’ll run with it.

As long as we’re talking about Bulgers and pensions, let’s run down the list, with the latest up-to-date numbers for the whole clan. First, as always, is Pat’s dad, Billy - the King of the Kiss in the Mail.

Annual gross state pension, and it’s very gross: $197,305.92. Monthly: $16,457.16.

Then there’s his serial-killing older brother, Whitey, who “won” one-sixth of a huge Lottery game in 1991. On July 26, Whitey’s annual check will be issued: $119,408. Sadly for the Bulgers, that Lottery loot now goes directly to the feds. What was once Whitey’s check is now made out to “U.S. Marshals Service Re: James Bulger.”

Another Bulger-family tragedy: The third brother, Jackie, has also been stripped of his state pension, which was over $4,000 a month, on account of his federal felony conviction. Jackie is appealing to get his kiss back on Eighth Amendment grounds - that it’s cruel and unusual punishment to deny any Bulger any opportunity to insert his snout into the public trough.

Jackie’s ex is a former court-system employee, and she now collects a pension of $26,577. Jackie’s son Mark is on the MBTA for $55,764, and his son-in-law Bob Zodda is likewise a T employee for $55,224. Beth Bulger Zodda works for the Senate (go figure) for $56,779. Her aunt Jean Holland is retired from a Senate job and collects $22,189. Billy has a son-in-law named Michael Hurley (perhaps you remember his name from his father-in-law’s latest photo finish with a grand jury) who is also employed by the state Senate, for $89,142.

Another sister: Carol McCarthy, who came to the trough late, but still partakes of the traditional kiss in the mail: $1,809.17 a month for her distinguished service at the state archives and then the MDC.

In-laws are also invited to come on down, and not just at the T and in the East Cambridge courthouse. Say hi-how-wah-ya to Billy’s brother-in-law William McKeon, former bigshot in the state Environmental Police, aka the Fish Police. He’s retired with a monthly state pension of $5,291.94. Not bad, except by Bulger standards. I wonder if he can get another job somewhere else to supplant his kiss. Do you suppose the Coast Guard is hiring?

I’m sure I missed a few, but feel free to drop a dime. I need your help. The name is Carr, after all, not Carnac.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1086385


39 posted on 04/11/2008 12:20:07 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: raccoonradio
Aaaargh! And I just heard this morning on the news that the legislature passed another tax hike -- cigarettes and corporate taxes and maybe more; that was all I heard.

Do you suppose New Hampshire is bribing them to do this? Surely, they wouldn't prop up NH's economy for free, at the expense of MA . . . they'd have to be really stupid . . . oh, wait -- this is the MA legislature we're talking about. Never mind!

It struck me this a.m. that even more MA-ites will be driving up! And the thing is that, when you go to NH for cigarettes, you can't help noticing how much lower prices in general are, not to mention no sales tax and no bottle bill, and . . . well, you get the picture. MA recession/depression, here we come!

They have a new commercial on how business-friendly MA is -- there really is one born every minute, I guess!

40 posted on 04/11/2008 6:28:38 AM PDT by maryz
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To: maryz; Andonius_99; Andy'smom; Antique Gal; Big Guy and Rusty 99; bitt; Barset; Carolinamom; ...

Fri show ping


41 posted on 04/11/2008 9:26:08 AM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: maryz

“Yes We Can ~ Tax the #$%@ out of you”

New Hampshire, and all surrounding states are going to make a ton of tax money on this.

Road Trip

This tax will push a lot of smokers to buy in bulk elsewhere instead of picking up a pack at a store like getting a coffee. Even if you would burn $4 of gas to get there the $10+++ savings is going to well make up for it.

Any store within a half hour of a border is going to suffer.
I bet most stores fall into that radius.


42 posted on 04/11/2008 9:50:39 AM PDT by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: libertarian27

The scary part is how Mass is following Maine’s lead with the use tax.

Now they ask you to *volunteer* how much you spent out of state. Since Maine has the credit card companies send records of how much you spent, the only smart option is to buy your smokes in NH using cash.


43 posted on 04/11/2008 10:12:41 AM PDT by Disturbin (Liberals: buying votes with your tax dollars)
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To: libertarian27
Didn't Weld propose giving an exemption from the sales tax to stores within 10 miles of the NH border? Of course, that would destroy the stores 10-20 miles from the border!

If I had a truck (and didn't hate driving), I'd seriously consider striking out as an entrepreneur making the run to North Carolina once a month or so! ;-)

44 posted on 04/11/2008 10:32:17 AM PDT by maryz
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To: Disturbin
Now they ask you to *volunteer* how much you spent out of state.

I distinctly remember there were two years (can't remember when though) when the MA tax form had a line for "Income from illegal sources"! I guess it didn't work out that well . . . I guess the state reps declined to fill it in! ;-)

ME is following the same suicidal motif as MA -- who would shop there who didn't have to? A friend of mine goes to NH once or twice a month, primarily for cigarettes for her husband. She said the savings, even apart from the cigarettes, more than covered the cost of the gas. I tagged along once to see for myself -- now she takes me every time, and I do virtually all my grocery shopping there. The in-between weeks, I spend maybe $10 or $15 in MA -- if Stop & Shop has any good specials.

45 posted on 04/11/2008 10:39:01 AM PDT by maryz
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To: maryz

I had to look up your comment on taxes for illegal activity:
Bingo - here’s one

COMMONWEALTH vs. RICHARD N. BOGANNAM
~snip~ this court case is from 2001
Tipped by the Peabody police that the defendant, Richard Bogannam, had been arrested for trafficking in a controlled substance, G. L. c. 94C, § 32E, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue initiated an investigation into the defendant’s income tax returns, through its special investigations unit. After his indictment on the criminal charge in 1990, but before his ultimate plea of guilty in July, 1991,(1) the special investigations unit issued a notice of assessment and a notice of filing of Massachusetts tax lien, claiming unpaid taxes on income derived as a result of illegal activities for the years 1989 and 1990.(2) The defendant paid the income tax assessed, and, for amounts due in tax year 1989, also paid interest, additional penalties for failure to report the income, and a jeopardy assessment, all pursuant to G. L. c. 62C, §§ 26(d),(3) 28, and 29

~Can’t make this stuff up~


46 posted on 04/11/2008 10:58:45 AM PDT by libertarian27 (Land of the Fee, Home of the Shamed)
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To: libertarian27

LOL! They didn’t go after any state reps though, did they? ;-)


47 posted on 04/11/2008 11:00:30 AM PDT by maryz
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To: maryz; Disturbin; raccoonradio

Looks like the company vehicle will be making weekly trips to NH for cigarettes.Don’t want to,but$6.50+ a pack is too rich for my nicotine flavored blood


48 posted on 04/11/2008 11:01:15 AM PDT by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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To: GQuagmire
Let me recommend Market Basket in Salem (name brand cigarettes are about $35 a carton)! And while you're there, check out prices at least on anything that's a staple item in your budget -- for me it's tea bags, peanut butter, eggs, butter: all noticeably cheaper than in MA!

Happy travelin'! :)

49 posted on 04/11/2008 11:27:12 AM PDT by maryz
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To: maryz

Thank wu!


50 posted on 04/11/2008 11:37:02 AM PDT by GQuagmire (Giggety,Giggety,Giggety)
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