Beats the HELL out of VOTING!

Not even the rolls of dead voters are going for Coakley!

I had to go to MY morgue to get this photo I took in ‘71.

This individual has all the qualifications to run for elective office as a Democrat from MA.

Hell, she could give lessons…

Woman’s blood alcohol content topples state records

A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal.

A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Marguerite Engle, 45, on Dec. 1 passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen in Rapid City. [snip]

 I wonder if Baucus partied with her before he headed to the Senate Chambers…

Hey liberals, do you think MA is talking about real money yet?

Romney played the fool and pushed through that insurance/health care plan. Costs rapidly spiraled out of control. Spending the money for that colossal backhoe to dig that crater for the state budget wasn’t brilliant.
Now, you’ll be taking a machete to your venerated social programs.
The social engineers ran that train right off the track. It was only a matter of time, Soon you can explain to a horde of people you kept in financial slavery, they’re free, go get a job!
Excuse me, I have to stop and pick up my ass; keeps falling off from laughing.
Damn, now I wish I learned the words to Kumbaya or Sing this Song or whatever the hell those tunes are! Excuse me there it goes again. Oh Lawdy Lawd… Say dude, you free at last! gimee five!

State revenues continue free fall

Collections at least $300m short

Who said, “People won’t vote with their feet.”

State revenues are continuing to collapse, falling short by at least an additional $300 million in April and leading state officials yesterday to predict possible cash shortages, budget cuts, more layoffs of state workers, and perhaps additional tax proposals to bridge the growing gaps. [snip] [snip]…Even big infusions of financial aid from the federal government, courtesy of President Obama’s stimulus package, have not been enough to plug the holes.
[snip]

“We’re in a free-fall here,” said Michael J. Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. “The collapse of revenue is so huge that all of the options seem impossible - cuts of that magnitude or additional revenue of that magnitude.”
[snip]
“We’ve got a big problem,” said Senator Steven A. Tolman, a Boston Democrat. “And we can’t tax our way out of it.”

This is truly the Eighth Ring of Hell, reserved for the Other People’s Money abusers. The final act in a political theatrical flop; no more OPM, no one left to tax except the ones receiving the benefits. Is this ever condign!

Just two weeks ago, Patrick announced he was planning to cut an additional 750 jobs from state government and furlough 5,000 executive branch employees for up to five days. That was the third time in seven months Patrick had announced emergency budget cuts.

April revenue figures, which will be officially released next week, are estimated to fall between $365 million and $465 million below expectations, said Senator Steven Panagiotakos, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. He also estimated that May and June revenues would fall by $200 million to $300 million.
[snip]

People, these are the saviors of GM, the banking system, health care, Chrysler, Social Security, baseball, apple pie, Mom, schools, the Rain Forest and perverts. The last they may save; everyone has an area of expertise.

Illinois Income Tax May Jump 50 Percent

When I first saw this lede from Chicago, I thought:

Politicians to finally pay taxes!

Turns out not to be true, just the same “old stick it to the hoi polloi voters.”

[snip]
Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich issued a written statement Friday denouncing the tax-increase idea. At the time of his impeachment, he claimed lawmakers were getting him out of the way to hike taxes.
“When Pat Quinn and I ran as a ticket we promised the people not to raise taxes,” Blagojevich said. “For six years I kept that promise. It took him less than six weeks to break it.”

From the home of Obama, do you think  the pols would pay taxes?

From Careers of Danger and Daring (1903) by Cleveland Moffett.  Moffett recounts stories told to him by deep sea divers while aboard a wrecking tug in the East River, at the turn of the 20th century.

Last of all they told the story of old Captain Conkling and the Holyoke Dam, a story known to every diver. It seems there was a leak in this dam, and the water was rushing through with so strong a suction that it seemed near certain death for a diver to go near enough to stop the leak. Yet it was extremely important that the leak be stopped - in fact, the saving of the dam depended on it. So Captain Conkling, who was in charge of the job, induced one of his divers to go down, and reluctantly the man put on his suit, but insisted on having an extra rope, and a very strong one, tied around his waist.     “What’s that for?” asked Conkling.
     “That’s to get my body out, if the life-line breaks,” said the diver.
     “Go on and do your work,” replied Conkling, who had little use for sentiment.
It happened exactly as the diver feared. He was drawn into the suction of the hole, and when they tried to pull him up both hose and life-line parted, and the man was drowned, but they managed to rescue his body with the heavy line, just as he had planned.
Then Conkling called for another diver, but not a man responded. They said they weren’t that kind of fools.
     “All right,” said the captain, in his businesslike way; “then I’ll go down myself and stop that hole.” And he called the men to dress him.
At this time, Captain Conkling was seventy-five years old, and had retired long since from active diving. But he was as strong as a horse still, and no man had every questioned his courage.
In vain they tried to dissuade him. “I’ll stop that hole,” said he, “and I don’t want any extra rope, either”.
He kept his word. He went down, and he stopped the hole, but it was with his dead body, and today somewhere in the Holyoke Dam lie the bones of brave old Captain Conkling, incased in full diving-dress, helmet and hose and life-line, buried in that mass of masonry. No man ever dared to go down after his body. 

Went to go vote before work but the lines were too long. I will be going back this afternoon.

Your mission for today:

Ignore the Polls.

Ignore the Media.

Ignore the Exit Polls.

Ignore the Early Results Tonight.

Ignore them all, they are all designed to make you give up and stay home. I don’t know how this election will turn out but I can damn well tell you that I will go down swinging. Get out and vote and let the chips fall where they may.

If you live in Massachusetts, don’t forget to vote Yes on 1.

I guess this is how the government will fund the bail out of AIG, the next bank (which will be either Citi or WB).

Go here for the hand in your wallet.

BTW, the bail out of Freddie  and Fannie were not put on the government books. Seems that would have blown the budget. Nah, who would have thunk it? Lets see you keep some of your earnings off the books.

“The reason Social Security isn’t on the books.” says that brilliant economist, Barney Frank, “is that it is ‘voluntary’.”

Isn’t he great! He’s appearing all week; give him a big hand and don’t forget to tip the hatcheck girl on the way out.

We have our own idiots in Vermont like Welch and Leahy, but your clown is in a class by himself.

Here’s a surprise—Governor Patrick says tax increases are on the table.  Looking at his massive new programs, fiscal restraint certainly never was.  His spending spree is all the more embarrassing given everyone knew the slowing economy meant tax revenues would be shrinking this year.  Yet the governor didn’t have the stomach to make any hard decisions when it came to spending priorities.

Ultimately, this probably matters very little to him.  If Barack is elected in November, he’ll be picking new curtains and desks for his DC office anyway.  Why not raise taxes on your way out the door when you won’t be around to feel the voter backlash?

MEFA is a quasi-state agency offering student loans at discounted rates.  Last week it announced that some 40,000+ students would have to seek funding elsewhere.  Credit market turbulence closed its traditional funding sources.  But never fear because Deval Patrick has a plan.

Obama Jr. proposes having the state pension fund and large university endowments, ahem Harvard, pick up some of the bonds.  Enter Tim Cahill.  Our chief money man says investing for social returns sets a bad precedent.  He correctly notes that pension fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to seek the best returns, not feel good returns.

But guess who Treasurer Tim thinks can pick up the $450 million dollar guarantee?  That’s right—it’s you and me.  The investment isn’t good enough for the state pension system, but nobody cares about the taxpayers, so it’s plenty good enough for us.  Now that Patrick has Cahill’s suggestion as top cover, probably the whole point behind this exercise anyway, our spendthrift governor is sure to push a bill through quickly.

You have to hand it to the MA state legislature.  The boys and girls on Beacon Hill have their finger on the pulse of critical issues affecting the electorate.  Praise be that pet rentals are now outlawed in the Commonwealth.  Let’s celebrate with another round of business killing, job slowing “loophole” closures, so more people can move out of state.

Criminal defense lawyer turned MA State Representative James Fagan’s comments on Jessica’s Law aren’t surprising. Criminal defense attorneys don’t have souls, right?

“Let me tell you why it’s so wrong,” said Fagan (D-Taunton). “It’s so wrong because in these situations . . . that 6-year-old is going to sit in front of me, or somebody far worse than me and I’m going to rip them apart. I’m going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined. That when they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep. When they’re 19 years old they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody. And that’s not because I’m a nice guy. That’s because when you’re in court, and you’re defending somebody’s liberty, and you’re facing a mandatory sentence of those draconian proportions, you have to do every single thing you can do on behalf of your client. That is your obligation as a trial lawyer.”

Fagan, who opposed Melanie’s Law, also criticized laws named in honor of victims, calling such measures “knee-jerk” legislation.

First, I would not hire Fagan as an attorney. Anyone who thinks he’d earn points with a jury by tearing into a 6 year old on the stand isn’t much of an attorney. I doubt even a Cambridge jury would take kindly to that tactic.

Second, 20 years doesn’t seem “draconian” when measured against the life sentence that the victim got from the perpetrator.  But again, you have to have a soul to consider the victim’s travails.

Next, whenever these laws are considered, emotions run high. Normal people–read not criminal defense attorneys and judges–empathize with the victim and family. However, I strongly disagree with the notion that these laws are a “knee-jerk”, emotional reactions.

Mandatory minimums is the logical response to bleeding heart judges whose first inclination is sympathy for the offenders. If MA judges had the good sense to take child rapists off the streets, we wouldn’t even be talking about mandatory minimums. But instead of protecting children, far too many judges slap these highly dangerous criminals on the wrists.

If Representative Fagan is worried about the damage of cross-examination, he should work on reforming the way judges are selected, disciplined, and retained. Until the judicial process experiences some massive reform, mandatory minimums is the only option that the people have to defend themselves against judges who refuse to defend us and our children.

Here’s a group of bright bulbs, eh?

A group of teenage girls made a solemn pact - not to be friends forever, go to the prom together or try out for a sports team.

They agreed to get pregnant. And they kept their promise.

Seventeen girls at Gloucester High School in Massachusetts are expecting babies, Time.com first reported.

None of the mothers-to-be, who are planning to raise their babies together, are over age 16. One of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless man.

My first reaction was they’ll learn soon enough about the consequences of stupid decisions.  But then I thought about it and that’s not true.  Because the fact is we’ll suffer the consequences.  We’ll pay their rent.  Buy their clothes.  Feed them.  Give them free healthcare.  Finance some form of education for the mother.  And more than likely, we’ll keep paying for the next generation who are much more likely to become welfare wards too.

And all the while, big government types will tell those of us who work, pay taxes, and take care of our families why they need more and more of our money.  This is why Deval can’t give us tax relief.  He has to take care of all the people who need reminders to keep breathing.

Yes, we’re all fathers-to-be and mothers-to-be, but I don’t feel much like celebrating.  How about you?

Who knew MA had an extra billion to throw away on corporate welfare?  I guess it’s just property tax relief the governor and legislature can’t find money for.

John Kerry has a primary challenger. Edward O’Reilly, a lawyer and former firefighter, earned a spot on the ballot with 23% of the vote. Although embarrassing Kerry with a vote for O’Reilly is tempting, I say perish the thought. When choosing between two socialists, it’s wisest to take the layabout. Ed sounds like he’ll show up for work. As experience has proven, the lazy Kerry will do far less damage eating bacon wrapped scallops on Nantucket.

Therefore, I endorse John Kerry in the Democratic primary as the candidate most likely to cause the least damage.