For Scott so loved the Commonwealth

 — I know, I know, the headline is borderline heretical and possibly blasphemous, but nevertheless a very smart and funny poke and joke on all of us.

But as I used to say to my 8th graders “If you wanna make a joke, it had better make me laugh, or it’s out the door to the vice principal with you.”

And this little spoof piece in Biblical prose by Jim O’Sullivan in the State House News Service sure made me laugh.It starts like this:

WEEKLY ROUNDUP: FOR SCOTT BROWN SO LOVED THE COMMONWEALTH

Recap and analysis of the week in state government

By Jim O'Sullivan STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JAN. 29, 2010……

Gov. Deval Patrick on Wednesday expressed into the public sphere the first operating budget proposal given life since Scott Brown was elected to the United States Senate. This is the way things are time-stamped on Beacon Hill now.

There's “B.S.” (before Scott) and “P.S.” (post Scott).

And so it was that the governor published his $28.2 billion operating plan for next year, which is 4.3 percent more than currently authorized for this fiscal year, although revenue growth is expected to run 3.2 percent, and about 3 percent of the bottom line is assistance that has yet to be authorized by Congress.

Lots of percentage gaps, not all that much certainty.

 Following some traditional and even boring budget quotes from the usual sources Jim closes with the following paragraphs.

“If all you see, when you look at this budget, is numbers and line items, you make one set and type of decisions,” Patrick said. “If you see people, you make different kinds of decisions. We see people, so we make decisions accordingly.”

It kind of made the governor sound like, well, Scott Brown, who's going to see even more people this weekend when he rocks the Canyon around the Commonwealth on an open-house tour before the official transfiguration on Feb. 11.

Capitol inhabitants had begun by Thursday referring to Scott Brown as “Elvis,” as in “Elvis is in the building.” Colleagues broke into spontaneous applause when he returned to the chamber Thursday. Stories were exchanged about the last time so-and-so talked to Scott Brown, or the time Scott Brown said this, the way he laughed. When you go from the junior-most member of a puny minority in the state Senate to the country's most scalding political commodity, stuff like this happens.

One Democrat spoke aspirationally of being “more Scott Brown than Scott Brown,” which is not something a lot of people were saying a month ago.

Scott Brown told the AP that he wanted to ride bikes with Lance Armstrong, and give him a hug. This came on the heels of Scott Brown's naked appeals to President Barack Obama to play basketball, and hours before Scott Brown taped Leno.

What we may come to expect is a sort of Scott Brown Fantasy Celebrity Hangout Tour. There's Scott Brown shredding Wachusett Mountain with Shaun White. Here's Scott Brown whipping up shrimp risotto with Rachel Ray. Watch Scott Brown teach the cast of “Jersey Shore” how to drive a truck. Blindfolded, backwards, showing skin, while healing ensanguined partisan chasms and summoning the middle class out of exodus.

STORY OF THE WEEK: Scott Brown is going to be a U.S. senator. Digestion, week 2.

(burp)

So now I’m reading all the local state and national news with a new P.S. lens. When a reporter or blogger gets lazy and interprets a public official’s action or hesitation to take action as a simple reaction to Scott Brown’s election instead of examining and dismissing all of the other possible motivations I’ll label the article or blog as P.S. “needs work”.

Same thing for a elected or appointed official who uses the Scott Brown election to excuse a reluctance to take a strong stand for the revenue needed to reform or repair any of our public structures that provide health care to the uninsured, educate our children , make our streets and our neighborhoods safe, keep our water and our air clean (and I could go on and on about all the government programs that we depend on every day) without acknowledging the consequences of no additional reveues, namely additional cuts.   They’ll get a P.S. “needs work” tool

No I couldn't think of any apt illustrations. Welcome suggestions.

Please share widely!

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