Not Mr White's Anymore by Howie Carr 6/28/13
Whitey Bulger had a flashback to 1985 yesterday. He thought he was still running the Boston FBI office as he sneered at the crooked weakling G-man John Morris that he’d always owned.
“You’re a (bleepin’) liar,” Whitey hissed.
In the old days, Morris would have soiled his drawers. He once told a reporter about Whitey, “You have
no idea how dangerous
he is.”
In 1995, “Mr. White” called Morris at the FBI Academy and gave him a tongue-lashing so severe that Morris keeled over with a heart attack.
But that was then, and this is now. After this F-bomb, prosecutor Brian Kelly stood up and pointed a finger at Whitey as he angrily addressed the judge:
“I know he’s spent his whole life intimidating people, including 15-year-olds in Southie, but he can keep his little remarks to himself.”
Little remarks! J.W. Carney bowed his head in mock reproach and said he’d have a discussion with his client.
Whitey and Stevie Flemmi derisively called Morris “Vino” because of his taste for the grape.
Yesterday, 67-year-old Morris told the court that he’s “employed part time, as a wine consultant, a wine educator.” Boy, did they own Vino.
At least three times yesterday, he referred to Zip Connolly as his “best friend.” Now Vino lives in a
retirement community in Florida and so does Zip — in a gated community ... prison.
All the other bent FBI agents were Boston boys — Zip, Paul Rico, Dennis Condon. Morris was from somewhere out in the heartland. He thought everything was on the level.
No wonder Whitey figured he could still push him around all these years later.
First they gave Vino a case of wine. Then they got him drunk at the Colonnade in a room where he was playing Whitey and Stevie Mafia tapes from the Dog House. Vino was so loaded he forgot to take the tape back. Whitey had to drive him home. After that, they owned him. He’d gone native.
And then the married Vino wanted to take his FBI secretary/girlfriend on a junket to Glencoe, Ga. He went to Zip and asked him if Whitey and Stevie would give him a grand.
Vino recalled how Zip had told him: “ ‘These guys really like you. If there’s anything you ever want or need, just ask.’ And I did ... I knew that I was clearly compromised.” And “Mr. White” owned him all these years. Until yesterday, when Brian Kelly put Whitey in his 83-year-old place.
Gas tax on cruise control
Sunday, June 30, 2013 By: Howie Carr
The Legislature did an amazing thing this week. It overwhelmingly decided to never, ever vote to raise gas taxes again.
That doesn’t mean gas taxes aren’t going to keep going up and up and up. It just means the General Court will never have to go on record as raising them. Because from now on the state gas taxes are going to increase ... automatically!
Who says the hackerama at the State House is incapable of innovations? When new ways are needed to pick the taxpayers’ pockets, Beacon Hill will invent them.
Instead of having actual roll-call votes on whether to increase the gas tax — votes that might be used against the hacks in the next election — from now on they’re going to use a formula based on the Consumer Price Index.
You know, the same CPI that overestimates inflation so much that even Barack Obama has been complaining about it.
The hacks at the State House used to vote on their own pay raises, which proved to be an extremely hazardous roll call. Afterwards, in the next election, a few of the feebler solons would always be culled from the herd. So the hacks now determine their inevitable pay raises with this marvelous new CPI dodge, which has proven so successful that they’ve decided to use it on gas taxes.
But just for old times’ sake, they decided to raise the gas tax one final time — by 3 cents per gallon.
Maybe you didn’t hear about this new scheme, I mean plan, to never vote on raising gas taxes again. It got buried in the larger story about the latest tax increase, which is somewhere between $500 million and $1.2 billion, but hey, who’s counting, it’s only taxpayers’ money.
The tax increase is to be used for transportation funding, well, some of it is, at least a third maybe. But as the years go by, they’re hoping to use more of it for actual things like roads. You can trust them, after all, they’re not like the others.
But right now, you see, Deval et al. need the money for their beloved programs, like $270 million in Mass Health benefits for illegal aliens and God only knows how much more for their free in-state college tuitions and their Section 8 Tsarnaev housing.
See, after providing a proper welcome to all the newcomers, the state is short — oh wait, actually, the actual revenue figures for the fiscal year that ends tonight are $600 million above estimates.
Another hike: an extra buck for a pack of smokes — but you’ll never even miss it, just like you never noticed that 2 percent cut in your pay Jan. 1 for Social Security, right?
Oddly, the Legislature did not begin debating the “t” word until after the U.S. Senate special election was over. Just a coincidence, I’m sure.
About the only word in the debate that had any real meaning was “fix,” in its drug definition. The hackerama needed another fix, because they’re junkies, addicted to tax dollars.
Nobody cares anymore, apparently. As long as they don’t have to actually work, the hacks are content to bankrupt the state, while everyone with a real job is figuring out a way to flee, permanently. Only a handful of Republicans are left to complain.
Rep. Jim Lyons of Andover pointed out that MBTA painters make $79,000 a year, while painters in “regular government” get $46,000. Wonder how much they make in the Dreaded Private Sector.
Rep. Ryan Fattman of Sutton mentioned the greatest accomplishment of the Patrick administration: “We have had more dead people receiving EBT benefits in a decade than jobs have been created.”
And Sen. Bruce Tarr noted how the “reforms” invariably work out with the state’s bloated bureaucracies: “You didn’t save the money you said you would, so let’s give you some more money.”
But look on the bright side. You won’t have to read any more headlines about the gas tax going up. Because it’ll just be going up automatically.