And in other news: water is wet, and the Pope is Catholic

Globe Poll Shows Declining Support For Governor Patrick

NOOOO…you don’t say?  I thought we all LOVED a guy who is taxing us to death during a recession, yet not cutting back on anything himself.  Nor does he seem to expect his pals on Beacon Hill to do so, either.  This is the same jerk who swore that he’d never sign the bill that will increase Massachusetts sales tax from 5% to 6.25%, but he lied.

So, of course people are pissed.  I think many were pissed when he first took office, and bought himself a Cadillac, on the taxpayers’ dime.  He did repay the state for the vehicle, but only because of the public outrage over the whole thing.  This guy is rich, he can certainly afford to buy his own luxury vehicles.

But who knows what else he’s bought for himself on our dime?  I think he still got away with redecorating his office with public money, and for all we know, he also has stuff like a fancy sound system, big-screen TV, maybe even a Capresso machine.

Hey…don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the guy!  I voted for Christy Mihos, and I will vote for him again if he’s still in the race by Election Day 2010.

We can’t affiord any more of Deval Patrick.  He has to go!

Oops, someone did it again!

Truck gets stuck on Storrow Drive (complete with pictures of squooshified truck).

Sheesh!  Don’t they have signage all over the place that says how tall the bridges are there?  I didn’t even think they allowed big trucks on that road at all.  Still, stuff like this sems to happen a lot.

You know where else this sort of thing happens a lot?  On Memorial Drive in Cabridge, near MIT.  It usually happens at the begininng or end of the school year, when the students are moving into or out of their dorm rooms.  At least once each student moving season, some kid with a ginormous U-Haul gets caught under one of the bridges on Memorial Drive.  I’ve seen some of these accidents on the news, sometimes the top of the truck got peeled off by the bridge, just like a can of sardines.

Oops!

So, if you are planning on going rv camping this summer, and you want to make a stop in Boston on the way to your campground, be aware of these roads, and avoid them! Some of these campers are actually are big enough where they might get stuck under a bridge, too.

The Professor Gates thing

Honestly, I’m tired of hearing about it.  I have no opinion as to whether the arrest was a result of racial profiling or not, simply because I wasn’t there and didn’t see what happened.

The one thing I can say is that Cambridge has MUCH better cops than Malden, where we live, does.  Neighbors thought someone was breaking into the professor’s house, when, in actuality, it was the homeowner himself, who had forgotten his keys or something.

Several months ago, Mike and I came home one night, and were unable to unlock our front door.  It was dark and we couldn’t see very well, but neither of our keys would go all the way into the lock.  We thought perhaps that someone was trying to pick the lock, and whatever they were trying to pick it with broke off and got stuck inside the lock.  Who knows?

The back door that leads into the back hallway was locked, and Mike didn’t have the key, and, at first, I didn’t think I did, either.  Besides, we have a big kitchen cart that is up against the back door, so even if I could get in the back door, it would have been difficult to get the kitchen door open.

So at first we tried jimmying the front door open, trying the credit card thing, etc.  I noticed as we were trying to break into our own house, a couple of cop cars drove right by, and didn’t stop to take notice of what would appear to be a burglary in progress.  What if it really was strangers trying to break in?  Scary thought.

Anyhoo, I finally decided to see if I could get the back door open, and it turned out that I did have a key.  Then I had to unlock the kitchen door, and slowly push the cart, with the door, hoping the whole thing wouldn’t topple over.

I succeeded, and I was able to open the front door from the inside.  The next day, Mike had to go to Home Depot and buy a new front door lock.

It’s just not very safe here, and we hope to be able to move someday soon.  Even our car insurance is higher than it should be, because of where the car is parked at night.  After Massachusetts deregulated car insurance rates, I went to another company to get an auto insurance quote, and it wasn’t much different than what we’re paying now.

So I guess what I’m saying is that Professor Gates should have been grateful that the Cambridge police even bothered to come out and investigate what they thought was a crime in progress.

That is all.

So we gotta pay to feed these people?

If the video won’t play for some reason, you can see and read the story here:  Over $125,000 spent on takeout.

This is certainly nothing new.  It seems that these lawmakers, who earn enough money to pay for their own stuff, get all sorts of freebies.  I bet they don’t have to pay the exorbitant prices to park in Boston, for example.

It should not be the responsibility of any employer to provide food for their employees.  Okay, if you happen to work in a restaurant, they’ll often provide a free meal during your shift.  And sometimes, when Mike’s employer has their monthly meetings down in Rhode Island, they’ll order in takeout on the company’s dime. Also, at the Massachusetts location where Mike actually works, they offer a company-subsidized cafeteria.  In other words, they only charge enough for the food to cover the expenses of running the cafeteria, the company doesn’t make any money from it.  They are not in the food service business, anyway, it is there as a convenience for the employees.

But we’re talking about privately owned businesses here, not the taxpayer subsidized government.  It pisses me off that we are playing PLENTY in taxes, part of which to go to pay for meals for people who probably earn more money than we do.  What will be next?  Will we be footing the bills for lawmakers’ weddings, their children, and even their fancy engraved birth announcements?

Yet theses same people had the serious brass ones to raise our state sales tax from 5% to 6.25% – this increase takes effect on August 1, 2009.

In these tough economic times, many, many people are struggling to put even basic food on their tables.  I’m sure these people were as disgusted as I am, when they saw this story on Fox-25.

Maine Brewers Festival Tickets On Sale NOW!

I know…it’s not until the first weekend in November…but tickets for the 2009 Maine Brewers Festival are on sale NOW.  If you really want to go, you should buy your tickets ASAP, as they do sell out each and every year.

Right now, there are fewer tickets up for grabs.  This is because they did a few pre-sales…some at last year’s fest, again at Christmas, and once more for Valentine’s Day.  I snagged ours during the Christmas pre-sale event.

Since this is an indoor event, the fire code says that they can only sell so many tickets, so there will not be any more available than in previous years.

Once again, they will be having the Dinner with the Brewers event on Friday, November 6, the night before the festival.  You can purchase a combo ticket for both the dinner and the festival, or just for the festival.

The festival is a very cool event, which features not only the great beers of Maine, but top-notch entertainment, as well.  If you want to go, don’t waste time getting your tickets!