Wagoner outski....

Well...I wanted someone to be made an example of, and by ghod I got it.

There is some buzz out there to the effect that Rick Wagoner's ouster at GM is proof that the Obama Admin is somehow tougher on manufacturing than it is on banking. Dunno about that, basically GM and the big three have been nothing but auto-loan brokers with a big manufacturing component attached for decades...firing Wagoner to me is a big shot across the bow of AIG, Citigroup and a host of similarly esoteric outfits.
Moreover, the year is still young...and a lot of high binders are waking up right now even as I right this with some cold therapeutic fear in their hearts.
I thoroughly approve.

ITEM!

HE is a rising man in the state legislature, freshly elected from a safe seat dee-ep in the liberal redoubt of Middlesex County.
SHE is a powerhouse in Town Hall, a former co-chair of the above politician's campaign and a one of his notable electoral allies.
So WHY is SHE allegedly making noises about challenging him in the 2010 democratic primary???
There are rumors, mere rumors though of bad blood, certain political patrons who were not hired, aspersions have allegedly been cast behind the scenes etc etc etc.
If SHE gets in, then she faces long odds, starting raising the 100K minimum to be a competitor and moving on to collecting worthwhile allies and building an organization that can project power into the precincts come election day.
But it is well known she wants out of town hall and this might be her only ticket...others have attempted the same route and gone nowhere...nevertheless, Humble Elias will keep all and sundry advised.

Chris Weld, the nephew of former Massachusetts Governor William Weld...

has turned up in the micro-distillery business.
Now....I'm gonna refrain from any obvious snarkage, I just am.
Governor Weld has been out of the game a good long time and what his nephew does to keep body and soul together is his own business.
BUT
IF Former Governor Cellucci's favorite newphew decides to open a bank or perhaps a casino or IF Former Acting Governor Jane "Jingle Money" Swift's beloved niece becomes a pawnbroker, well then mah frenz Humble Elias WILL have something to Say!!

Vampires at Boston Latin...

All teenaged affectations look ridiculous thru the telescope of time...this is akin to kids at my parochial HS claiming to be expat Kryptonians on account of the good opinion that Margot "Lois Lane" Kidder held for Chris "Superman" Reeve.
***
Speaking of vampires (like da ones we got on Wall Street) the only reason to give the Secretary of the Treasury broad powers of seizure and receivership is to make an example out of someone "too big to fail".
Like Teddy Roosevelt did to JP Morgan like his cousin did to everyone else on Wall Street...Like Truman did to Big Steel, what is needed now is a big visible application of what Juan Peron used to call "the vertical stroke".

A bout of food poisoning...

then a fall in my bedroom requiring 8 stitches in my forehead from Lahey Burlington....yeah I was sick camper yesterday.
At the end of the night, Elias Nugator Sr (that decorated veteran of FDR"s myrmidions) knocked on my door and humbly offered me the use of one of his canes "If I felt wobbly".
I Told that old man that I loved him more than I loved life itself....and silently I wished I had the knack for saying just the right thing at the right time.
Such is the kingdom of heaven.

Oh and by the way...

according to Jeff Jacoby, we have WON the war in IRaq.
We are 1.5 trillion dollars in debt...
The WMD were illusions if not outright lies...
The US is diplomatically isolated, to say nothing of the purdah Israel is in...
The Shi'ites have used the surge to effect their own purge of the south...

But hey we won this is, sez Jeff that laughing young senescence, "victory".

I'd hate to see what defeat looked like quite frankly.

Ahh but all that money and all that blood all so Jeff and seemingly Jeff alone can feel all tuff and manly.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts...

can barely handle the manifold temptations that attend on administering a public lottery.
Case in point can be found right the hell here.
State Treasurer Tim Cahill isn't even halfway thru his first term and already he has some splainin' ta do about sweetheart contracts and lobbyists at the lottery.
Sound familiar?
Public ethic eruptions seem to happen every four years like clockwork with the Massachusetts state lottery.
And in general the lottery is on the up and up...
Now if our provincial lottery engenders this sort of chicanery and rascality, imagine the shenanigans we'd be dealing with if the state got casino gambling?
If the rights to print scratch tickets can kick off a 20K bribery investigation, just think what sort of money would come over the transom when the state has casino licenses in play?

Bat Mizvah Note...

My health club is located in a three star hotel in Waltham...because it suits Humble Elias' sense of whimsy to pass thru a bar to get to the ellipse machines.
Anyway, Saturday the joint was swarming with tweener girls in gowns attending a bat mizvah reception in one of the function rooms. They surged past me on the stairs like giggling minnows, they seethed back down moments later...again giggling remorselessly the whole time.
Did I mention the expensive gowns? Did I also mention that NONE of them had any shoes on of any kind?
Not...a...one on an even dozen in gazelle-like flight thru the halls of the hotel!
As I got on the treadmill I decided that times being what they are, clearly they blew the budget on the dress and simply had nothing left over for any appropriate footgear.
Or as my old GF once put it "better NO shoes than the wrong shoes".

Re. Aloisi on the BMG

There are some netizens over at the esteemed Blue Mass Group who are wondering if they got played for suckers with respect to the whole Carol Aloisi affair.
I don't know if they did or not, but the BMG's activist on-line profile invites this sort of game play from factions within and without Beacon Hill. It is a wonder this sort thing hasn't happened before....and if it hasn't then it will and soon.
Times are tough, most decisions on Beacon Hill are about managing scarcity, newspapers are dying and Beacon Hill democrats are a ruthless bunch.
It is to say the least a toxic mix...people will use any venue to advance their agenda and these people are as subtle and cunning as any Renaissance Italian Princeling.

This is just a word of caution to my friends in the blogging community...keep a weather eye out now more than ever.

Cam Kerry lands on his feet

with a sinecure at the Department of Commerce. A nice quiet perch from which to observe any emerging opportunities in Massachusetts I'd say.

If it is March then...

Joanie Vennochi must be theatrically backing down on Governor Deval Patrick.
She has done this at least three before, the week he cinched the nomination and then again on the eve of the big gay marriage vote in 2007 and then again with the gas tax about a month ago.
It works out to a back down about once a year on average with the same core criticism offered up every time a lack of leadership.
Given Joanie's lack of any core political beliefs of her own (other than a middle school queen bee-ish resentment of successful democrats) you have to wonder what defines leadership in her mind?
The truth of the matter is, the Governor of Massachusetts is battling a global recession with a very limited selection of weapons and a severe handicap namely a constitutional mandate to submit and maintain a balanced budget. Everything else is just eyewash especially all the columnista bushwah about "outrage".
Columnists love outrage, it's a nice stupid emotion they can wring tons of copy from...writers like Joanie who have resentments not beliefs, love it the way Nancy loved Sid.
This particular line (with respect to James Aloisi's mea cupla on the Blue Mass Group) is particularly instructive:
But understanding what it takes to placate the liberal blogging community is different from understanding what it takes to placate the general public - or understanding what it takes to anger them.
That is right Governor Patrick, FORGET the bloggertariat, instead PAY ATTENTION to MY ANGER here in the Globe!
This is also a none too subtle attempt to blame political mis-steps in the corner office on local bloggers (who I understand are in the poor graces of the editorial offices at the Herald and the Globe)...which is just sad in my opinion.
Sort of like a mastodon wail from out the tar pits.

Program note:

per the Imus Show this morning, Laura Ingraham is apparently substitute hosting for Bill O'Reilly tonight and will be discussing (seriously now) the left and it's tendency to demonize it's opposition by driving the news cycle via out-of-context quotes.
This from a woman who cackles incessantly at her own alleged impersonation of Nancy Pelosi.
Oh well...If O'Reilly is following the Johnny Carson precedent, then Laura has been selected as interim host purely on the basis of being no worrisome competition to him and the O'Reilly Factor mulitmedia empire.
I still wanna know what the recipe is for Laura's hangover cure? She sounded pretty damn manic on Imus today...makes yuh wonder if she has moved on to something else?

Dick Cheney has the mentality of a

coup plotter doesn't he?

Imagine the howls that would've gone up if Al Gore spoken in the same fashion after 9-11?
Ah but Dick couldn't care less, he has the sneaky morality of a Hideki Tojo, all he wants to do here is prepare the ground in case there is another terrorist attack in the USA...that way if the worst happens he and his faction will supposedly reap a political benefit.
Such stalwart patriots we got in the GOP truly.

Another Saint Patrick's Day breakfast...

which for sheer humor and wit, gets worse and worse with each passing year.
I think it must be the venue it just drains any spontaneity or talent out of the participants...even Deval Patrick who can get a good line off now and again sounded like a footling yesterday.
Maybe the corned beef is underdone...thats a killer mah frenz.
Trust me, Humble Elias is no nostalgist, it was no better when Capo d' Regime Billy Bulger was in charge, a palpable air of menace hung over the proceedings for all the genial Irish smiles. The malevolent miasma was easily discernable to television audiences...the whole affair felt like one was watching Sonny Corleone try his hand at stand up comedy.
Frankly true wit has been a rare thing on Beacon Hill since the late George Keverian stepped down as Speaker of the House, this lot are a bunch of pretenders who won't even lay out the money for good gag writers.
Guys...listen to Humble Elias willya? Bruce Vilanch will negotiate on his rates.

Please Ghod...

Keep Michael Steele on as RNC chair thats all I can say.
The man has issued howlers on a weekly basis since he got the job...I NEED to see this knucklehead try and guide the GOP thru a real election cycle...I just do.
Honestly does Steele pour out a big bowlful of stupid pills and imbecile capsules, put some milk on them then chow down like they are breakfast cereal or something??
This is the best show in town since Romney tried to go the "Share the Wealth" route last year in NH.

Bristol Palin has at last put the kibosh on her sham engagement to Levi Johnston, otherwise known as the father to her son, Tripp.
I feel bad for the kid, she seems pretty sensible from what I've see which admittedly ain't much. At the very least she has learned how little security and even sanctity there is in a policy of ignorance.
One last question though, did anyone here in America really believe those poor dumb kids were ever gonna get married fuh real, let alone be happy married??
My Ghod but we do like to watch some sordid spectacles with mute appreciation now don't we??
***
As for Grandma Sarah, well, the right thing happened with respect to her short term prospects so I think the very least she can do is hire a decent Nanny and buy her daughter a first class baby seat for the car.

This is just sad...

Word is on the street that the Boston Globe is hemorrhaging money...

Much as I like to snark at certain columnists thereon the news is akin to discovering that a maddeningly eccentric old uncle is headed back to the hospital for the last time...aged crazy but the only relation that was worth cultivating back in the day.

On the other hand, if it all does go to smash...what will become of Jeff Jacoby? $25.00 a week to blog on Freerepublic.com? He can always sing in the subways, the Red Line can use some new voices.

Mitt Romney prospers because

credulous journalists like Peter Canellos consistently misidentify his craven opportunism as "statesmanship".
If a democrat had changed his mind so relentlessly and so shamelessly purely in pursuit of higher office he or she would be pilloried and harangued til they were forced from public life.
The blood libel of all liberals in democrats in US politics is that of "indecision" which conjures crotch grabbing nightmares of Peter Sellers trying to cajole the Soviet Premier in "Dr. Strangelove" in the hearts of the American punditariat.
Romney though, need fear no such canard he has changed his mind on the issue of abortion alone some four times in the past twelve years and will change it twice more before the 2012 New Hamsphire Primary without demure one from the likes of Peter Canellos.
This howler which closes the above piece is particularly instructive:
"Last fall, when he first declared his willingness to let the carmakers fail, Romney seemed to be defying his own Michigan roots as the son of an auto executive. But as General Motors and Chrysler beg for more money amid ever-darkening prospects, Romney's position may actually be ahead of the curve; he may have seen something in the carmakers' prospects that others didn't see as clearly."


Ummm forget about last FALL Peter, last SPRING a mere six months before Romney turned hard hearted Randian on us, the Former Governor of Massachusetts was stumping Michigan howling like Huey Long gone mad on crystal meth that he'd reopen the auto factories by fair means or foul.
That does say "ahead of the curve" to me, it says "blustery and desperate" quite frankly.

Every year...

Spring comes to Massachusetts, laces on the boxing gloves and attempts to overthrow winter in final free for all gotterdammerung style brawl to the wall.
In short, spring once again gets it's ass thoroughly kicked...and winter bounds to the top ropes to leer at the chilled and frosty crowd.
That was the case this weekend...two good days and now it's snowing....hard.

Nothing left to do but make some coffee and watch Johnny Rivers.

Jonathan Krohn

the 13 year old pundit wows C-PAC with his spirited defense of U.S.wingnuttery.
At a time when the GOP is plainly intellectually bankrupt, the kid is a rising star...or maybe movement conservatism figures to get a young vigorous man to come in after the firefight to shoot their wounded for them.
Anyway, apparently young Jonathan Krohn is being "mentored" by none other than Dollar Bill Bennett, a hearty rubicund "Washington Outsider" who has made millions in the political action committee badger game.
So no doubt young Jonathan is learning all the ins and outs attendent on creating multiple hot button issue political action committees, fundraising like a wolverine in heat and then awarding oneself a preposterously huge million dollar salary on the basis of NEVER bringing said issue to any kind of resolution.
That and the six million large Bill blew on many many under-publicized trips to the gaming tables of Las Vegas...maybe he can also teach the kid when to walk away from the big states blackjack table.
So much mentoring to be absorbed....

Oh please GHOD!

Let this be true!

PLEASE LORD inspire Newt Gingrich to run for President in 2012...please please please!!??

That would be the ultimate four way thunderdome match, Sarah Palin and Piyush Jindal fighting over who is a bigger Forest Gumpian simpleton whilst Romney and Gingrich go toe to toe over who is a bettersmall gummintt fanatic....
And if Countryboy Mike Huckabee piles in crucifix and all, so much the better!!

Ah but lets face it, Newt has not running for President down to a science...making a profitable virtue of his narcissistic cowardice is one of the Former US House Speaker's lesser known abilities.

How to write a Joanie Vennochi column in three easy steps:

1.) Call up Charlie Baker, possible GOP candidate for Governor in 2010.

2.) Get NOTHING out of him about running for Governor in 2010...save the usual palaver.

3.) Write a column sighing and rolling your eyes at the spectacle of Charlie Baker's alleged indecisiveness.


Well all Humble Elias can say is, at least she is doing it to someone other than John Kerry.

Edward Maximus, Peer of the Realm...

So Teddy Kennedy collected an honorary knighthood. Elias Nugator Senior (once one of FDR's noble & courageous Myrmidions) asked why the Senior Senator rated such an honor?
I told him, "On account of his hard work promoting peace in Northern Ireland"...
To which he responded "Well...a fellow has to have a hobby, even Teddy Kennedy".

Such is the Kingdom of Heaven in the Magickal Village of Menotomy.

Does State Treasurer Tim Cahill want...

to run for Governor or something?
Is that why he is suddenly grandstanding on the issue of casino gambling?
I have to question whether three pissmire slot machine parlors are a worthwhile platform for a gubernatorial race?
Moreover, with revenues plunging, taxes about to rise (on gasoline at least)and more cuts in spending to follow who the hell would ever want the top job at this point?
I can tell you right now, be it a contested gubernatorial primary challenge or in the general election itself, 2010 is going to be all about wringing more local aid out of the State House...more than a few corner office aspirants will be clouding with air with thick noxious plans to double our money at half the cost.
In other words, the bullshit will fly like artillery rounds in a barrage.
Here is hopin' that Governor Patrick sticks to a truth-telling agenda.

Lackeys assessing the sincerity of toadies...

It is worth noting thaton the Imus program today, Mary Matalin (in-house wingnut courtier to La Famiglia Arbusto) thought Michael Steele's groveling bootlicking apology to Rush Limbaugh was insufficiently sycophantic in tenor.
Apparently she had some mental image in her head of the current RNC chair writhing in a compulsive attempt to ingratiate at the bloated feet of the radio tyrant.

Honestly that is what she said and sincerely believed....I can't make stuff like that up truly.

Rock Bottom, are we there yet???

The Dow is making like a sinking submarine....
Promises of new money to buy stakes in ailing financials have availed us nothing...promises of fiscal discipline once prosperity returns yield up much the same.
Forget what Freud said about women, the key question here is, what does Wall Street Want?
Bailouts clearly, they just don't want socialism or nationalization or any restrictions on their entirely phantom notions of a future freedom of action.
This at a time when the USA owns 40% of Citibank once the biggest baddest global bank of them all.
Seems to be a tension there between the reality and the expectation.
It occurs to me, that we have already begun the process of nationalization...we just won't call it that. Other than that all the factors are there, the government owns shares, shares control board of directors which now answers to the Treasury Department.
The only question in my mind is, how do we organize this ad-hoc process to the benefit of the American people? By that I mean the proverbial little guy and little gal...da plain folks.

Layoffs at the Globe part II

Or maybe the Globe will toss that laughing young senescence Jeff Jacoby over the side?
I mean, the man can't even reconcile himself to daylight savings time...a notion so laughably idiotic that it surges right past the partisan divide into pure 19th century yokel-dom.
Maybe it is time to wipe the slate clean and start over with a new house conservative...although who they could get that wouldn't be contaminated by power worship, hypocrisy or fraud is an open question.
To imagine a world without Jeff Jacoby's column, one has to imagine a world without the Boston Globe...and right now it looks like we are gonna get both whether we like it or not.

Layoffs at the Globe?

The Phoenix reports that the Globe needs to jettison about fifty employees this month, if they can't get them via a buy-out then stronger measures will be taken.
Well this is a sad sad comedown for a great regional news powerhouse with a fistful of Pulitzers on it's wall. At the end of the day Humble Elias fears the Globe will become little more than a Shopper and an uninteresting one at that.
As I said, sad.
***
I wonder if Joanie Vennochi will take the buy-out? I wonder if any of the bigger op-ed names will take the hint?
I don't think Joanie would be missed if she made for the lifeboats and chanced all in the open sea....she hardly belongs on the Op-Ed page of the Globe anyway.
To be a political columnist you have to have an opinion, Joanie doesn't have any or even one to speak of, she has resentments.
And the era of resentments is drawing to a close mah frenz, politics is destiny once again with a lot more at stake than mere personal hypocrisy on the part of individual politicians.
Maybe it's time for Joanie to write a novel or something, a expose of a hypocritical liberal democrat, get it out of her system once and for all.