CITIZENS Barbara's Column The Salem Evening News You know it's spring when your favorite television shows go
on vacation, sometimes for almost a year. Let's just hope that "The Sopranos" returns, despite the protests of those
who want to pretend that the New Jersey mob isn't Italian. If the show had been sited in Boston, the mobsters would be
Irish and no one would care, especially the FBI. Italians who appreciate excellence in broadcasting enjoy
"The Sopranos," just as Irishmen with a sense of humor enjoy "The
Fighting Fitzgeralds." Brian Dennehy leads the cast of a very funny, politically-incorrect sit-com. You know it's spring when the perennial bad ideas push their
heads up out of the ground. Last week I told my two cats that they couldn't go out because it was "Keep your Cat
Indoors Day" to protest bird-stalking. A few minutes later, they were marching
around with little signs that read "Free the Innocent Kitties." It's true, they've only killed three birds in their entire
eight years of life: one baby something that fell from its nest, one rare, endangered pigeon that they ate and threw up
all over the house, and one aggressive mockingbird that they were lucky
didn't kill them first. Why should all cats be punished because some of them are serial killers? Talk about
stereotypes! Chip's and my yard has several cats (including the neighbors'), a few squirrels, a murder
of crows that come when he calls them for table scraps, and four busy bird-feeders. Now
and then a dog, duck, raccoon, skunk or rabbit passes through. Only mice and moles are
regularly found dead. I feel bad for them, as I did for the mockingbird; but
Mother Nature is cruel. Consider that hard fact along with this opinion: the prettiest towns this time of year are the ones with
lilacs, azaleas, tulips and political lawn signs instead of "natural" open space. Of course, if you want to drive around and sightsee, you'll
be using pretty expensive gasoline. When you're told by certain politicians to protest oil-company rip-offs, keep in
mind that 39.9 cents per gallon is state and federal taxes. And watch out
for those badly-maintained roads and bridges we keep hearing about when the government wants
even more of our money. You know it's spring when some students would rather be
outside protesting than inside working. I get that way myself, when it's time to hold a sign
saying "Vote No on the Overrides." Protests or no, spring in Massachusetts means MCAS. The
Massachusetts Teachers Association is still fighting it with advertising and polling - while at the same time running a
TV ad about a kid named Tommy who roams the corridors of a school like
the Phantom roams the Opera. For some reason Tommy isn't able to enter a classroom, though it's
unclear why. The ad says it's because we don't spend enough on education. The last time I looked, our spending was the 7th highest per
student. And if we added the money that the MTA is spending on self-interest advertising, we could put Tommy and a
lot of other kids through graduate school. The downside of spring for some people: allergies. Mine
don't arrive until fall, but then I rely on the same drugs that are advertised on television this month. I used to take
Seldane until it was banned because it's dangerous when mixed with some
other medications. My solution was to not take it with those other medications, but that was no fun for
government regulators. So now I use Allegra, which works great, and insurance pays
for most of it. I agree that it should be available across the counter, but not because getting a prescription is difficult. I
just look forward to seeing what it really costs when the third-party isn't paying. If it's a
whole lot less, we'll have a better understanding of why health care in general is so
expensive. You know it's spring when a few hundred people rally for gun
control on Boston Common and their news release announces the Million Mom March. I was nearby at the
even smaller "right to bear arms" rally with Carla Howell, the Second Amendment Sisters,
and the Pink Pistols, who encourage self-defense for women and gays. "Ho, ho, hey hey,
we support the Second A." Spring is in the air, along with television finales, birds
and leaping cats, protest, MCAS and pollen. Let's celebrate! Barbara Anderson is executive director of Citizens for Limited
Taxation. Her syndicated columns appear weekly in the Salem Evening News and the Lowell Sun;
bi-weekly in the Tinytown Gazette; and occasionally in other newspapers. |