bostonpatriot

by Pat O’Reilly

When you get to print your own money, then what does debt really matter? That seems to have been the unspoken question of perennial deficit spending by the US Federal government over the last quarter century. It is a question that came up again with the plan to borrow another $150 Billion in order to give short term stimulus to our economy. And it is a question that has come up every year since the United States military has occupied Iraq.

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Forget the second guessing about the 49 yard field goal that the Patriots didn’t attempt. Forget questions about Brady’s foot. Forget the number of times Brady was sacked or hurried. Forget the jinx of Mayor Menino’s public plans for a victory parade. Forget the way it was supposed to end. Because it didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen. A catch here, an interception a the right moment and this game caps the perfect season. But no.

It takes a special team to be able to sustain momentum for an entire season. The Patriots were almost that team. Very almost. It will now be hard to categorize this Patriots’ season. All the records, all those regular season wins, all that… history. But lacking the one thing that matters the most in any competitive sport, that victory at the end.

So, congratulations to the New York Giants. And here’s hoping the Patriots lose the first game next year instead of the last.

The defense struggled early to contain a surging David Garrard, but stepped up later in the game to bring New England a 31-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

In the first half, it looked like the game would come down to which team had possession for the last series of the game, as neither side could stop the other’s offense. And if it hadn’t been for the defense holding the Jags to a field goal early in the fourth quarter and a Rodney Harrison interception with 4:34 left in the game, then it might have.

But all was well in the end and the Patriots, with superb clock management by the offense and a resurgent defense, the offsetting Field goals by each team in the 4th quarter would make the Patriots 3rd quarter 11 point lead the final difference.

Patriots certainly have to have a good week of preparation to be ready to meet a tough team in the AFC championship.

And all I can say is: Go Pats!

Deval Patrick has proposed the “Municipal Partnership Act” in order to allow City’s and Town’s to raise revenue from meals taxes and to impose property taxes on telecommunications equipment. Taxes which will be paid for by the customers of those businesses in order to balance Town budgets that as a result of the real estate boom have been growing faster than the rate of inflation. And are now growing faster than tax revenues are increasing because the real estate market prices are falling.

As these meals taxes are optional and not all cities and towns have many restaurants, it is a measure largely of benefit to the City of Boston and Cambridge and will not help poorer communities that are averse to raising the tax burden on their own people.

So, this seems like another attempt to grow the State budget at the expense of local communities who can then be blamed for not raising their own taxes to make up for diminished local aide from our income and sales taxes.

The shell game continues.

When I was a kid, I would often go to “the woods” of Mary Cummings Park during the Summer with my friends.

I can remember the sense of excitement whenever I would come across a deer, or fox or saw a red tailed hawk soaring overhead. Even the wood frogs and toads held wonder for me. When I was even younger, I remember my uncle taking me to fly my first kite, red white and blue in the shape of an airplane. That warm feeling still washes over me when I walk through that meadow, which is next to Northeastern University’s Burlington Campus. I also remember that potent sense of loss when I flew that kite a bit too high and the string broke and it got taken away in the wind… lesson learned. [Read more →]

Recently increased animosity between the City of Boston and Cab drivers has highlighted the effects of a change from commission based taxi driving to a system where drivers rent the taxis from the medallion owners for a fixed fee and so they only start making money after they have made enough money to pay this fee and expenses. This inevitably leads to a squeeze on drivers who need only minimal qualifications to be a driver in the first place. With medallion owners simply selling shifts to the highest bidder.

As it was recently written at Bostonherald.com, “if you want professional drivers, do what they do in London, ban the shift rental system.”

Imagine any other job where you rent your job and you can be out money on a slow day.  Only desperate people are going to take that type of job, where you assume all the risk and face a ceiling on any potential profit which is dictated by the number of fares you can possibly pick up in any given hour.