Paul's articles
Paul Mulshine, Star-Ledger columnist, this week touched on two very important New Jersey topics:
1. In Highlands bill doesn't hold water Hunterdon county farmers talk against a bill that would give the state $2,000/acre to "buy" development rights of land that would either be used to build million-dollar homes or to provide cheap water for golf courses.
2. In Governor's blarney taxes our patience, Paul points out the absurdity of the governor's stance that a state income tax hike "would not be a violation of that promise because the money would go to fund increased property tax rebates".
Paul once kissed the Blarney Stone:

I was hitchhiking around Ireland. When I got to Cork, I made the obligatory stop at Blarney Castle and was lowered into the crevice where that famed stone sits. I gave it a solid smooch. A year later, I began making my living in journalism.

So it worked for me. As for the governor, he certainly seems to be a smooth-tongued sort as well. But then, of course, he's been to law school, which is the equivalent not just of kissing the Blarney stone but of taking it to one of those motels that rent by the hour and offer a Jacuzzi in every room.

In view of the prospective state tax increases, Paul asked the governor's spokeman if McGreevey had kissed the Blarney stone. The spokeman said no, to which Paul comments,

Could have fooled me. By then, I had come across a Web site that offered this etymology for the term: "The word 'Blarney,' meaning to placate with soft talk or to deceive without offending, probably derives from the stream of unfulfilled promises of Cormac MacDermot MacCarthy to the Lord President of Munster in the late sixteenth century."

Sound familiar? He may not be much of a governor, but no one can say James E. McGreevey is not a good Irishman.

Either way, the taxpayer's left holding the bag.