Boston City Council and Guy Fawkes Day

(my tax dollars at work)


Boston Councilor Jerry P. McDermott is in a snit. Now, he's got a right to be in a snit, and he's even got a right to behave like an ignoramous. (I believe, actually, that the latter is a de facto requirement for "serving" on the Boston Board of Hacks.)

But McDermott also thinks he's got a right to spend MY MONEY to indulge his snit. Even more girlyish, he wants to, in my not so humble opinion, whip up the — what do they call themselves? Oh, yeah, "disaffected `Catholics'" — into a frenzy that a friend of mine likened to the annual celebration of Guy Fawkes Day.

Today, the Boston City Council discussed the notion of asking Boston voters the following, totally, uh, unbiased question:

"Do you agree that, to date, the Archdiocese of Boston has failed to work effectively with Boston's neighborhoods to mitigate the impacts of Catholic parish and school closings on neighborhood services; and that in the future the Archdiocese of Boston should be strongly urged to meet its institutional obligations to all of Boston's citizens, to neighbors, and to the city's agencies by cooperating before-the-fact, diligently and in good faith, for the difficult transitions?"

There are so many things wrong with the notion of putting this referendum (yeah, yeah, I know it's "non-binding") on the ballot that the entire Internet would have a tough time holding them all, but here's my advice to the City Hall hacks:

Get a real job, wouldja?

Or, in lieu of that, be smart. Collect your nice checks (don't mention it, really, it's a pleasure, honest, no fooling) and...shut up.