This story comes to us courtesy of the folks at Deval Patrick Watch. It pertains to the state’s Division of Administrative Law Appeals. It’s former head, Shelly Taylor, was forced to resign her $108,000/year job amidst allegations of incompetence. Excerpts from D.P.Watch follow:

The former head of the state Division of Administrative Law Appeals, forced to resign in August amid allegations of mismanagement, continues to draw $6,300 a month in consultant pay for work she failed to complete during her two-year tenure.

A former prison guard who has waited 16 months for Taylor’s decision on his request for a disability pension said she does not deserve additional pay or extra time to finish her work.“As a taxpayer, I am furious,’’ said Jeff Waite, 49. “I worked for the state. They paid me to do a job. They paid her to do a job; now do it.’’

In many of Taylor’s cases, litigants have been waiting a year or more for rulings.

Big gubimint in Massachusetts just keeps gettin’ bigger.

Having come of age in the era of busing in Boston (yet another dumb idea hatched by liberals), this article by Washington Times reporter Justin A. Rice is particularly salient. Liberals make promises they can’t keep.  They cited the objective of “integration” to justify the busing program. Today (2009), Boston schools are overwhelmingly non-white. Bear this in mind when they extol the virtues of single payer/gubimint run/public option/delay trigger health systems. Here’s an excerpt:

Boston schools still let parents pick schools, but only within three enormous and controversial geographical zones. Buses carting only one student often crisscross the city – contributing to next year’s nearly $80 million transportation budget at a time when the district faces a projected $100 million budget shortfall.

“Buses carting only ONE student….” Stupid, stupid, stupid AND expensive AND wasteful. And it only comes with a 27% dropout rate.

John Steele Gordon does an excellent job of reaching into the heart of the liberal to ascertain why he/she thinks,does and says the things he/she does:

We all use paradigms to make sense of what we see around us and couldn’t get along without them. Unfortunately, the basic liberal paradigm hasn’t shifted in a hundred years, while the world we live in has changed utterly since the late 19th century, when modern liberalism was born.

Charles Kesler’s interview with Peter Robinson does an excellent job of explaining the waves of modern liberalis, the implication of each wave, and the inherent dangers posed by liberalism.

House docket room 428 – “has been closed.” 3 employees out of their jobs since Monday, October 26, 2009.

“Budget cuts” or… sneaky effort to circumvent open meeting laws?  Details as they become available.  Also check out Fix Beacon Hill for more info.

The occasion of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s passing is notable on several levels. He was a dysfunctional man born into a dysfunctional family. His personal and professional conduct were not infrequently boorish and uncivilized, the stuff of ancient Roman legend. Perpetually and repeatedly lauded by “women’s groups” as woman’s best friend, the reality is that he often treated the “fairer sex” as little more than an object – something to be scraped off the bottom of one’s shoe. His political ideology, similarly dysfunctional, has served to further emasculate the American body politic and its ethos of personal responsibility and self-reliance. Nothwistanding these and other unsavory facts, it would be inappropriate to ignore the Senator’s virtues. By virtually all accounts, he was a devoted surrogate father to the children of both of his slain brothers, a daunting task under the best of circumstances. Additionally, it is generally acknowledged that he was attentive and compassionate in his support of the families of America’s war dead. There is however, one area of his public career that he executed flawlessly and that involves the matter of constituent service, for which the Senator was without peer. Consider the remarks of Kennedy’s fellow Bay State Senator:

“Teddy took this very seriously, even though he had so much fun and made people feel that he didn’t always take it that seriously,” Kerry says. “He set a real example for phone calls and contacts and follow-ups and that’s what you need to do.” John F. Kerry

Widely acknowledged for his fanatical devotion to the unglamorous work of returning phone calls from those needing a hand, the awkward question now arises: Who will Bay Staters turn to now? It is an open secret that John F. Kerry is Kennedy’s polar opposite in matters relating to nitty gritty outreach. Consider the following observations of former Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara:

If Charlie Murphy needs help in Washington, the state representative from Burlington calls congressman John Tierney. Lexington Representative Jay Kaufman calls congressman Edward J. Markey. Cambridge City Councilor Ken Reeves takes his troubles straight to the office of Massachusetts’ senior senator, Edward M. Kennedy.

The man none of them call on Capitol Hill is Senator John F. Kerry, the state’s Democratic presidential hopeful. “Why bother? You’d be lucky to have anyone on his staff call you back,” says Murphy, who traveled with a group of Massachusetts elected officials to New Hampshire yesterday to campaign for Howard Dean. Eileen McNamara – Kerry’s style a turn off.

The dirty little secret (now out in the open in the wake of Kennedy’s passing): Massachusetts has had only one functioning, engaged Senator for the past 25 years and it has not been John Kerry. Where Kennedy was a workhorse, Kerry has been little more than a show horse, a man whose reach routinely exceeds his grasp, whose idea of outreach is flinging himself in front of the nearest television camera. Perhaps he will change; stranger things have happened. But he has a long way to go to change the slacker’s reputation he has so painstakingly earned. Unless and until this transformation occurs, Massachusetts no longer has a senior senator, despite assertions to the contrary.

The November 2010 elections can’t come fast enough for the good folk at Massachusetts Matters. To be specific, incumbent Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick will face reelection (presumably) at that time. It is to be hoped that the voters of this state will send the hapless governor into PERMANENT retirement. In the latest example of his political tin ear, Governor Social Justice shutters public swimming pools in the midst of a staggering heat wave whilst luxuriating in his Berkshire vacation home’s in-ground pool. Kudos to Howie Carr and Laurel Sweet for this one. I guess in Patrick’s mind, all men are created equal, but some men (i.e. Deval Patrick) are more equal than others (the rest of us).

More on Louis XIV here.

US Congressman Lynch (D,MA) with Bashar Assad of Syria

Anyone seen or heard from Congressman Lynch? Is he making himself available in the district during the August recess pray tell. Please let us know if you have any sitings of him. Send to info@patriotgamesmedia.com

Courtesy of Stephanie Vosk and Patrick Cassidy of the Cape Cod Times On-Line edition (includes obituary/funeral service schedule).  For Gold Star Mothers info, please click here.

Marine Corporal Xiarhos is the son of Yarmouth Police Lieutenant Steven Xiarhos and his wife Lisa.

Tip of the cap to The Boston Globe, NECN, and Cape Cod Today.

For a big piece of the 20th century, the Monitor was a regular and respected presence in Boston politics – first at city hall and then at the statehouse. That presence was George B. Merry, who passed away last Tuesday. George was hired on at the Monitor in 1948, and eventually became the dean of the Beacon Hill press corps. He was a knowing guide and mentor to young reporters both on the Monitor staff and off. (excerpted from Connecting the Dots).

George Merry joined the Christian Science Monitor in 1948. He was a fixture in Boston news circles, first at City Hall and ultimately under the statehouse’s Golden Dome. His grasp of events earned him the title “dean of the Beacon Hill press corps.” As the Monitor’s focus began to shift away from local coverage, he adroitly adapted to the change by becoming “… a one-man national statehouse research department.”  I knew George personally and had the privilege of calling him a friend.  I was a guest in his home, we worshipped at the same church, and, regardless of the setting we would almost invariably exchange quips about politics and his beloved Red Sox. Thanks for setting such a great example George.

(Hat tip to Connecting the Dots, The Globe’s take)