Sports News
Last night the Bruins stormed back from a 3-1 deficit in the 3rd period to rip out the souls of the Maple Leafs by scoring 2 third period goals and winning the game in the shootout on a Michael "Knight" Ryder goal. Credit must be given to Martin St. Pierre who scored on the previous attempt to even force the sudden death shootout goal. Clutch city, baby.
The Celtics continued their torrid run by murking Miami for their 6th straight win. They've been winning by an average of 16 points, or something like that, during this winning streak. This is good because it gives the starters some rest, especially since they have the tail end of a back to back tonight versus Orlando. Tonight will be another litmus test to see who is the big dog in the Eastern Conference.
As for the Patriots, Tom Brady's rehab apparently is going really well. My question is: who the hell is Tom Brady??? That was a joke.
The Red Sox have avoided arbitration by signing Papelbon and Javier Lopez. Papelbon will be making a cool $6.25 million next season. Oh, by the way, more tickets will go on sale this Saturday.
Other News
It looks like the Mass Turnpike Authority is going to be offering those Fast Lane transponders (for the tolls) free of charge starting on February 15th. However, don't jump to any conclusions yet as I'm still trying to verify if there's going to be a monthly fee or not. Stay posted.
On Tuesday night, my roommate Jon and I cooked a gigantic tray of lasagna. It's like 3 levels deep and we cannot finish it all. We ate maybe 1/8 of it and it's just sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten. If you aren't doing anything, come over for lasagna tonight. Jon is away on a ski trip and I'm not gonna eat it for 6 meals in a row.
Neither does cooking that much lasagna
I had to post that picture because it is just awesome in every which way.
Posts
7 comments:
Fuck the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, EZ Pass has always been free and it works in Massachusetts: http://www.nysthruway.gov/ezpass/passenger.html
You don't need to be a NY resident or have a NY address to get one.
Monthly charge for my current transponders? It's a bluff - so they can raised the tolls AND keep the gas tax hike a few months down the road.
We citizens of the Commonwealth deserves this. We like to have nice slogans like "Change we can believe in" and "Hope" on our bumper stickers, but we keep voting the same corrupt neighbor back into the State House and other local governments; who coincidentally, got a nice big raise last month.
Haha, thanks for the comment "Mary Jo". I, by no means, am promoting the Mass Turnpike Authority, nor do I support that agency. They've been poorly run for years and I certainly can't wait for the agency to be dissolved, which is the current plan. All I was doing was letting Massachusetts residents know of their travel options. As far as New York offering free EZ passes, that is no longer the case. If you go to the link that you provided, it clearly states in #1 that there is a $25 fee for the transponder. In Massachusetts, it's currently $25.95 for an interior transponder. That's only 95 cents more than New York. Here's is the link that confirms this:
http://www.masspike.com/travel/fastlane/fees.html
On the contrary, I am in support of a raise of the gas tax. This would generate enough revenue to eliminate all tolls and place the burden equally on all Massachusetts residents to pay for the Big Dig, instead of the select population that drive through the tolls on a regular basis. Here is a link to the gas tax initiative:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/01/13/patrick_mulls_raising_gas_tax/
Something to think about...
And by the way, those pay raises that legislators were granted were not something they voted on themselves. As is states in the following article "It’s important to note the legislators did not grant themselves this raise. Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1998 that ties lawmakers’ pay to the state’s median household income. Every two years, their salaries are adjusted — up or down — based on the change to the household income at the start of each two-year legislative session".
I agree that it's ludicrous that they are receiving raises, but that was something that citizens of the Commonwealth voted on to "take the politics out of legislative pay raises". Here is the article:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/west-roxbury/archive/x1621245799/Wrong-time-for-legislative-raises
More: "At least two-dozen legislators have announced they are rejecting the raise, either by asking the state treasurer to withhold it or pledging it to charity. Some are committing it to nonprofit organizations hurt by cutbacks in state funding. This seems particularly appropriate."
The $25 gets posted to your EZ Pass account, which makes it free.
With the $25.95 Fast Lane FEE - it's gone.
I would grant you the pay raise for the State House jackals being fair, but the gas tax hike will not be the end of the money grab.
The politicians are portraying this tax hike as a "substitute" for toll hikes. But for those of us who lived long enough in this state knows that this will play out like the "temporary" income tax hike in the 90's, meaning 18 months down the road, we will have the gas tax AND higher tolls.
Oops, I definitely read that wrong. You're right, in New York the $25 goes towards your account. Regardless, it doesn't really matter since they're doing away with the Massachusetts fee. However, it does appear that there's going to be a 50 cents/month user fee that will end up costing each person $6/year. So, in effect, having a transponder from Massachusetts will still be more expensive than New York (by 6 dollars per year). So the moral of the story is, get your transponder from New York. That's where I got mine haha.
For the record, I barely drive so all of this (toll hikes, gas tax) will hardly affect me. Giggity.
"All FAST LANE users will be assessed a monthly fee of 50 cents per transponder beginning in June to cover costs associated with the electronic toll collection program. Replacement transponders will also be available free of charge."
http://www.masspike.com/user-cgi/news.cgi?dbkey=319&type=Press%20Release&src=news
While the EZ-Pass may be free you do not get the Fastlane discounts ($0.25 @ Allston/Brighton & $0.50 @ Sumner/Williams Tunnels.)
Since I use the Allston/Brighton exit twice a day I've paid it off 12 weeks after i've bought it ($30 when i purchased.)
The gas tax could possibly play out like the income tax but it may also not. The proposal by Natick legislator David Linsky actually breaks up the gas tax for each agency. So say the gas tax is raised from the current $0.235 to whatever it ends up, it will be apportioned to MTA, MBTA etc...Similar to our current sales tax where 0.2% is reserved for the MBTA.
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