Lately it seems that the MBTA has become the redheaded stepchild of financially troubled quasi-public agencies. While the Turnpike Authority is offered bailouts, the public transit system’s pleas for help coping with increased ridership and soaring fuel prices have largely gone unheeded.

To add insult to injury, the state seems ready to allow the fifth-annual sales tax holiday on August 16-17, which will deprive the MBTA of some much-needed cash.

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Our favorite thing about our job (aside from you, dear readers) is summer hours. Every Friday between early July and Labor Day, we leave Boston Daily HQ a few hours before normal dismissal time and run errands, attempt to beat traffic out of the city, or just go home and watch Oprah.

But what if summer hours happened all year long, and we always had Friday off? It’s happening for employees of some local municipalities and businesses.

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With all the recent changes to the long-running Bernie and Phyl’s commercials, it’s great to see the jingle remain the same. As if to ease the transition to when Bernie and Phyl’s sons completely take over the family business, some ads only feature random groups of people mangling the trademark “Bernie and Phyl’s—Quality, Comfort, and Price—That’s Nice” finish to the spots.

Those folks should have held off on signing the release. The furniture store is holding a contest to find the most creative jingle singer.

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Back in May, Somerville decided that it wanted to require large stores within its borders to provide a spot for customers to recycle their plastic shopping bags. The problem was, the city has no facilities or programs in place to actually do the recycling. Then there was a procedural delay that one alderman likened to an Abbot and Costello skit.

At long last, Somerville finally passed an ordinance that requires stores larger than 5,000 square feet to recycle plastic bags, but leaves the businesses to create their own recycling programs.

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Nobody likes dealing with the Registry of Motor Vehicles. It seems like the dregs of society are always renewing their licenses at the same time as us, and we almost always forget some receipt or proof of insurance form we need to complete a transaction.

Even the courts get frustrated by communicating with the RMV. Boston.com reports that a state audit found thousands of drivers whose licenses had been suspended by the courts got to stay behind the wheel for years because the Registry has no system to make sure the rulings are entered into their database.

Somebody get Joseph Lally on the phone! It sounds like the state is ready to overpay for some more software.

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Downtown Crossing ain’t what it used to be. Back in November, Joe Keohane wrote we might as well let the area fall into complete disrepair so it could be resurrected as something better.

Let it die, so we can rebuild anew from scratch, ideally with more interesting indie businesses, and good music venues, bars and cafes, preferably with outdoor seating and good public art.

It was a beautiful dream while it lasted. But it looks like the city has decided to stick with the tried-and-true luxury apartments route.

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Joseph Lally is many things. He is the former vice president of Cognos ULC, a company that makes business intelligence software. He co-founded Montvale Solutions, which Cognos hired to sell its software.

Lally also seems to have a problem understanding the state’s ethics laws. Just a few months after we learned about his generosity with House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s charity golf tournament, the Globe reports he also allegedly offered a public official a job while Cognos was vying for a lucrative contract.

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Generally speaking, we’re pretty excited about the explosion of films being made in Massachusetts. It’s cool to see the sights we see every day committed to film, and having stars like Kate Hudson and Ricky Gervais in town gives the gossip columnists (and local papers) something to write about.

We can deal with filmmakers representing our landmarks as other locations, but there are some things we don’t want Hollywood to mess with. Such as memorials to our veterans.

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As Paul McMorrow informed us last month, the state’s budget is screwed. Both the House and Senate versions of the 2009 budget rely heavily on the Commonwealth’s rainy day funds, and the Legislature doesn’t seem interested in our suggestion of selling ad space on the front of the State House.

We’d at least like to ascertain how much money our elected officials are going to grab from the rapidly-dwindling emergency accounts. But it looks like we’ll have to wait a little while longer since the 2009 budget is running late.

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Despite all our jokes about people not remembering them (and our issues with the team’s management), we actually enjoy the Bruins. It’s fun to say Marc Savard with a Boston accent. And any sport that encourages fistfights is OK with us.

We understand that the team, which hasn’t won a championship in 36 years, is having a hard time moving tickets. But we’re not sure that enticing fans to shell out $1,677 to watch a decently competitive team while gorging themselves on arena food is the way to drum up interest.

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