The Massachusetts legislature, it would seem, has no plans for any tax increases in the immediate future. Speaker DeLeo has made a pledge that has caught everyone in the Commonwealth off guard, but no entity more so than the business community.

Speaker DeLeo actually laid out his budget in a speech in which he pledged no new taxes or fees, the creation of an economic development plan to attract and retain high-tech companies. One person who truly got caught off guard and who is likely to clash with Speaker DeLeo is Governor Deval Patrick.

Governor Patrick in a retort to the speaker’s no new tax pledge stated that his administration had plans for targeted taxes on items such as tobacco sales, soft drinks and candy. Although, the stated purpose of the taxes is to encourage healthy diet choices to help fight obesity and all associated diseases, like diabetes and heart disease, the monies collected would not be going directly to quitting, counseling or other support programs.

The new taxes would be used to increase the already obscene amount of taxpayer money spent on education, local aid and safety net programs. But, for now, the Governor’s budget choices are on hold pending the outcome of the choices made by the States House of Representatives.

Speaking of the House of Representative, things over there seem to be a bit confused. This confusion is causing some in the State House to be a bit distracted in their works and in their day to day conversations with the press about setting agendas regarding revenue collection and disbursement. It’s strange seeing them buzz about, kind of like bees guarding the hive, but not really sure if or when it will be under attack. They circle and circle, expand their arcs and then retract back in tight and exude anxiety and perhaps a taste of fear.

This may or may not have anything to do with the rumor that former Speaker of the House and newly convicted felon, Salvatore DiMasi, may reappear in Cambridge, MA to chat with federal attorneys regarding his knowledge of corruption in the State House as part of a deal to get his 8 year, maximum security sentence reduced. Apparently Sal knows more than how to extort money from businesses dealing with the Commonwealth. He may know where the bodies [of corruption evidence] may be buried as well. Rumor has it that he’s offered to wield the shovel to help dig them up.

It’s amazing what having a young, beautiful wife at home, alone, and who by anyone’s standards would be a remarkable catch should she find herself getting lonely can do to a love struck man’s mind. The thought of that lovely woman missing out on the pleasures that youth and beauty normally brings for eight long years may be too much for him to bear.

Then again, he may decide to sing for no other reason than he’s willing to do just about anything to stay distanced from “Big Bubba”; a lifer who hasn’t even smelled a woman in 20 plus years. It could be that he doesn’t like being transported by bus cuffed beside a convicted murderer and dining on sandwiches, punch and chips intended to bind up the traveler so their bathroom needs will be minimal during long trips.

Speaking of trips, the President has certainly put the Catholic Church on one with the recent HHS decision that requires them to cover employees birth control medication and abortions as part of health care coverage they are required to provide as an employer, so long as they accept federal money.

President Obama promised Catholic Bishops that he would protect the church from being forced to issue contraceptives to their employees and worshiping flock. Then, he betrayed them after they helped him sell the national health care law – you know – one collectivist to another. Individual liberties be damned so long as the church, it’s hospitals, schools and charity enterprises would be protected from forking out dollars alongside the individual members of their church. Bernadette Devlin made this observation under different circumstances, but it is valid none-the-less.

In this instance, all one has to do is merely substitute the word liberal for conservative in the quote above for today’s circumstance to be true. The dual nature of the church’s willingness to bend principles to meet their own interest ends speaks to the evil of altruistic pragmatism. It also shows that organized religion is no different than government and its organized corruption. Neither body wants liberty to thrive because the freer individuals are the less power and influence they have over them and their hard earned properties.

Now, we return to Sal DiMasi’s uncomfortable return to the Bay State with stop overs at the U.S. Attorney’s office. He left in silence and was the hero of the legislature who got a bad deal and an abusive sentence. Now that he’s back, like Adelle, with a new and stronger singing voice, panic has set in around beacon Hill and now the patroni of the Massachusetts General Court are twiddling their daggers wondering if they’ll ever get the opportunity to use them on their former Caesar.