Stockstradamus AKA Stocky’s Blog

Peter J. Howe checks in today with a story about Bush 41 installing a windmill at his Maine Home.

Of course no story on the Bushes can be approved for publication in the Globe without some negative slant. In this case, Howe snidely notes:

his choice of watercraft remains a 28-foot Cigarette speedboat powered by two gas-chugging 185-horsepower engines.

And of course a swipe at Bush 43 always is in order:

His son may be known as a big friend to Big Oil

What you will never read in the Globe and what I’m sure will come as a surprise to everyone who reads this is that Bush 43 is the most environmentally friendly politician in history when it comes to his own home.

The 4,000-square-foot house is a model of environmental rectitude.

Geothermal heat pumps located in a central closet circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer. Systems such as the one in this “eco-friendly” dwelling use about 25% of the electricity that traditional heating and cooling systems utilize.

A 25,000-gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs; wastewater from sinks, toilets and showers goes into underground purifying tanks and is also funneled into the cistern. The water from the cistern is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home. Plants and flowers native to the high prairie area blend the structure into the surrounding ecosystem.

No, this is not the home of some eccentrically wealthy eco-freak trying to shame his fellow citizens into following the pristineness of his self-righteous example. And no, it is not the wilderness retreat of the Sierra Club or the Natural Resources Defense Council, a haven where tree-huggers plot political strategy.

This is President George W. Bush’s “Texas White House” outside the small town of Crawford.

I’m skipping the link since the rest of the article is just tree-hugging nonsense.

Nope, no mention of this in the mainstream press. Even a story about Bush 41 installing a windmill has to include slaps at his “gas guzzling cigarette boat” and his “friend of big oil son”.

What about the Globe’s favorite son, John Kerry? What is his “choice of watercraft”? He of the enviromentalists wet dream of a book “This Moment on Earth”.

From his web site:

Now, in this passionate and personal book, Teresa and John shine the spotlight on an inspiring cross-section of these new environmental pioneers and offer a guide on how you too can get involved to protect the world that we all know and love.

His choice of watercraft? Do they make Hybrid boats? Surely Kerry must be a fan of sailing on the cool breezes of Nantucket sound, emitting nary an ounce of carbon. Right? RIGHT?????

Wrong. Like algore and other big mouth do as I say not as I do limousine Liberals, Kerry does not walk the talk. That’s for others, not the aristocrats like him.

On Nantucket, Kerry has 4 boats docked/moored within 1/2 mile of each other. 2 small Boston Whalers moored a few hundred feet off the beach in front of his seconds wife’s first husband’s house along with a “cigarrete boat” with gas guzzling twin 225 Yamaha engines. (He used to have American made Mercury’s on board until he lost the presidential election. Now it’s Japanese made Yamaha’s)

He also has a 40 some odd foot Hinkley docked at The White Elephant Hotel inside Nantucket Harbor. 4 boats for 1 family. All spewing carbon and guzzling fuel. And this is just 1 of his houses. There’s the Beacon Hill house. The Idaho house. The Private Jet. A fleet of jeeps/suv’s. You get the picture.

Bush 41 puts up a windmill and gets snide commentary from Peter Howe in the Globe about his 1 boat. John Kerry writes a book on environmental activism while spitting out Carbon faster than Monica Lewinsky spit out Bill Clinton and not a word out of the Globe on the hypocrisy.

Just more of the same from The Globe.

One of the Hazzards of doing this blog is actually reading the Boston Globe editorials. That’s something I never used to do. I come across enough shit during my day to get my blood boiling without reading that crap.

However, in the interest of the greater good, I now read them. Or some of them anyway.

Saturday’s Globe Editorial Gem really needs to be read in full. Here it is: 

THE MOST significant actions by the Legislature in its last week of formal sessions this year included the passage of bills to hold the Massachusetts presidential primary on Feb. 5, a month earlier than usual, and to provide greater protection against predatory mortgage lending. Hardly earth-shattering, to be sure, but many important bills are still in the pipeline. A better test of legislative performance will come in February or March, when lawmakers have a window to act on these bills before turning to next year’s budget.

The most enduring decision by the Legislature came in June. The representatives and senators, acting in constitutional convention, decided not to place a proposal banning gay marriage on the ballot. This 45-151 vote, supported by Governor Deval Patrick, put the full weight of state government behind the Supreme Judicial Court decision legalizing these marriages. This is a lasting victory for liberty and equal rights.

Beyond that, the session that ended this week could at best by called workmanlike. The Legislature approved a sound budget and began tinkering with the laws to provide cities and towns with better tools to address financial problems. But the new laws to bring more local government employees into the state pension and health insurance systems are not enough to reduce the growth in local property taxes. And the Legislature rejected Governor Patrick’s attempts to offer communities new sources of revenue. The lawmakers will need to revisit the issue next year.

The governor and legislative leaders are properly concerned about economic development. The mortgage lending bill would impose a sensible degree of state regulation on an important part of the economy. Other crucial issues failed to get on the legislative fast track, most notably Patrick’s plan to assist the biotech industry. House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi’s package to assist renewable energy production sped through the House, but hasn’t cleared the Senate. Another issue that needs attention is the governor’s anticrime bill, with its provision for mandatory supervision after release from prison.

And then there’s casino gambling, an issue with implications both for revenue and for development. Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray like the concept; DiMasi doesn’t, but what source of revenue does the speaker have in mind to fulfill the obligations of state government? The governor filed his proposal too late for action this year, but a decision shouldn’t be avoided in 2008.

Among its last significant actions of the year, the Legislature approved the governor’s plan for a Commonwealth Corps to encourage volunteer service and provided $15 million more for home-heating aid - good but easy votes. Let’s hope that, in January, lawmakers will come back refreshed from their holidays and ready for harder decisions.

The title of the editorial is “Quiet Times on Beacon Hill”. Another way to phrase that would be:

Not a fucking lot got done this year on Beacon Hill.

And who’s fault is that? Why the Legislature of course. According to the Globe. Hmmm, I seem to recall something significant happening at the beginning of this year…. wait… I’ll think of it… give me a moment … OH YEAH! WE GOT A NEW FUCKING GOVERNOR!!! A Democrat who got elected in a landslide and ended 16 years of Republican control of the Governors office.

Glory Be!!! Let’s review all his accomplishments!!!! Wait. The Globe did that in their editorial. Only they pinned the blame on the Legislature.

According to the editorial, the Governor was just a supporting character in all this. It seems the Globe status quo is to give the Gov a free pass. The soft bigotry of low expectations coming into play again.

This is a change of tactic for the Globies. Let’s look back to February to this Frank Phillips piece detailing the disappointment the moonbats had with their Great Black Hope’s performance.

Some Highlights:

“He has been exceedingly cautious in trying to determine what his first priorities are,” said Jeffrey M. Berry, political science professor at Tufts University. “So much so that he has already lost a little momentum.”

Patrick advisers concede the governor has not followed the usual tradition of strong media management during his first days in office. But they say that he has been active on a host of major issues, including the daunting task of closing a $1 billion deficit in his first budget. That work — along with a series of other initiatives — will be evident in the next few weeks, they say.

“This is not a governor who is focused on quick headlines in the press that provide little benefit for people’s concerns,” said Kyle Sullivan, his press secretary. “He is focused on developing thoughtful public policy for the long term. Stay tuned.”

 We’re still tuned in Kyle. Any Updates?

But to many who are watching him closely, Patrick appears to be struggling to find a pace and theme to launch his administration.

“A honeymoon period is a unique interval, and he will never have another opportunity of such uncritical acceptance,” Berry said.

Patrick’s untraditional approach has some of his backers worried. “It’s odd,” said one old political hand from the Dukakis administration, who is active in the state Democratic Party. “You go days without seeing him in the news.”

Days without seeing him in the news? Try weeks. How long was his vacation at his mansion in the Berkshires? A Month? Was he working on our property tax relief out there?

Furthermore, he said, Patrick doesn’t need to make a bold move because he secured his image during his two-year campaign for governor, which ended in his landslide election.

“Patrick was elected essentially because he developed a thematic image of himself,” said Goldman, host of a national program on Bloomberg Radio. 

Image. That’s all that matters to Moonbats. Listen to the sickly sweet campaign speaches and then feel so good about yourself when you vote for the Black Guy. Aren’t you just wonderful?

“People asked for a change, and they got it,” said Crosby, who worked on Patrick’s transition team. “They don’t have media-conscious, conventional politicians running the administration. But perhaps there is a trade-off. You don’t get the splash, but maybe still water runs deeper.”

Maybe that still water is no deeper than a soap dish.

Will the Globe even acknowledge the 1 year anniversary of Patrick taking office? Talk about putting a shine on a sneaker. How will they spin Gov Do-Nothings first year as anything but a disaster? 

Judge Kathe Tuttman + Murderer Dr. Richard Sharpe.

Have they ever been seen in the same room together??

UPDATE: After further review, Stocky would like to issue an apology. The Blogosphere is a cold heartless place but Stocky always vowed to maintain some standards of dignity and decorum.

This post comparing Judge Kathe Tuttman to convicted murderer Dr. Richard Sharpe crossed way over the line of decency and fair play.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I offer a heartfelt apology to Dr. Sharpe. As far as we know, Dr. Sharpe was responsible for the death of only one person. It was totally unfair to compare him/her/it to Judge Kathe Tuttman.

Dr. Sharpe, please accept this apology in the spirit in which it is offered. Thank You.

Epilogue: What kind of twit spells their first name Kathe?

Gov Do-Nothing Tipped his hand in a Herald story yesterday about supposedly eliminating police details on construction projects.

Like nearly all of Gov Do-Nothing’s proposals, it sounds good but I’ll believe it when I see it. Ask Bill Weld how his plan worked out.

The way this looks to play out, we’ll get a lot of bluster and chest pounding in defense of the poor put upon tax payers, right up until the proposal fails.

Then, as Gov Do-Nothing says in the Herald story:

“Our responsibility is to try to get all the waste and inefficiency out (of transportation agencies) . . . before we go to the general public for broad-based tax increases,” Patrick said.

Broad based tax increases. Nice.

I’m wondering if those tax increases will come before or after the property tax relief he promised us in his campaign.

Somewhere up on the North Shore, Muffy Healey is kicking back, ordering her 4th glass of wine and laughing her ass off.

He must have been in a Coma. How else can you explain this piece where he discusses the Left’s comparisons of Bush to Hitler?

I suppose it was inevitable that the liberal intelligentsia would start comparing George Bush to Adolf Hitler.

Here is what Los Angeles Times columnist and Georgetown University law professor Rosa Brooks recently said on my favorite oddball webcast, bloggingheads.tv:

Inevitable??? Recently??? Where have you been Alex? You must have been in a coma. The Left has been doing that since the first year Bush was in office. A quick search of the Globe archives for Bush + Hitler brings back hundreds of hits.

Hint: Use Post 2000 dates. Otherwise you get hundreds of hits of the Left comparing Bush 41 to Hitler.

Christ Alex. You really don’t get out of the house much, do you?

Just a quick followup post on the Howie Carr disaster.

I was the first to predict that Imus would end up back on WTKK. At the time, “industry expert” Brian Maloney at savewrko.com insisted that would never happen.

Not only did it happen, it was announced the same day Howie submitted to Julie Kahn.

(Note to self: Find out if Julie now refers to Howie as “Submit”.)

WTKK had this in the works for weeks as the Howie drama played out. WTKK is so far the only syndicated Imus station. As I posted before, I bet Imus loved screwing his good friend Howie … I mean, Submit.

Probably the main reason I started this Blog is to vent about the Morons I hear in the media on nearly a daily basis.

Today, D+C had a short rant about one of the hardy perrenials of Sports related ignorance.

The Point Spread.

If there is another subject so often and consistently misunderstood I can’t think of it. Nearly every sports commentator will at one time or another spew complete and utter nonsense on the subject. As D+C did today.

D+C: “How can the wise guys in vegas only favor the Pats by 14? They must be racking their brains right now trying to figure out how bad the Pats will beat Philly next week”.

NO NO NO NO NO NO You fucking dopes!!!!!! 

Those “Wise Guys” in Vegas don’t give a rats ass how much the pats will beat Philly by next week. They couldn’t even care less what the goddamn score is or who wins.

THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT SETTING A POINT SPREAD THAT WILL GET THE BETTING PUBLIC TO WAGER EQUALLY ON BOTH SIDES!!!!!!!!

Get it, you fucking dopes?

It’s NOT what they think the score will be, IT’S WHAT THE BETTING PUBLIC THINKS THE SCORE WILL BE. In fact, if the betting public “changes it’s mind” during the week by betting more on one side than the other, the point spread moves until there are equal bets on each side.

THE SPREAD IS NEVER WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It reflects 50% of the bets on one side and 50% of the bets on the other side.

IT’S NOT A PREDICTION OF THE SCORE OF THE GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jesus H. Christ. Is that so fucking hard to understand?

Now that Howie is back in Julie Kahn’s stable of neutered talk show hosts, Stocky is free to reveal the rumored “3rd option” Howie was contemplating the last couple of months.

It only appeared that Howie’s lawyers were complete morons. They actually had a secret plan to move Howie beyond the reach of U.S. contract law.

New Zealand. Howie’s childhood in Western Mass, his relationships with Sheep and his experience as a chicken farmer were finally going to pay off. Alas + Alack, that dream was shattered by the New Zealand authorities once Howie stepped on a scale.

Oh, well.

On to Howie’s first day back on the “Job”. It most certainly sounds like Howie is working a “Job”. He said several times that it was “great to be back on the radio”, but not a word about being back on WRKO.

Within the first 10 minutes he dissed Wolf Blitzer for “caving to the pressure” and not asking a followup question to Hillary on her drivers license flip-flop.

You would know all about caving under pressure Howie, that’s for sure.

He promised that from now on he would be taking off “every 2-bit holiday” and not working like he has in the past. The Mumbles Menino segment sounded forced and way too long. All in all, it sounded more like a 4 hour hostage tape than a radio show with a host interested in entertaining his listeners.

The unanswered question remaining from this debacle is what kind of contract did Howie get?

As I said before, if he got stuck with the one WTKK gave him, he’s screwed. That contract was incentive laden based on ratings metrics that Howie will likely never meet. Especially if he doesn’t change his piss poor attitude. As he himself said in the Lisa Hughes interview, “the listeners can tell if you’re not having fun”.

So, unless ‘RKO gave him a major concession and reworked his deal to not include ratings incentives, he is looking at a pretty severe pay cut.

After all the publicly expressed hard feelings the last few months I can’t imagin that Entercom would not want a ratings based contract with Howie just to protect themselves from Howie “taking a dive” either intentionally or unintentionally. 

Looking down the road, I can see Howie’s poor attitude driving poor ratings, driving poor paychecks, driving even worse attitude, … rinse and repeat.

Where’s William Bulger when we need him. I’m sure there is some obscure tragic literary figure that represents Howie in this dilemma. I guess we’ll have to wait until Bulger “deems it appropriate” to chime in on this.

Todays Gov Do-Nothing proposal is this:

Gov. Deval Patrick wants to spend a record $1.1 billion on housing-project repairs, construction loans and other upgrades to the state’s affordable-housing stock.

“Affordable housing (is vital to) our communities and our economy,” Patrick said in unveiling plans to spend $1.1 billion over five years on affordable-housing improvements. That’s some $250 million more than currently budgeted.

Patrick wants the state to sell $1.1 billion of bonds - a record affordable-housing request

Nice to see Gov Do-Nothing has taken time off from vacationing at his mansion in the Berkshires to look out for the needy.

Taxpayers?? Not so much.

As usual though, this swell sounding scheme to help the needy is likely to go nowhere.

Patrick’s plan has bipartisan support among lawmakers, but it’s unclear how the state can cover the plan in addition to projects already in the pipeline.

Massachusetts can by law only sell $1.5 billion of bonds per year, but Patrick has recently proposed spending billions on roads, bridges, university campuses and other infrastructure.

Michael Widmer of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation added that the state already has a $10 billion backlog of capital projects.

“The reality is that even if the Legislature approves (Patrick’s housing plan), the state doesn’t have the means to raise this money in the short term,” he said.

Just more sweet sounding pablum for the Moonbats. Is this Fucking guy going to accomplish 1 single thing before his term is up?

Casinos are a pipe dream. Property tax relief? Forget it. More Cops on the street? Forget that too.

What an incompetent fool. An intelligent guy who got passed along via affirmative action his whole life without ever having to actually accomplish anything.

As George Bush would put it, he’s been a victim of the soft bigotry of low expectations.

What excuse can he use for not doing anything? The entire state, including the legislature, is full of Moonbats just like him.

Let’s see what he ends up accomplishing in his 4 years. I can’t wait to see what the Globe uses to justify their endorsement.

Other than he’s a Black Guy.

OK, I was channeling Brian Maloney when I added those exclamation points to the title of this post.

Anyway, an odd story makes it into todays Boston Herald. It seems WTKK host Michelle McPhee said something very un-PC about Gay men on her show last week. As Jessica Heslam reports in the Herald, where McPhee also works:

WTKK-FM host Michele McPhee issued an on-air apology to anyone offended by remarks she made on an earlier show about gay men and the fashion industry.

“I’d like to take a moment to just briefly comment on something I said about the fashion industry during my show on Tuesday,” McPhee said at the start of yesterday’s midmorning show.

“I was talking about how clothes are designed to fit boys rather than full-figured women, like myself, and I made an inappropriate, incorrect statement about gay men. Sometimes things don’t come across the way they were intended, and that was definitely one of those cases,” said McPhee, the Boston Herald’s police bureau chief.

“I am very sorry if I misspoke and I apologize if I offended anyone who was listening. I just want everyone to know that. I apologize. It was certainly not meant to offend anyone. I was talking about clothing.”

The Greater Media-owned station issued a statement earlier this week. “Michele’s comments were made in the context of a fashion industry that designs women’s clothes for atypical body types. She regrets if her remarks were taken to mean anything else, as no other meaning was intended.”

Station officials have refused to release an audiotape of the comment in question.

McPhee is the host of a Saturday show on WTKK-FM (96.9) and has been a regular fill-in on the midmorning show in recent months.

So. What the fuck did she say?

WTKK won’t release a tape but how about asking a friggin question of your own co-worker? What shitty journalism to not pursue this. (I was going to use the cliche’d term ’shoddy’ but what the fuck. This is a blog so I can write whatever the fuck I want.)

Luckily, the incredibly bad new design of the Boston Herald web site has 1 good feature. Comments by readers are allowed at the bottom of stories. So, one of the dozens of people who were listening to McPhee will no doubt post what she said, right?

Just go to the Herald site and wait for the comments.

Wrong. This particular story is not allowing comments. How odd.

Fortunately, Stocky used his vast internet sleuthing skills and used google news to search on McPhee + Gay and had the answer within seconds.

The Bostonist (whoever that is) has the story.

Along with a Photo of the “full figured” McPhee we get what she said on the air:

Word is out on the Web that McPhee has a theory for why fashion designers like skinny models. She said on her WTKK show, “And who do homosexual men like? Little boys.”

There. Was that so hard? Now we have the whole story. It seems that in addition to being a radio industry expert, Stocky is now a journalism expert.

The Herald should do a little research on coverups vs the actual crime. The coverups are always worse.

What the Fuck is wrong with the Boston Globe???

Can’t they get anything right?

A story about the renewed interest in the Celtics on TV fails to address the number 1 issue thousands of viewers want an answer to.

Why the Fuck aren’t all the games broadcast in H FUCKING D!!!!????

Comcast OWNS the station!!! They add HD stations to their cable package every other friggin week, why the Fuck can’t they add one they own???

The home games appear to be swapped over to the lame HD Mojo channel. Is that how it will work for the whole year? Why can’t they do that for the away games??

Can’t they update the guide data to show the home games on Mojo HD so DVR users can setup the recordings in advance without monkeying with the shows listed on the guide for Mojo HD???

Christ almighty. Not a fucking word about this in the Globe story. I swear, when I become king I am going to fire scores and scores of people immediately after my coronation.

Starting with Nancy Marrapese-Burrell.

Yes, as the final hours of Howie’s self imposed radio silence grow few, we look back at one of the last sightings of Howie in the wild with his balls intact.

The Lisa Hughes interview.

Realizing that this footage could be too painful for some to watch, Stocky brings you some of Howie’s most memorable quotes:

I’m really happy to be getting on the FM dial.

I don’t really know how long AM stations … are going to be around.

The FM band has every advantage and it’s just better for me and honestly I’ll be surrounded by better people.

I’m in a lineup at ‘RKO where nobody gets on base.

I know the type of people Entercom hires and I know what they are capable of … they think they have a lot of money and they can tell me what to do.

I’m being dragged through the mud by these people.

Everybody’s gotta take a beating. Some times it’s your turn to take a beating.

I’ll be listening to Jay Severin, WTKK, 96.9 Boston’s talk evolution.

So sad, Howie. You coulda been a contendah.

Howie is back at ‘RKO. Just as I predicted.

All hail industry expert, Stocky!!!!!!!

It’s hard to keep up with the drivel that appears on savewrko.com but Stocky will try.

Crack business analyst Brian Maloney brings us this scoop:

GREATER MEDIA SHAFTS ENTERCOM

Really? How so?

It seems tiny little privately owned Greater Media, owner of WTKK bought a couple of North Carolina Stations.

Big woop. How is that shafting Entercom? According to Brian, Entercom bid on those stations too.

According to Reuters, Entercom topped the firms favored to win control of these stations,

Except that’s not what Reuters said. The firm selling the stations, Lincoln Financial has all 18 of it’s radio stations up for sale. Entercom was just listed as 1 of 4 companies who were interested in “some” of the stations. Reuters and Brian have no idea whether the North Carolina stations were ones that Entercom MIGHT have been interested in.

It’s a grand canyon sized leap to get from being listed as 1 of 4 firms potentially interested in some of the 18 stations up for sale to saying that GREATER MEDIA SHAFTED ENTERCOM. But that’s Mr. Shrill with an axe to grind Brian Maloney for you.

He then goes on to speculate in another post that Howie Carr could end up at one of those stations.

That giant sucking sound you hear is the sound of money streaming out of Howie’s bank account as he contemplates the much much lower salary in Hicksville, USA. It’s stupid to even speculate on it but that doesn’t stop Brian.

Never mind the fact that HOWIE IS STILL UNDER CONTRACT TO ENTERCOM!

Let’s hear how Brian addresses that unfortunate fact:

But the million- dollar question is this: could a Howie Carr Show based in Charlotte be carried in Boston without causing more legal troubles with Entercom? Hard to say, but it might be possible, depending on the language.

Christ what a dope. The “million dollar question” is how does Howie get out of his Entercom contract without being sued into the poor house? And to speculate that a new show could air in Boston is just moronic.

We also hear from Brian that Howies potential “new job” could be TV. Setting aside the contract thing, TV is a possibility. But where? NECN could never pay enough.

What about a national cable show? MSNBC was considering one overweight loudmouth (Rosie O’Donnell) and their lineup is full of stiffs so A Howie show is not out of the realm of possibilities but let’s face it. Howie’s medium is Radio not TV.

That seems pretty unlikely too.

All in all it still looks like Howie back to WRKO. It shouldn’t take too much longer for them to kiss and make up.

We should hear soon.

Stocky apologizes for not keeping the updates on the amount of cake slipping through Howie’s fingers up to date.

Today I will get a little ahead of the game and assume 4 additional weeks of lost revenue since my last update. If Howie makes it back on the air by Wednesday, I will revise this post. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen though.

As of Wednesday of this week, Howie will have lost …

119,230.85 

Stocky doesn’t even want to guess how much Howie has spent on Lawyers in the last few months. This is money that is NEVER coming back. Each day that passes puts our Hero another day closer to retirement and his former listeners scattered acrosss other entertainment choices. When he comes back to WRKO, he won’t be meeting any of those ratings based bonuses anytime soon, if ever.

If you see an overweight, balding, pasty white man crawling on his knees towards Guest St. in Brighton, tin cup in hand, that would be Howie.

Speaking of tin cups, hopefully Howie will be able to continue his association with the Salvation Army. He’s almost due for his hour ringing the bell in Downtown Crossing. Maybe this year he can apply for a handout himself from the good folks at the S.A.

If all you did was read the shrill commentary at savewrko.com you would think that Entercom is one step away from Bankruptcy.

That is just not true.

On Wednesday Maloney posted about ETM hitting a new low of $16.67 along with a dire prediction of what was in store for the stock as earnings were about to be reported.

Quarterly earnings are due to be reported this week, so Wall Street obviously isn’t expecting much in the way of results.

First of all, what Brian fails to note is that while a fall to a new low for the stock is not good news it’s not the whole story. Management started paying dividends in 2006. In the last 2 years they’ve returned over $3 per share to shareholders. At an almost unheard of yield of more than 9%. If dividends are your thing, ETM is a pretty sweet looking stock.

Second of all, Brian couldn’t have been more wrong in his prediction for the rest of the week if his name was Mr. Wrongy Wrongenstein.

The last 2 days of the week ETM was up 10%, while the market itself was brutal. The S+P 500 was down 2% the last 2 days.

That includes a 6.46% gain on Friday after they reported earnings. Wall st very much liked what David Field had to say.

What did David Field have to say? A lot. In fact Boston/WEEI/WRKO were a big part of ETM’s conference call and Q3 results. Not that Brian would tell you that.

Some highlights taken from the conference call:

Third quarter performance was led by strong results in Seattle, Boston, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.

…

Q. your experience in Boston, it sounds as if you grew revenue against the grain of what I think most other media competitors there, newspaper and television and so on in the quarter which was a tough time there.

A. Yeah, Boston is again a direct perfect example of where our strategic focus pays off. We are doing well digitally, we are doing well with our business development.In fact, I mentioned on our last call a program we developed with Shaw’s Markets, which is the largest grocery chain in New England where we did a multi-platform integrated program with them, which has generated substantial incremental dollars that has kicked in over the last couple of months, and we’ll continue over the next couple of years.

And also on branding content side where we continue to invest in great content on our sports station, WEEI, which is the number one radio sports station in the United States, and in addition, investing in great content on our other properties in that market that has enabled our brands to stand strong. So yeah, at the time when Boston is a flattish market, we’ve been able to achieve significant growth as a direct result of those efforts.

And just as Stocky predicted (do I ever get a prediction wrong?) Howie Carr makes an appearance in the Conference call.

Q. A just one quick follow-up on WRKO. Could you tell about thought to us on how that land up — are you pleased with the progress there, when do we really see the ratings gains that we’ve seen in WRKO really translate to increases revenue there, and did WEEI suffer any revenue losses? Thanks.

A. Yes. We are thrilled with how WEEI has faired, namely even though we took of the Red Sox, our ratings have remained outstanding and so as predicted that’s worked out terrifically for us. WRKO situation is little different, because while the dishes was playing out, unfortunately we had a contract dispute with our number one personality who has been off the air for the last couple of months and had a high profile contract dispute over the course of the summer and I think that was meaningfully disruptive to both our advertising and to our listening strategies. We very much hope and expect to see a positive resolution to that situation, but it’s obviously put us behind schedule here, as we have sort of waited through that disruption.

There you have it. A 700 million dollar corporation is forced to try to explain why Howie is not honoring his contract. That probably sounds great to the likes of Fanboy Brian and Joy but to shareholders it sounds more like some fuckup (Howie) is stealing money out of their pockets.

Don’t think ETM’s legal staff is not working on this right now. They are. ETM management has a legal obligation to protect the shareholders. If a contract has been violated they have an obligation to try to recover damages.

Howie is in violation of his contract. A contract that has held up in court. He better get his ass back behind the Mic before ETM shareholders start calling for his scalp.

From Howie’s number 1 Fanboy Brian Maloney at savewrko.com we hear that Howie is “leaning” towards coming back to WRKO.

Oh, he’s leaning all right. Just like I’m leaning towards taking a dump soon. I don’t necessarily want to but I know I’m going to have to. It’s inevitable. Just like Howie on his knees in front of his Entercom Masters.

Maloney’s delusions bring back memories of Bahgdad Bob.

He also wants to avoid the degree of personal humiliation suffered by Dennis & Callahan, who tried to play hardball with Entercom and were crushed. That’s why he’s more likely to settle with them now, rather than fight an extended battle.

Howie has already been crushed by Entercom. I suspect that personal bankruptcy has more to do with Howie not wanting to fight an extended battle than anything else. And D+C’s “battle” with ETM is long forgotten by most listeners. They’ve been better than ever since they came back on the air.

Howie’s humiliation has had much more drama. Lisa Huges Interview, Howie invoking slavery, near daily reports in the press on the latest Howie courtroom beatdown.

Does the Hearth + Kettle serve Humble Pie?

Back to Fanboy:

He does have a potential departure option that does not involve WTKK or a contractual dispute with Entercom. The company is apparently aware of this.

Talk about burying the lead. Do tell, Brian. If you weren’t told what it is than at least use your “industry experience” to speculate on what it might be.

Poor old Stocky doesn’t have a clue.

Howie is under contract with Entercom. Short of coming back to work for Entercom he will likely be sued. Entercom has warned him of that. What could he possibly have up his sleeve that could trump that?

A buyout of his ETM contract and a promise not to compete with ETM properties???? That’s the only scenario that I can think of that “might” be acceptable to ETM. And even then the non-compete thing might not be enforceable so why would ETM agree to it? 

Sounds very fishy to me.

The main concession Howie is seeking is to knock off at least the last three years of his contract, in effect making him a short-timer upon his return to Guest Street. At the end of that abbreviated period, he would be free to go wherever he wants.

At LEAST 3 years??? His contract is 5 years. Does that mean he’s trying to get 4 years knocked off but will settle for 3 years?? Cut the Shit. ETM is holding a contract that has held up in court. Why would they waive 3 years of it so Howie can then go on a competing station? Who does Brian think is representing ETM? Howie’s lawyers?

The only thing ETM should be waving for Howie is a lawsuit over his head. The legal fees for them won’t even merrit a footnote in their financial statements. For Howie, it’s bankruptcy.

He also wants an end to the arrogant and counterproductive public statements by local managers, company attorneys and George Regan’s PR flunkies. That’s why both sides are suddenly so quiet.

You first Howie. Cue the Lisa Hughes interview.

There may be some additional concessions, but otherwise, he’s looking at pretty much the same pay package and timeslot upon his return.

Oh sure. ETM is anxiously sitting by the fax machine waiting to get the full list of concessions Howie is demanding. Give me a Fucking Break. Howie has 2 choices. Return to ‘RKO or go bankrupt.

And He better hope that ETM gives him his old pay package. If they stick to the WTKK contract, he’s fucked. He won’t be earning any of those ratings based bonuses anytime soon, if ever.  That contract was as delusional as Eddie Endleman thinking he was going to crush WEEI when he left. How’d that work out for Eddie?

The ultimate goal is to resume his show in a way that preserves his dignity. Does this deal accomplish that?

No. But keep pumping Brian. I’m sure you’ll spin the final result in favor of Howie. That’s what Fanboy’s do.

Isn’t that what every Real Estate agent will tell you no matter what is going on in the market?

Well, it isn’t. Prices are going lower so why not wait if you can? If you have to sell do NOT play the “I’ll list it high and then adjust the price if I have to game”. Better to way underprice it and hope for the mini-bidding war the low price attracts.

But what do I know? I’m not a realtor. And I’m certainly not the President of the National Association of Realtors.

Thomas M. Stevens was. That has not helped him sell his own house. Priced too high initially, taken off the market, re-listed $165K lower and still not sold 766 days later.

It would take a heart of stone not to laugh.

Let’s start with a Stocky “favorite”, Steve Bailey of The Boston Globe. In todays column, Stevie takes time off from committing felonies to write about the fascinating subject of The Massachusetts Business Court.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz …. oh, sorry. I dozed off there for a minute.

In the middle of an excruciatingly boring piece he inserts this non-sequetor:

 Let’s stipulate, as the lawyers might say, that Howie Carr is no van Gestel fan; after losing repeatedly in his court, the Boston Herald columnist is probably headed back to “indentured servitude” at WRKO-AM at more than $1 million a year. But beyond Howie, van Gestel is a judge with many fans, the person most responsible for turning the business session of the state’s Superior Court into the success it has become.

Nice little whack at Howie. What does it have to do with the reorganization of the Mass Business Court?

Not a fucking thing.

And of course Mr. Business Writer extrodinaire gets the salary figure wrong. No way Howie pulls in $1 mil per year anytime soon. His contract is incentive laden with a base salary that’s actually a pay cut. It’s not certain what time slot he’ll return to never mind if he’ll meet the high bars the incentive clauses have set. But that level of analysis of the situation by Bailey is pretty typical of his work. His thinking runs as deep as a soap dish.

For Moron #2 we go to our Hero Cap’n Carr. In this time of crisis it appears that Howie is regressing to his journalistic childhood. He’s writing columns about City Council races.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz … oh, sorry. I dozed off there for a minute.

Howie eloquently describes the level of interest in yesterdays election:

After days of being called “liar” and “sneak” and “coward,” the college boy from Harvard ousted Felix “No-Show” Arroyo from the City Council in an election 85 percent of voters took a pass on.

If 85% of the voters in Boston didn’t care about this election, what percentage of the Herald’s readership gives a Rats Ass about it? Less than 5%? Forget about that talk of Howie trying to get himself fired on purpose when he returns to ‘RKO, it looks like he’s trying to get himself fired from The Herald.

We get a hint of what Howie is doing with all his free time from an indication that he was actually out “pounding the pavement” for quotes last night.

I asked him if he had any final thoughts on Connolly.

“Nothing,” he said, chuckling. “Not tonight.”

Nice work, Paper Boy. I’m sure it was tough fighting off all your fellow scribes to get that exclusive quote.

Speaking of savewrko.com, we get to Moron #3. Brian Maloney. In a ridiculous jealousy laden post today he calls Tom Bradys lifestyle “borderline disgusting” and repeats the days ago refuted claim that Gisele Bundchen refuses to be paid in Dollars.

Do a little work Brian. Here is a quote from her manager:

But just a few minutes ago, CNBC Squawk Box producer Stephanie Landsman spoke by telephone with Anne Nelson, Bundchen’s manager.  Nelson tells us reports that Gisele wants to be paid in euros are “false.”   Nelson’s take: “Some idiot in Brazil reported something just to make news.”

Nelson points out that Gisele lives in New York City, and thus needs U.S. dollars for her big-city lifestyle.

And Tom Brady’s personal life is “disgusting”. He’d already broken up with his over the hill former girlfriend before she announced a couple of months later that she was pregnant. Can you say TRAPPED? She’s the one who is disgusting.

In a comment Maloney states that there are better ways to hedge than to play the currency markets. Do tell, oh investment guru. I suppose thousands of red blooded American currency traders are just disgusting Morons and un-American if they short the Dollar.

I guess Stocky is Un-American too for investing in all those sweet multinational energy services companies who don’t get paid in Dollars but make a killing when they convert the revenue to the sinking Dollar. 

Stick to your day job of wrongheaded commentary on the Boston Radio scene.

From Howie’s fellow Boston Herald staffer Jessica Heslam, we get a report via some radio trade publication called “All Access” that Howie is getting ready to call off the dogs.

When asked by Jessica to comment Howie responds with:

       Chirp, Chirp, Chirp …

You get the picture.

When Jessica asks the WRKO attorney to confirm a deal we get:

WRKO attorney Shep Davidson couldn’t confirm a deal.

Of course he couldn’t. It’s not done. YET. It will be though, you can bet on it. All that’s required is for some way to be devised for Howie to save face. As I posted weeks ago, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Howie bounced the Felon from his morning slot. I wouldn’t give that too high of a probability though. Entercom is holding 4 aces, Howie has a pair of 2’s.

At this point he and his creditors should thank their lucky stars that WRKO is willing to take him back. He’d be royally fucked if the deal to come back to ‘RKO goes bad.

There’s a lot of nonsense going on at savewrko.com. And not just from Brian Maloney. Lots of comments about boycotting sponsors, Howie getting fired on purpose, etc.

Please. What a bunch of crap. Take it from an industry expert, Howie will be back with bells on. Loving life at RKO and cashing his fat paychecks. Because as Richard Gere/Mayo so eloquently put it in An Officer and a Gentlemen:

           “I’ve got no place else to go! No place else to go.”

Maybe we’ll hear that sound bite on Howies first day back. 

On another note, is Jessica Heslam as hot as her Herald photo looks? If so, how long before we start seeing her on TV? Seems a shame to waste all that journalistic talent writing for the Herald.

On a day when Bill Belicheck is looking for a little revenge for Tony Dungy’s comments comparing the Pats to Barry Bonds, we get Billy Bulger commenting on the mess our dear Cap’n Carr finds himself in.

A Globe Op-Ed piece on Howie’s mess by Joan Vennochi. Stocky is actually a fan of Joan, back from the days she used to be the go-to-gal on the Globe’s business pages. She has serious moonbat tendencies of course but she usually writes interesting and somewhat balanced pieces.

Joan goes straight for the Jugular with a quote from Billy Bulger who references an obscure French philosopher.

He’s “a donkey caught between two bales of hay,” noted Bulger, referencing a problem of decision-making that is named after the 14th-century French philosopher Jean Buridan.

Bulger must be beside himself with glee over Howie’s fate. Yet he still “deems it appropriate” to express himself like the erudite snob he is. Bulger still has scars from the day Congressman Dan Burton dropped an Edmund Burke quote on him like an anvil just prior to Bulgers disasterous testimony before congress.

This must take a lot of the sting out of that old wound.

Joan then shows her excellent grasp of the situation by noting that Howie will likely end up back at WRKO.

Carr will end up with one very lucrative bale, probably at WRKO-AM, the station he tried to leave.

That is what Stocky has been saying for months. What choice does Howie have? You don’t need to be an “Industry expert” like Brian Maloney at savewrko.com to see the obvious.

Brian is still sticking to his guns and claiming that WTKK will wait for Howie and would never consider hiring the now available Imus.

Brian, when Imus ends up back at WTKK and Howie at WRKO, I will annoint myself the “industry expert” and you can write about Entercoms daily stock moves. 

Brian is twisting himself in knots trying to defend his foolish “logic”. Saying recently:

Brian Maloney, an industry analyst and creator of the Radio Equalizer Web site, said the logical choice for Imus in the Hub is WRKO.

Umm, no. WRKO already has a morning show. A bad one, but one they are committed to. Or at least they are  committed to pay the Felon for the next few years.

WTKK does NOT have a morning show. Hmmmm, let’s see. what would be the “logical choice” for Imus?????

Christ. What moronic “Logic”.

Oh wait, according to Brain WTKK “quashed” the possibility of Imus returning. Let’s hear straight from WTKK:

Greater Media, which owns WTKK, said it’s “keeping all options open as we decide how to move forward.” 

That doesn’t sound like “Quashing” to me. But then, I’m not an “Industry Expert” like Brian.

Back to Joan. She quickly gets to the 4th quarter and she’s still got Tom Brady tossing bombs to Randy Moss.

Meanwhile, WRKO hopes Carr’s Boston Herald salary and earnings from the sale of “The Brothers Bulger: How They Terrorized and Corrupted Boston for a Quarter Century” will only go so far in maintaining his lifestyle. “I have no idea what the Herald pays him, or what he’s getting from his book. But he has a second wife and kids in college. The compensation [at stake] is not nominal,” said Davidson.

Yes, yes. How true. This is what it boils down to. Dough-re-me. If there’s anything we know about our Hero Howie, it’s that he loves money almost as much as life itself. So, despite what he said in the Lisa Hughes interview, it IS about the money. It always is.  

A wife who works Real Estate, kids in college, a big house in Wellesley and years of legal bills staring him in the face must be making for some sleepless nights for our Cap’n. And if you think that lifestyle is not expensive, Stocky directs you to this recent Globe article.

This is a little too creepy for Stocky to go into in detail but if you care to do a little work yourself you’ll see that Howie needs to bring home more than Bacon every month. He needs an entire Pig farm.

Howie’s many, many enemies are still running up the score. What’s next? A sound bite of Mumbles Menino giving Howie advice? Maybe Joe Kennedy can offer him a job pumping oil this winter. Better yet, Joe-for-oil could offer to deliver some Hugo Chavez heating oil to Howie’s house.

There’s still plenty of time for more scoring in this game. Only Howie can call off the dogs.

Take the money. Go back to ‘RKO.

And LIKE IT!!!!