Howie Carr thread week of Feb 1, 2009

howiecarr.com ^ | 02/01/09 | raccoonradio

[raccoonradio]

Howie thread starting with his Sunday Herald column

[raccoonradio]

At this rate, our hacks will sell on eBay
By Howie Carr | Sunday, February 1, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

Question: Why did City Councilor Mike Flaherty announce his candidacy for mayor on YouTube?

Answer: Because there is no Web site named YouHack.

So I was watching his recorded announcement, filmed in his kitchen. The words were nonsense, but I couldn’t take my eyes off that high-end yuppie KitchenAid mixer on the granite counter behind him. Close to $500, would be my guess.

Then you realize: a year from now, that pricey mixer is going to be on an even fancier granite cabinet - in Duxbury.

Baby Flats has 600 large to blow on this fight. Why doesn’t he just give everybody in the city a buck and put his house up for sale?

Tell me where he beats Mumbles. In Southie, of course, and in coastal (read: white) Dorchester, and Charlestown. That’s Wards 6, 7, 16 and 2, which wouldn’t be bad, except that the city has 22 wards.

The only issue this year in Boston is rampant corruption and cronyism, and the Flahertys aren’t part of the solution, they’re part of the problem.

For the record, Baby Flats is not related to convicted felon ex-House speaker Good Time Charlie Flaherty. But Felon Flaherty’s son, Tim, represents Baby Flats’ cousin Frannie, who was recently indicted in an alleged MBTA no-show job scam.

Baby Flats’ father is the former state rep and judge Mike Sr. Before Flats Senior retired to the bench, he was in private practice. Then his cousin Jimmy Flaherty, who was simultaneously on payrolls at the State House and City Hall, was murdered by a hustler in Florida.

Flats Senior handled Jimmy’s estate for his beloved Aunt Millie. Imagine Millie’s surprise when she got the bill from her dear nephew and he’d charged her his usual billable-hour rate for watching Jimmy’s adult videos and standing in line at the post office to buy stamps. The joke in Southie was, it was the first time in 40 years Flats hadn’t cut in line after yelling, “Do you know who I am?” Mainly because he was making money waiting his turn.

I don’t have room to run down all of the Flahertys on public payrolls. Baby Flats’ sister Peggy is the South Boston district court clerk, appointed, like her daddy, by a Republican governor.

Maybe Flats Jr. can campaign on a platform on mandatory drug testing for firefighters. First he’d better bounce it off his uncle and his cousin, both of whom are longtime loyal members of Local 718.

Flats understands he’s the longest of longshots. He wanted to be district attorney even when Dan Conley was on City Council. That’s why, before he voted for Flaherty for City Council president, Conley made him promise he wouldn’t run even for district attorney.

Flats would still love to be Mr. District Attorney, but the only way to get rid of Conley would be a judgeship, and appearing in that ad for Kerry Healey in 2006 likely put the kibosh on favors from Deval.

Remember when Felon Finneran got booted from the 400-large-a-year lobbying job at the biotech council? For a while it looked as if Sen. Jack Hart of Southie might get the job? Flats was sniffing around that potentially open seat, too, but it was not to be - kind of like his run for mayor this year.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1149173

[M-cubed]

It always amazes me how Howie can get away with exposing the fraud and abuse in Mass without getting double tapped....

but what amazes me most is...How the residents of Mass keep putting the same old foxes in charge of the hen-house....
Are the people that don't reap any benefit from the corruption really that naive/stupid???

[Living Free in NH]

Are the people that don't reap any benefit from the corruption really that naive/stupid???

Yes

[GQuagmire]

This column is a reprint from a week ago. What happened?

[raccoonradio]

yeah I was thinking that myself as I scanned it, or maybe it’s the start of that column and he threw stuff on at the end. I went thru my Herald rather fast this morning (and left it at the Salem Diner!) and am trying to remember what column he had in it, if any. This was what was on the website. Maybe I’ll check their site and see if another column was done but just not put up there?

[raccoonradio]

hmm-I checked the site and it indeed the same column they'd run on 1/26--and many of the comments do point that out! For Howie's sake I'm hoping it's a glitch on the part of the paper-- "Entercom Herald Happens..."

[GQuagmire]

Editor’s note: This is the print version of a January 26, 2009 web exclusive column.

Updated note at end of column at Herald website....

[raccoonradio]

yup, saw that...And now: A Monday column! Ping
(PS: your humble raccoonradio guy turns 47 today... :) )

‘Credible’ Sal Dimasi uses system to his benefit
By Howie Carr | Monday, February 2, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Columnists

How much is Sal DiMasi going to get?

That was the big question last week. The inquiry didn’t concern possible prison time, but his about-to-begin monthly kiss in the mail - the state pension.

Speaker Sal hung on into January for one reason - as a solon, one day of “service” in 2009 bought him an extra year of what is ironically called “credible service.”

Anyway, Sal now has two ways to go: Option C, which provides for the pension to continue after his death for his trophy second wife Debbie, or Option A, which is more, because the pension would end with his passing.

If DiMasi had quit in 2008, he’d have finished with 32 years and 3 months at the public trough. Under Option A he’d have gotten $68,800 a year for life. If he went for the survivor’s benefits, it would have been $57,000.

For hanging in those extra few days, greedy Sal will receive credit for 33 years and 3 months. So Mistah Speakah is now looking at $71,000 under Option A and $59,000 if he cuts Trophy Deb into the jackpot.

By the standards of the Dreaded Private Sector, it’s an incredibly generous pension, especially considering the dodgy circumstances of his exit. But Salvatore’s take will merely be average compared with the other extinguished statesmen.

Topping the list, of course, is the Corrupt Midget himself, ex-Senate president Billy Bulger. His current annual take is $197,665.92 a year - a record that will be harder to break than Joe DiMaggio’s consecutive-game hitting streak.

Number 2 is ex-House Speaker David Bartley, who last won an election in 1974. Like the Corrupt Midget, he fled into so-called higher education, taking over his hometown school, Holyoke Community College. Bartley’s annual take: $152,505.72.

Compared to those Killer B’s, the other General Court hacks are collecting chump change. On Jan. 2, 1991, two squalid legislative careers ended, with one final year of “credible service” recorded to fatten up their pensions.

Ex-House Speaker George Keverian retired due to ill health - the voters got sick of him. But no problem, he’s still taking $54,498.84 a year. The man he vanquished for speaker, Tommy McGee, has also been collecting all these years, and is now at $47,224.68.

Keverian was succeeded as speaker by Good Time Charlie Flaherty, now a convicted felon. Good Time Charlie grabs $44,122.32. Felon Flaherty was succeeded by yet another criminal, Felon Finneran, who is stripped of his $23,712.94 pension, although he is scheming madly to get it back.

Folks, these bloated pensions are the real reason Sal’s pals are itching to tax you back to the Stone Age. It’s what the hacks call “fixed costs,” because the fix is in - for them.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1149360

[rockabyebaby]

And a happy birthday to you

[raccoonradio]

thanks! I’m a little less than 10 yrs younger than Howie,
who was born on 1/17/52...

[maryz]

Happy birthday! :)

[rockabyebaby]

It’s raccoonradio’s birthday today,,,,mine’s not til July but thanks for the early greeting!

[maryz]

LOL! Oops — I’ll try to remember in July!

[rockabyebaby]

LOL, if you’re over 50 you won’t even remember this converation 10 minutes from now!! LOL!

[maryz]

Huh? What conversation? ;-)

[rockabyebaby]

LOL, there ya go!

[AlexSmyth]

Happy Birthday RaccoonRadio

FYI - Still Down
mms://wmc1.liquidviewer.net/wrko

[raccoonradio]

Thanks!
Yikes on the stream....again, try WNTK or WCRN or even
the Screamer Radio (unless they are using WRKO’s stream!)

[raccoonradio]

thanks to all for the birthday wishes! I’m taking it off from my REAL job. Saw movie “Cadillac Records” at a theater here in Beverly (about Chess Records, Chuck Berry etc) then went to Pizzeria Uno to redeem “free birthday pizza from Insider’s
Club” coupon). Tonight I may see trivia guy Morgan White Jr
assuming he isn’t in Vegas (as he’s been known to do on
Super Bowl weekends!)

[AlexSmyth]

Thanks again for the help

What is the URL for “Screamer Radio”?

My problem is, at work, most conservative Radio sites are blocked.
So I usually just grab pod-casts from the day before, and take them with me.

When Howie was with ABC, they used to have a RM stream.
Does anyone know if his new syndication company does that?

Thanks again

[raccoonradio]

The screamer-radio.com link isn’t working but try
http://www.download.com/Screamer-Radio/3000-2168_4-10368417.html

Hopefully it’ll work for you—go to Talk and Comedy
and then look up WRKO...though guess what, I just tried
the WRKO setting for it and it said “all sources failed,
giving up!”
It could be a problem at WRKO’s end.
The Screamer Radio does work though; I tried a couple
links for Folk and Country

FOR ONLINE LISTENING: If WRKO doesn’t work
try http://www.wcrnradio.com or http://www.wntk.com

no guarantee...

Tue show ping. Daschle withdraws...

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3
1st Hour

2nd Hour
PETA was pranked last week by Omaha Steaks...We will speak with PETA’s own Bruce Friedrich about how pranksters linked a website with an Omaha Steaks banner to part of Peta’s website and what is going to happen now...

3rd Hour
CHUMP LINE!!! Call 617-779-3469 and leave Howie or Sandy a message about the show or the goings on of the day and we may play it back on the air!

4th Hour

[raccoonradio]

I think his current syndication is WRKO/Entercom and I
don’t think there are show podcasts but they do offer
Podzinger on the WRKO site for some small bits like
the Chumpline, I think.

btw I just tried WCRN’s stream and it worked (Ingraham)
though again you said you were blocked at work...

Howie’s audio vault
http://audio.wrko.com/wrko-howie-carr.htm

Example: chumpline from yesterday
http://audio.wrko.com/m/audio/21823695/the_chump_line_from_02_02_09.htm?pageid=26734

[rockabyebaby]

Did anyone hear Laura Ingraham this morning, she took a call from a caller in NH and said that the caller was on WRKO AND that jason wolfe and the gang are doing a great job,,,,,,,,,,,I used to like laura, thought she was intelligent,,,,,,,,hmmmm,,,,,,,,,!

[raccoonradio]

Wed column ping

Still not buyin’ sales tax boondoggle
By Howie Carr | Wednesday, February 4, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com

Welcome to Taxachusetts. Open under new - er, make that old, very old - management.

Last fall the hacks spent millions in public-sector union dues warning us that if we voted to abolish the state income tax, they would have to raise all the other taxes. Well, at least 30 percent of us voted to abolish the income tax, and guess what - the hacks were telling the truth for once.

All our taxes are going up, at least if tax-crazed Gov. Deval Patrick gets his way.

Now they want New Hampshire to collect sales taxes on Massachusetts shoppers. I know, this court case started under Mitt Romney, but nobody ever said he was perfect on the tax/fee/toll issue. Just ask gun owners.

But this new attempt to collect state taxes out of state could have some unintended consequences. For example, New York state has a sales tax of between 7 and 9.5 percent. Surely at least a few New Yorkers must be hoofing it into Berkshire County to take advantage of our 5 percent sales tax. How long until Gov. Paterson unleashes the New York tax cops on his runaway taxpayers?

Here’s another hypothetical. Suppose I have a rental property in, say, Lincoln, N.H., and I decide to restock it for my next batch of ski tenants with paper towels, paper plates, etc. When I go into the supermarket in Boston and buy five rolls of paper towels, can I separate out the three rolls that are going to Loon Mountain so that I don’t have to pay Massachusetts sales tax on them?

And if I go to Florida on vacation, will I still have to pay the Massachusetts meal tax? What if I buy dinner in Juno Beach for some friends from New Hampshire - will their part of the bill go untaxed, by Massachusetts, in Florida?

I know, Massachusetts needs the money, for basic human services. Like Deval’s neighbor in Milton with the newly created $120,000-a-year state job.

At this point in the tax debate, the moonbats always quote Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.: “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.”

Yes, but we don’t live in civilization, we live in Taxachusetts.

Then there’s Deval’s proposed new deposit on bottled water and sports drinks. For decades, the hacks have lectured everyone that soft drinks - sugar or diet - are hazardous to your health. Over the years people slowly cut back, and suddenly the state realized its cut of the unclaimed soft-drink bottle deposits was dropping.

Simple solution: extend the deposit to the bottled water (and sports drinks) that everyone was switching to, at the behest of the state’s health Nazis. They barely even talk about cleaning up “litter.” The payroll patriots only care how much they’ll grab out of their new tax: $20 million.

Hey, Deval, one last question: When is that property tax relief you promised us kicking in?
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1149849

[maryz]

I propose (and I might have said it before) a New Boston Tea Party -- only this time, eliminate the "middleman" and just dump the politicians into the Harbor!

Do you see where Deval is heading to the West Coast to try to talk some poor benighted businesses to head for MA, now that he and the legislature have actual MA businesses on life support? I guess he thought if he searched far enough away, no one there would know about MA's "business climate."

And have you heard the ads on radio about how great MA is for business? I couldn't believe any actual business would take part in them, so I started to listen more closely: Not one of them mentions any real, specific actual benefit conferred by MA on their businesses. No, what they talk about is what their business does, what services/products they offer and what they do for their customers. Then they add, out of nowhere, the "little white lie" (or The Big Lie, if you prefer) that MA is vaguely, in some unspecified way, good for business.

So they get a "free" radio spot (what do they go for nowadays?) in exchange for throwing a little incense before Caesar. Cheap at the price, I guess . . .

[martin_fierro]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[raccoonradio]

Thanks! Good pic

[raccoonradio]

yeah, so much for “another Massachusetts business success
story”, Governor! (or as the most recent Dem guv put it,
“The Massachusetts Miracle—GOOD jobs, and GOOD wages!”

[rockabyebaby]

Ah yes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,TAXachusetts, it’s all here......

[raccoonradio]

Note to the list: the ping for Howie’s Fri column can be found at the following thread, which is related to the column: the story of Howie helping a distraught woman on air.
So if you missed that ping here it is again.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2179531/posts

Show ping for Fri too.

[raccoonradio]

recorded the original call of the distraught woman via
freecorder...
http://raccoonradio.freehostia.com/howiecall.mp3