Business as Usual in the Bay State
From the Boston Herald:
Is it any wonder that we have local pols here in Boston pushing for a city-wide meals tax? Or that property taxes for Boston homeowners are on their way up again? After all, we've got important social programs like this Drunk Cop Taxi Company that need funding, dammit.
News flash, Erin. Your elected officials and their minions have been flushing your tax dollars down the shitter for decades. You're just now getting angry about it?
Now, of course, some people will be quick to dismiss her concerns, and accuse her of being whiny. As if we, the citizenry, have no right to question the government's actions. Just bend over and take it in the shorts, like a good, compliant subject, right?
Fuck.
That.
Tell me something, why is it that when liberals ...oops, sorry... "progressives" see Republicans abusing public funds, we're subject to the relentless cries of woe and agony, invoking the imagery of children suffering at the hands of cold, heartless politicians.
But if a liberal politician in this town throws our money down the proverbial toilet, anyone who dares to speak up and complain is called a whiner or dismissed as nothing more than a bitter shill for the GOP, and told to get over it.
Just askin'.
Yeah, I'll be holding my breath waiting for those numbers to be released.
Come on, Mumbles, this is an easy one. Answering no-brainers should come easy to you.
Either you find this use of tax dollars acceptable, or you don't.
It's a yes or a no. No multi-syllabic words required.
Grow a pair, Mr. Mayor, and answer the frickin' question.
UPDATE: We are not alone.
David at Blue Mass. Group writes:
Actually, it's cops being pulled out of the neighborhoods that need them most, and being replaced with cops working "forced overtime" on our nickel. But, he got the gist of it right.
And, 50 bonus points to David for this closing paragraph.
"As far as I know" being the operative phrase, I assume?
Boston taxpayers face a staggering police overtime bill to cover hot spot city neighborhoods after roughly 160 cops were pulled from their beats to work as security, chauffeurs and porters at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, officials confirmed yesterday.
Is it any wonder that we have local pols here in Boston pushing for a city-wide meals tax? Or that property taxes for Boston homeowners are on their way up again? After all, we've got important social programs like this Drunk Cop Taxi Company that need funding, dammit.
BPD brass ordered dozens of cops to work "forced overtime" in neighborhoods hardest hit by crime, as commanders, detectives, patrol officers and rookie cops were yanked from busy districts like B-2, covering Roxbury and Mission Hill; C-11, covering Dorchester; and the Mattapan/North Dorchester areas covered by B-3; considered the city's most dangerous areas. A lieutenant and four rookie cops were pulled out of C-11 and reassigned to taxi visiting police chiefs, according to a personnel order obtained by the Herald. Many BPD officers were summoned by tipsy out-of-town chiefs by cell phones for rides home from barrooms, the Herald reported yesterday.
[snip]
"We were told by our captain that we cannot get a foot patrol in our neighborhood because there are not enough bodies, but we have cops working overtime to do something like chauffeur people who aren't from Boston back from a bar?" Dorchester resident Erin MacDonald, 42, said yesterday.
"Should I call down to C-11 and tell them I need a cruiser to give me a ride to the grocery store?" MacDonald said. "We are paying for something outrageous. It isn't right and it angers me."
News flash, Erin. Your elected officials and their minions have been flushing your tax dollars down the shitter for decades. You're just now getting angry about it?
Now, of course, some people will be quick to dismiss her concerns, and accuse her of being whiny. As if we, the citizenry, have no right to question the government's actions. Just bend over and take it in the shorts, like a good, compliant subject, right?
Fuck.
That.
Tell me something, why is it that when liberals ...oops, sorry... "progressives" see Republicans abusing public funds, we're subject to the relentless cries of woe and agony, invoking the imagery of children suffering at the hands of cold, heartless politicians.
But if a liberal politician in this town throws our money down the proverbial toilet, anyone who dares to speak up and complain is called a whiner or dismissed as nothing more than a bitter shill for the GOP, and told to get over it.
Just askin'.
[BPD spokeswoman Elaine] Driscoll said a projected overtime cost to city taxpayers was not available...
Yeah, I'll be holding my breath waiting for those numbers to be released.
...but acknowledged the BPD did order cops to work overtime to fill spots left vacant by officers reassigned from the IACP. A spokeswoman for Mayor Thomas M. Menino said he had no comment on the overtime costs last night.
Come on, Mumbles, this is an easy one. Answering no-brainers should come easy to you.
Either you find this use of tax dollars acceptable, or you don't.
It's a yes or a no. No multi-syllabic words required.
Grow a pair, Mr. Mayor, and answer the frickin' question.
UPDATE: We are not alone.
David at Blue Mass. Group writes:
Well, no double standard here, Bruce. It strikes me as outrageous that cops are pulled away from their jobs in order to drive these folks around.
[snip]
This whole thing sucks. It's money down the toilet, and it's cops pulled out of the neighborhoods that need them the most. It's another episode of "hacks gone wild."
Actually, it's cops being pulled out of the neighborhoods that need them most, and being replaced with cops working "forced overtime" on our nickel. But, he got the gist of it right.
And, 50 bonus points to David for this closing paragraph.
Oh, and speaking of Menino, I'll join the many observers who felt that it was completely unnecessary to have an "interpreter" on hand during the Lt. Gov. debate for Green-Rainbow candidate Martina Robinson, who has cerebral palsy. She was no harder to understand than Menino, who as far as I know does not suffer from a brain disorder.[emphasis mine - ed.]
"As far as I know" being the operative phrase, I assume?
