Volume CCXXXIII, Number 36        August, 2003              Page 3

As millions watch . . .

THOUSANDS DROWN
WHILE MITT JETSKIS

By Alvin Fuller
State House Bureau Chief

It's the kind of story calculated to freeze the cockles of even the most cynical wardheeler: Massachusetts Governor Wilfred M. Romney jet-skiing in New Hampshire while ignoring the piteous appeals of thousands of Bay Staters whom he has left to drown.

The well-coiffed Governor, vacationing in the state that he seeks to emulate, didn't even slow down his high-powered gas guzzler long enough to listen to the cries of the poor, the disabled, the severely retarded, the young and the powerless, all of whom will be going under thanks to his new state budget.

Long-time Beacon Hill observers can't remember a time when a governor did as little to save those most in need, except for the Cellucci and Weld Administrations. But some think that Romney has raised callous indifference to new heights. They note that while Mitt was pumping fumes across the Granite State, his budget contemplated the closing of Fernald State School, home to the most profoundly retarded and helpless citizens in the state.

Who will rescue these unfortunates, whose only crime is to be incapable of supporting themselves without being very photogenic? Not Wilfred. And not the Democratic hacks who sought only to hold on to their pay raise, Billy Bulger and the relatives that they have placed in cushy no-show jobs in the Boston Municipal Court and the Mass. Turnpike Authority.

Not that rescuing, for example, poor children from mediocre underfunded schools would require the same skill and courage as, say, running into a burning skyscraper. All it would have taken is a delay in the tax decrease pushed through by that model of fiscal rectitude, Paul Cellucci. Or even allowing cities and towns if they chose to raise local taxes to make up for the cuts in state aid.

Even that minimal effort was too much for a governor determined to strap on the jet skis on July 1 and for a General Court trying to keep a former colleague out of Federal Court.

Perhaps our elected officials, and Tom Finneran, too, have taken their cue from the body politic, which hasn't done much to rush in and save those who desperately need help. The same heroic citizens glued to the local fire 'n crime local news for the thrilling infernos and cat rescues don't evidence a scintilla of interest in rescuing the old, the halt, the lame or indeed their own benighted offspring. In the wake, so to speak, of such public apathy, it's no wonder that Mitt didn't bother to slow down.

The faces may change, from pink-cheeked Bill to regular-guy Paul to the amazingly natural cordovan-haired Mitt, but the balance of cruelty never changes under the Golden Dome: tax cuts for rich Republicans, patronage jobs for the Democratic hacks, and for those who really need state government to come to their aid – they can smell the jet-ski's exhaust as they slip under for the third time.

 

nd it came to pass that Wil-fred had smote his enemies and his dominion was unchallenged throughout the land.

nd King Wil-fred said, "I have vanquished the poor and wretched and now I must retire to the neighboring land of the primitive No-hampshites where I can lay down by great waters and restoreth my soul."

nd so King Wil-fred loaded up his SUV-ox and his maidservants and his manservants and his retinue and he journeyed north to the land of the simple people by the shores of the great waters.

nd Wil-fred looked out upon the waters and he said to his retinue, "Lo I can walk, verily I can ski, across the surface of these waters and my cordovan tresses will not get wet."

nd the people said, "How can you ski upon the surface of the waters and not cause the waters to lap around your cordovan tresses?"

nd Wil-fred strapped on the orange shield upon his chest and upon his back and he skiied upon the surface of the waters and his cordovan tresses were not dampened by the waters, nor did they fade to gray as the nay-sayers had said.

nd the poor and the wretched of the City on the Hill did not see the miracle that King Wil-fred had wrought, for they were seeking to glean a few sheaves of grain from the corners of the fields and to provide succor to the crippled and mad whom King Wil-fred had freed from their places of refuge.

nd the poor and wretched knew not of the miracle of the cordovan tresses and they cried out, "We careth not for your miracles, King Wil-fred, because you are truly an asshole!"

Next week's gleanings: King Wil-fred returns to the City on the Hill only to find that the evil Bul-ja remains in his mighty tower.



SADLY, THE NEWS CAME TOO LATE TO SAVE BARBRA STREISAND


Hormone Use
Found to Raise
Dementia Risk

– Headline in The New York Times , May 28, 2003 at A1.