Gee, it must mean something when Pravda, (i.e. the Boston Globe ), editorial writers talk about reviewing the whole state corporate tax process, and not just "raising taxes on businesses".

Govenor Patrick should look at all avenues to generate revenue. Picking on businesses to raise taxes might be a populist type of notion here in liberal land, but it is sure to drive more businesses out of state. That will lead to less jobs, more unemployement, etc.

For those of you who are to young to remember, this is exactly what happened to Michael Dukakis and the "Massachusetts Miracle" back in 1990. I personally had to move to the midwest to escape the rampant unemployment that ensued in Massachusetts after the endless overtaxation and regulation of businesses.

I would like to stay in this state. Lets allow cities and towns more discretion at raising their own revenue. Lets limit the states reach on this. Lets not drive businesses and jobs to other states, with excessive taxes and excessive regulations.

Think about it, why are we one of the only states in the US. that is not generating a bunch of new jobs. If you owned a company, would you want to face the tax and regulations of Massachusetts.

People in the suburbs are leaving this state. One might blame the weather in the northeast for that, but... other Northern states are growing.

How do we stop that Governor Patrick.

We humbly await your response Governor.

Blogging about blogging

Undoubtedly by now most people have heard of the incident involving Sen. Scott Brown, R - Wrentham at King Philip High School. For those who haven't, in a nutshell, prior to an appearance to address students at King Philip, Brown was made aware of derogatory comments about himself and his family by a few King Philip students and posted at facebook.com. Brown read some of the profanity-laced comments before the assembled students and publicly identified the authors. Sen. Brown has since issued a statement in response to the incident, which can be read here.

The issue has been kicked around quite a bit in the papers, in letters to editors, blogs and elsewhere, so I'm not really posting this as an attempt to rehash it all. I am posting it because it's about blogging. As Sen. Brown said, if you write it, you own it; and I think he's right. What you post can probably be found in the future. So post your thoughts and comments, but you really should think of it as if you're face to face with someone - because someday you may be, and your comments might be brought up.

I was talking with a friend of mine who asked me a good question. This will seem somewhat rhetorical but... How many times do we have to pay for the Mass. Pike? Since the debt for the highway was payed off in 1983, (according to Pravda, er... the Boston Globe), why do we keep paying for the road over and over?

Of course we need the revenue the highway department tells us. (I mean the revenue, less the toll takers making beaucoup bucks).

Or is it that the Boston area needs to keep cranking up revenue from the western drivers in the state. Hardly seems fair, except of course to Boston and Beacon Hill.

Shouldn't the revenue for the state highway system be gained equally from all residents in the state of Massachusetts?

Any thoughts? Is my question to "negative" for Deval and friends?

Checked out?

A good friend of mine, who readily describes himself as "not political," came to me for advice the other day. A woman he’s interested in invited him to a State of the Union watching party she was hosting, and he didn’t want to put his foot in his mouth while there. I did my best – and wondered if my friend was the "checked out" person Gov. Patrick talked about "checking back in." Probably so.

So my friend is a bright, college-educated professional, but he doesn’t follow politics. How do you reach people like him? At least at this time of year, he’s probably in the vast majority, though I realize that may come as a shock to a reader (or writer) of a political blog in February. How do you bring up political – no, civics – issues three months after an election and have them resonate through until the next election cycle?

Here’s the more brutal question: are people like my friend actually going to vote in the next election cycle? As Jay Severin likes to remind people all the time, any really useful political poll weeds out people that don’t vote. So the typical politician response is that you don’t expend much effort trying to reach people like my friend, because chances are your efforts won’t translate to votes. That’s probably not indefensible in the cash- and time-strapped context of a political campaign, but now seems like a good time.

The final question is what do you reach your apolitical friends with? There’s no shortage of advice out there for the MA Republican party. Some say just give up, you’re dead and nobody agrees with your point of view. Others say focus on fiscal issues, not social issues, market to the old Yankee Republicans that elected Bill Weld. Still others urge Republicans not to abandon the social issues or you risk losing a voting block. Then there’s the likes of the Boston Globe, which surely has the best interests of Republicans at heart (???), urging Republicans to do what they can to work with the Democrats.

As for me, I’ll just continue to be who I am and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves to talk to my apolitical friends about things that get me bent out of shape. If I’m any good at convincing, I’ll make sure I call all my friends next November.