Here the hand isn't in plain sight for the obvious. The following is a recent newspaper article about a form of 'graft' in our political system. the 'one day' event meant having attended an annual meeting (zoning board of appeals for example) for ten minutes qualified as a year toward a retirement pension. Conclusion being, in my opinion, perhaps here in PI a bit more open and nickel dime. The pension mentioned in Webster Massachuetts with cost of living adjustments is probably a half million over his lifetime. The rest is a copy/paste with no editing.... Let’s just waive the five-year waiting period right now and induct Rep. Paul “Kujo” Kujawski of Webster directly into the Hack Hall of Fame. All these years, we’ve considered him a mere drunken Democrat dolt, below average even by the below-average standards of the Massachusetts General Court. Now it turns out his persona as a stumbling boob was just a clever disguise. As mild-mannered Clark Kent was in fact Superman, Kujo, it turns out, is Superhack. He was a double agent on the pension-reform committee, scheming how to double his kiss in the mail, from $16,200 to close to $34,000. As he sat slack-jawed in the committee meetings, no one suspected a thing. Do you have any idea how much Budweiser you can buy with an extra $18,000? And all this extra do-re-mi for his 18 years on the Webster School Committee - a non-paying job, and you can bet that Kujo was worth every penny of it. Kujo is not the first rep to pull this greedy stunt. Ex-Sen. Jack Brennan of Malden did it with his “service” as a library trustee, but Brennan was finally shamed into giving up the extra dough. In Kujo’s case, shame is not an option. He has none. He is, after all, the solon who was once busted for open and gross lewdness after allegedly urinating in front of a state trooper. That was the same night he suffered amnesia in the back of the state police cruiser, shouting at the cops, “Do you know who I am?” Yes, they replied, we know who you are, Rep, and we know what you are, which is under arrest. I’ve always chuckled over Kujo’s moronic stunts, ever since the time he told me, “I’m not like you guys from Boston. When I came down here I thought everybody was my friend.” I thought about telling Kujo I used to live even further out west than he did, but why confuse him further? Remember when he left the satchel of cash and checks under the barstool at the 21st Amendment across Bowdoin Street from the State House? And how about all the Ethics Committee fines? But as I look back on it now, somehow Kujo always skated. His hack brother Jan was going to lose his job at the ABCC. So suddenly Felon Finneran took the ABCC away from then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Last year “special investigator” Jan made $111,283.66 - isn’t overtime wonderful? Then there was Kujo’s son Jonathan. First he was a summer tolltaker at the Pike, and then he scored a $35,713-a-year job at the Division of Industrial Accidents. Another nationwide search! And all the while Kujo was lurking around the entrance to the Great Hall, circling like a seagull, waiting for the next free buffet. Some said he was the state rep from Commerce Insurance, I always considered him the man from Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey, sans makeup. And now we find out Kujo has doubled his pension, right under our very noses. It just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover, even if it’s a comic book. PS. Actually he urinated on the state trooper's boot but this newspaper cleaned it up a bit. The one day thing was from a different paper..same result.
Yes, in every country there is dishonesty, exploitation, and corruption. In the US, there is a facade of "justice and freedom for all". But if you have any intelligence, you can see through the bs. Although many US citizens still believe in these idealistic values, they are powerless against the ones who exploit them. In the Philippines, the dishonesty and corruption is mostly out in the open for everyone to see....and in a way, that makes it a bit more honest....or more simple at least. I think in the US there is a real respect for and integrity in being honest, but in the Philippines, it doesn't seem to hold much water and lying is accepted as part of life. But God forbid you accuse a Filipino of lying! They will not lose face! They will insist red is blue until the day they die. Haha.
